Above all, the Department would address the fundamental psychological and spiritual challenges that threaten peace at home and abroad; the common threads that underlie them all are the root causes of violence and man’s relationship to his fellow man.
Some of the offices you visit will listen, but explain their bosses are busy with more immediately pressing matters. Ask them: “What is more pressing than preventing the violent death or injury of our citizens and of our fellow human beings everywhere?”
Ask them: “How better to support our troops around the Globe than to create a Department of Peace?”
Some offices may think you advocate substituting a Department of Peace for our Armed Forces. Make clear you realize that sometimes force is needed to protect our vital interest, and explain that a Peace Department would be a partner, not an alternative, to the Pentagon.
Our young soldiers should know how to defuse a confrontation in a foreign land, if possible without bloodshed. At the same time, our leaders should be adept at preventive diplomacy, rather than preventive war.
Ask those you meet: “How better to reduce the threat of terrorism around the globe than to create a Department of Peace?” It would respond to the growing national consensus that we must understand and reach out to millions of people around the globe who we can turn aside from the path of terrorism.
Most important, ask them” “How better to revive America’s image as a beacon of hope to a troubled world than to create a Department of Peace?”
Some may claim that there are enough offices scattered among existing departments that already deal with arms control, negotiations and reconciliation. They may be skeptical about creating a whole new department. Remind them that when we recognized the need for a Department of Education, a Department of Homeland Security and an Environmental Protection Agency, Congress acted.
The key point is what happens when the President and his top advisors confer in the Oval Office about an international crisis.
