It’s time we stop lobbying for war

I had no idea that WWI created the military industrial complex. I thought it happened during WWII, but the weapons manufacturers had discovered how profitable war was during the previous holocaust where 40 million died instead of the 75 million in our “good” war.

As we all know, our national budget gives the military 60% of all the money we allocate for the benefit of American citizens from taxes they pay. Over half the money we give the Pentagon goes to US private contractors who use much of it for lobbying. In 2020 the 5 biggest contractors spent $60 million on lobbying. Over the past 20 years of the Afghan/ Iraq wars they gave $285 million to politicians, along with millions for lobbying. War is very profitable for arms manufacturers and dealers.

If we want to stop lobbying for war with its companion of death and destruction of our only planet, we need laws to prevent mega companies from lobbying for war as they have been doing for generations and we must stop them from bribing our representatives in both state and national government. It’s apparent that it doesn’t matter which party; too many US politicians are only interested in how much money they can get — and their votes consistently testify to that.

— Ranney Moss, Chico