Department of Peace has been around since the days of Thomas Jefferson

[Flabbergasted]

-- and it's time to put those ideas into action.

Of course the people don't want war. But after all, it's the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it's always a simple matter to drag the people along whether it's a democracy, a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism, and exposing the country to greater danger. -- Nazi commander of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Goering

Back in the 1940s B.G. (Before Goering) they used to call it the War Department. Now, it's the "Defense Department," which is kinda ironic considering that our current SecDef is presiding over a pre-emptive war launched under false pretenses against a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11.

It was one big Neo-Con job with Scooter the latest "friendly-fire" casualty of Bush hawks out-of-balance world view. All yin. No yang.

And no Department of Peace (DOP), as Thomas Jefferson's homies, Benjamin Banneker and Benjamin Rush, were calling for way back in 1782.

Banneker, a celebrated African-American inventor and scientist, and Rush, a medical doctor who signed the Declaration of Independence and helped expedite the Lewis and Clark expedition, proposed a Peace Department, while the first GW talked about the need to establish a West Point-like Peace Academy.

A century and a half later, Dr. King posed two prophetic questions. Nonviolence or nonexistence? And, where do we go from here? -- which, was the title of his last book and a powerful critique of the war of his time.

Last week, I said not enough peace advocates are focusing on the details of the most important war-and-peace question: how do we get from 'here' to 'there?'

Thankfully, there's organizations like The Peace Alliance, made up -- not of mere idealists -- but forward-thinking realists who support Congressman (and presidential candidate) Dennis Kucinich's legislation to establish a DOP.

The basic idea is to "establish nonviolence as an organizing principle of American society, providing the U.S. President with an array of peace-building policy options for domestic and international use," explains Matthew Albracht, managing director of The Peace Alliance.

If you're not familiar with long and successful history of nonviolent methods or just love chugging down gallongs of Hater-ade, you'll be rolling your eyes and asking questions like: Aren't there existing agencies whose duties include components of the DOP legislation? - as if that weren't true of the Department of Homeland Security before Bush created it.

The Peace Alliance short answer to these ahistorical inquiries is: "The establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency by Richard Nixon did not begin our commitment to the environment, yet it raised it to a much higher level of national priority. And so should it be with the interests of peace."

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/49038/

[MaggieSwanson]

1. Another good reason why

I stand with DJK.

Here are a few more:

UNIVERSAL SINGLE-PAYER HEALTHCARE
"We must establish streamlined national health insurance, "Enhanced Medicare for Everyone." It would be publicly financed health care, privately delivered, and will put patients and doctors back in control of the system. Coverage will be more complete than private insurance plans; encourage prevention; and include prescription drugs, dental care, mental health care, and alternative and complementary medicine."
<snip>
"'Mainstream' writers like Ph. D. economist and columnist for the New York Times Paul Krugman now agree with those doctors and Dennis that "covering everyone under Medicare would actually be significantly cheaper than our current system." They all recognize that we already spend enough to provide national health care to all but lack the political courage to make the tough decisions that doctors, nurses and medical professionals must run our health care system, not "for profit" insurance companies who make money by denying health care."
http://kucinich.us/issues/universalhealth.php

JOBS PROGRAMS/INFRASTRUCTURE
"Our country is facing twin crises: high unemployment and a decrepit infrastructure. At the same time, millions of manufacturing and high-tech jobs are being shipped overseas. I have a plan that will turn our problems around and put Americans back to work in America: By pulling out of NAFTA, we can return jobs that have been lost, including high-wage jobs in the information technology field. By initiating a WPA-style jobs program that puts Americans back to work rebuilding America, we can create millions of jobs and simultaneously improve our quality of life."
<snip>
"The Kucinich plan calls for the creation of a low-cost federal financing mechanism to administer $50 billion in zero-interest loans every year to localities for infrastructure projects for ten years. Twenty percent of these funds would be targeted for school construction and repair. The Kucinich plan also calls for a 15% reduction in the military budget, redirecting that $60 million towards hometown security issues such as education, jobs, and health care for all."
http://kucinich.us/issues/jobs.php

:toast: to Dennis!