{"id":20094,"date":"2020-04-04T07:04:34","date_gmt":"2020-04-04T11:04:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=20094"},"modified":"2020-05-30T11:12:03","modified_gmt":"2020-05-30T15:12:03","slug":"time-to-change-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=20094","title":{"rendered":"Time to Change America: seven suggestions"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DISARMAMENT & SECURITY .<\/p>\n

An article by W. J. Astore in Bracing Views<\/a><\/p>\n

In my latest article for\u00a0 TomDispatch.com<\/a>, I argue that the coronavirus crisis provides an opportunity to reimagine America.\u00a0 Please read the\u00a0entire article\u00a0<\/a> at TomDispatch; what follows is an extended excerpt.\u00a0 Thanks!<\/p>\n

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\nThere\u2019s only one Spaceship Earth<\/center><\/p>\n

This should be a time for a genuinely new approach, one fit for a world of rising disruption and disaster, one that would define a new, more democratic, less bellicose America. To that end, here are seven suggestions, focusing — since I\u2019m a retired military officer — mainly on the U.S. military, a subject that continues to preoccupy me, especially since, at present, that military and the rest of the national security state swallow up roughly 60% <\/a> of federal discretionary spending:<\/p>\n

1. If ever there was a time to reduce our massive and wasteful military spending, this is it. There was never, for example, any sense in investing up to $1.7 trillion <\/a> over the next 30 years to \u201cmodernize\u201d America\u2019s nuclear arsenal. (Why are new weapons needed to exterminate humanity when the \u201cold\u201d ones still work just fine?) Hundreds of stealth fighters <\/a> and bombers <\/a> — it\u2019s estimated that Lockheed Martin\u2019s disappointing <\/a> F-35 jet fighter alone will cost $1.5 trillion <\/a> over its life span — do nothing to secure us from pandemics, the devastating effects of climate change, or other all-too-pressing threats. Such weaponry only emboldens a militaristic and chauvinistic foreign policy that will facilitate yet more wars and blowback problems of every sort. And speaking of wars, isn\u2019t it finally time to end U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan? More than $6 trillion <\/a> has already been wasted on those wars and, in this time of global peril, even more is being wasted on this country\u2019s forever conflicts across the Greater Middle East and Africa. (Roughly $4 billion <\/a> a month continues to be spent on Afghanistan alone, despite all the talk about \u201cpeace\u201d there.)<\/p>\n

2. Along with ending profligate weapons programs and quagmire wars, isn\u2019t it time for the U.S. to begin dramatically reducing its military \u201cfootprint\u201d on this planet? Roughly 800 U.S. military bases <\/a> circle the globe in a historically unprecedented fashion at a yearly cost somewhere north of $100 billion. Cutting such numbers in half over the next decade would be a more than achievable goal. Permanently cutting provocative \u201cwar games\u201d in South Korea, Europe, and elsewhere would be no less sensible. Are North Korea and Russia truly deterred by such dramatic displays of destructive military might?<\/p>\n

3. Come to think of it, why does the U.S. need the immediate military capacity to fight two major foreign wars <\/a> simultaneously, as the Pentagon continues to insist we do and plan for, in the name of \u201cdefending\u201d our country? Here\u2019s a radical proposal: if you add 70,000 Special Operations forces <\/a> to 186,000 Marine Corps personnel<\/a>, the U.S. already possesses a potent quick-strike force of roughly 250,000 troops. Now, add in the Army’s 82nd and 101st Airborne divisions and the 10th Mountain Division. What you have is more than enough military power to provide for America\u2019s actual national security. All other Army divisions could be reduced to cadres, expandable only if our borders are directly threatened by war. <\/p>\n

(Article continued on the right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Question for this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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Does military spending lead to economic decline and collapse?<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

How can we work together to overcome this medical and economic crisis?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

(Article continued from the left column)<\/p>\n

Similarly, restructure the Air Force and Navy to de-emphasize the present \u201cglobal strike<\/a>\u201d vision of those services, while getting rid of Donald Trump\u2019s newest service, the Space Force<\/a>, and the absurdist idea of taking war into low earth orbit. Doesn\u2019t America already have enough war here on this small planet of ours?<\/p>\n

