This commentary is by Duncan Nichols of Thetford, Olga Mar of Johnson, Robin Lloyd of Burlington, and Nancy Rice of Randolph.
An open letter to our Vermont delegation in Washington: We are a diverse coalition of Vermonters who want peace and justice. We bring your attention, Sens. Sanders and Welch and Rep. Balint, to topics that concern us very much.
We realize that you have a large constituency who also have needs, such as Vermonters who recently experienced flooding which created havoc in their lives.
At the same time, havoc has been created by U.S. foreign policy in other countries, most recently in Ukraine due to our government participating in a coup of their elected government in 2014, and presently sending them many billions of dollars and weaponry which you voted for.
By doing so, our federal government and war planners have put us — and the world — in harm’s way by fueling this unwinnable proxy war with another nuclear-armed country, Russia. Do you realize that the Doomsday Clock has never been as close to midnight as it is right now?
More specifically, we demand that you issue an immediate public statement calling for a ceasefire and a negotiated settlement in Ukraine. The majority of the people of the world are against this war with its risks to food and economic security worldwide.
The Pentagon and our government continue to send our troops, including the Vermont National Guard, around the world. To what end? Congress funds wars and conflicts that risk our lives while instituting unacceptable future debt. We cannot afford to pay for these wasteful weapons systems that line the pockets of global corporations while causing destruction in other countries and causing economic hardships here at home.
One example of the most wasteful weapons systems is the F-35 nuclear-capable fighter jet based in Burlington. Its extreme noise is causing real harm to the citizenry there on a daily basis. The F-35 is also currently deployed to U.S. military bases in countries on the borders of Russia and Ukraine, thus contributing to the increasing risk of nuclear war.
We also call for you to pull back our provocative forces and maneuvers in Asia and to start closing the over 800 U.S. military bases around the world. We point out that ours is a government tasked with serving its people, not with world domination.
This must stop. We are not asking anymore for crumbs of legislation. We are demanding an overhaul of our foreign policy for the sake of life on earth.
On average, Vermonters currently pay in their federal taxes $5 on climate resilience, and $58 on nuclear weapons (National Priorities Project, 2022). These skewed priorities are unacceptable.
We demand that you stop funding nuclear weapons and act to pull us back from nuclear war as well as to reenter the nuclear treaties the U.S. has either violated or withdrawn from.
In summary, the existential danger of overmilitarization and the threat of nuclear war require action, not mere words. It is your job to help keep us safe, not support war as your letters and statements to us have indicated. We look forward to learning of your plans to implement actions addressing these concerns.
It is our heartfelt wish that you join us in creating a better world — a peaceful world that will not melt down or blow up.
