Mr. President,
I am one of the millions of Americans praying for you as you begin your second term as President of these United States. I am encouraged by your vision and hopeful for the days, and weeks, and months and years to come as we work together as citizens all across this country to make the world, and not just our country alone, a better place.
But, Mr. President, it is not enough to declare that a “decade of war is now ending,” as you did in your inaugural address this morning. Not while we continue to launch unmanned attack drones against our enemies. Not while we continue to detain and torture ‘enemy combatants’ in secret prisons. Not while we continue to maintain the world’s largest standing army. Not while we continue to outspend the rest of the world combined on weapons of war and high powered killing machines.
We have squandered the great wealth our country in protracted and bloody conflicts around the globe that have not brought any improved measure of security or goodwill to our country or the world. We have sacrificed the lives of too many men and woman and children – those of our nation and in those countries where we have stationed our soldiers – and not gained anything from their sacrifice.
I know that you must be aware of the irony of your inauguration day coming on the celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.– who declared that “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. “ How can we honor him and his great work and still continue to pour our vast resources into the bottomless abyss of continued militarism?
I am one of the millions of Americans praying for you as you begin your second term as President of these United States. I am encouraged by your vision and hopeful for the days, and weeks, and months and years to come as we work together as citizens all across this country to make the world, and not just our country alone, a better place.
But, Mr. President, it is not enough to declare that a “decade of war is now ending,” as you did in your inaugural address this morning. Not while we continue to launch unmanned attack drones against our enemies. Not while we continue to detain and torture ‘enemy combatants’ in secret prisons. Not while we continue to maintain the world’s largest standing army. Not while we continue to outspend the rest of the world combined on weapons of war and high powered killing machines.
We have squandered the great wealth our country in protracted and bloody conflicts around the globe that have not brought any improved measure of security or goodwill to our country or the world. We have sacrificed the lives of too many men and woman and children – those of our nation and in those countries where we have stationed our soldiers – and not gained anything from their sacrifice.
I know that you must be aware of the irony of your inauguration day coming on the celebration of the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr.– who declared that “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom. “ How can we honor him and his great work and still continue to pour our vast resources into the bottomless abyss of continued militarism?
We cannot fix the
broken things by breaking them even more.
We will not make peace in the world by killing our enemies. This has never worked and never will. There is no redemption in violence. Mr. President, it is not enough to declare
that a decade of war is ending if we continue to operate in the same manner. We must begin to do things differently.
The voters of our country, and myself among them, have chosen to give you another four years as the President of our country. Do right in them. Make good upon the words you spoke this morning. Honor and continue the work of Martin Luther King Jr. Bring the militarism and warring of the United States to an end. Bring our soldiers home, close the military bases around the world, close the torture prisons, discontinue the use of unmanned attack drones, and turn the resources and the energy and the vitality our nation toward those programs of social uplift that will bring about a more just and equitable society.
Sincerely,
The voters of our country, and myself among them, have chosen to give you another four years as the President of our country. Do right in them. Make good upon the words you spoke this morning. Honor and continue the work of Martin Luther King Jr. Bring the militarism and warring of the United States to an end. Bring our soldiers home, close the military bases around the world, close the torture prisons, discontinue the use of unmanned attack drones, and turn the resources and the energy and the vitality our nation toward those programs of social uplift that will bring about a more just and equitable society.
Sincerely,
Jeff Carter
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