On September 14, Congressman Dennis Kucinich will introduce legislation for the establishment of a U.S. Deparment of Peace. This would be similiar to the State deparment-except that the goals of a Department of Peace would be to promote peaceful interaction instead of U.S interests. This legislation has some well known endorsements-Jonathan Schell (The Nation), Patch Adams, Walter Cronkite, John Conyers (D-MI; also well known for his work on introducing a resolution of inquiry on the Downing Street Memo). When I first heard of this legislation, I chuckled slightly at the Orwellian sounding name for this proposed insitution. After I took a look at the reasons for such an institution and read the legislation, it sounded relatively good.

Why? War and violence are not necessarily norms of human nature. Significant research in the fields of conflict resolution, peace studies and political psychology show that there are ways to address the root causes of war and violence. This department would focus on non-violent methods of international conflict resolution by addressing problems before violence materializes, promote international disarmament, seek to address domestic violence, promote a rehabilitation program for our prisons, promote human rights and democratic principles. One interesting part of this legislation is that this deparment would be tied in with the Secretary of Labor to address domestic socio-economic inequalities. This is significant as much research points to poverty as a leading contributor to domestic violence.

Here is the website: Link. I think this may take years to pass, but I do believe-with persistence-this could pass. The United States has always been a great country to live in--but anyone who has ever taken a serious look at our history knows that we have and continue to fall short of our ideals. This department only asks for a modest budget, just 1% of the budget for the DOD. We spend 400 billion dollars on war. You would think we can take a small fraction of that and work on innovative methods of addressing problems without violence-both at home and abroad. Then we might truly become the shining city on the hill.

If you do agree with this, please write or call your congressperson and ask for their support in the next few days.