What does this war or any war have to do with urban concerns?
Plenty.
The dollars being spent on this conflict affect the fate of cities in at least two very important ways.
First, a number of devastating cuts in much needed funds to support the progress, health and life of low-income, inner city residents is tied directly to every attempt to cover the costs of this conflict. The war debt will make cutting essential services and opportunity-creating initiatives designed to lift and stabilize "the urban poor" a real political temptation for years to come.
Second, what could we be "buying" with an equivalent outlay of resources, both human and material? I refer you to the real time, war cost calculator found at http://nationalpriorities.org/index.php?option=com_wrapper&Itemid=182.
Here's a sampling in answer to my question:
- Almost 29,000,000 children could attend Head Start for a full year
- We could have built almost 2,000,000 new housing units
- We could have hired almost 4,000,000 new public school teachers
- We could have provided health insurance for 130,000,000 children
- We could have provided 11,000,000 four-year scholarships to public universities
No matter what your opinion of the war, these are the facts we face today in the city.
The war in Iraq drives home the point that everything is connected these days. What happens in Baghdad affects life in inner city South Dallas.
This truth causes me to look at the war in a completely new way.
It forces on us new questions.
What is our return on investment in this conflict?
How does it relate to international terror?
To what sort of standard of performance should our leaders be held in this situation?
How much will this war cost before its done?
And then, what are the essentials for the creation and maintenance of peace anywhere in the world, including in our cities? Is pre-emptive engagement really the way to go if peace and the creation of new democracies is our goal?
I love what the Hebrew prophet Micah has to say on this. Hear his visionary words about peace and peacemaking:
"They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore. Every man will sit under his own vine and under his own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken." (Micah 4:3b-4)
Even though Micah offers a utopian vision of what could be, no one really expects such an age of peace to break out given the way our world does its business.
But then, maybe that's a big part of the problem.
Even though few leaders pay attention, Micah's vision does contain important elements or prerequisites for establishing peace today.
His formula is fairly simple.
Every person, every family will have adequate provisions for a decent life--the vine and fig tree epitomize that for ancient Jewish folk. There is a kind of security in having control of the basic provisions for life.
Coupled with this security is a wonderful by-product. Fear will not be a factor for people any longer. A sense of safety leads on to shalom, the wholeness of a peaceful life.
War and poverty go hand-in-hand. Security and peace are vitally related. Actions that provide the basics for people and that take away fear should always be considered by leaders who hope to establish peace, whether in an urban American setting or half-way around the world.
War is not the only solution. Economic justice and steps to assure some measure of equity that minimizes bloodshed should be pursued whenever possible, for as long as possible.
Micah was on to something important.
5 comments:
How is it that so many people cannot see the connection between educating our kids and what our world will look like in a few years? It seems to me that we need to flip the system and begin providing quality education on the front end so that we won't be dealing with so many problems on the back end. I realize that I just made a very simplistic statement and there's much more to it than that. But, we spend billions of dollars on the back end, which seems a very backward way to approach a long-term healthy community. We do that in other countries as well as our own. We aren't providing resources to our children...no, I take that back. We aren't providing resources to ALL of our children, just some...the ones at the top....the few at the top. Who's to say some of the kids at the "bottom" wouldn't turn out to be great benefits to our society if they were equipped when they were young...if they had even a portion of the resources that $216,721,726,000 would buy. I'm not talking material things here. I'm talking about educational, systemic resources...like quality teachers, like technology, like access to the arts, etc. It seems like this would be a novel approach when we go to help other countries as well, but because of my lack of knowledge in foreign issues, I have no expertise in that area. I do, however, feel I have enough expertise and experience to say that for our kids here in the U.S.
Well said Janet. Larry, I think you left out one cost...what about the young people who have lost their lives. I don't know the statistics but my bet is that many of those who are fighting this war joined the military as a way out of poverty. Our cities have lost their future leaders.
cHand, I must disagree with your simplistic reduction of the situation. just because you heard it on some talk radio does not mean it is true.
