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By Alex Miller,
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December 12, 2007
Published on-line here
How is that people — most of whom grow
up with parents admonishing them daily to behave with peace and
civility — can embrace messages that snicker at the notion of peace on
a wider scale? Most people will live their entire lives without
engaging in murder or acts of war and be happy for it. Yet when someone
comes along and suggests more vigorous pursuit of this thing called
“peace,” they are pilloried for it.
Not by everyone, I should hasten to add. But in this
polarized and partisan world we live in, the ones yelling from the
fringes are doing a good job of capturing our ear through the
mainstream media. So when someone like Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich —
who’s on his second go-around running for president — proposes a
“Department of Peace” for the U.S., he is subject to the snarky attacks
of those who believe the only way to demonstrate patriotism (or, at
least, the best way) is to kill people, blow things up.
And when
someone like Colorado Rep. Mark Udall — who is running for the U.S.
Senate — is attacked (actually, the term now is “Swiftboated”) by a
so-called 527 group for once supporting said Department of Peace, he is
also ridiculed, painted as a pacifist who’s now willing to hold open
the door for terrorists. (Sad to note here that Udall has withdrawn his
support of the idea, no doubt a political calculation to fend of
wussy-branding from his GOP rival.)
The notion of creating
another Cabinet department has its own baggage. I wouldn’t want to see
such a department perform at the level of our current Defense
Department — a much-diminished version of the organization that emerged
victorious from World War II. But if executed properly, the potential
is there to create something that would replace our war-driven country
with a new model based on something else, something better. It would
present a way to project American power and influence in a more
positive way, and ultimately, I believe, diminish the need for a
Defense Department that sucks half-a-trillion dollars out of our
economy every year.
Does that mean no DOD at all? That we
allow every drug lord, jihadist or rogue nation to march across our
borders and murder us all in our sleep? Of course not. But war should
always be a last resort, carrots tend to work better than sticks, and
if our underlying goal in having a DOD is that we want peace at home,
we need to do a better job sowing it abroad. In fact, many U.S. troops
spend a good part of their time in peaceful work; many identify it as
the thing that gives them the most satisfaction. Imagine, then, what it
would look like if we had peace brigades working in the world’s hot
spots, helping rebuild economies and infrastructure, giving people
jobs, clean water, health care.
I can hear some of you grinding
your teeth onto the floor. Why, you ask, should we give “those people
who attacked us” any help? Well, for one, the people who attacked us
are long dead. For another, it always makes sense to address problems
at their cause rather than on the other end. If a 15-year-old boy in
Sudan ends up working on a collective farm and learning a trade and a
living rather than being hopeless, unemployed and seeking identity
within radical Islam, ultimately that U.S.-sponsored farm is going to
be cheaper than trying to prevent him from pursuing jihad against the
West.
It’s human nature to want revenge, to retaliate after
we’ve been wronged. It may also seem easier to whack someone on the
head than invite him in for dinner. The Department of Peace proposal is
a more difficult path — one that would work America back into what it
was always meant to be: a benevolent nation the world admires and
respects — not fears. Whether Kucinich has a chance or not, the
Department of Peace idea ought to be picked up by the ultimate winner
and embraced as a way to effect real change. It will take tremendous
political courage — not something I’m seeing on either side of the
aisle at the moment.
Copyright 2007 vailtrail.com
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