The following is a response to a friend who took umbrage with my comment that it would be a relief to get out of the United States for awhile while on a medical mission.
I did not say that we should not 'support military people'. My dad served, and I am still a proud air force brat
yet strive for a balanced and informed view.
However, a few points.
Point - I think we could support them by paying and educating them more.
Point - the USA has 5% of the worlds population, yet consumes 33.33% of the worlds resources. We use our military to maintain dominance in the world - so one reason we do so is to maintain our economy. The United States economy is based on constant, ever increasing growth and obviously, it cannot endlessly go up. Our present rate of growth is unsustainable, yet we arrogantly feel that it is our right, our 'sacred' right to do whatever we want precisely because of who we are. Is there so little understanding of why the world perceives the people of the United States as arrogant?
Point - we are one of the smaller nations on the planet population wise (291,090,632 as of today) versus the world population of 6,295,663,364 (as of today at www.census.gov). However, we spend the most money in the world, more than many countries combined on military funding. Is this moral? Is this justifiable? Is it what we want? Is it right? To compare . . . China has 1.2 Billlon people (approximately 1/5 of the world population) yet is 11th on the list of military expenditures. Russia's population is approximately 144 million and they are #2 on the list of military expenditures (we spend Four times the amount of Russia).
Point - we lock up a higher percentage of our population than any other nation on the planet! Is this the America that we want? Is this not a fundamental sign that perhaps, just perhaps the system is failing and we need to address the problem?
Point - we have the highest number of fat (grossly or morbidly obese) people on the planet (more so than any other nation)! This is sickening and is shameful. We are on the path to self destruction.
Point - our eductional system is in disarray and funding is dismal and obscene.
I do not think any of this is moral or just.
Get a copy of Jared Diamond's article in this months (May or June 2003) Harpers Magazine and read it. Every society
that outstrips its resource base (environment and so on and so forth) has failed (read dissolution and absorbtion)
relatively quickly thereafter.
America can stand for some excellent ideals. Yet we seem bent on domination, not only for oil but for ever more
markets to continue our expansion so we can sell ever more 'stuff' and increase our ability to maintain our position
and standard of living at the cost of others.
I want to see an America where every person on the continent (and the world) has health care.
I want to see an America where education is a priority and we support it with the finances it deserves.
I want to see an America that sets limits on the amount of consuming that every person can do.
I want to see more of an equitable balance between the haves and have nots.
I want America to be judged by how much money we spend on other nations, on how much we give to others instead of
keeping for ourselves.
I do not want America to be hated and resented because how we live is destroying the lives of others and the
biospheres capacity to sustain life.
I want to see a world where all have access to a clean and safe water supply (over 1/3 of the worlds population does
not including parts of America - admittedly small).
We are marching down the road to a fundamentalist facism (much the same as in Iran where fundamentalist muslim
clerics are increasingly fascistic). We live in culture of desire, a manufactured desire that never wanes. Many
people seek for spiritual truths yet we are confronted by fundamentalist that, many times, preach hatred and
ostracism instead of harmony between all cultures and people.
I dread for the future of America. It saddens me that we have betrayed some of our espoused and supposed ideals. I am sad over the degradation of our society as the health care system fragments, the environment is assaulted, and our position in the world continues to depend on massive military force projected unilaterally across the globe. In many ways, this could be the beginning of the end, the last gasping, agonal breaths of a nation that has lost its moral compass and is adrift in a morass from which it cannot extract itself.
I do not have all the answers. To govern a nation is a terrible thing . . . of great beauty, frustration, power and
responsibility. Yet I fear for the future of America and of the capability we have to destroy that which so many
have worked for. I fear for the people of all nations, of all countries, no matter thier political borders.
I have not reviewed this so it may not be the most eloquently written. Please forgive me for that as I think you
know I write this out of concern and yes, even patriotism.
The time of separate nation states must come to an end, for if not, I fear for the survival of the planet.
Indeed, I think it is already too late and most of the time, I struggle for optimism. Yet I shall not abandon
whatever small struggle I am engaged in. However, I do not believe that simplistic pap about healing the world one
little bit at a time. I do believe in the attempt, the sacred duty we have to others and to the planet that we call
home.
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