Introduction & latest blog
entries | Earlier blog entries Tuesday October 31, 2006 Social Justice is our Best Defense The USA has the world's largest military budget - by far. But this alone cannot protect us. We need to be concerned how likely it is for people around the world to want to help defend or kill us.
An interesting thinker Johnson believes that militarism is bankrupting the United States while also increasing opposition to the USA worldwide. He may be overly isolationist in our interconnected world, but he has some important points. If we could ever safely be isolationists, September 11, 2001 clearly showed that time is past. But Johnson is right that military power alone will not save us. Since the end of the Cold War, he argues, the United States has neglected diplomacy, international law, economic aid and multilateral institutions to achieve our foreign policy goals. Instead, we rely too much on bluster and military force. How much of the world sees
the USA Billions of people see the USA as overly militaristic and materialistic, selfish and insensitive to major global injustices. Some of that may be from envy of our successes. And it often shows the success of totalitarian leaders in deflecting resentment of how they're exploiting their own people. Still, we Americans are only doing a fraction of what we could to make our world better and safer. And much of what we do is of questionable effectiveness. All this matters: Terrorists do not recruit in a vacuum. What's wrong with some
conservatives It's strange, they've read the same Bible I did. It's filled with examples of how trust in military force is not the source of victory. The Bible - and to me, common sense - are very clear on this. Justice is needed. A promising development One example is Rick Warren, author of the bestselling book, The Purpose Driven Life. Perhaps the most influential evangelical Christian in America, he uses some of his great influence and wealth to attack global poverty, illiteracy and disease. Pastor Warren has an international network of millions of individuals and 400,000 churches to help achieve this worthy goal. Though I'm Jewish, I am very impressed with such promising developments. Some thoughts on faith based
charity That seems unfair. Although I believe in God, I value the work of all people of good will, whatever their beliefs. I think our government should follow a policy similar to Hearts & Minds, to neither oppose nor favor religion. At its best, religion does encourage people to think and act deeply on concern for others. But you certainly don't have to be religious to value social justice. Government tax breaks can encourage more giving. But a better basis for tax breaks would be the value of a program, not how religious its members may be. The limits of weapons Great leaders in the USA have warned against excessive militarism. This includes George Washington’s farewell address and Dwight Eisenhower’s criticism of the military-industrial complex. I think we need a strong defense. It's a matter of the effectiveness and efficiency of our armed forces, and how our military fits in a much larger, global picture. We need a visionary campaign Comments? Questions? You can e-mail Bill directly: greatchange@gmail.com.
Introduction & latest blog
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