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| In 2012 global military spending amounted to over 1.7 trillion dollars. |
Consumers buying stuff eventually leads to politicians buying bombs.
As our money trickles up it provides the capital necessary to fund war. War on Terror, War on Drugs, War on The Environment. War on Human Rights.
Everything except a War on Poverty or Corruption or Greed. Or Ignorance.
Even the country I currently live in (Canada), a nation once known for international peace keeping, is getting in on killing things.
Our lack of climate change leadership is killing the atmosphere. Our military planes are dropping bombs in the Middle East killing everything on which they fall.
Through a long serpentine route our money funds multiple wars on people and other living things.
Consumerism itself amounts to a war on the planet and all its inhabitants.
Want to stop all this needless warmongering? Aside from a tax revolt, stop buying stuff you don't need.
Now that's another powerful reason to not buy anything. It funds war. It funds killing. It increases the amount of taxes we pay on goods we purchase, tax dollars in which a large portion of goes to fund military activities.
ReplyDeleteCanada's reputation for being a peacekeeper with vast pristine lands is shifting, I've noticed. I keep hearing more and more of their 'involvement' in activities that kill the environment and people. Seems exploitative mining is bringing in big $$. But I don't live there and don't follow all that closely, so I could be wrong.
Recently I saw a list of this years' attendees at the annual Bilderberg meeting. A large meeting where the heads of the largest most powerful banks and corporations get together to make decisions about how to lead the world, what leaders they want placed in what countries, etc. (I'm not expressing their agenda well.) I was surprised to see so many Canadians on that list. I didn't count but it looked like as many heads of Canadian corporations as from the U.S.
Google will be there, which is scary. Facebook head will be too.
You are not wrong about Canada. Almost all of the world's mining companies have head offices here because of generous government treatment through lax enforcement of regulations. Many human rights abuses going on here and abroad.
DeleteI watched a video of Bilderberg attendees running away from the press. There was a heavy police presence protecting them. Scary people, scary times.
One of my favorite sayings is "Every dollar we spend is a vote for the kind of world we want" (wish I could give credit and I may be paraphrasing a bit) How true, every dollar we spend fuels the war machine. More motivation for staying clear of the consumer culture.
ReplyDeleteA vote for the simple life is a vote for peace.
DeleteIn the 1950's the U.S. began a deliberate policy of maximizing economic growth to boost the tax base and military spending, which would in turn serve to gain superiority over the Soviet Union. This policy was set forth in the National Security Council Report 68 (NSC-68), and it remains as a foundation of of the consumerist society that induces perpetual military conflict, makes money and earning power as a sign of personal success, and leaves us chasing wealth instead of enjoying life's non-economic attractions. Thanks for drawing attention to this relationship.
ReplyDeleteWe have been transformed from free citizens to conscripted consumers to unwitting soldiers.
DeleteBy living simply I am acting as a conscientious objector, or "an individual who has claimed the right to refuse to participate in the consumer forces on the grounds of freedom of thought or crisis of consciousness".