Militarism permeates our society. Our nation’s budget is skewed towards the Pentagon, and local economies depend increasingly on military industries as contractors reap the benefits. Our government gives surplus military equipment to local police forces and then wrings its hands when police officers see their own communities as the enemy.
People are at the heart of escaping the militarism trap in our country—both our action and our care for all our neighbors, without exception. In 1967, Martin Luther King, Jr. called for a shift from a “thing-oriented” to a “person-oriented” society, saying “When machines and computers, profit motives and property rights are considered more important than people, the giant triplets of racism, materialism, and militarism are incapable of being conquered.” We must continue to name and oppose militarism where it appears—in our communities as well as in our public policies—and keep working for the alternatives that recognize the Light that is in us all.