Dear Supporter,

As the next round of budget debates begins in Washington, the previous round is yet to be completed. Unable to pass a budget for 2011, Congress has been using continuing resolutions since October to keep the government running.  This means freezing government funding, including the Pentagon, at 2010 levels.  “I have a crisis on my doorstep,” explained Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

For our communities the crisis is through the door and camped out in the living room watching O’Reilly Factor reruns.  It is a crisis that threatens public safety and public education for millions. This is a crisis decades in the making as the US continued spending half of its discretionary budget on weapons and warfare and steadily reduced its commitment to our states and communities, leaving them to handle the bad math.  

It's easy to see how our fellow citizens could become cynical about the prospects for cutting the gargantuan military budget.  Still, I think you and I both know the price of inaction is more and more tax dollars squandered on the “national security state” while our real security is undermined.

So I am writing you today to ask your financial support for Peace Action’s Move the Money Campaign.  Our Move the Money Campaign will:

• Build a national consensus for deep cuts in the military budget.  Peace Action is building important links between the peace/disarmament/anti-war movement and economic justice/human needs groups, whose agenda has been devastated by the economic crisis. Together we can muster the political power necessary to challenge the military-corporate-political complex.

• Organize local campaigns that reach millions of Americans.  At the local level, Peace Action chapters are recruiting local and state political leaders to press their congressional delegations to change national priorities. The aim is to create  a wave of pressure for cuts in Pentagon spending generated from communities facing cuts in public safety and education.

• Provide a national clearinghouse for information. Throughout the course of the campaign, Peace Action will keep local activists up-to-date on developments at the national level and  share information on what’s working at the grassroots level.  

• Lay the groundwork for the 2012 elections. The Move the Money campaign will help raise the stakes for President Obama and other elected officials in the 2012 elections as they define their positions with their votes on military spending issues this year and next.

Sustaining donors provide Peace Action with a reliable source of revenues needed to plan an effective campaign.  Whether you pledge $5 or $10 a month or $50 or $100 a quarter, your sustaining gift to Peace Action will make a difference. It literally will help sustain and build our campaigns for peace, disarmament and sane budget priorities.

The budget battles in Congress are just beginning.  Rather than leave it to a handful of politicians in Washington, we must move meaningful debate on how deep to cut military spending into our communities, because that’s where tax revenues are generated and that’s where the short end of the federal spending stick is found.  That’s the goal of Peace Action’s Move the Money Campaign.

Thank you for your generous support and all you do to secure a more just and peaceful future.

Humbly for Peace,

Kevin Martin
Executive Director
Peace Action

P.S. - If you are already a member of our Peace Sustainer Program, thank you. Your recurring contributions are having a tremendous impact on our work.   If you are not already a Peace Sustainer, please considering joining today.  Your gift will go right to work and help provide a reliable source of revenue to support our national campaign to reduce military spending and reinvest in our communities. Thank you!