This week, Americans bereft of their jobs filed a record-demolishing 6.65 million unemployment relief claims. Nancy Pelosi called for a fourth COVID-19 relief package. Mitch McConnell said, “hold off,” declaring the federal government couldn’t pay for it.

Somehow, both Republicans and Democrats in Congress found money for a record-breaking $738 billion military budget. Relative to our national wealth, that’s a higher level of spending than during the Korean and Vietnam wars. It includes a $15.6 billion increase in funding to develop nuclear weapons, nearly twice the amount of the first COVID-19 relief package. All four members of New Hampshire’s Congressional delegation voted for it.

The entire world spends $2 trillion on armaments. The United States itself is directly or indirectly involved in eight wars at once – in Mali, Somalia, Libya, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This past year, Lockheed Martin got $45 billion to build weapons, equivalent to the entire State Department budget.

As badly needed medical supplies remain short around the world, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and Pope Francis have called for a global cease fire. Right now, though, we are far better prepared to kill one another than to heal one another. Are we no better than this?

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