To all the people in Amarillo who are employed by the nuclear weapons facility in that locale and to all the remaining individuals who prepare, install, or target, in any manner whatever, nuclear weapons anywhere in the world, I say to you, “I think your working lives are less than worthless.” Spending your precious days on this beautiful blue planet in preparations to destroy it and yourselves, in the likely event of a full nuclear exchange, is the lowest form of human endeavor. Genocide is psychotic, and anyone who participates in the frightening world of nuclear weapons needs to have his or her head examined and repaired.
What possible good could come from nuclear war? The simple answer is, “Nothing.” There will be only suffering and death. Who wants some of that? “Nobody,” that is who. Yet we, as a nation, devote a substantial portion of our budget in preparing for that reality. The missiles, submarines, tracking systems, surface ships, aircraft, personnel, research, manufacturing, and policy making that devour our budget in preparation for nuclear war use the best of our people and resources in war games and schemes, seeking to make nuclear weapons appear to have some benefit that is apparent; however hard they try, they cannot.
“Mutually Assured Destruction” is the only rationale our best thoughts can muster for the existence of nuclear weapons. It is, however, powerful rationale that works on our human fears and allows the military complex to protect and increase the lopsided budget they enjoy (over fifty percent of the entire budget goes to defense, when all military applications are included). The military complex tells us we must spend more and more to be “Safe.”
Having the largest number of deployed nuclear weapons in the world does not make us safe. To the contrary, that fact increases the problems associated with our “hair trigger” nuclear weapons. Miscalculations, by anyone, of the other country’s intentions, brushfire wars in the Middle East, accidents (like the thermonuclear weapons mistakenly and illegally flown from South Dakota to Louisiana), security lapses, an unknown and troubled singular submarine commander who impulsively wields his power, or a coffee spill onto a delicate launch panel are just a few of the things that could go wrong. Then, there is always the possibility that our own government might actually “launch” an attack on purpose, regardless of how none of us want that. Look to Meteor Crater as a small example of the outcome.
We have ten thousand five hundred deployed nuclear weapons. Everyone in the nuclear weapons club has less. Russia has ten thousand, China has six hundred, and Israel, France, England, Pakistan, India, and Iran have varying numbers of deployed nukes. They are all ready for use. Every city is targeted, and all the rural areas will be affected by the massive downwind fallout of any nuclear blast. No wonder some people are paranoid. They cannot handle the fact that they may die tonight, so why not gather as much to one’s self as possible while the blue sky is still visible? Why not screw your neighbor, as we have all collectively decided to screw ourselves? Like many of us, however, we just erase the thoughts from our minds and go, “La ti da,” along the pretty picket fence.
How do we extricate ourselves from this most uncomfortable and embarrassing position? Together, we must stand as a people and demand that our elected officials remove the loaded shot gun barrels presently taped to our throats. Effective, intelligent, fair diplomacy and commerce will very quickly undo the standoff we have created. Nuclear weapons must be banned from Earth. Anyone not on board with this desire can choose another planet on which to live. We don’t need them. We can, however, realize about four hundred billion dollars in annual savings by putting a stop to this intimidating, insulting, and completely stupid (M.A.D.) policy.
All other issues and disputes that find their ways into politics are as droplets in the “Ocean of Importance.” Nuclear weapons threaten, immediately, all human beings on Earth. Our children and the countless generations after us will regard ours as the generation that freed the world from the terror of nuclear war and nuclear winter. We have made a BIG mistake in traveling down this nuclear weapons road. We can, however, learn from our mistakes.
Our failure of diplomacy, prior to the onset of World War II, cost the United States a great portion of its youth, and the Japanese people had to remake their civilization, after our first uses of nuclear weapons. We are friends now, good friends. It must be that diplomacy and international relations are a great deal harder for humans than carefully wiring explosives around a plutonium core.
Shame and sorrow followed Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It was a terrible thing, and that same terrible thing is, perhaps, five minutes away from happening (by some Military, Governmental, Fundamentalist, or Anarchist design) somewhere in the world or everywhere, “Use them or lose them.”
People should be concerned about threats to their existence. That’s pretty basic. Ten thousand Russian nuclear weapons targeted at the United States is like a stranger pointing a loaded and cocked Beretta 9mm pistol between your eyes, but way worse. Must we endure another sixty years of nuclear terror? Enough stupidity already! It is our nation’s responsibility to end the madness; after all, we started it.