What the Air Force doesn’t want us to notice on election night

A lot of the significance will happen at the end of Election Day, and the countdown will begin on November 5 at 11:00 PM PDT. While everyone’s attention will be on who our next president will be, the US Air Force will test an intercontinental ballistic missile. with a dummy hydrogen bomb at the tip of Vandenberg Space Force Base. The missile will cross the Pacific Ocean and crash 22 minutes later in the Marshall Islands. The US Air Force does this several times a year, always at night while the Americans are sleeping.

This is what nightmares are made of: between 1946 and 1958, the US detonated 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands, and as a result the Marshallese people have lost their pristine environment and are facing health problems. Here too, our environment is threatened. Not only did the indigenous Chumash people lose their sacred land to Vandenberg Air Force Base, but the American Heartland currently has approximately 400 ICBMs stored in underground silos equipped with nuclear warheads ready to be launched at a moment’s notice. Named “MinuteMen III” after Revolutionary War soldiers who could reload and fire a rifle in less than a minute, ICBMs not only put Americans at risk of accidents, but endangered all life on Earth.

ICBMs are not viable for national defense. They are a relic of a bygone era, invented by Nazi Germany, and their presence only increases the risk of nuclear accidents or conflict. A single launch could lead to a nuclear exchange that would destroy cities, pollute the environment and cause irreparable damage to our planet’s ecosystem. Once an ICBM is launched, it cannot be recalled. I don’t want a nuclear attack or accident to happen. We can change course now, and our first step is to dismantle the ICBM program, also because it is a huge financial burden to maintain.

The US plans to spend more than $1.2 trillion on nuclear modernization over the next 30 years, which means testing new, larger nuclear bombs and ICBMs called Sentinels. These massive investments in outdated technology divert critical funds from humanitarian needs such as health care, education, and healing from climate change – issues that directly impact our quality of life and the future of our children.

I teach creative writing to 4th and 5th graders. I love children’s imaginations, but when my students were assigned to write about something important to them, they wrote lines that broke my heart. This is a wake-up call for us adults to face the reality we have created for our children.

‘Such a shame, a great planet, destroyed.’ — Claire, 9 years old

“What would you think if there was no nature in the world? No trees, no butterflies, no birds or bunnies at all! Most importantly: no people. There would be no technology, no schools, no history, no entertainment; everything we worked for would be wasted. What would you think of a beautiful world that actually had nothing? I think I would absolutely hate it,” —Brynn, age 9

Apart from the destruction caused by industrial global warming and war, which the children are all too aware of, this child does not know what nature and civilization can turn into nothing in a matter of minutes; she knows nothing about “nuclear winter” or how vulnerable we are to a nuclear accident. Most people don’t.

Nuclear weapons are said to be a deterrent, but it is diplomacy that creates alliances and peace. Nuclear weapons only pose the terrifying threat of destruction, either by command or by accident. Nuclear weapons and ICBMs only make the world less safe and deprive us of our security.

Now that the warring ruling class seems to be pushing for nuclear breakdown, we should not be distracted on this election night. By dismantling ICBMs, the US can lead the world in reducing the nuclear threat and encourage other countries to do the same. In the interest of our health, the environment and the safety of future generations, it is time to scrap the ICBM program. We owe it to our children to invest in a future where peace and sustainability are prioritized over destruction.

Because we, the people, possess the right to self-determination, we must face the material realities of our homeland and what it will take to protect it. Do we have the courage to change our country for the better and secure our future? Yes, we do, and now is the time to take action.

May we end this nightmare gun program once and for all and give our children the safety they deserve.

“Only we, the public, can force our representatives to relinquish the war powers that the Constitution gives exclusively to Congress,” said Daniel Ellsberg, American military analyst, economist and author of The Doomsday Machine.

Tell Congress: Cancel the Sentinel Missile Program – Over 700 Scientists Agree:

Read more about the dangers of ICBMS and get involved:

Leah Yananton, a teacher, filmmaker and writer focused on biosphere dynamics, human connection, indigenous stewardship, nuclear disarmament and the peace economy, counts Vandenberg’s election night test launch as the third she has attended.