Letter: Stop funding war industry

I’m saddened to read the outpouring from Muslims who feel the need to reassure the world that the Paris attacks do not reflect their beliefs. Of course, they don’t.

Equally sad is the near absence of reporting on the real culprits — we, the people, and the mercenary war industry that we have so willingly nurtured into existence and continue to fund.

Sure, there are people with extreme views willing to go to extreme measures everywhere. But those conflicts don’t conflate to this without the funding, arming, destabilizing force of our own government and “defense” industry.

We have a choice. We can again choose fear and build more weapons and walls, continue to turn our own law enforcement agencies into a domestic army. Or we can acknowledge that responding out of fear has only made all of us less safe, and will continue to do so.

The Senate recently passed a bill authorizing $607 billion in defense spending. The president appears willing to sign it. This, in spite of past agreements to reduce defense spending.

Please don’t buy the story that we need to get tougher, that we need to kill and maim yet more people. The answer is to stop footing the bill for our own terrorism in the world. Please vote, and not for those who big business and media present as “electable.” Electing them means more of this.