by Dud Hendrick
Deer Isle Town Meeting Day, March 1, 2010. It was an event for which to be proud and it ought not go uncelebrated. Two thirds of those at the Deer Isle Town Hall on this picturesque island of 2400 lobstermen, artists, tradesmen, and “from-awayers” took their stand. Effectively saying, “No more”, the substantial majority voted to approve an article on the town warrant calling on Congressman Mike Michaud not to fund the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan and to take a lead in demanding the same principled position of his colleagues. Thanks in large part to impassioned statements made in support of the article (No one spoke in opposition.) Deer Isle may boast of playing a lead in Maine’s prerogative, showing the country the way.
Resident Deb Suran, a gardener and self-employed webmaster, speaking from the floor, offered convincing testimony. Citing the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, she reported that U.S. military expenditures in 2008 were $607 billion while the People’s Republic of China came next at $84.9, trailing by a mere $522 billion! Suran also mentioned that while the U.S. is busy bombing the Afghanistan countryside, China has the largest foreign investment project in that country. Deer Isle taxpayers got the picture: The U.S. is waging war, China is concentrating on commerce.
Marcia Kola, an artist and ardent community activist, persuasively reminded townspeople of Donald Rumsfeld’s response to widespread public resistance to war in Iraq. “I don’t care what the people think as long as they continue to pay their taxes,” said George Bush’s Secretary of Defense. How revealing! Kola asked citizens to take a close look at America’s budget and consider the question, “Do you see yourself as a person who wants their country to be using 50% of your taxable income to pay for bombs and drones and bullets?”
The vote wasn’t even close. Deer Isle’s answer to Kola’s question could be thought of in these terms, “No we don’t want our tax dollars funding the reduction of Afghan homes to rubble and the further degradation of Iraq’s environment, while frost heaves grow and potholes multiply on our country roads and schools and hospitals struggle.” The majority on Deer Isle no longer buys into the fear tactics that enable the (so called) defense industry. Communists and drug lords, al Qaeda and terrorists, all hobgoblins that can’t possibly justify a military empire of over 1000 foreign military bases, can’t justify a “defense” budget equal to that of the rest of the world’s, and can’t justify another drone attack!
