The Orange County Board of Commissioners will consider passing a resolution tonight urging Congress to oppose further funding for the war in Afghanistan.
"Orange County has pressing local needs including education, infrastructure, social services, health, and small business support - just to name a few," says local activist Mark Marcoplos. "We continually are forced to wrangle over restricted budgets which pit important local needs against one another. Meanwhile about $2,600 per county citizen leaves Orange County annually for the national military budget. That's a total of about $351million."
Orange County's annual budget is about $178 million, says Marcoplos, a former chairman of the Orange Water and Sewer Authority and local home builder. "Imagine what we could accomplish for the citizens of Orange County if just 10 percent of our military contribution was retained at home for local needs? Another $35 million annually would make a world of difference for us."
"Make no mistake, U.S. military spending - the U.S. spends more money on its military than the rest of the world combined - is inarguably a local issue with huge local impacts."
The commissioners meeting will be held at the Southern Human Services Center on Homestead Road in Chapel Hill at 7 p.m.
Comments
Why it's local
Thu, 10/21/2010 - 10:04 — marcoplosMr. Reasonable offers a common criticism of local governments expressing themselves on issues that extend up to the federal level. In 1773, Mr. Reasonable would have been counseling local governments to mind their own local business.
Our "democracy" is broken. Corporate interests control our federal legislature. These corporate interests are continually honing the system to more easily siphon money out of the citizenry and into their coffers. War and its related activities is a huge money-maker. Corporate interests have long known that dipping into the large flow of tax money is a lucrative strategy. It is our money that they are controlling and reaping. The federal elected officials have proven time and time again that they will not or cannot control these corporate forces. The corporate forces benefit from a system that enforces the belief that local governments should just react to the economic and political climate that they shape without attempting to reform it.
It is undeniable that large amounts of our local money are being extracted from Orange County citizens and spent on, among other military projects, the failing war in Afghanistan. It is undeniable that the U.S. will not prevail in any meaningful way in Afghanistan. A reading of history and current events makes this abundantly clear. It is undeniable that Orange County - and every other county in the country - is suffering due to a lack of funds.
It is possible that a groundswell of local resolutions to end the war and bring the money back home could have a stronger effect than all the ineffectual methods that have been utilized. The Illinois State Legislature issued such a petition as have some other municipal bodies. It shouldn't require a lot of time, it's a reasonable request, and it could contribute to getting out of the Afghan quagmire sooner rather than later.
If the war in Afghanistan
Thu, 10/21/2010 - 02:29 — reasonableIf the war in Afghanistan is a local issue then literally everything is a local issue, in which case what is the point in making any distinction between local and non-local? In the strictest sense, yes, every issue is connected to every other issue, but in practical terms the funding of the war in Afghanistan has next to nothing to do with local issues.
We have a PUSA and a US Congress to make decisions on issues like the Afghanistan war and others and we have a thousand different mechanisms to express opinions to them on those issues. OTOH we have the Orange County Commissioners to make decisions on OC and only a few mechanisms to express opinions to them on issues. We shouldn't have the OC Commissioners wasting their time on issues over which they have no control. The OC Commissoners passing a resolution about the Afghanisan war makes about as much sense as President Obama using part of a State of the Union speech to address what Orange County should do with a landfill.
And on top of all that the resoulution doesn't even make any sense. The direct implication is that if money currently spent on the Afghanistan war stops being spent on that then instead it will intead be spent on county taxes. Is that so? If so then county taxes should have gone down when the Afghanistan war began. And up when the health care bill passed. And down when the Iraq war started phasng down. Etc.
If the war in Afghanistan is a local issue with respect to OC Commissoners then I'd like someone to tell me what ***isn't*** a local issue with respect to OC Commissoners. At an OC Commissoners debate for an upcoming election what topic is not fair game on which to quiz OC Commissoner candidates?
That's funny
Tue, 10/19/2010 - 16:36 — justinpinnixSo let me get this straight - Orange County suddenly believes in federal tax cuts?
orange county
Tue, 10/19/2010 - 16:19 — ncfishguythe comment about how much money leaves orange county implies that if that $$$ didnt leave orange county, the commissioners could spend more money locally.
well i have news for you sir. orange county is already overspent. having access to additional funds is NOT a license for you to spend more money.