The Great American Shame

By Mark David Blum, Esq.

Growing up “American” has always had in it a certain element of ethnocentric superiority. From day one, we are taught that we are the Richest, Most Powerful Nation on this Earth. As we mature we come to accept that capitalism and our natural resources and our military might have established us as safe from all threats; foreign and domestic. We count as among our blessings that we are of a very few peoples on this earth who can go to bed at night with confidence that our government and military will keep us safe and in be in place in the morning.

But, today I am ashamed of my Nation. On November 16, 2006, the United States Department of Agriculture released its report for Hunger in the United States for the year 2005. In their own numbers, “Twelve percent of Americans -- 35 million people -- could not put food on the table at least part of last year. Eleven million of them reported going hungry at times."

The Richest, Most Powerful Nation on the Earth and in all of History, with the Greatest Liberty and Recognition of the Human Being and an Indelible Right to Life, stands quiet while more than 1 in ten people go hungry. I am ashamed of my country. You should be too.

Let’s do some math: If you took the whole of the 35 million people and went for the worst case scenario by assuming that all of them had no food for one year. Then, if you went way over the top to feed them and gave them $10 a day for food per person for that one year (which for a hungry family of four would be a massive windfall and who would eat better than I). Your numbers would look like this: 35,000,000 x 10 x 365 = $127,750,000,000. Let’s say One Hundred Twenty Eight Billion Dollars to fully feed every hungry person in America for one year.

Compare that to the Bush Administration’s spending as reported in USA Today on November 16th: “The Bush administration is preparing its largest spending request yet for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a proposal that could make the conflict the most expensive since World War II. The Pentagon is considering $127 billion to $160 billion in requests from the armed services for the 2007 fiscal year, which began last month, several lawmakers and congressional staff members said. That's on top of $70 billion already approved for 2007. Since 2001, Congress has approved $502 billion for the war on terror, roughly two-thirds for Iraq. The latest request, due to reach the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress next spring, would make the war on terror more expensive than the Vietnam War. Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., who will chair the Senate Budget Committee next year, said the amount under consideration is "$127 billion and rising." He said the cost "is going to increasingly become an issue" because it could prevent Congress from addressing domestic priorities, such as expanding Medicare prescription drug coverage.” (Before the Iraq war began in 2003, the Bush administration estimated its cost at $50 billion to $60 billion, though White House economic adviser Lawrence Lindsey had suggested in 2002 that it could cost as much as $200 billion).

In English; what the Bush Administration is doing is giving Americans a choice. Either we can fund a losing war in Iraq or we can guarantee and assure that every single American is fed and has no worry about this most basic human right. The choice is a moral one.

Ironic it is that the Republicans and party of God always talks about border fences and stopping abortion and protecting children from drugs and porn cannot take a moment from its schedule to feed its own People. The arrogance and ignorance of the refusal to recognize this homespun disaster says more about our nation than any Declaration of Independence.

When I criticize my right wing neo con friends and try to explain why they lost the election; it is clear that they just don’t get it. The election was only in part a referendum on Iraq. More importantly, it was a referendum of how we as Americans want to be portrayed in the world.

Our first President, George Washington said America was never intended to be a military ally to nobody and that we should be stay out of European conflicts. He foresaw our role as a friend and business partner to everybody. The concept of our nation being the world’s policeman and missionaries for “freedom” is a new concept drawn up from the ashes of Viet Nam by those who saw our withdrawal therefrom as a defeat.

Amazing that today George Bush is dining in Ho Chi Mihn City when I can still remember watching American soldiers dying in those same swamps and cities now patronized by our President. What we are seeing is how Americans will be dealing with Iraq and Iran in 50 years.

The question I pose is simple: How many Americans will go hungry tonight so we can fund a foreign policy that will be meaningless in half a century?

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