Jeff Kelly: Stop the military looting

I think everyone concerned with the future of America can agree that looting must be stopped.

But, truth be told, the images of ransacked stores will mean nothing in comparison to what will occur in proposed federal spending bills. If successful, Congress, the Pentagon and arms manufacturers will loot the American treasury to the tune of $740 billion. So-called “defense” spending will increase by $100 billion over previous budgets. In a time of burgeoning COVID-19 deaths and economic decline this, then, is the response by our corrupt politicians.

Some representatives like Sen. Bernie Sanders an Rep. Mark Pocan asked for reductions of anywhere from 10-14%. Never mind that both Sanders and Pocan did little or nothing to stop the basing of dysfunctional F-35s in their home states. Planes that are the poster child for excess and waste. In any event the bill they supported was defeated on large part because fellow Democrats voted against it. Proving once again that ignorance resides on both sides of the aisle.

Instead of all this political posturing leading to nothing, this country needs to begin a nationwide reckoning about military spending without which nothing can move forward. If the bloated military gets everything then of course our representatives can claim there’s no money for anything that actually benefits people.

We can continue the fantasy of cowardly bipartisan support (including Sen. Tammy Baldwin) for useless military projects or we can end this madness. Clueless, misguided militarism is not patriotic.

Jeff Kelly

Send your letter to the editor to tctvoice@madison.com. Include your full name, hometown and phone number. Your name and town will be published. The phone number is for verification purposes only. Please keep your letter to 250 words or less.