Uprooting the Warpath

Let me start by making my office better resemble its title: Secretary of Defense — not Secretary of Discretionary Drone Strikes, or Secretary of Maintaining a Massive Military Presence in Every Corner of the World, or Secretary of Useless Weapons Systems Made in Key Congressional Districts, or Secretary of Support for the Israeli Occupation. I will calibrate my office to the defense of a country that has not faced the threat of military incursion for more than half a century and whose primary threats today appear to be small bands of fighters whose cause is only strengthened by a large-scale military response. The money saved from doing so will bring a truer kind of security by paying off the national debt, ensuring basic necessities for all people and forestalling what the Pentagon has already identified as a dire threat to global security: climate change.

I will cut spending. I will do more by doing less. Bring it on, confirmation hearings.

Nathan Schneider is an editor of wagingnonviolence.org. He is also an editor at Killing the Buddha. Visit his website at TheRowBoat.com.