Instead of sending our sons and daughters around the world to kill and be killed, we should be helping poorer nations to rebuild their infrastructures, supply clean water, feed starving people and provide medicine and health care. Just imagine what we could do for the world if we cut our huge military budget by just 10% and used those billions of dollars for humanitarian work that would give people real hope for their future.
Right now, the U.S. is the stingiest nation among the 22 most developed nations in terms of how much humanitarian aid it provides. But our military budget is more than all the military budgets of the rest of the world combined! We spend more of each of our tax dollars on the military than any other nation in the world. For each tax dollar, 43 cents goes to the military while less than a penny goes to humanitarian aid.
If we really want to stop terrorism, we need to start using our wealth and power in the service of life instead of death. If we replaced smart bombs with smart policies designed to help people, the terrorist recruiters would soon have difficulty finding people willing to die for them. The best antidote to a suicide bomber is hope for a better future. The truth is that if we want real security, we must work to stop our government from relying so heavily on military force that ends up creating even more terrorists. In the interests of our national security, we must demand that the President and Congress reduce our huge military budget and increase our humanitarian aid to the places where poverty and despair serve as fertile ground for the next crop of terrorists.
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