All levels of government – federal, state and local – are grappling with financial crises. The money available does not stretch far enough to meet all the needs. Difficult choices are necessary.
A budget is a numerical way of expressing your values – what you believe in.
Our local, state and federal budgets reveal our society’s actual values. Indeed, Jesus said, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.” (Matt. 6:21)
What do our governmental budgets say about our values?
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. stated, “A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death.”
Almost half of the federal budget for fiscal year 2011 goes toward wars of the past, present and future.
This includes major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, more than 700 military bases in other countries, military support for dictators, massively wasteful weapons programs, nuclear weapons in the Deptment of Energy budget, and military aspects of NASA and other federal agencies.
It also includes the costs of past wars, such as the military’s proportionate share of interest on the national debt, and the costs of veterans’ pensions, medical care, etc.
President Barack Obama is funding even more violence. He is increasing the military budget, escalating Bush’s illegal war in Afghanistan, and attacking Pakistan and Yemen.
To pay for it he proposes freezing spending on the programs that help people and the environment, even though these already suffered during Bush’s reign.
Here at the Washington state level, Gov. Chris Gregoire proposed an all-cuts budget that would hurt children, the sick and the poor.
Do these budget priorities reflect your values?
Religion and spirituality typically urge compassion for children, the sick, and the poor – and recognize our common humanity and seek peace.
Why the disconnect? What is really happening?
Perhaps other powerful interests carry more political and economic clout than do our moral values. Perhaps the military-industrial complex, the rich banks, the corporations that contribute to political campaigns, and powerful nationalism (a modern form of idolatry) outweigh the genuine public interest.
In a governmental budget pie chart, we can adjust the relative size of the wedges. We can cut the military’s slice smaller and make other slices bigger.
We can also make a bigger pie by adding revenue.
The people and corporations that our system has made fabulously wealthy have the greatest moral responsibility to pay for the system that made them rich.
We could raise taxes on the rich in order to help the poor. Again, all major religions – and most people’s values – call for the rich to be responsible and accountable and urge compassion for the poor. Our local governments allow people to speak up and participate.
Washington state has already completed next fiscal year’s budget, but we can start now to make the subsequent year’s budget reflect our values. Congress will work on next year’s budget through September.
People of good can act now to make sure the federal budget will reflect our best values that care for God’s human and other animals and God’s Creation, our environment.
“Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. – President Dwight D. Eisenhower
Glen Anderson has been working as a volunteer for peace, social justice and nonviolence since the 1960s, especially through the Fellowship of Reconciliation.
Perspective is coordinated by Interfaith Works in cooperation with The Olympian. The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by Interfaith Works or The Olympian.
