In today’s Los Angeles Times, Al Martinez devotes his column to discussing the Department of Peace (“Give Dept of Peace a Chance?”) After weighing the pros and cons, he concludes that “I remain in favor of such a department because at least its pursuit is an organized and passionate effort toward a legitimate and even desirable goal. That's a lot better than picnicking for peace on the lawn of the Federal Building or honking one's horn against a war that isn't listening.”

Martinez also shares his fears that a Department of Peace “might devolve into spending time and money cranking out press releases to sustain itself through sloganeering, thereby forgetting its initial promise. Institutionalizing efforts once made through riots and sit-ins may be today's more formalized method of attaining the same ends.”

You can read the complete Los Angeles Times column by copying and pasting the following URL into your browser: http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-et-martinez16oct16,1,570539.column?ctrack=1&cset=true.

ACTION REQUESTED

Please contact the Los Angeles Times and commend Al Martinez for supporting this legislation. Please use your own words to address Martinez’s fears, emphasizing the positive, practical ways in which a Department of Peace would work to coordinate the efforts of existing organizations to raise peace to a national priority.

Please use the following points to help readers of the Los Angeles Times understand that
a cabinet-level Department of Peace and Nonviolence would effectively reduce violence in our schools, communities, country, and around the world:

• There is currently no organized approach by the U.S. government that aims at creating nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. By giving the interests of peace a full cabinet position, we make it a national priority.
• The Department of Peace legislation envisions a close working relationship between existing government agencies and private organizations. It would bring a new focus to peace and violence prevention lacking in our current scattershot approach.
• Obviously, peace work can be and in some cases already is a party of existing agencies. When such efforts are placed under one umbrella, however – such as in the establishment of our Department of Homeland Security –they attain a higher level of synergy, effective coordination, and influence upon the thinking of American citizens. 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.
• The Department of Peace would work with the Department of Defense. Former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, speaking of his leadership during the Viet Nam War, said, “We knew nothing about Vietnamese religion, psychology or culture – and we had no one to tell us.” With a Department of Peace, that would never be the case. This department would be actively involved in studying the most human aspects of conflict, and applying ways to resolve them peacefully. We should be as sophisticated in the ways we nurture peace as we are in the ways we wage war.
• If it fits logically with the points you wish to make, please try to include the phrase “elect peace -- we can’t afford not to.” For a list of statistics on violence, please go to: http://www.thepeacealliance.org/content/view/23/

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With deepest gratitude,

The Peace Alliance
www.thepeacealliance.org