Brother Can You Spare a Dime?

Dear Mr. President,

In times like this when citizens here at home desperately need our help, it is easy to forget about our citizens in Iraq and the war they have been sent to fight. Just so you know, I haven’t forgotten. I think about each day Americans are put in harms way either as a direct result of something our government has done or things they have not done. I think about how much this war is costing the American people and wonder where that money might have been better spent.

There is a website called \\costofwar.com which shows a running tally of the cost of the Iraq war to American taxpayers. Here are some interesting numbers: Total taxes from my hometown of Northampton, MA allocated to the war: $21,475,600. Total my state of Massachusetts paid: $5,683,775,000. What all tax-paying Americans have paid for the war in Iraq: $196,393,673,000.

There is another informative website started by True Majority.org (http://go.truemajority.org/c3oreo/) which shows how much of this nation’s budget is allocated to military spending vs. alternative energy sources, education and other programs. Sure the disparity between the combined social programs budget and the military budget is disturbing enough. But, what was truly mind-boggling was that the next big military spender in this world after us was Russia and they are only spending 70 billion to our 400 billion (and they are now our allies). Even the dreaded axes-of-evil are spending 7.5 billion combined. These numbers, I’m sure, do not include the additional money you have asked Congress to approve for the war in Iraq. I hope you are not planning on asking for any more any time soon.

But then, even members of your own party agree that cuts to certain programs must be made in order to pay for the rebuilding after Katrina and the continued war effort. Mr. President, we can’t afford to be in this war; especially not after what happened and what is happening in parts of our own country. And besides, where would these cuts be made from? I don’t even want to speculate on what you -- a President who can so easily send his citizens off to war and can so easily approve of “Patriot Acts” that limit our freedoms -- would possibly consider cutting from the budget. Then again, I can’t actually imagine you considering the budget at all. I suppose when those issues are discussed you start planning your next vacation.

Frugally Yours,

LTV