Who Are We?

 

   Our US Senate just passed an annual military spending bill for $768.2 billion, over ¾ of a trillion dollars, sent to it by the House of Representatives.  It is ready to be signed by our president and he most likely will sign it.  You see, it truly has bipartisan support.  85% of the Senate voted for this military budget.  It is over $24 billion more than the Pentagon requested.  The Senate can’t come together on voting rights, healthcare or education.  Each side of the aisle votes like a rubber stamp, against the other, but on annual military spending, it is all cum-by-yah in our government.  Why is that when we currently spend more than the next 10 nations combined on our military?  Democrats and Republican representatives sure love military spending.  We increased the amount after pulling out of a 20 year shooting war.  One of the reasons given for the Afghanistan pull out was “military spending.”  Is it possible that in the first five years of that war we had accomplished our reason for being there and for the next 15 years, the purpose was military spending?

   When President Eisenhower left office in 1961 he warned of “The Military/Industrial Complex” threatening the nation.  It no longer threatens.  It is our nation.  For those of you born after 1961, it seems normal and therefore perfectly OK.  How does the above vote jive with the concept of a “Christian Nation?”  Could it be that we are delusional in our national emphasis on maintaining a giant military?  In that respect, is our nation morally blind and perhaps not “One Nation Under God?”  On the other hand, the first ¾ of The Holy Bible, a popular mythological novel, presents a militaristic God, but the last ¼ talks about a “Prince of Peace.” 

   Perhaps on this eve of brotherly love we could rejoice and be thankful for our elected representatives coming together, in a non-partisan way to keep America free (but not necessarily with all of us voting).  There will always be time to build back better and we can worry about maintenance of infrastructure tomorrow.

Christmas Cheers, Old Buz   12/24/2021