Make cities, not war

Sarah Goodyear at Grist.org wrote how Secretary of Defense Robert Gates referred to the conflicts the U.S. is engaged in as "wars of choice."  As most Americans polled view our overseas military intervention excessive, they said so not only due to their cost (we're got a big deficit, remember?) but the emotional and reputational costs upon families and our nation.

I strongly see the past decade as a greatly missed opportunity to fix our broken cities.  The many dollars spent on war could have been used towards rebuilding infrastructure, having comprehensive mass transit in cities, beginning a high-speed rail network across America, which would have led to many jobs, especially for those trapped in impoverished neighborhoods.  Per the New York Times:

"There are so many better uses for the money," said Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake of Baltimore. Mayor R. T. Rybak of Minneapolis lamented that cities across the nation were being forced to make "deeply painful cuts to the most core services while the defense budget continued to escape scrutiny." And Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of Los Angeles said that the idea "that we would build bridges in Baghdad and Kandahar and not Baltimore and Kansas City absolutely boggles the mind."

I feel like we still have the opportunity to turn the ship around, given our lingering recession.  With ever-high gas prices and soul-sucking commutes, we have the opportunity to rebuild infrastructure, rebuild good, walkable urban areas, create jobs, foster private-sector growth, putting more dollars into the economy and in turn boosting revenue to eat at our nation's deficit.  I believe patriotism and national strength has to start at home, and what we're seeing here isn't making many of us too proud.


Make cities, not war (grist.org)