“Human security requires directing our resources toward providing for the basic needs of human beings so they are secure in their daily lives. For too long, security has een defined in terms of the security of the state, not of individuals. We call it national defense. The US spends more on its military and weapons systems than all of the other nations of the world combined. The billions and billions of our tax dollars that go to weapons systems and other aspects of ‘defense’ is money that will never be spent on our public schools, or on an affordable health care system that gives everyone access to health care, or on creating jobs with dignity. Money for war will never be used to fight poverty and other social ills that tear apart the socioeconomic fabric of a country and often are fundamental causes of armed conflict. We have to change that kind of thinking.”