Military prowess provides neither peace nor strength

"Peace through strength" is the lodestar, the guiding assumption, of the United States policy since World War II

- Jesse Jackson

America maintains by far the strongest military force in the world. We literally police the world. But in the current world, we are discovering that military prowess provides neither peace nor strength. We have the smartest bombs in the world, but our children rank only 22nd in educational achievement. We need to think again about the true sources of peace and strength.

The military and law enforcement budget now consumes about two-thirds of our annually appropriated spending $1.1 trillion in fiscal year 2022 from a $1.7 trillion budget. We maintain more than 700 military bases in 80 countries. Our armed forces are active in some 127 countries.

The imbalance is apparent. In 2020, Lockheed Martin alone won $75 billion in Pentagon contracts. This is more than the entire budgets of the State Department and the Agency for International Development combined.

The National Priorities Project reports that an average taxpayer spent more than $1,000 a year on weapons contractors compared to $270 for K to 12 education and $6 for renewable energy.