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Make Peace a Priority
You can help make the issue of reducing and preventing violence a part
of the election-year dialogue! Any time a candidate--especially a
Presidential candidate--comes through your area, be sure that you and
other Department of Peace Campaign supporters show up where they're
speaking.
Go to every town hall meeting with the presidential and congressional candidates, (wearing your Department of Peace Campaign T-shirt of course), and ask the candidates educating questions , give them some materials , inspire thoughtful dialogue, and help them to start thinking and talking seriously about making reducing and preventing violence a national priority.
You can find appearance schedules for the Presidential candidates here or check their campaign websites. Candidates for the House and the Senate should have general schedules posted on their websites as well. In all instances, signing up for their email lists may be the surest way of getting notified when the candidate will be near you.
Remember, the goal isn’t necessarily to get them to say they support a Department of Peace (many of them don't really understand what it is or what it would do yet anyway).
The goal is to help them see that:
- Reducing and preventing violence needs to be a national priority
- The Department of Peace Campaign isn't an isolated event
- Peace is an important issue for voters
It's also a great opportunity to build relationship with the candidates, their staff (who will likely be their staff once they're elected) and with the general public. That will help immeasurably once they're in office. You might even enroll more people into your local campaign in the process.
Materials
Take a packet of information and hand it off to the candidate or to one of their staff members. We recommend taking the following and putting it in a folder with a Department of Peace Campaign sticker on the front. If this list feels like too much, just take a half-page campaign summary flyer.
Educating Questions
Inspiring our elected officials to be the leaders they most want to be is a big part of the work of The Peace Alliance and the Department of Peace Campaign.
Asking them "Do you support a Department of Peace?" isn’t typically helpful because if they don't truly understand the legislation, they’re likely to say "no" then give what sounds like a really good reason for it. And once they've come out publically against something, it's that much harder for them to change their position.
We must educate them about the need and enroll them into the conversation. Here's an example of an educating question:
The World Health Organization estimates that the United States spends on average more than $300 BILLION per year on the after-effects of violence--NOT including war-related costs. I'm part of a grassroots movement to establish an institutional platform in the federal government to help us master the skills needed to reduce and prevent violence and resolve its root causes--both internationally and domestically--to help eliminate this tremendous human and financial waste. What is your plan for making the reduction and prevention of violence a national priority and for establishing the science of peacebuilding as central to our policies and planning?
You can create your own educating question sculpted according to what is most important to you and the candidate. If you don't get to ask a question, don't worry. The key is to get out there, be seen, and build relationships.
Remember in whatever you do: we seek first to connect rather than convince.
Report your Action
If the candidate with whom you interact is already an elected member of the U.S. Congress, be sure to report your contact so we can add the information to our database.
If you have questions or need assistance be sure to
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.
Thank you for taking action!
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