{"id":9770,"date":"2017-06-15T19:34:27","date_gmt":"2017-06-15T23:34:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=9770"},"modified":"2017-06-15T20:36:43","modified_gmt":"2017-06-16T00:36:43","slug":"u-s-conference-of-mayors-to-vote-on-resolution-to-move-money-from-the-military-to-human-and-environmental-needs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/?p=9770","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Conference of Mayors to Vote on Resolution to Move Money from the Military to Human and Environmental Needs"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION ..<\/p>\n

An article from World Beyond War<\/a><\/p>\n

New Haven<\/a>, CT, Charlottesville<\/a>, VA, Montgomery County<\/a>, MD, Evanston<\/a>, IL (see page 14 of linked document), New London<\/a>, NH, and Ithaca<\/a>, NY, have passed resolutions opposing the Trump budget\u2019s moving of money from everything else to the military, urging that money be moved in the opposite direction.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/center><\/p>\n

Those passed by Ithaca and New Haven will be voted on by the U.S. Conference of Mayors. Ask your mayor to contact the U.S. Conference of Mayors now to endorse resolutions #59 and #60<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Your town or city or county can also go ahead and pass its own. For more tips and sample materials from Ithaca, NY, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

You can also watch\/listen to this webinar<\/a> done with Code Pink and U.S. Peace Council.<\/p>\n

Steps you can take:<\/p>\n

Contact mary@worldbeyondwar.org to ask for help<\/p>\n

Form a coalition of local groups concerned about the cuts, the military increase, or both<\/p>\n

Find out how to speak publicly at local government meetings and how to submit a proposal or get one on the agenda for a vote; or ask council members\/ aldermen \/ supervisors to sponsor it.<\/p>\n

Collect organizations\u2019 or prominent people\u2019s or lots of people\u2019s names on a petition<\/p>\n

Hold rallies, press conferences<\/p>\n

Write op-eds, letters, go on radio, tv<\/p>\n

Use http:\/\/costofwar.com<\/a> to calculate local trade-offs<\/p>\n

Make use of this petition signed by many prominent people and over 20,000 people total<\/p>\n

Revise the draft below:<\/p>\n

Resolution Proposed for __________, ___<\/p>\n

Whereas President Trump has proposed to move $54 billion from human and environmental spending at home and abroad to military spending[i], bringing military spending to well over 60% of federal discretionary spending[ii],<\/p>\n

Whereas polling has found the U.S. public to favor a $41 billion reduction in military spending, a $94 billion gap away from President Trump\u2019s proposal,<\/p>\n

Whereas part of helping alleviate the refugee crisis should be ending, not escalating, wars that create refugees[iii],<\/p>\n

Whereas President Trump himself admits that the enormous military spending of the past 16 years has been disastrous and made us less safe, not safer[iv],<\/p>\n

Whereas fractions of the proposed military budget could provide free, top-quality education from pre-school through college[v], end hunger and starvation on earth[vi], convert the U.S. to clean energy[vii], provide clean drinking water everywhere it\u2019s needed on the planet[viii], build fast trains between all major U.S. cities[ix], and double non-military U.S. foreign aid rather than cutting it[x],<\/p>\n

(continued in right column)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Questions for this article:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n

\n

How can culture of peace be developed at the municipal level?<\/a><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

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

Whereas even 121 retired U.S. generals have written a letter opposing cutting foreign aid[xi],<\/p>\n

Whereas a December 2014 Gallup poll of 65 nations found that the United States was far and away the country considered the largest threat to peace in the world[xii],<\/p>\n

Whereas a United States responsible for providing clean drinking water, schools, medicine, and solar panels to others would be more secure and face far less hostility around the world,<\/p>\n

Whereas our environmental and human needs are desperate and urgent,<\/p>\n

Whereas the military is itself the greatest consumer of petroleum we have[xiii],<\/p>\n

Whereas economists at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst have documented that military spending is an economic drain rather than a jobs program[xiv],<\/p>\n

Be it therefore resolved that the ____________ of ___________, ________, urges the United States Congress to move our tax dollars in exactly the opposite direction proposed by the President, from militarism to human and environmental needs.<\/p>\n

[i] \u201cTrump to Seek $54 Billion Increase in Military Spending,\u201d The New York Times, February 27, 2017<\/a> <\/p>\n

[ii] This does not include another 6% for the discretionary portion of veterans\u2019 care. For a breakdown of discretionary spending in the 2015 budget, see the National Priorities Project<\/a> <\/p>\n

[iii] \u201c43 Million People Kicked Out of Their Homes,\u201d World Beyond War<\/a>, and \u201cEurope\u2019s Refugee Crisis Was Made in America,\u201d The Nation <\/a><\/p>\n

[iv] On February 27, 2017, Trump said, \u201cAlmost 17 years of fighting in the Middle East . . . $6 trillion we\u2019ve spent in the Middle East . . . and we\u2019re nowhere, actually if you think about it we\u2019re less than nowhere, the Middle East is far worse than it was 16, 17 years ago, there\u2019s not even a contest . . . we have a hornet\u2019s nest . . . .\u201d quoted in Realclearpolitics<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[v] \u201cFree College: We Can Afford It,\u201d The Washington Post, May 1, 2012<\/a><\/p>\n

[vi] \u201cThe World Only Needs 30 Billion Dollars a Year to Eradicate the Scourge of Hunger,\u201d Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations<\/a><\/p>\n

[vii] \u201cClean Energy Transition Is A $25 Trillion Free Lunch,\u201d Clean Technica<\/a>. See also: solutionaryrail<\/a><\/p>\n

[viii] \u201cClean Water for a Healthy World,\u201d UN Environment Program<\/a><\/p>\n

[ix] \u201cCost of High Speed Rail in China One Third Lower than in Other Countries,\u201d The World Bank<\/a><\/p>\n

[x] Non-military U.S. foreign aid is approximately $25 billion, meaning that President Trump would need to cut it by over 200% to find the $54 billion he proposes to add to military spending<\/p>\n

[xi] Letter to Congressional leaders, February 27, 2017<\/a> <\/p>\n

[xii] See survey results<\/a><\/p>\n

[xiii] \u201cFight Climate Change, Not Wars,\u201d Naomi Klein<\/a><\/p>\n

[xiv] \u201cThe U.S. Employment Effects of Military and Domestic Spending Priorities: 2011 Update,\u201d Political Economy Research Institute<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

.. DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION .. An article from World Beyond War New Haven, CT, Charlottesville, VA, Montgomery County, MD, Evanston, IL (see page 14 of linked document), New London, NH, and Ithaca, NY, have passed resolutions opposing the Trump budget\u2019s moving of money from everything else to the military, urging that money be moved in the … Continue reading U.S. Conference of Mayors to Vote on Resolution to Move Money from the Military to Human and Environmental Needs<\/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":[19,91],"tags":[5],"class_list":["post-9770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-democracy","category-north-america","tag-north-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9770","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=9770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english.cpnn-world.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}