4. Bring back the draft, just not for military purposes. Make it part of a national service program for improving America. It\u2019s time for a new Civilian Conservation Corps focused on fostering a Green New Deal. It\u2019s time for a new Works Progress Administration <\/a> to rebuild America\u2019s infrastructure and reinvigorate our culture, as that organization did in the Great Depression years. It\u2019s time to engage young people in service to this country. Tackling COVID-19 or future pandemics would be far easier if there were quickly trained medical aides who could help free doctors and nurses to focus on the more difficult cases. Tackling climate change will likely require more young men and women fighting forest fires on the west coast, as my dad did while in the CCC — and in a climate-changing world there will be no shortage of other necessary projects to save our planet. Isn\u2019t it time America\u2019s youth answered a call to service? Better yet, isn\u2019t it time we offered them the opportunity to truly put America, rather than themselves, first?<\/p>\n

5. And speaking of \u201cAmerica First,\u201d that eternal Trumpian catch-phrase, isn\u2019t it time for all Americans to recognize that global pandemics and climate change make a mockery of walls and go-it-alone nationalism, not to speak of politics that divide<\/a>, distract, and keep so many down? President Dwight D. Eisenhower once said <\/a> that only Americans can truly hurt America, but there\u2019s a corollary to that: only Americans can truly save America — by uniting, focusing on our common problems, and uplifting one another. To do so, it\u2019s vitally necessary to put an end to fear-mongering (and warmongering). As President Roosevelt famously said <\/a> in his first inaugural address in the depths of the Great Depression, \u201cThe only thing we have to fear is fear itself.\u201d Fear inhibits our ability to think clearly, to cooperate fully, to change things radically as a community.<\/p>\n

6. To cite <\/a> Yoda, the Jedi master, we must unlearn what we have learned. For example, America\u2019s real heroes <\/a> shouldn\u2019t be \u201cwarriors\u201d who kill or sports stars who throw footballs and dunk basketballs. We\u2019re witnessing <\/a> our true heroes in action right now: our doctors, nurses, and other medical personnel, together with our first responders, and those workers who stay in grocery stores, pharmacies, and the like and continue to serve us all despite the danger of contracting the coronavirus from customers. They are all selflessly resisting a threat too many of us either didn\u2019t foresee or refused to treat seriously, most notably<\/a>, of course, President Donald Trump<\/a>: a pandemic that transcends borders and boundaries. But can Americans transcend the increasingly harsh and divisive borders and boundaries of our own minds? Can we come to work selflessly to save and improve the lives of others? Can we become, in a sense, lovers of humanity?<\/p>\n

7. Finally, we must extend our love to encompass nature, our planet. For if we keep treating our lands, our waters, and our skies like a set of trash cans and garbage bins, our children and their children will inherit far harder times than the present moment, hard as it may be.<\/p>\n

What these seven suggestions really amount to is rejecting a militarized mindset of aggression and a corporate mindset of exploitation for one that sees humanity and this planet more holistically. Isn\u2019t it time to regain that vision of the earth we shared collectively during the Apollo moon missions: a fragile blue sanctuary <\/a> floating in the velvety darkness of space, an irreplaceable home to be cared for and respected since there\u2019s no other place for us to go? . . . <\/p>\n

(Note: William Astore is a retired lieutenant colonel (USAF) and professor of history.)<\/p>\n

(Thank you to Peter Veres who called this to our attention.)\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DISARMAMENT & SECURITY . An article by W. J. Astore in Bracing Views In my latest article for\u00a0 TomDispatch.com, I argue that the coronavirus crisis provides an opportunity to reimagine America.\u00a0 Please read the\u00a0entire article\u00a0 at TomDispatch; what follows is an extended excerpt.\u00a0 Thanks! There\u2019s only one Spaceship Earth This should be a time for … Continue reading Time to Change America: seven suggestions<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,91],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-20094","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disarmament","category-north-america","tag-north-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20094","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20094"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20094\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20094"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20094"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20094"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}