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I think there is, or should be, a limit to how far we go for expediency to gain or retain political power. Military and anti-military action never equate with anti-defense or, by implication, anti-security. I, for one, think they don’t.

Security can more readily result from a good economy based on a much better distribution of goods and services; good easily accessible government-supported health care (the kind elected officials have); good access to professional and vocational education that lets individuals go as far as they can and want to go; a safe and clean environment; such things and many more would offer more security.

A stronger military increases the likelihood of "preventative or preemptive war" more often than it prevents it. Often "strong" countries fight because they can, and because their economies benefit from the resulting expansion of available resources.

To lower the causes of war we need a policy based on other means of ensuring security, like good, non-polluting energy alternatives, and a willingness to use less of any resource if it’s too expensive. Additionally, we can’t afford real progress and also a strong military. Both are very expensive. We have to choose which we want to focus on.

We waited a very long time for free trade and relatively unfettered corporate strength to provide our individual and collective security. The captains of industry have been in control for a few centuries, and they haven’t succeeded in eliminating poverty, increasing and strengthening our middle class, or securing lasting peace. Their need for oil, cheap raw materials, and cheaper labor as well as whatever trade advantages they need are too great, and their dependence on a strong military and nuclear threats are too big. If we want the kinds of security we need, we will have to find new ways to achieve them. The ways we’ve relied on don’t work well enough in an era with so many loose (or potentially loose) nuclear weapons available and the ever-present threat of irreversible environmental disaster.