last night, i went through the process of collecting all the information necessary and filling out tax forms. one thing can be said -- the government does not make it easy for you to send them money.
as i was writing a check, i realized that 47% of the check that i was writing would go directly to financing the military. that percentage does not include the 75 billion dollars that president bush is asking for, and will receive, addressing the financial cost of the war in iraq. (source:war resisters league)
of all the arguments against war, i believe that economics is one of the most valid. i believe that we should reduce the amount spent on the military by half, at least, which should be entirely sufficient for reliable defense of our country, and spend the rest of the money on research to solve the fundamental problems that the world has, for instance:
- clean power that is cheap and reliable
- new ways of producing nutritious food in inhospitable conditions
- xenophobia and religious/political zealotry