Seeking Genuine Security
As we watch our country fight preemptive wars that we are told will be generational wars, we experience more fear than ever. We see our constitutional rights being signed away in the name of defense. We watch our neighbors unable to afford health care, our infrastructure collapse, our schools go begging; yet the military is exempt from the government’s spending freeze.
Close to home we know that 18 or more F-35 fighter bombers based at the Burlington Airport will produce deafening noise, cause the loss of housing and further traumatize veterans of war. F-35s approved at $62 million apiece are likely to soar to $150 million or more. We know this is an offensive weapon for wars that kill masses of unarmed civilians in their own homes, in lands the U.S. occupies. We know the F-35 makes our own home a more likely target. We know the military is the earth’s largest polluter and these planes will pollute our skies. In fact, the Air Force favors Burlington because our clear skies mean fewer worries for them about F-35 pollution degrading our air quality.
We do not feel secure or defended by these policies or this weapon. We choose to make a stand here and now locally and in alliance with others across the nation opposing this bomber. We strongly oppose the military policy of endless war and no weapon too costly in monetary or ecological terms. We wish to work together to build a community, a nation, and a world that meets human and environmental needs.