Peace dividend questioned: Missoula speaker criticizes continued defense spending and urges reallocation

Molly, interim program director at the Jeanette Rankin Peace Resource Center, told a Jan. 15 Missoula gathering that the United States had not realized a promised “peace dividend” after the Cold War and urged redirecting defense dollars to social programs.

“Even at our currently low level of reductions, we could be rerouting 50 to $100,000,000,000 a year from the defense budget by fiscal year 1995,” Molly said. She criticized ongoing funding for programs often associated with the Strategic Defense Initiative (colloquially “Star Wars”) and named specific weapon programs and contractors mentioned during the talk. Molly said funds that once supported weapons production were being sustained by congressional allocations tied to local contractors and lawmakers’ districts.

Molly argued that defense spending does not stimulate civilian economic growth the way investments in education or health do and challenged job‑loss claims used to justify continued military outlays. “Job loss is a myth,” she said, citing comparisons between jobs created by military spending and civilian investment.

The speaker cited several national and Montana-level statistics as evidence of unmet social needs, including comments that more than 31 percent of children in Montana were hungry or at risk of hunger and that 29 percent of tax revenue went to current military funding and 23 percent to past military costs, as stated in her remarks. Molly named U.S. Sen. Conrad Burns and President George H.W. Bush when criticizing elected officials’ roles in sustaining defense contracts.

Molly urged local action and individual choices—ranging from political pressure on elected officials to consumer decisions—to reduce militarization and redirect public resources toward domestic needs such as education and nutrition programs.