Train for Change! Peace Action Education Fund's Move the Money Training Program, and FaceBook Action to Press Prez Candidates to Cut Pentagon Budget!
| President Dwight Eisenhower warned the nation of the dangers of a military industrial complex which had begun to influence all aspects of our society – “economic, political, even spiritual — felt in every city, every State house, every office of the Federal government.”Ike was right!
More than half of all yearly discretionary spending goes to the Pentagon budget separate and apart from the costs of the wars. Now they employ more than 1,000 lobbyists, nearly two for every Congressional representative. Take a moment to go to Facebook and let the presidential, and your congressional, candidates know that Ike was right! Post to Facebook: “Time to change national spending priorities, move the money from the Pentagon budget to fund jobs and community services.” http://www.facebook.com/mittromney and http://www.facebook.com/barackobama A new grassroots movement is growing in support of moving the money from weapons and wars to funding our communities. The movement is mobilizing to pass city council resolutions calling on their Congresspeople to cut the Pentagon budget and bring the war dollars home. NC Peace Action organized in Burlington, NC for passage of the most recent local resolution in a town of 50,000 where 14% of the population lives below the poverty line. They may have lobbyists, but we are organizing a politically empowered grassroots movement. Peace Action has partnered with National Priorities Project to create a model for a one day Move the Money Training. The trial runs in New York City, Ohio and Maryland brought together community groups organizing on labor and voters rights, poverty issues, veterans’ issues, along with faith communities and peace activists. The participants are on the front lines of the struggle for our communities. The Move the Money Training drills down into the details of the federal budget spending priorities and how it prioritizes the Pentagon over human needs . The federal budget is a document much like the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights which shapes and, in some cases, dictates how we function as a society and therefore should reflect our core values and priorities. Through interactive exercises, the Move the Money Training provides an opportunity to explore the roots of the fear mongering on reducing the Pentagon budget. We examine the ways we can take action together to weigh in on the national debate underway in the 2012 elections and in the halls of Congress. We are still refining the Move the Money Training curriculum. We are preparing to give the trainings in other parts of the country and then provide the training materials for others to use. Until we are effectively mobilizing tens of thousands of everyday people into the debate with the knowledge of the federal budget and a sense of grassroots political power to counter the fear mongering, we will not change national spending priorities. The Move the Money Training plus the local initiatives to press local elected officials to take a stand are critical elements of movement building to challenge the might of the military industrial complex. Weigh in with the presidential and congressional candidates and tell them: ” All the polls show that a majority want the Pentagon budget cut at least 18% What are you going to do to change national spending priorities?” Mitt Romney on Facebook and President Obama on Facebook And Like Peace Action on Facebook The Move the Money Trainings is one effort to strengthen community, labor and peace movement alliances for a fundamental shift away from a militarized federal budget and foreign policy. Please post information on your efforts at http://www.facebook.com/peaceaction Power to the Peaceful,
|
