Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone.
It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children.
– President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1956
Food for thought: the United States military budget is $713 billion dollars. (Slate) For every American man, woman, and child, that’s $2,376 paid out every year.
Whatever your politics, understand that this reflects our national priorities, where we put our tax dollars to work, governed by who we vote for.
Food for thought: two months’ worth of the military budget would wipe out the student loan debt of every current student in America and then some.
Four months’ worth would send every student academically eligible to attend college to school for free.
Three months’ worth would pay for the entire reconstruction of the Gulf Coast, erasing Katrina’s damage.
As we remember those who have given their lives for the country, please consider carefully who you vote for this fall, and urge every American you know to get educated about the candidates and participate by voting and staying involved in the political process after the election. Hold your elected representatives accountable by staying in communication with them, sending them email, faxes, YouTube videos, whatever it takes to ensure your voice continues to be heard about the priorities that are important to you.
“Pray for the dead. Fight like hell for the living.” – Mary “Mother” Jones
In the world of an information economy, information is effectively free. This, of course, has broad implications for anyone generating intellectual property, such as writers, musicians, and media makers.