How can “greens” talk about a “green economy” and work to move in sustainable directions, while we ignore the escalating cost of war and the guilt that we must accept by funding this with our tax dollars?
How can “fiscal-conservatives” complain about deficits and size of government, while completely ignoring the $1 trillion annual cost of our military overstretch?
How can Vermont’s legislators talk about “Vermont’s budget crisis” while ignoring that Vermont taxpayers are spending $1.5 Billion every year for our share of the cost of the US military overstretch?
Statistics: Vermont’s annual share of the military budget, $1.5 BILLION, would cover 100% of the cost of making 50,000 Vermont homes completely powered by the sun. The US military budget of $1 trillion would cover 100% of the cost of making 27 MILLION US homes powered by the sun. Yet, we can’t afford clean energy development at home, because the cost of our military-fossil-fuel subsidy is so high. This is a direct relationship. The US military is the single-largest obstacle to a strong domestic and “green” economy.
In my view, the sustainability movement will remain a bunch of token green-washing gestures, and will continue to wither on the vine, and our “economic recovery” will remain a myth, until we end the wars that our tax dollars are paying for.
What can we do? Anything is better than nothing. The state of Vermont can start by saying “NO MORE WAR.” Vermont could officially resolve to demand that the federal government end the unjustified occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. Vermont could threaten to nullify unconstitutional laws such as the PATRIOT Act. Vermont could threaten to make it illegal for Vermonters to pay federal income taxes until the US Constitution is restored and we completely pull out of the unconstitutional wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What would this achieve? Are these even good ideas? I don’t know.
What will happen if we continue to accept the status quo? More of the same, which is not acceptable. So, let’s talk about this and figure it out, in Montpelier.
Where is the “Green Tea Party” ? Maybe that’s what will come out of this, and maybe then something productive regarding this issue will happen in Montpelier, and maybe then some changes will be made.
Read this article below for an eye-opening perspective regarding Afghanistan.
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