This is a picture of a 15,000 kilaton explosion. This is probably the summit of all fears. Below I will work through the data given in Brian McLaren's book Everything Must Change."We have about 50% of the world's wealth, but only 6.3% of its population.....Our real task in the coming period is to devise a pattern of relationships which will permit us to maintain this position of disparity." ~ George Kennon, 1948, one of the American government's leading foreign policy planners of the 20th century.
"So in terms of the suicide machine's three mechanisms, we could say it rather baldly and boldly like this: the purpose of the US security system is to maintain the inequity of US prosperity. Or, put alternatively, to maintain and expand the American Empire." ~ Brian McLaren on the above quote from Everything Must Change, pg. 164.
Let's examine what McLaren is saying in the list below:
1. In the 2006 American military budget, our expeditures were 21 times larger than diplomacy and foreign aid combined.
2. The US is dead last among the most developed nations in terms of foreign aid as a percentage of gross domestic product.
3. 10% of the US military budget reinvested in foreign aid and development could care for the needs of the entire earth's poor.
4. 1/2 of 1% of the US military budget would cut hunger in Africa in half by 2015.
5. The US, Russia, UK, France and China provide 86.7% of the global arms exports (sometimes to their avowed enemies).
6. America produces 53.4 of all the world's weapons.
7. 80% of the top buyers of our weapons are countries we have labeled as undemocratic and rejecting human rights, such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
8. In 1999 the US supplied arms to 92% of the conflicts in progress on the planet, often supplying both sides.
9. From 1998 to 2001, the US, Britain, and France earned more from selling arms to developing nations than they gave to those nations in aid.
10. "Every year small arms kill more people than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki put together. Many more people are injured, terrorized or driven from their homes by armed violence." ~ Desmond Tutu
11. In the 20th century, 43 million military personnel were killed in war, and 62 million civilians.
12. The US military budget in 2003 was larger than the next fifteen nations combined. By 2006 it had swelled by 49% over its 2000 levels, not including expenses for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
13. Hidden costs not included in the figuring above have to do with the "brain drain" of using the best engineers, scientists, and thinkers developing non-productive assets.
14. In 2004 global military expenses exceeded $1 trillion while serious international terrorist attacks rose from 175 to 655.
15. From 1948 to 1990 the US and USSR amassed about 75,000 nuclear warheads whose combined power was 1 million times greater than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima.
16. Since 1940 the US spent $5.48 trillion on nuclear weapons and delivery systems.
17. In 1969 one US sub could destroy 160 Soviet cities simultaneously.
18. At the height of MAD, the US was capable of blowing up 10 planets like earth. Even with disarmament we can still blow up several earths.
19. The US presently spends $100 million per day to maintain these systems.
20. Before 2001 the US annual investment in defense was more than 20% of its fiscal budget, over 1/2 trillion dollars, and over half of the national debt ($2.9 out of $5.6 trillion). Since 2001 these figures have exploded.
21. We are now stronger militarily than the next 25 nations combined.
Is this a sobering picture? What the fission are we doing? And what about the church? Do we think this is all a really great idea? Is this indicative of a righteous trajectory for America?
6 comments:
Let's just remove this information from any left-wing or right-wing context and simply ask the question, "What is going on?" Ask yourself if the taxes you pay should be going to a program of Spartan military superiority or if we've missed the boat on how to deal with the world, from Jesus' viewpoint.
What I hear you doing is simply parroting right-wing theory. Maybe we can transcend the political yin-yang for a minute and just look at the facts. I think that is what McLaren is saying, and, yes, it is disturbing. But since when did you decide to build up defenses against any counter-information to your biases? What I mainly try to draw from political discussion is an understanding of the issues, not a blanket validation of one opinion, theory, or doctrine.
The point here is that America may be on the brink of some kind of insanity. It may make sense as a kind of imperialism, but does it make sense when seen through the lens of Jesus' teachings? Perhaps I ask too much of you to stand outside of your political bias for a moment and just look at what we are actually doing.
I'm not putting McLaren on a pedestal. I'm not making him the king of Christianity. Jesus is that. I'm processing someone who is actually thinking.
In the movie, Shoa, about the Nazi holocaust, the people who lived right next to the concentration camps where Jewish flesh was roasting daily took no notice. They just went about their business, mowing their lawns, going to the grocery.
I'm not questioning America's greatness, I'm wondering about her course. I'm wondering if she is really still following the founding fathers. But even more importantly, I wonder if the church here is really following Jesus. If we were, wouldn't we be calling our leaders to account for what they do with our money? Wouldn't we ask why we are giving our life's blood to build an unparalleled juggernaut military machine of insane dimensions? Is it wrong to label that action imperialist? If you were looking at it from some other country in the world, what would you be thinking about it? I know you. You would probably be its most vocal critic.
I admire your patriotism; but should love of country mean we can never be critical? Then we'd be like the people of Germany: "Strange. That doesn't smell like logs burning over there in those strange, ugly buildings."
I'm just trying to provoke thought here, friend. It's a nasty job, but somebody's gotta do it. Have I sinned?
Sorry for the deletions I messed up and decided not to post. It must be the spirit of the new year.
Gostei muito desse post e seu blog é muito interessante, vou passar por aqui sempre =) Depois dá uma passada lá no meu site, que é sobre o CresceNet, espero que goste. O endereço dele é http://www.provedorcrescenet.com . Um abraço.
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