Closing Bases

Much is being neglected in current discussion about which legislator’s district is to be hit by reductions in military bases or defense contracts. The deeper question is speeding up conversion of military facilities to peaceful uses.

The possibilities for conversion are even broader than usually seen. They do involve planning by corporations and labor unions but also by local and national governments. They need to include both substitute use of facilities and alternate employment for employees.

Why not move “from submarines to subways”? Why not produce more mass-transit systems, schoolrooms, low-cost housing, health care facilities? To stop depletion of natural resources, why not give less emphasis to producing material goods and more to non-material services? Why not employ more people as teachers, counselors, musicians, forest rangers? Conversion then becomes a welcome opportunity to increase the quality of our total lives.

HARVEY SEIFERT

Claremont