Bring an end to ‘triple evils’ by abandoning war

[marmar]

from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:



Bring an end to ‘triple evils’ by abandoning war
This column is solicited to provide another viewpoint to an AJC editorial published today.

By Kevin Martin, Leslie Cagan
For the Journal-Constitution

Sunday, April 05, 2009


Saturday marked the tragic anniversary of the 1968 assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., but also the anniversary of his “Beyond Vietnam” speech one year earlier. In that 1967 speech at the historic Riverside Church in New York City, one of the most inspiring anti-war speeches ever delivered, King decried the “triple evils” plaguing our country —- “racism, extreme materialism and militarism.”

Were he alive, we believe King would urge President Obama to use his political and rhetorical skills to call on our people to cure these ills still so prevalent in our society. A first step would be ending the U.S. occupation of Iraq and, instead of sending an additional 21,000 troops, begin bringing home the troops in Afghanistan.

And we humbly suspect that King would have been with us Saturday in Manhattan when we and other peace advocates marched to Wall Street to call for an end to war and corporate bailouts and for investing in our communities and human needs, environmental restoration and a green economy for all. Or as King so concisely phrased it, to “rapidly begin the shift from a thing-oriented society to a person-oriented society.”

Most of the people of this country, and around the world, want Obama to succeed. However, his escalation of the war in Afghanistan, as well as the ongoing occupation of Iraq, threaten to make a shambles of his domestic economic agenda, as well as his presidency, as the Vietnam War did to President Lyndon Johnson’s presidency.

Haven’t we had enough of war? We need to devote all of our energy and attention to addressing the global economic and climate crises, and to improving education, housing and health care in this country, not squandering $12 billion per month on the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. ............(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/04/05-1

[azul]

1. We need to go back to the pay as you go rules (expired 2002) and let

real people decide where we go with spending the taxpayers' money. Instead of the present system of corporations and wealthy players telling congress where to take us, borrowing a mountain of debt in the process that can never be paid off.

Why aren't more people kicking and screaming? Is economic slavery preferable to change? Fear of the unknown which change represents?

Or have critical voices, like MLK, been silenced and marginalized?