I was wondering if it would help if Americans and citizens of wealthy developed countries would change their lifestyle. This would be a small step to world peace by voluntarily creating economic equality and cultural respect between different countries. The idea that enough Americans would voluntarily change their lifestyle to help create world peace is so far out that it could be considered a joke. It is a fantasy. But I have seen fantastic things come to pass lately and I am hopeful.

A nonviolent revolution needs a leader. It will not be the leaders we presently have in our country. If you believe that the people rule then the nonviolent revolution has a chance. You are the leader or our country. I am the leader of my country.

The September 11 targets are revealing. They point out to me what other countries dislike about America: capitalism (World Trade Center) and militarism (Pentagon). Those institutions of capitalism and militarism as they are misused today are also what I do not like about America. I think the average peacetime American also has reservations with the constant growth and oversizing of these institutions.

We ask ourselves: How big can Home Depot really get and still not have the screw I need which I used to get at the neighborhood hardware store before Home Depot put them out of business? We ask ourselves: How many times over do we want to blow up the world with our stockpile of nuclear weapons?

I am convinced that these institutions no longer represent America. Very few of us actually benefit from their profits. Those institutions tend to widen the gaps between global communities. They accentuate the inequalities. They create false sensations of security and prosperity. They benefit the rich and oppress the poor.

The statistics are well known and in general they sound like this:

Multinational corporations aligned with US political and military powers hire poor people in developing countries to work for pennies a day, producing products which sell at huge profits.

49% of American tax dollars go to the military budget to fund past, present and future wars while only 3% goes to education.

The image that these facts produce is Americans as the fat dumb bullies. That is is the congenial image. When one actually sees the effects of this kind of money/military misuse against other human citizens of the world, it becomes the terrifying bloody image of carnal violence. . .

These are also terrorist images.
America can be considered a terrorist country.

Except, I am an American, but I am not a terrorist. You may be an American and chances are high that you are not a terrorist. We wouldn't dream of committing war-like acts against other humans. I could be wrong, but if the question were framed in a certain way, the average American would be opposed to the terrorism associated with unbridled capitalism and militarism . So if you look at it this way, the September 11 attack was not against America. The September 11 attack was against unbridled capitalism and militarism.

Violent terrorists are misguided to think that average Americans are so blindly aligned with capitalism and militarism. They are wrong to confuse Americans with the capitalists and militarists. I think we have been duped into identifying ourselves with the abusive rich and powerful in order to fight their cause. It is not our cause. Really it might be more realistic and accurate for us to identify with the working poor in America and in the developing countries than with the corporate executives of Nike and Gap or the generals at the pentagon. Look at the living room in your home. Look at your heart felt values and compare. Who are you closer to?

Now it will have to be necessary for me to use the words "us" and "them", or "we" and "they". Let us say for example that "Us/we" are the average middle class American or working poor in the developing countries, and "them/they" are the wealthy powerful businesses/investors, politically sanctioned and aligned with the military industrial complex or multinational corporations using third world labor.

There are more of us than them. Granted there are a huge number of them who have gotten rich and powerful in the past decades. Some of us have made money with some of their stocks. But there is a division that we must recognize that existed clearly up until the day of the attack. After that, a spontaneous unifying event occurred because so many of us peaceful working class died in the attack along with the image of capitalism and militarism. Unity is a nice feeling, but it is not real in its economic or political equality. The rich are still rich and in control of foreign policy. The working class are cleaning up and fighting the war. But it is not our war. This unity is temporary. I am trying to figure out why we are fighting for them. We have built up their military force with our taxes. We have bolstered the capital gains of the rich with our consumption of things we don't really need. In the short term they will continue to make huge profits from the war which they will not share with us after it is supposedly over.

If we follow the money from the 49% war tax fact, we see that the priorities are to build weapons rather than to foster rational educated thought. It is logical then that when a crisis occurs we pursue the course we have invested in. Our whole lifestyle is invested in this. We think the way we spend. We've invested in our military so we will fight a war. If we had invested in education we would have been able to imagine a peaceful nonviolent solution to the conflict.

Education would change the national spirit to true patriotism which cares for all Americans and all world citizens, not just the wealthy or privileged .

Shifting our values from militarism to education is closely aligned to change in lifestyle. Because consumerism is aligned with militarism.

