Many important events will take place at the end of Election Day, and a countdown will begin at 11 p.m. PDT on November 5. While everyone’s attention will be focused on who our next president will be, the US Air Force will test launch an intercontinental ballistic missile. with a fake hydrogen bomb on the tip of the Vandenberg space base. The missile will cross the Pacific Ocean and crash 22 minutes later on the Marshall Islands. The US Air Force does this several times a year, always at night, while Americans sleep.

This is what nightmares are made of: between 1946 and 1958, the United States detonated 67 nuclear bombs in the Marshall Islands, and the result was that the Marshallese lost their pristine environment and faced problems of health. Our environment is also threatened here. Not only did the indigenous Chumash people lose their sacred land to Vandenberg Air Force Base, but the American Heartland also 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,” in homage to Revolutionary War soldiers who could reload and fire a gun in less than a minute, ICBMs not only put Americans at risk of accident, they put also endangers 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 conflicts. A single launch could lead to a nuclear exchange that wipes out cities, contaminates the environment and causes irreversible damage to our planet’s ecosystem. Once launched, an ICBM cannot be recalled. I don’t want a nuclear strike or an accident to happen. We can change course now, and our first step is to decommission the ICBM program also because its maintenance represents a huge financial burden.

The United States plans to spend more than $1.2 trillion on nuclear modernization over the next 30 years, meaning new, larger nuclear bombs and ICBMs called Sentinels will need to be tested. This massive investment in outdated technology diverts critical funds from humanitarian needs such as healthcare, education and combating climate change – issues that directly impact our quality of life and the future of our people. children.

I teach creative writing to 4th and 5th grade students. 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 about the reality we have created for our children.

“It’s a shame, a perfectly good planet destroyed.” —Claire, 9 years old

“What would you think of the absence of nature in the world? No trees, no butterflies, no birds or rabbits at all! The most important thing is that there is no one there. 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 had virtually nothing? I think I would absolutely hate that. »-Brynn, 9 years old

Aside from the destruction caused by industrial global warming and war, of which children are all too aware, this child does not know what could really destroy nature and civilization in a matter of minutes; she doesn’t know about “nuclear winter” or how vulnerable we are to a nuclear accident. Most people don’t.

Nuclear weapons are claimed to have a deterrent effect, but it is diplomacy that creates alliances and peace. Nuclear weapons pose only a terrifying threat of annihilation, either by command or by accident. Nuclear weapons and ICBMs only make the world less safe and rob us of security.

While the warring ruling class seems to be pushing the nuclear brink, on this election night, let us not get distracted. By decommissioning ICBMs, the United States could lead the world in reducing the nuclear threat and encourage other countries to do the same. For the sake of our health, our environment and the safety of future generations, it is time to abandon the ICBM program. We owe it to our children to invest in a future that prioritizes peace and sustainability over destruction.

Since it is we, the people, who possess the right to self-determination, we must confront the material reality of our homeland and face 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 act.

May we cancel this nightmarish weapons program once and for all and give our children the security they deserve.

“Only we, the public, can force our representatives to reverse their abdication of the war powers that the Constitution gives exclusively to Congress,” said Daniel Ellsberg, a US military analyst, economist and author of The apocalyptic machine.

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

Learn more about the dangers of ICBMS and get involved:

Leah Yananton, a teacher, filmmaker and writer interested in biosphere dynamics, human connection, indigenous stewardship, nuclear disarmament and peace economics, considers the test launch of election night in Vandenberg is the third in which she participates.