With all the calls for austerity, is there anywhere in the budget where we really can save some money? In my opinion, most of the deficit problems need to be solved by closing tax loopholes that amount to welfare for criminal corporations and the richest 1%, the people Republicans represent, but that’s not a spending cut. The one place in the budget that screams for reform is military spending, with its no-bid contracts, cost overruns, etc. Here’s a big thank you to Lisa G, who emailed me a link to this article by Shane Claiborne with a remarkable video that explains it so simply that the only people who can’t understand will be those so brainwashed that they refuse to understand it.

There’s some interesting talk stirring about how it may be necessary to cut defense expenditures to decrease the deficit. Even though the $533 billion budget is the elephant in the room and the $200,000 spent every minute on the endless war on terror is the gushing, bleeding wound of America, this has been the taboo secret, the idolatrous sacred cow. But folks are beginning to whisper.

Maybe people have grown tired of militarism and war. After all, war hasn’t gotten the best press over the past few years. Maybe the recession has created a desperation that has led us to rethink the status quo, where nearly half of every tax dollar goes to militarism. Maybe we are starting to realize if we don’t stop spending all our money on a defense shield soon we won’t have much left to need to defend. Or maybe it’s all the above, the perfect storm for peace.

As a Christian, I am convinced in the power of non-violence by the greatest nonviolent act in human history: Jesus dying on the cross, even for his enemies. You’d think we Christians would be the hardest folks in the world to convince that violence is necessary, but that hasn’t always been the case. In fact, much of the world seems confused by Christians who are so quick to abandon the cross of Christ and pick up the sword of Rome.

I’m reminded of a dinner conversation I had recently with Ben Cohen, founder of Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, who has become a friend I deeply admire (and not just because he makes good ice cream). We talked about how this moment in history may very well be perfectly poised for Christians and non-Christians to work together for peace, and to eat some ice cream together with the money we may have spent on guns. And it is Ben who put together one of the coolest demos about the federal budget, using cookies as measuring units to show us how the dollars stack up… [emphasis added]