Dear John,

It’s up to us to prevent wider war.

We’re in a dangerous moment. War rages on in Ukraine, with no end in sight. This month, the world narrowly averted wider war after escalating military exchanges between Israel and Iran. That tension was sparked by the devastation of Gaza, which is morphing from unfettered bombing into an entirely preventable famine.

Each of these conflicts threatens to spiral into wider war.

Meanwhile, Congress just threw gasoline on the flames with $95 billion in new spending primarily to feed those wars. That money would be enough to power every household in the U.S. with solar electricity - with money to spare.

We desperately need more diplomacy to prevent wider war and save lives, but that’s not the priority in this new funding.

This is a long-standing pattern. Last year, the average taxpayer - people like you - contributed $3,719 for the Pentagon and war, versus just $58 for diplomacy - and less than $11 for renewable energy and energy efficiency.

We can change this. Around the U.S., protests of the war crimes in Gaza continue. Student protests of the war in Gaza are growing, and beginning to meet with success.

Our country’s spending priorities continue to enable war. But they don’t have to stay that way.

In solidarity,

Lindsay, Alliyah and Kufre

P.S. Check out our 2023 tax receipt here.

TRADEOFF: WAR vs. SOLAR POWER

Congress recently passed a months-in-the-making $95 billion war package, and Biden promptly signed off on it. That amount is many times more than the $1 billion for global climate aid that Biden has pledged.

That $95 billion could transform the electrical grid of the U.S., providing every household with solar energy, with billions of dollars to spare.

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https://www.nationalpriorities.org/blog/2023/12/05/hunger-strike-permanent-ceasefire/

U.S. MILITARY SPENDING VS. THE WORLD

In 2023, the U.S. spent more on its military than the next 9 countries, combined - and far more than the bottom 144 countries combined. The U.S. spent nearly 8.5 times as much on its military than Russia does. And U.S. spending was slightly more than 3 times that of China, amidst an atmosphere of growing hostility with the United States. The recent TikTok ban as well as growing conflict in the green energy and semiconductor industries have slowly been warming the cold war between the two nations.

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Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

PROTEST LIKE IT'S 1968

The war in Gaza recently passed its 200th day and student movements around the United States have been out showing their support for the Palestinian people.

At Columbia University, 100 students were arrested on April 18th and had their tents and belongings destroyed by law enforcement officers, in an echo of protests more than a generation ago. Since then, a wave of student protests - and arrests - has spread across the country.

The protests are having an effect. Students at Portland State University protesting the war in Gaza recently won a pause on donations to the school from weapons manufacturer Boeing.