Some Ideas for Putting People to Work, Reducing Crime and Building Rather Than Destroying

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter plane with a half million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that could have housed more than 8,000 people. This is, I repeat, the best way of life to be found on the road the world has been taking. This is not a way of life at all, in any true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron. ... Is there no other way the world may live?- President Dwight Eisenhower


While perusing news sites I saw that another home invasion occurred in Youngstown.  Earlier in the day I was thinking about the jobs speech President Obama will give tonight and BAM, a light bulb went off.  Remember the COPS program that was so successful in the 1990's and the early 2000's?  Community Oriented Poilicing?  I think it's time to bring it back on a grand scale as part of an integrated plan to rescue cities such as Youngstown, Detroit and Buffalo.

We clearly have many problems that negatively affect urban cities in the United States so why not attack a few at once? What I'm suggesting is an approach with four main points:

1. Cease operations this year in Afghanistan and bring the troops home.  It's been ten years, Al-Qaeda is out of the country and we've spent enough money and lost enough lives.  Get these people out of harm's way and bring them back here where some of their training can be put to use.  Also, this frees up an enormous amount of money to use on the other three points.  For instance...
2. Reduce the number of blighted properties in cities.  This is an infrastructure project that doesn't require nice weather.  Take some of our peace dividend money and use it to hire construction firms to knock down abandoned homes.  Municipalities have done the hard work of identifying abandoned properties and created land banks to take possession.  Now the cities need the resources to remove the structures.  This may also decrease available housing stock and help the real estate market.
3. Hire police to secure the neighbohoods currently under siege.  We have plenty of good people trapped in bad neighborhoods.  These are people who only leave their houses when necessary.  We'll have plenty of soldiers who may want to pursue law enforcement as a career and they'll have experience with securing an area from hostile entities.  This one is a no-brainer.    
4. Hire teachers and provide training for those needing it.  One of the great points made in Stephen Ambrose's Band of Brothers was that many of the soldiers profiled in the book came back to the United States and became teachers, engineers and builders.  After seeing so much destruction they were eager to build and help others.  We should take that discipline they have and their ability to adapt to difficult situations and transition it right into teaching and building.  One of the reasons employers don't come to our area is because  they claim we have an ill prepared workforce.  Well, let's create a wave of teachers, professionals and tradesmen who can lead others.  Then make education a requirement of public assistance and train a workforce that potential employers will desire.

This all sounds expensive and it will be but this is investment in America.  This is using our money to build ourselves up rather than waging war. Whether we want to admit it or not we have a dangerous generation of people out there who feel lost and forgotten. These problems can be fixed if we are willing to make the effort.