The US War Machine, and the War Budget, Are Out of Control. Let’s Change That.
Image by Valeriia Miller.
Much of the time, it seems as if the war machine runs on autopilot. Indeed, the United States has been engaged in warfare for almost the entirety of our 250-year history. It feels overwhelming to most people to attempt to intervene, yet we are all involved, as our tax dollars feed endless wars, interventions, and weapons transfers fueling violent conflict around the world, (and at home, as evidenced by the murders of US citizens by ICE). So, intervene we must, if we want our government to pursue more productive, life-affirming policies and priorities.
This week, the Senate will vote on the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), which sets war policies and priorities for the next fiscal year. The Trump Administration, enabled by many in Congress, is proposing an outrageous 66% increase in Pentagon and related spending, to over $1.5 trillion per year. While this is a boon to weapons manufacturers, it is detrimental to everyone and everything else. We must stop this madness.
On the other side of the guns vs. butter ledger, Trump has already slashed over $1 trillion in funding from health care and food assistance programs over the next decade. And he wants to make even bigger cuts to health care, climate, housing, food, and other human needs. Trump recently said we can’t fund child care because we’re fighting wars, in the context of his (and Benjamin Netanyahu’s) illegal war of aggression against Iran. Sometimes he says the quiet part out loud.
So the task is simple, to tell the Senate to vote “no” on this misappropriation of our tax dollars. It is easy enough to dial the U.S. Congressional Switchboard at (202) 224-3121, and ask to be connected to your two senators (requiring two calls).
In addition to demanding they vote against this gargantuan war budget, tell them to reject the proposed US-Israel Defense Technology Cooperation Initiative, and a related Intelligence cooperation agreement, both of which would further entangle the two countries’ war machines, at a time when the government of Israel is deservedly unpopular for its never-ending wars, and its occupation and apartheid against the Palestinian people.
If you can do more than call, please write to your senators with the following message, with thanks to the People Over Pentagon coalition:
“Dear Senator,
I urge you to vote against President Donald Trump’s request for a $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget, to oppose any increase to the Pentagon budget for 2027, and to vote for any amendment to cut that budget.
Trump’s proposed $1.5 trillion budget for the Pentagon would be a stunning 66% increase over last year’s already enormous $900 billion Pentagon budget. Trump is cutting funding for health care, housing, food, education, and climate action. He is using this money to dramatically increase funding for the Pentagon.
Trump has already cut over a trillion dollars from funds for Medicaid, Medicare, the Affordable Care Act, and SNAP, which helps low income people buy food. Millions of people are expected to lose health care coverage and food.
The Pentagon is unaccountable to American taxpayers and has never passed an audit. More than half of the Pentagon’s budget (54 percent) is paid to corporate military contractors, whose profits are rising. Further gigantic increases would be grossly irresponsible.
Please oppose Trump’s $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget and oppose any increase in Pentagon funding this year. This money should be invested in meeting basic needs in our communities.”
Please encourage friends, family and colleagues to call or write as well, and you can tag your senators on social media, with this simple message:
“Dear @ Senator (fill in their names), I urge you to vote against Trump’s $1.5 trillion Pentagon budget. Please oppose any increase in funding for the Pentagon. This money must be spent on human needs, including health care, housing, food, education, and climate action. #PeopleOverPentagon”
Politicians in Washington, and the masters of war (Lockheed Martin, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon and company) count on a complacent citizenry accepting business as usual to keep their endless war gravy train running. Let them know this outlandish war budget is unacceptable, and that we will be watching and holding them accountable.
Chekhov, the Military Budget, and Endless Wars
After the 2024 election, the White House website described what it called Donald \Trump’s “mandate,” beginning with “putting a stop to endless wars.” Nevertheless, on Feb. 28, the United States and Israel began an unprovoked war with Iran by bombing strikes that not only destroyed military targets but killed thousands of Iranians, including the country’s Supreme Leader and much of its other leadership as well as many civilians. A first day strike on a primary school reportedly killed 170 children. Trump then threatened to destroy an entire civilization if Iran did not capitulate.
When the war began, Trump released a video stating that his goal was “eliminating imminent threats from the Iranian regime.” He laid out five specific aims: destroying Iran’s missiles so they are “totally obliterated;” “annihilate their navy;” eliminate Iran’s “terrorist proxies”; “ensure that Iran does not obtain a nuclear weapon;” and to the Iranian people, “the hour of your freedom is at hand.” Asked by the New York Times on March 2 how long the war would take, Trump responded “we intended four to five weeks.” The next day Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth was emphatic, “This is not Iraq. This is not endless.” Yet, as of this writing, the war has reached its fifth month with Trump declaring a 60-day ceasefire over after less than a month. None of his goals had been achieved.
Did Trump break a campaign promise to end “forever wars”? When asked this by Kristen Welker on “Meet the Press,” he denied doing so because “this is not an endless war.” If he was totally against war, he would “not have built the strongest military in the world.” Inadvertently, his answer reveals the problem – the bloated United States military budget which is currently around a trillion dollars (more if veterans’ benefits and nuclear weapons housed in the Department of Energy are included). This spending is a product of budgets submitted by both Democratic and Republican Presidents that were approved by bipartisan majorities in Congress. The proposed budget for the coming year is $1.45 billion with a likely supplemental request to fund the Iran War to follow.
Diplomacy is difficult. It requires patience together with deep knowledge of the country on the other side and the issues under negotiation. The nuclear agreement Barack Obama negotiated with Iran took nearly two years and was 160 pages long. The negotiating team included experienced diplomats and scientists compared to Trump’s team of two real estate developers, one of whom is his son-in-law. Meanwhile, the American military, obviously far superior to that of Iran, presented another option.
As Anton Chekhov put it, albeit in a very different context, “One must not put a loaded rifle upon the stage if no one is thinking of firing it.” To Trump the military option seemed a quick and relatively low-cost way of achieving the goals stated in his video compared to the slow pace of his negotiations with Iran. Because he truly expected that the war would be over quickly due to overwhelming American military power, he would not be breaking his pledge of avoiding endless wars.
He may have even believed that the mistake made in the Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq wars was sending in large numbers of ground troops and the American casualties that followed. Instead, overwhelming air power would be an easier method of waging war.
The bombing videos that Pete Hegseth released daily created the impression that this was more of a video game than a war, when, in fact, real people died. As I have written elsewhere, there is considerable evidence, dating back to at least WWII that even countries with overwhelming air power cannot bomb their enemies into submission.
The best way to reduce the danger of entering endless wars is to reduce the military budget sharply so that a President is not tempted to reach for the weapons of war when frustrated by the slow pace of diplomacy or the need to compromise. The United States does not need to spend more than twice as much as Russia and China combined to defend itself. The fewer weapons lying around, the less likely a President is to reach for them.
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