April 15, 2022

BYALFRED DE ZAYAS

Photo credit: United Nations (UN)

“In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes.”

– Dwight D. Eisenhower, 17 January 1961[1]

Our governments have the wrong priorities — totally skewed budgetary priorities.  Year after year our tax dollars are being squandered by Congress, which adopts military-first budgets instead of human-security budgets.  As I documented in my 2014 report to the UN Human Rights Council[2], some 40% of our budget goes for the military – trillions of dollars for war, military interventions, military propaganda, missiles, drones, military bases at home and abroad, military exercises, what else?  And…