Not long ago I received an appeal for donations from the American Friends Service Committee. Their plan is to raise the equivalent of one minute of what the US spends annually on our military. Any idea how much that minute is worth? Two million one hundred thousand dollars.
Their mailer was a yard-long, thin piece of paper marked with all the major pieces of the Federal budget. The military portion was 60% of the total, with little slivers for things like agriculture (2%), EPA (1%), and Health and Human Services (7%). These numbers give me a different perspective when I hear those Congressional ninnys arguing over whether to cut military spending or not.
This mailer also featured the following quote from Eisenhower:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired, signifies in the final sense a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed.
In this season of political speechifying and holiday sentimentality, I think the quote – and who said it – makes a great counterbalance.
Happy Holidays!
Comments
Susan,
Thanks for your support.
At AFSC we’ve found that fold-out to be a great conversation starter to help people better grasp the current priorities as expressed by the discretionary portion of the budget. It’s amazing that nearly all of the debate last spring focused on the 40% on the right edge of the chart.
If you have any questions, please feel free to let us know.