The 800-lb Hawk in the Room

America's defense budget is greater than the combined defense budgets of the next 15 countries; it is 10 ten times the Chinese budget, and almost 20 times the Russian budget. More than half of our budget is dedicated to aiding and abetting a war-making machine unparalleled in world history. We make Sparta, Genghis Khan and Hitler look like Tibetan monks.

The budget for the Peace Corps, by contrast, is pocket change. If we mothballed ONE nuclear aircraft carrier (we have 11) and gave that money to the Peace Corps it would almost quadruple their funds; if we converted three carriers into hospital ships we could provide state-of-the-art assistance for world disasters - each ship could treat and house upwards of 10,000 victims - and we'd still have an aircraft carrier for each of the seven seas.