Healing the Soul of America: on Foreign Policy

Donald Trump: OpEd: Dismantled State Department to fund corporate advocacy

World military spending totaled more than $1.6 trillion in 2015, and the U.S. accounted for 37% of the total. While no one would argue that our military budget is out of proportion with the resources by which we seek to prevent the need for military action. The budget of our Defense Department, for instance is $600 billion, 24 times more than the $26.5 billion allotted to the Department of State. In the Trump administration, as a matter of fact, we are dismantling many of the diplomatic functions of our State Department and replacing them with economic advocacy projects for U.S. corporations.

In truth, our military budget is more an expression of the financial appetites of our military-industrial complex than it is a truly wise response to admittedly very real threats.

Marianne Williamson: Ask ourselves why we are so disliked around the globe

We spend trillions of dollars on methods of destroying life, while routinely withdrawing billions of dollars from projects and efforts that restore life.

The protection afforded us by the machinations of America's war machine will serve us but little, if we do not address the fundamental causes of hatred and violence, here and throughout the world. We need a Department of Peace, at least as much as we need a Department of Defense.