Not My Priorities: A National Campaign to Decrease Military Spending

14 T I K K U N W W W. T I K K U N . O R G N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 H ow much do we really need to spend to defend ourselves? At$708billion,thePentagongetsnearly60percentofourdiscretionary budget(themoneyCongressisfreetoallocate).Meanwhileourschoolsare in crisis, lacking the money for teachers and books, and social welfare programs are weakening, depriving the most vulnerable members of our community of vital support and health care. BuddhistscholarandteacherJoannaMacy,authorofDespairandEmpowermentinthe NuclearAge,tookastrongstanceagainstthismadnessinaMay2010presentationwithNot My Priorities, a national campaign that seeks to stir up the public and create a debate in Congress about our defense spending. Speaking to the Berkeley Fellowship of Unitarian Universalists, she said: There seems to be a scandal going on, an insanity we are in the midst of… Our president said firmly in the State of the Union: “I’m going to hold the line on domestic spending.” But military spending? Greater than ever. So we are heartsick over that. At this time when so many people and their children are suffering with foreclosures and joblessness, we are pursuing an illegitimate, illegal, devastatingly expensive military operation, to say nothing of the 800 to 1,000 military bases around the world. Future generations are going to look back and say, “What was happening? Were all the people asleep?” oneself is ipso facto pathological, and this, it is asserted, leads to irrational hatred of Israel, which is seen as the embodiment of the Jewish people. Thus, defenders of Israeli policies aim to exclude Jewish critics from public discourse by defining them as crazy persons, driven to anti-Semitism by self-loathing. In this way Lerner’s criticism of Israel, or Goldstone’s, or Arendt’s is dismissed as arising from psychological or spiritual disturbance rather than reasoned argument or an ethical posture. Calumny, an old-fashioned blend of slander, distortion, and innuendo, has been a recurring instrument of intimidation in post-Holocaust Jewish politics. Hannah Arendt’s experience offers an early example, and there are echoes of it in the current campaign against Lerner and Goldstone. Indeed, calumny is leveled against any Jews in the “loyal opposition” who are worried that Israeli militarism inevitably points to some final disaster, as well as convinced that the pursuit of peace and justice in a spirit of friendship and cooperation might also advance national security. I NotMyPriorities: ANationalCampaigntoDecreaseMilitarySpending byEllenAugustine Ellen Augustine, M.A., is codirector of notmypriorities.org. She is a speaker and author on creating a just, peaceful, and sustainable world. She was the Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in 1994 (asEllenSchwartz). TRANSLATORSNEEDED Can youdonateyourtimeto translate ourarticles? Contact:rabbilerner@tikkun.org. Politics_2.qxd:Politics 10/12/10 1:26 PM Page 14 N O V E M B E R / D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 0 W W W. T I K K U N . O R G T I K K U N 15 Welookintoourheartmindstoseewhat’sgoingon,nottorunawayfromit. To rise above the denial and torpor that is seizing the media and so many of our brother/sister citizens. We are alive at a time when this country, which prides itself on being the last remaining superpower, is spending as much on its defense as all the other countries in the world combined. We should be up in arms about that, or de-arming them, in any case. But we’re waking up. I am so pleased the Not My Priorities project is doing something so creative. The Not My Priorities campaign centers around a budget pie chart postcard that has three spaces on the back for people to write their alternatives. Postcards are pre-addressed to the president, representatives, and senators. More than 100,000 are in circulation across the nation. Macy said: Whatisheaviestonmyheartinthis,aretheabsolutelyterrifying,sickening increases in nuclear weaponry that are put into this budget. There is more being assigned for development of nuclear weapons now than at any time since or even during the Cold War. So I feel very enthusiastic, relieved, and excited about the Not My Priorities postcards, which help us see this so clearly. A picture is worth a thousand words. And...