Letter to the Editor by Vicki Ryder of Tri-Cities VFP (Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill in North Carolina), Chapter 157. The letter is reprinted with her permission, but the original letter was printed in the Durham Herald-Sun.
What True Defense Is About
A headline in The Herald-Sun (2/19/17) reported that “Trump’s plan for spike in defense spending faces big hurdles.” I certainly hope so!
Martin Luther King Jr. warned us half a century ago that “a nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom.” Unfortunately, King’s warning has gone unheeded, and our country faces a deep moral crisis.
Throwing money at the Pentagon, as we have been doing for years, won't protect us from the dangers we face as our infrastructure crumbles, as affordable health care moves beyond reach for more and more of us, as hate crimes rise and as our sources of clean air and clean water are jeopardized by fossil fuel profiteers. Nor will the Pentagon defend our Constitutional rights or protect us from militarized police and private security forces who turn their weapons on those who stand against injustice, as they are doing at Standing Rock today.
As a nation, we must ask ourselves what true “defense” is all about. How can we best defend ourselves against current dangers without a clear understanding of what our safety as a nation really means?
While North Carolina senators Richard Burr and Thom Tillis are home during the congressional recess, we must demand that they direct our tax dollars to programs that will benefit our citizens and our communities, and not to wasteful Pentagon spending. Our safety -- indeed our very existence -- is at stake.
Vicki Ryder
Durham