Many elected officials are failing us on F-35s

Updated on

Cap Times, October 2, 2019 – Brian Benford

Dear Editor: So, my congressman wants the Air Force to conduct a study comparing the noise levels from the F-35s with the current fleet of F-16s. This is his remedy in lieu of taking a principled stand against war.

My U.S. senator has utterly failed on what I believe to be a most fundamental, social justice issue — trying to alleviate violence and war.

I am sickened that we as a so called “progressive” community have developed a false dependency on fielding a military base in our midst. We have degraded to the point that we cannot see past economic promise to recognize that both fleets (F-16s and F-35s) are designed to indiscriminately kill and maim (mostly brown-skinned people in far off lands).

I have witnessed many local anti-war protests (attended by current and past political leaders) over the years condemning unjust wars, yet some of these politicians can now stand by idly while using deflection to pacify and deceive us. I find it rather ironic that the military uses the term “beddown.” This issue has allowed those that I thought were good progressive leaders to beddown with other well-known, dastardly, elected leaders that have consistently supported a dangerous military-industrial complex and war mongering.

If we — Madison — so desperately need a military base for economic survival than we have completely failed on so many levels. For me, this issue and the misguided actions and silence of too many of our politicians is a clarion call that, no matter how progressive they “used to be,” we need new leaders that can advocate for people and against war. Thankfully there are a group of alders, county board supervisors, my state representative and school board members willing to take an unequivocal stand against insanity. It pains me that my mayor, county executive, state senator, congressperson and senator have failed.

READ THE LETTER ONLINE HERE