Militarybudgetcutsnow.org Blog

As we approach what would have been Martin Luther King, Jr's. 80th birthday, we would do well to reflect on some of his comments about war and excessive militarism. On April 4, 1967, Dr. King delivered his "Beyond Vietnam" speech ( http://www.mlkonline.net/vietnam.html ), at which time he announced his opposition to the Vietnam War.
And he also made important points about the need to change our values, and move away from militarism--does our current military budget reflect our values?

"I am convinced that if we are to get on the right side of the world revolution, we as a nation must undergo a radical revolution of values...
When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights, are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, extreme materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.
A true revolution of values will soon cause us to question the fairness and justice of many of our past and present policies...True compassion is more than flinging a coin to a beggar. It comes to see that an edifice which produces beggars needs restructuring.
A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth.
A true revolution of values will lay hands on the world order and say of war: 'This way of settling differences is not just.' This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.
America, the richest and most powerful nation in the world, can well lead the way in this revolution of values. There is nothing except a tragic death wish to prevent us from reordering our priorities, so that the pursuit of peace will take precedence over the pursuit of war."