Thanks to Matthew Leatherman for his Sept. 22 Point of View piece “A bottomless fund for a permanent war” highlighting the enormous cost of an endless war. Putting aside whether military action is wise at this point, I am concerned about the effects of this overblown spending.
As the mother of a young teacher and also a college student, I cannot help but draw a comparison to the amount we spend on education. Here in North Carolina, public university funding is being slashed, and our public schools are literally starved for even the most basic supplies. (Oh, that elementary school textbooks could be covered by the Pentagon’s contingency budget!)
Yet, in spite of all the sacrifices being asked of our students and teachers, Congress is somehow able to find the Pentagon a contingency fund of billions of dollars. Not only is this an obscene amount of money, but it is beyond the range of oversight as well.
As a nation, we spend more on our military than the next eight countries combined. Isn’t it time we began redirecting our excessive military spending toward areas that would provide true security, such as a sound public education for our children?
KELLI HUNNICUTT
CHAPEL HILL
via Kelli Hunnicutt: True security | Letters to the Editor | Raleigh News Observer.