When terrorists strike us we say we have to maintain our way of living and that we will not run away or surrender. I don't believe we CAN maintain this way of living and have peace. Our way of life is the problem. That is why I think we should change our lifestyle. Because our lifestyle creates the demand for the products and services of capitalism and militarism. We demand them at the expense of our education. Our lack of education causes us to approve of barbaric militaristic reactionary solutions in lieu of intelligent creative actions which could change the root causes of the problem. How quickly and strategically we become like them.

In the First few days after the attack on September 11, I fantasized that America would respond by saying "Yes you are right. We have been oppressive. We favor some races and religions over others in our domestic and foreign policy. We repent and will change those policies. We will work for the rights of the oppressed in all countries. We will require corporations to pay proper wages. We will refrain from trying to create peace through militarism. We will use an international tribunal to punish terrorists. We will allow ourselves to be held accountable for our transgressions." This would not have been surrender or cowardice. It is sensible global thinking. It would have required much courage.

If this fantasy were allowed to play out, we would be paying more money for our shoes and jeans, We would pay more for our gasoline. Our SUV's would become obsolete. Maybe the speed limit would be reduced.. Our gadgets would cost more.We would loose money in the stock markets. We would be responsible for a global crisis.

If we choose to change our lifestyle, our standard of living will decrease. Life as we know it will cease. Things will never be the same.

I predict that if we continue with the present military capitalist strategy, our standard of living will decrease. Life as we know it will cease. Things will never be the same.

The difference between the one scenario and the other is:

In fantasies the giants fall eventually. In reality the giants lumber on getting bigger and bigger and hypnotize the little people to believe in them. Or do they? Maybe it is a fantasy to believe that that giants can continue growing indefinitely. In reality there is a physical limit to how big a structure can become before collapsing itself. Do we believe that our standard of living and economy can grow ever and ever higher? Where are the resources coming from for this growth? From the labor of the working class and the minerals of the earth? How long will these last?

I for one will be able to live with less. We are going to end up with a lower standard of living anyway. War is not a profitable national endeavor; it is more closely aligned with poverty. Even for the so-called victors. The aforementioned military / education budget comparisons are the statistics of a poor country destined to fall. A simple choice to voluntarily reduce military spending or reduce consumption would make a difference.

Our standard of living would decline. It will decline anyway. But we in the developed democratic countries are the ones who can afford this gesture of change. We will still have everything we need. We will be free and happy.

I am starting a "buy nothing" policy for myself. I'm guessing that except for food I have enough stuff to live on for a long time. It will be a challenge. If I do have to buy things I am hoping to support those corporations and suppliers who are being socially responsible. This also requires education.

Living on an artist's income is a natural step to simplifying. An added benefit of this simplicity is that I'm able to keep my war taxes lower . The less money I make the less weapons they make.

I am riding my bike and taking public transportation as much as possible. Perhaps more than anything the insidious consumption of oil and autos can be directly linked to past, present and future warfare, globalization and environmental destruction.

As a symbolic nonviolent act of civil disobedience I am withholding payment of the federal excise tax from my phone bill.

(The telephone excise tax is particularly associated with military spending. It was originally enacted and has been repeatedly renewed because of extra revenue demands resulting from wars and excessive military spending. This tax has raised over $30 billion since 1966, when it was enacted to finance expansion of the Vietnam War. In 1990 congress made the telephone excise tax permanent. The legislative history of the act which changed the tax status to be permanent said that the revenues raised would be used to fund child care, but the fact is that all of this tax goes into the general budget and from there 49% continues to fund militarism. Those of us who refuse to pay the tax usually redirect it by donating the money to voluntary organizations that fund the neglected needs of society.)

There are a thousand and one ways to simplify our lifestyle. recycle, reuse, share tools, barter for services...My bet is that many of us are already doing this anyway. What we might not have is faith in these small things. It is easier of course to consume because that is what is encouraged by the world we live in. And you may ask,: What is the use of holding the reigns of unbridled capitalism and militarism? What do you hold on to? There are no reigns without a bridle. We have to put the bit in it's mouth. It will be a challenge. It will be good.

We are only individuals. We ask: what can one person do? We are a country of millions of one persons asking what one person can do. We are already united in that one question.