As oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico, I can’t help but wonder how the world and our economy might be different if all the billions upon billions of dollars we’ve spent on military hardware in the past 15 to 20 years and on military actions that make the world safe for…well, mostly safe for Halliburton and the rest of the military-industrial complex and corporate America, apparently…well…

What if that money had been spent elsewhere?

No, I’m not talking about social programs (much as I like them) or on our children (who are our future) or on healthcare (which could keep our population strong and productive). I would have liked to see more funding of all those things.

But imagine, if instead of trying to police the entire world, we had spent only a modest amount on military issues, such that we could defend ourselves but not be such an aggressor. And what might we have spent those billions on instead?

How about freaking fusion research?

I mean, if we had spent as much money on truly cutting-edge, forward-thinking energy research, maybe we’d be close to clean, effective, fusion power. Maybe now, instead of relying on a swiftly vanishing petrochemical resource, we’d be the ones calling the shots and saying: “We have the energy. We have the good stuff, and now let’s see some money to provide it.”

Maybe we would be in the plum position that OPEC nations have held, as the holders of the future energy needs of the world, instead of slaves to oil.

And then maybe a pipe wouldn’t be leaking millions upon millions of gallons of black death into our waters.