Books not Bombs: Development Aid Will Prevent Conflict!
- by: Josh Dasher
- recipient: Senate Finance Committee
Desperation leads to desperate actions. There are millions of truly desperate people in the world... people who face starvation, oppression, poverty, bad water, homelessness, ignorance, and no hope for their futures. These desperate people may take desperate measures! They may lash out against the world. They may, and in many cases already have, lash out at the people that have, and have not shared.
The best way to ensure American safety, is not to build huge walls and fences shutting out and isolating these marginalized people, but instead to help them climb out of their hopeless circumstances. The best way to stop a desperate person with nothing to lose from taking extreme measures, is to help ensure that that person HAS SOMETHING to lose.
The US spends hundreds of thousands of dollars in production costs for a stealth missile, even more costs in terms of destruction of the target, then add in the costs of rebuilding the infrastructure that those bombs destroy! It is a formidable expense! AND you can never rebuild the destroyed trust and potential friendships that such violence causes.
With such extensive costs, it is time to take a look at US policy. We currently spend less that 15 billion on all foreign AID -- 15 billion to help countries pull themselves out of terrible economic and social chaos & bring human rights, freedom, hope, opportunity, satisfaction of the basic necessities and a chance to live life to the fullest!
By contrast, we spend more than 450 Billion US dollars on bombs, weapons and all defense measures to deal with potential threat of attack from marginalized people across the world. Spending just a small percentage of that amount on preventive measures could go a long way in keeping populations across the globe from feeling marginalized.
The Senate Finance Committee holds the purse strings for the US government. Tell them to act now, to save the US billions of dollars in the long run and spend a little money to help those who need it most! Kofi Annan, when speaking to the World Bank in 1999, said "If war is the worst enemy of development, healthy and balanced development is the best form of conflict prevention."
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People demand, at a minimum, a certain quality of life: human rights, freedom, hope, opportunity, satisfaction of the basic necessities and a chance to live life to the fullest!
The international community should reach out in friendship to help where people have not yet achieved that minimum quality of life! The international has an obligation to promote this quality of life.
Desperation leads to desperate actions. There are millions of truly desperate people in the world... people who face starvation, oppression, poverty, bad water, homelessness, ignorance, an no hope for their futures. These desperate people may take desperate measures! They may lash out against the world. They may, and in many cases already have, lashed out at the people that have, and have not shared.
The best way to ensure American safety, is not to build huge walls and fences shutting out and isolating these marginalized people, but instead to help them climb out of their hopeless circumstances. The best way to stop a desperate person with nothing to lose from taking extreme measures, is to help ensure that that person HAS SOMETHING to lose.
Many of us pay medical insurance, and get regular medical check ups because the cost of emergency care far exceeds the costs of preventive care! Lets learn from this lesson. Lets be willing to pay a little more now on prevention so that we don't face the exorbitant costs of emergency care-- (Just add the costs of military action and rebuilding in Iraq & Afghanistan to know that spending more in International Development Aid would be worth it.)
Bombs definitely cost more than books! The US spends hundreds of thousands of dollars in production costs for a stealth missile, even more costs in terms of destruction of the target, then add in the costs of rebuilding the infrastructure that those bombs destroy! It is a formidable expense! But you never can rebuild the destroyed trust and potential friendships that such violence causes.
With such extensive costs, it is time to take a look at US policy. We currently spend less that 15 billion on all foreign AID. 15 billion to help countries pull themselves out of terrible economic and social chaos.
However we spend more than 450 Billion US dollars on bombs, weapons and all defense measures to deal with potential threat of attack from marginalized people across the world. Spending just a small percentage of that amount on preventive measures, to help prevent populations from feeling marginalized.
You hold the purse strings for the US government. Act now, to save the US billions of dollars in the long run. And you will also have the knowledge that you have helped billions of people who need it most!
Kofi Annan, when speaking to the World Bank in 1999, said "If war is the worst enemy of development, healthy and balanced development is the best form of conflict prevention."
Sign PetitionSign PetitionThe international community should reach out in friendship to help where people have not yet achieved that minimum quality of life! The international has an obligation to promote this quality of life.
Desperation leads to desperate actions. There are millions of truly desperate people in the world... people who face starvation, oppression, poverty, bad water, homelessness, ignorance, an no hope for their futures. These desperate people may take desperate measures! They may lash out against the world. They may, and in many cases already have, lashed out at the people that have, and have not shared.
The best way to ensure American safety, is not to build huge walls and fences shutting out and isolating these marginalized people, but instead to help them climb out of their hopeless circumstances. The best way to stop a desperate person with nothing to lose from taking extreme measures, is to help ensure that that person HAS SOMETHING to lose.
Many of us pay medical insurance, and get regular medical check ups because the cost of emergency care far exceeds the costs of preventive care! Lets learn from this lesson. Lets be willing to pay a little more now on prevention so that we don't face the exorbitant costs of emergency care-- (Just add the costs of military action and rebuilding in Iraq & Afghanistan to know that spending more in International Development Aid would be worth it.)
Bombs definitely cost more than books! The US spends hundreds of thousands of dollars in production costs for a stealth missile, even more costs in terms of destruction of the target, then add in the costs of rebuilding the infrastructure that those bombs destroy! It is a formidable expense! But you never can rebuild the destroyed trust and potential friendships that such violence causes.
With such extensive costs, it is time to take a look at US policy. We currently spend less that 15 billion on all foreign AID. 15 billion to help countries pull themselves out of terrible economic and social chaos.
However we spend more than 450 Billion US dollars on bombs, weapons and all defense measures to deal with potential threat of attack from marginalized people across the world. Spending just a small percentage of that amount on preventive measures, to help prevent populations from feeling marginalized.
You hold the purse strings for the US government. Act now, to save the US billions of dollars in the long run. And you will also have the knowledge that you have helped billions of people who need it most!
Kofi Annan, when speaking to the World Bank in 1999, said "If war is the worst enemy of development, healthy and balanced development is the best form of conflict prevention."
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