John Hagelin on Defense
Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell is a recipe for discrimination
Q: Do you support the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy on gays in the military? A: “Don’t ask, don’t tell’ is a recipe for discrimination. Gays should be allowed to defend our country, as they indeed always have,
without censure of silence. Naturally, sexual promiscuity heterosexual or homosexual - has no place in the military.”
Source: Associated Press
Sep 6, 2000
Decrease military aid; shift to life-supporting policy
Two thirds of US foreign aid is military aid. I would create an immediate shift away from the export of weapons-the US is one of the largest arms dealers in the world-toward a more life-supporting policy
based on the export of US know-how. American expertise and technical assistance in such critical areas as business, entrepreneurship, education, sustainable agriculture, and environmental technologies,
supplemented where necessary with economic support, should replace military aid as our principal instrument of US foreign policy. Such a foreign policy will allow many developing countries to become
financially self-sufficient, help to eliminate hunger and poverty, and contribute to a flourishing global trade in a more prosperous and harmonious family of nations.
Source: www.Hagelin.org, ‘What Hagelin will do’
Apr 1, 2000
Maintain nuclear non-proliferation and maintain ABM Treaty
Hagelin supports the following statements regarding nuclear weapons issues:- Supports the cooperative threat reduction programs with Russia to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to unfriendly nations
- Does not support modifying
the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM) Treaty in order to deploy the National Missile Defense System.
Source: Vote-Smart.org 2000 NPAT
Jan 13, 2000
Present military spending is politically motivated
I’m definitely for spending on military, but I think a lot of our military spending is actually politically motivated. There are expensive weapon systems that the Pentagon doesn’t even want, but they bring jobs to a particular Congressman’s
area, and that Congressman on that particular expenditure committee gets good money from those special interest groups.
Source: Jim Bohannon Show, Westwood One radio
Nov 16, 1999
High-tech weaponry is unstoppable
There is no viable defense against today’s high-tech weaponry. Once a single MIRVed ICBM is launched, there is no missile system in place that can prevent the wide-scale destruction of cities. Even after substantial reductions in global arsenals,
thousands of nuclear weapons are known to be missing from the former Soviet arsenal, and recent nuclear tests in China have stirred fears in the international community of runaway nuclear proliferation.
Source: “A Reason to Vote”
Dec 6, 1995
Peace treaties don’t last
Unfortunately history shows that neither treaties nor threat of arms can ensure lasting peace and security. When stress builds up in collective consciousness, inevitably it erupts as violence, conflict, and war among nations. Then it doesn’t matter
what treaty has been signed. Over the past three thousand years there have been more than five thousand peace treaties, each of which has lasted an average of nine years.
Source: “A Reason to Vote”
Dec 6, 1995