No problem funding war, but not infrastructure?

Every American is $330 million richer today. And yesterday, and every day since America left Afghanistan Aug. 31. America spent that every day keeping our military in Afghanistan.

I compliment President Biden for rejecting the advice of our military to keep our forces there, following through on his pledge to end the war.

Now the richest country on earth languishes as our lawmakers dither and delay upgrading our infrastructure and taking action to counter the climate catastrophe we’re in.

These two momentous challenges call for expansive actions to produce immediate and ongoing results.

No problem for our leaders to spend $330 million a day for two decades in Afghanistan, and in Iraq, the other military disaster launched by George W. Bush.

Upgrading our infrastructure: the power grid, transportation, communications? Implementing changes to mitigate climate change so our citizens and environment are safe? No, argue Republican lawmakers, who are asking, how are we going to pay for all this?

But spending hundreds of millions of dollars a day for decades on military misadventures that are a catastrophic waste of lives and money? No funding problems there.

America needs a non-violent revolution, a renaissance, a reset of our priorities, focusing on what is healthy and most beneficial for our citizens, our environment, our planet. That will make America great again.

One cornerstone of such a reset is robustly defending our homeland right here at home. Not by fighting unwinnable wars in foreign lands that only enrich the militaryindustrial complex that President Eisenhower so presciently warned us about. Jerome Kellner

Kahului