Next year, we will hit the debt ceiling, and the fiscal responsibility caps will expire. We will face some challenging decisions. This year, the Department of Defense budget was 3.5% of our GDP, and the State Department/USAID was 0.234%. This discrepancy and the Pentagon’s continued inability to provide a clean audit are unacceptable.

Strength is a tool necessary for peace, but it is not the only one. We must invest heavily in diplomacy and foreign aid. We should not continue with a Cold War mentality in a world that is changing rapidly. The only way we will survive is by collaborating with each other, with state-sponsored violence as a last resort.

Sens. King and Collins have done so many important things for Maine and our country, but their real legacy will be the endgame. Security based on nuclear intimidation is not real security. Our current strategy has compromised our readiness. The DOD budget is almost equal to our national debt ($1 trillion). Funds need to be more wisely allocated: Our average life expectancy is lower than in several other countries, our maternal and infant mortality rate is higher, our young people are floundering, and climate change has us coping with fires and floods. We need to address our nation’s strategy so it reflects our values and our safety, which should not entail adversarial relationships and an economy based on war.

Deborah de Rivera
Brunswick