1000 Schools

Why I Oppose the War

Back in 2016, as the U.S. Air Force was commissioning its new bomber, it allowed current and former members and their families to suggest possible names. Over 4000 entries were eventually submitted, and the full list of candidates came out via a FOIA request. One airman had written in:

“1000 Schools”

Some of the other entries had a similar take:

“Another waste of taxpayer money”

“DronesRBetterButWeLikeWastingMoneySo…”

“YouThinkWeWastedMoneyOnTheF35,hahahahahaha!!!”

The bomber was eventually named the B-21 Raider, after the famous Doolittle Raiders of WWII. The unit cost of the B-21 is about $700 million, and the Air Force has estimated that developing, purchasing, and operating a fleet of at least 100 B-21s would cost about $200 billion over 30 years.

I live in Philadelphia, where the educational inequities of this country are front and center. In the elementary schools in our city, it is common for kindergarten classrooms to have 25 students, and sometimes more, with no aide to help the main teacher. I’m not sure how it’s possible for one person to teach 25 five-year-olds how to read. The answer is that it’s not. The kids are increasingly shoved in front of Chromebooks and literally left to their own devices. The end result is dismal. Philadelphia has some of the worst reading scores in the country. In 2024, 61% of Philadelphia’s fourth graders could not demonstrate basic reading skills.

52% of adults in Philadelphia are functionally illiterate.

52%.

Sometimes I imagine an alternative world where public schools had classes of 12 students, not 25. Where teachers were paid $150K. Where they went to work in buildings that weren’t falling apart.

Instead, we live in a country with a never-ending appetite for militarism, where our national security community perpetuates the idea that our country is somehow forever under threat, that no amount of defense spending will ever be enough to keep us safe. We spend more on our defense than any other nation in the world, more than the next nine countries combined. 37% of all global military expenditure. And somehow that isn’t enough.

“Peace through strength,” they say. And then they start wars. The easiest thing to sell in the world is fear. We are hardwired to feel it. They tell us that a threat is imminent, that we must do something, right away. They bomb, like they are playing a video game. They kill little girls in schools by accident and don’t apologize. They leave behind rubble, poisoned with violence, and then act surprised when democracy doesn’t take root. When new enemies spring up, that provides the excuse for more weapons programs, more increases to our military budget, and more wars. We do this over and over and over again, generation after generation, while nearly half of our people can’t read, 1 in 3 can’t afford healthcare, and 1 in 7 are food insecure.

Militarism and authoritarianism go hand in hand. When you get people scared, it becomes pretty easy to take away their rights. They barely resist. I am bracing for the moment when Trump uses whatever “threats” from Iran, Venezuela, Cuba or whomever else he chooses to bomb to further consolidate his power. These wars are a distraction— from the economy, from corruption, from his depravity. And he will use them to try to erode our democracy and avoid accountability for his actions.

If these interventions were somehow able to decisively help the people of Venezuela, or Iran, I could see some point to them. But they won’t. I’ve been reading work on the success of foreign imposed regime change, and the pattern is quite clear: you cannot just bomb your way to democracy. It basically never works. This strategy empowers hardliners, foments nationalism, and quite often makes things worse. You “decapitate” a regime, but a new head grows back, and usually it is snarling.

According to the Pentagon, we spent $11.3 billion in the first six days of the Iran War. It costs about $11 million to operate an urban public school per year. That’s roughly 1000 public schools running for a full year.

1000 schools.

I am tired of living in a country that would rather spend its money on missiles than kids. That’s why I oppose this war. And probably the next five too.

Rory

PS - Latest pod with Daniel L. Tavana is out on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, etc. Dan explained the workings of the Islamic Republic and talked at length about prospects for democracy in Iran and possible outcomes of the war. One of the best episodes I’ve ever done. Links below. Thanks for listening and supporting my work.