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Archive - Opinion

A DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL VISION

February 12. 2005

May I try defining a new political vision as a Democratic Presidential candidate in 2008?

Let’s start with home base. The United States spends one trillion dollars yearly on intelligence and our military. Any idea how much of our gross national product we spend on Foreign Aid? How about one tenth of one percent? About $15 billion, I think it is.

If I were a Democratic Presidential candidate, I’d propose we reduce our intelligence and military budgets by ten percent, and spend half of it at home in our own economy, say for health care, and half as foreign investment directly to low paid workers, including poor Muslims, in underdeveloped nations. That would put $100 billion new dollars into our economy and foreign economies, many of whom view us as their enemy, and who are the breeding grounds for terrorists.

Would that weaken our military? Well, it would only leave us spending more money on our military than the next eight or nine countries of the world, instead of the next ten countries, as we now do.

It’s the kind of strategy Jesus Christ suggested. Say, what do you think? Should we propose the strategy to conservative Christians supporting the Iraqi war? Do you think maybe, in the heat of battle, they’ve just overlooked the idea?

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