Original Entry from 2.15.05:

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/02/14/missile.defense.ap/index.html (Story has since been removed, but it detailed a failed missile defense test that cost 85 million dollars each attempt)

Hmm…what else worthwhile could be done with 85 million dollars? I can’t imagine that we could spend our money on anything better than a failed test to make sure we can blow missiles out of the sky that nobody will ever fire.

85 million would also buy:- almost 71,000 fresh water wells in towns that don’t have them in Africa. Come to think of it, that might be more than enough.

4250 schools / hospitals to educate and treat aids victims and those in danger of contracting it (again in africa).

170,000,000 snickers bars.

food for 40,000,000 starving people for a month.

1/953 of the 82 billion dollar extra money for the iraq war that bush did not include in his budget proposal.

Hey, why don’t you think of some things $85 million will pay for!

This post elicited an anonymous reply from some bearded guy who got in my face about being a reactionary blogger; all talk and no action. He was semi-right. He was wrong that I wasn’t living up to my own criticisms and right that I didn’t offer any solutions to the problem.

I used to be of the thought that we should just abandon any attempts to create political change. And abandon any hopes that our government could be beneficial. I did not vote, did not write my congressman, did not vocalize indignation outside my group of friends.

What good does this do? Not much. I still have not voted. I didn’t vote in a local election 2 weeks ago where our school levy failed once again by a couple hundred votes. I have written my representatives on a few issues recently. I have begun to discuss the political realities of Kingdom truths with others. I am moving in a good direction I think.

I agree with many who say we can never expect the government to do the job of the Kingdom. I can’t imagine our political system, as it is shaped now, responding to and engaging the world as Christ calls us to do. However, our engagement with those systems and those powers must be actual engagement, not mumbled curses. Our prophetic voice must also be prophetic action.

We CAN denounce the systems of the world that we see as corrupt, self serving and elitist while at the same time subverting them from within. Granted, we will never see the kind of change that we will see when the Kingdom lives as it should, but living as we should MUST include a vocal, active opposition to the powers that oppress in myriad ways.

Vote yes on your school levies. Call your representatives and ask why they’re allowing Dick Cheney to squash anti-torture bills. Talk with your church leaders about how the politics of this country are working mostly against the politics of the Kingdom. Remind people of the wasteful government spending on weapons and how much its hurting the poor. Live simply so that you can be an example to those who are self serving.

Is the type of change we wish to see going to occur? History seems to say no…mostly. But there have been times and people that have changed the world. Sometimes they did it through political action, sometimes not. But it was always an engagement with the powers that be.

Martin Luther King. Ghandi. Dorothy Day. Oscar Romero. Marla Ruzicka. Mother Theresa. Nelson Mandela. Pope John Paul II. Tiananmen Square guy.

Google them. See what you find.