For
a Department of Peace
Every
day in the news we're hearing how rampant violence is in our communities, both
here in America and around the world. I believe that the establishement of a United
States Department of Peace can greatly help alleviate the many problems that we
hear about on a daily basis. Our children deserve so much better. It is our job
right here and now to build a better world. By establishing a US Department of
Peace we are doing just that. Please get involved ... It's up to us to be the
change that we wish for and the time is now to co-create it.
-- Paula Abdul
|
"It is clear that military force and our policy of preemption are alone insufficient
to make us safe. But help is on the way. Legislation has been proposed to create
a US Department of Peace. In the propsed Department of Peace it would organize
our present system into one conscious effort to improve humanity in achieving
peace, where true safety lies."
-- Walter
Cronkite |
|
*
Back
in 1792, Dr. Benjamin Banneker, the famed African-American inventor and scientist
in Washington, proposed a Department of Peace for the new Nation to his friends
George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. His prophetic suggestion was not implemented;
but now, more than 200 years later, the need for a Peace Department is too compelling
to ignore.
-- John
Conyers |  |
 |
*
Citizens
across the United States are now uniting in a great cause to establish a Department
of Peace, seeking nothing less than the transformation of our society, to make
non-violence an organizing principle, to make war archaic through creating a paradigm
shift in our culture for human development, for economic and political justice
and for violence control.
-- Dennis
Kucinich
|
"A Department
of Peace and National Peace Academy will provide training for our troops so that
they will be prepared whether dealing with conflict in a war zone, the aftermath
of a tsunami, or providing relief aid to hungry children overseas.”
-- Dorothy
Maver |  |
"Needed: A Department
of Peace."
-- Karl E. Mundt
 |
"We have
the opportunity to make violence prevention and peacemaking a central conversation
in our culture right now. And there couldn't be a more urgent time to do so. We
see daily the tragic impact violence is having on the planet. I feel heartened
that so many practical solutions will be brought forth through a Department of
Peace. This campaign is showing what can be done as we begin to invest more in
the work of peacebuilding. There are many programs and practices that are already
proving to be incredibly effective at reducing such cultural challenges as gang
violence, violence in our schools, in our homes, as well as conflict around the
world. So please join this movement by contacting your members of Congress and
urge them to support this landmark legislation. And join others in your community
working to make it happen. Together we can do this."
-- Willie Nelson
|
 |
*
"Together,
we can make a U.S. Department of Peace into a reality, and leave a gift of peace
for generations to come."
-- Joaquin
Phoenix
|
"As
a nation, this is the moment to start seriously investing our time, energy and
resources into proven methods of reducing violence, both within our nation as
well as internationally. The cost of violence to our culture and our children
is simply not sustainable. I have learned that in the United States, youth homicide
rates are more than 10 times that of other leading industrialized nations, this
is just one example of the challenges we face. Is this really a legacy we want
to leave our children? There is a better way. Please
join me in getting involved in this landmark peace effort. We have a strong plan
of action this year at The Peace Alliance for moving this initiative forward.
Click on our "Act Now" link below to contact your member of congress, and the
"Get Involved" link to find out how you can support your local campaign efforts.
Together, we can make a U.S. Department of Peace into a reality, and leave a gift
of peace for generations to come."
-- Joaquin
Phoenix
*
On
the whole our armed services have been doing pretty well in the way of keeping
us defended, but I hope our State Department will remember that it is really the
department of achieving peace.
-- Eleanor
Roosevelt |  |
 | *
As
the War-Office of the United States was established in the time of peace, it is
equally reasonable that a Peace-Office should be established in the time of war.
-- Benjamin Rush |
In order more deeply
to affect the minds of the citizens of the United States with the blessings of
peace, by contrasting them with the evils of war, let the following inscriptions
be painted upon the sign which is placed over the door of the War Office: 1. An
office for butchering the human species. 2. A Widow and Orphan making office.
3. A broken bone making office. 4. A Wooden leg making office. 5. An office for
the creating of public and private vices. 6. An office for creating a public debt.
7. An office for creating speculators, stock Jobbers, and Bankrupts. 8. An office
for creating famine. 9. An office for creating pestilential diseases. 10. An office
for creating poverty, and the destruction of liberty, and national happiness.
-- Benjamin Rush
We
have contingency plans for war, but none for peace.
--Theodore C. Sorensen
 |
*
The
Department of Peace would take a more human approach to healing our society, looking
not merely for ways we can destroy an enemy, but for more powerful ways to create
new friends. While the State Department engages in international diplomacy, there
is no domestic parallel. There is no department seeking to harness the power of
a nonviolent heart.
-- Marianne
Williamson |
