Editor,
Are most college graduates more responsible world citizens than minimum-wage U.S. workers who never finished high school? No.
Most college graduates consume far more, pollute far more, travel far more, cause far more global climate change and pay far more federal income taxes used to wage war. When Ghandi was asked what worried him most, he replied "the hardness of heart of the educated."
I do not want a bigger slice of the rotten, stolen U.S. pie saturated with the blood, sweat and tears of poor multitudes worldwide, exploited and murdered by this empire's international terrorism and insatiable greed.
The most radical, nonviolent action people of conscience can take in this society is to pledge publicly to live simply - to own no car and to pay no federal income tax for wars the rest of our lives. I pledge this.
I lived well all of 2005 on $3,885 for my total living expenses. I have owned no car since 1979. I have ridden in no car since April 7, 2001, more than five years ago. I have paid no federal income tax for war for 27 years. I enjoy living simply at less than half the U.S. poverty level and less than half the U.S. federal income taxable level for me as a sighted, single person less than 65 years old.
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I would trade places with no millionaire or billionaire. I would be severely ashamed to live like that. I have no right to more than I need while others in this world have less than they need. I am healthier, and I eat more nutritious food than most millionaires.
The U.S. is less than 5 percent of the world's people but steals and hogs 30 to 40 percent of the world's wealth and makes nearly half the waste. I refuse to live that way.
Ghandi said, "Be the change you want to see in the world - my life is my message."
Don Schrader
Daily Lobo reader
