PLEASE HELP US SPREAD THE WORD
/ReduceDefenseSpending
We agree with the 2014 Vermont Progressive Party Platform:
"Although a well-trained military is necessary for national defense, military expenditures must be weighed in the context of domestic priorities. We oppose the concept of military spending as economic development.
We will work to:
• End the occupation of Iraq and the on-going military commitment in Afghanistan/Pakistan.
• Support all proceedings to hold accountable any violators of the U.S. Constitution, international laws, and/or treaties.
• Restrict National Guard troops from assignment to war zones.
• Prohibit the use of torture.
• Oppose preemptive war.
• Support non-military initiatives and policies to resolve international conflict.
• Ensure veterans receive medical, emotional, and financial support according to their service-related disability."
"Although a well-trained military is necessary for national defense, military expenditures must be weighed in the context of domestic priorities. We oppose the concept of military spending as economic development.
We will work to:
• End the occupation of Iraq and the on-going military commitment in Afghanistan/Pakistan.
• Support all proceedings to hold accountable any violators of the U.S. Constitution, international laws, and/or treaties.
• Restrict National Guard troops from assignment to war zones.
• Prohibit the use of torture.
• Oppose preemptive war.
• Support non-military initiatives and policies to resolve international conflict.
• Ensure veterans receive medical, emotional, and financial support according to their service-related disability."
We agree with the 2016 Green Party Platform:
"Our defense budget has increased out of all proportion to any military threat to the United States, and to our domestic social, economic and environmental needs."
"The U.S. is the largest arms seller and dealer in the world. The U.S. must not be a conduit for defense contractors to market their products abroad and must shift our export market from arms to peaceful technology, industrial and agricultural products, and education."
"The U.S. must prohibit all covert actions used to influence, de-stabilize or usurp the governments of other nations, and likewise prohibit the assassination of, or assistance in any form for the assassination of, foreign government officials."
"Our government does not have the right to justify pre-emptive invasion of another country on the grounds that the other country harbors, trains, equips and funds a terrorist cell."
"Our government does not have the right to justify pre-emptive invasion of another country on the grounds that the other country harbors, trains, equips and funds a terrorist cell."
We agree with the For a People's Party Platform:
"The estimated cost of ending world hunger is $30 billion per year, about 4 percent of the annual American defense budget. The estimated cost of ending extreme poverty is $175 billion per year, about 24 percent of the annual defense budget. Providing for people’s basic needs relieves deprivation, suffering and conflict. It is the most effective weapon in our arsenal. Restore international goodwill, confidence and moral authority in the U.S. by ending world hunger and extreme poverty.
U.S. defense spending is larger than the next seven largest defense budgets combined, most of which are allied countries. It’s time to realize the peace dividends that were promised at the end of the Cold War.
The Nuremberg Tribunals established aggression as the highest international crime. End wars of aggression, preemptive wars and regime change.
Whistleblowers have revealed that the overwhelming proportion of U.S. drone victims are civilians. Targets have included hospitals, weddings and first responders. Massacring innocent friends, neighbors, parents and children while destroying homes and communities is not only barbaric, but insurgents use the carnage of these attacks for recruitment.
Stop invading sovereign airspace with drones. Ban the use of automated military weapons including automated drones. Halt the arms race on autonomous weapons by negotiating an international treaty banning their development and use as we did with chemical and laser weapons.
It’s time to scale back the sprawling empire of hundreds of U.S. military bases and black sites abroad. Deploy those funds to defend the American people against the lethal and merciless enemies that have invaded our shores: poverty, hunger and ill health.

Cut off military aid to countries that violate human rights and international law.
Stop propping up unelected regimes abroad and meddling in foreign elections.
The U.S. is spending a trillion dollars upgrading our nuclear weapons over the next decade. This year the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists placed us at two minutes to midnight, the closest humanity has been to self-annihilation since the Doomsday Clock was created. The U.S. already has 7,000 warheads, enough to wipe out humanity many times over and far more than enough to deter attacks.
A series of audits have found that the Defense Department can’t account for several trillion dollars in taxpayer money. There is also no elected oversight over parts of the black budget. End the complete lack of transparency and accountability at the Defense Department. Restore congressional authority over the Defense programs and the budget. Account for the trillions in missing funds.
While the Constitutional authority to declare war legally rests with Congress, the executive branch has effectively seized that power. Enforce the War Powers Act and restore that authority to Congress. Require Congress to vote on a formal declaration of war before funding can be allocated. Repeal the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force, which the executive branch has treated as a blank check for endless war. Ban the use of overly-broad, ill-defined and indefinite AUMFs that place no constraints on the executive branch’s ability to wage war.
War should not be a business. It should only be waged defensively and as a last resort, after all diplomatic options have been exhausted."
We agree with the Justice Democrats:
"Ban arming human rights violators. We recently gave Saudi Arabia billions in weapons and watched the civilian death toll in their vicious bombing campaign in Yemen tick up. We continue sending Egypt arms as they violently crack down on peaceful protesters. Israel received $38 billion in aid and promptly announced new settlements. The first step to peace is not enabling nations who regularly violate international law. We must be bold enough to stand up to human rights violators who aren’t just our enemies, but our allies. We don’t weaken our allies by holding them accountable, we strengthen them."
CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES:
https://www.congress.gov/committee/house-armed-services/hsas00
https://www.congress.gov/committee/senate-armed-services/ssas00
