Imagine, if you will, that you are a lawmaker, and you have been given an extra $20 million to distribute. What would your priorities be?
Perhaps you would like to give the money to the veterans association, or you may be more concerned with affordable childcare and early childhood education? Perhaps low-income housing or the opioid epidemic should have the money? What about refugees, or alleviating the effects of wars and natural disasters? Then there is the environment to consider, and of course the ever-increasing deficit. These are just a few of the worthy causes that you might decide to help. Each one of us would choose to allocate the money in a different way.
However, what I can almost guarantee is that no one would use the money to stage a military parade. According to reports in the media, $20 million is a conservative estimate of what such an event would cost. How can President Trump, who touts himself as representing ordinary people, even suggest such a waste of taxpayer money? He boasts of how clever he is to avoid paying taxes, but he will gleefully squander the tax dollars the rest of us have paid, just to show he has the biggest rocket.
That the United States has the greatest military might in the world is well known. We do not need to show what we have. Doing so will only reinforce our image as the “bullies in the playground.” Our military personnel undoubtedly deserve to be honored but this is not the way to honor them. $20 million could help a lot of veterans in practical ways.
Please join me in asking our governor, and our representatives in Congress to do all they can to ensure that this madness never takes place.
Lindsay Hart
Middlebury