In the wide expanse of human history, there has never been a period of true peace. Though nations make treaties and promises to each other, there has never been a period of zero conflict in the world, and war appears to only be inevitable as time goes on. Then it is no wonder that when questions of defense are raised, states prepare for the worst, with the United States as no exception. With the highest defense budget in the world, the United States spends more on our military than China, Russia, Britain, France, Japan and Germany put together. Defense spending admittedly provides thousands of jobs, new technology and, of course, national security. This money can be better spent; there are more productive uses for each taxpayer dollar than defensive insurance. There comes a point where it is questionable how much spending we need to put toward defense and whether defense is the true purpose.

Sen. Bernie Sanders once wrote, “The cost of war is great, and it is far more than the hundreds of billions of dollars we spend on planes, tanks, missiles and guns.” Economically, relatively massive defense spending will hurt the people of the United States. Funneling additional billions of dollars of federal funds into the military will leave us behind in education, infrastructure and health systems for years to come. Already, the greatest country in the world has fallen behind in these areas. Now, more than ever, we must make unprecedented progress if we hope to catch up. There is more to the security of a nation than the power of its army, and yet President Donald Trump has made efforts to increase our defense budget by tens of billions of dollars each year of his presidency.

I think it is more than a coincidence that the recent bombings in Syria come at a time when Trump himself is under investigation, not to mention several members of his staff, for corruption and bribery. Syrian President Bashar al-Assad is an atrocious human being guilty of war crimes, and it is my opinion that Trump will use these actions to start a frivolous and costly war to distract from his own incompetence. Trump’s favorite sitcom “Fox & Friends” even mentioned that perhaps bombing Syria would take some focus off of the Stormy Daniels debacle; for once I agree with the nice people over at Fox News. Simultaneously, John Bolton was recently appointed the Trump administration’s National Security Advisor. If you aren’t familiar with Bolton, his repertoire includes supporting the Vietnam War, architect of the war in Iraq, stating that withdrawing troops from the Middle East in 2011 was a bad idea, an advocate for first strike against North Korea, and has been involved with groups heavily promoting Islamophobia. Bolton is just another member of Trump’s team of like minded people.

We are already in a precarious spot as a country, where the next generation of doctors, scientists, engineers, teachers and farmers cannot afford to go to school. Having the power to wipe out millions of people with a single bomb will never put food on the table for the two out of every five children in the Midwest who do not have a meal on a daily basis. With every conflict, there have been veterans who come home from war and now don’t have a job, whose families look a little differently at them, and who can’t even celebrate the Fourth of July without remembering the sounds of the bombs bursting in air that killed their friends. What gives a draft dodger the right to perch the United States onto the brink of another war fueled by money, and place someone else’s children in the line of fire? I dare one of the lawmakers in Washington who supports increases to defense spending to publicly denounce these efforts that will hurt. I dare them to look out at the American people who they are supposed to protect and say, “Yes. We let your children starve so we can drink oil from the helmets of dead soldiers.” Always remember: there has never been a time of human peace.

For these reasons, I encourage you to condemn President Donald Trump and his warmongering. All the factors of his presidency are aligning so that the United States can go to war: Trump has dramatically increased defense spending, appointed men who consistently advocate for war and has full control over the greatest military in the world. Keep all of these things in mind as you go about your lives, and remember them when you vote this November. The only change we can hope to see for offsetting potential violence comes in the form of a ballot box.