"America defended"
No terrorist attacks, true. But what about our reputation? International respect for America has plummeted, and today's "Summit of the Americas" is another stark reminder of how much anti-American sentiment there is out there. And what about the many more future terrorists that have been created because of our continued domination of the land of Iraq and the nation of Islam? I do not feel safer because of the war.
And defended? Look at the irreparable damage against our own people in the slow civil war that is our government's attack against the poor. How many have died because of lack of health care?
"Talliban defeated"
Their spirit of jihad lives on, and thrives, although they are out of power.
"terror camps disbanded"
You must be joking. Have you heard the term insurgent?
"a democratic Iraq"
We shall see if this lasts. Democracy cannot be imposed; it must be born out of the hearts of the people, grown from the grassroots. The shackles of tyranny have fallen, but civil unrest has replaced it, not peaceful democratic rule
"a Muslim democracy in the heart of the middle east"
See above
"Hussien in jail and soon on the gallows"
Good, he is in jail. But let us hope that he is not killed. That would only further the eye for an eye mentality that has driven us to this point. Rather, we should express the love of Christ, and forgive our enemy. We should not let him free, but allow his life to continue in jail, that Christ might find a way into his heart and bring him to his heaven.
"Bin-Ladden hiding in a cellar or dead....."
But how many more future bin Laden's created because of the continued tyranny that they see through the treatment of their people? I am not even talking about the inexcusable abuse of prisoners, which aired the hypocrisy of the war . . . but of the continued terror that these men live in, knowing that American soldiers could knock down the door at any moment. Even if they are not insurgents, I can see how they would become so. If someone were walking down my street, kicked in my door, scared my wife and ordered me to lie down face flat on the floor while they ransacked my house, I would get pretty p.o.'d, too. as would you, I imagine.
"what a bargain."
I would have rather had the housing, medication, education and support systems that this money could have bought.
And let us not forget: much of the price of this war has been amassed as debt, to be paid by our children. This was not a BARGAIN by any means, considering the interest we will be paying.
- chris
I am in the Army and serving in Afghanistan. I'm a Christian. I have been here for a little over four months, and continue to search for God's hand in this and all conflicts we are involved in. I was out of the Army for five years before I got called up. I had a civilian job, a new wife of one and a half years when I received my orders to deploy. It hurt to leave, and I spent many hours in prayer daily to try to answer why? Brother and sisters, please don't quibble and compare and stir up emotions of anger and dispair over this conflict. Our leaders who God has installed have sought to do what they think is in the best interest of this country. Of course, we can also spend more on this and that. It is an immense cost to be here, but I see the results daily. I have two Afghan citizens who work for me here. Shirzay and Hashmat. Both of their families had to flee to Pakistan when the Taliban took over. Shirzay's grandmother was injured in an explosion targeting a mosque several years ago. That was the last straw. How would you feel if your grandmother was injured by a bomb after leaving church on Sunday? Hashmat is an English and Computer teacher. When the Taliban came into his class room, they beat him for teaching. Brother and sisters, there are innocents here who need our protection. I see it every day. They don't have the resources that we enjoy in the U.S., not even a glimmer of a chance at some of the resources we have. I can't say if it's right to be here, but I can say, we have and are making a difference in many innocent lives that would be much worse off had we not arrived. to the ones who doubt our "reputation" in the world, believe me, it's golden with those we have helped. Those who disdain us are not in need of a strong protector! God bless.
My Anonymous Soldier brother, thank you for your heart felt post from the front line, literally. You are in my prayers and you will be throughout the coming days.
My intention is not to stir up conflict, but to simply point out what is happening in our country, not just because of the war but due to a philosophy that is systematically changing the vision of America here at home.
You and all of your fellow military personnel have my support and the prayers of everyone here at home. You are not the problem at all.
More specifically, from a policy standpoint and from my personal opinion, the efforts in Afghanistan seemed correct from the beginning. The matter of Iraq is quite different as we are discovering daily here at home.
But, my intention here is not to discuss the war but to report what I observe daily among my very low-income neighbors, especially the children.
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