Nine Steps to Peace for Obama in the New Year (Deepak Chopra)

[babsbunny]

Steps the incoming president can take to build a peace-based economy.

The following is a memo to Barack Obama from Deepak Chopra.

http://www.truthout.org/010109A

You have been elected by the first anti-war constituency since 1952, when Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected after promising to end the Korean War. But ending a war isn't the same as bringing peace. America has been on a war footing since the day after Pearl Harbor, 67 years ago. We spend more on our military than the next 16 countries combined. If you have a vision of change that goes to the heart of this country's deep problems, ending our dependence on war is far more important than ending our dependency on foreign oil.

The most immediate changes are economic. Unless it can make as much money as war, peace doesn't stand a chance. Since aerospace and military technologies remain the United States' most destructive export, fostering wars around the world, what steps can we take to reverse that trend and build a peace-based economy?

1. Scale out arms dealing and make it illegal by the year 2020............................

[calimary]

1. Maybe Obama will actually see this one.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. I'd add

10. Take the $ from defense budget and start helping build schools and hospitals and train impoverished people around the world. This can be done through NGOs like Central Asia Institute ww.ikat.org

[avaistheone1]

4. How about establishing single-payer universal health care coverage in the US?

Parents perform alot better on their jobs, and kids perform better in school when they are healthy.

Kudos to Deepak Chopra.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. As long as single payer takes into account some things Medicare doesnt

Like true prevention (mammograms, etc, are detection devices, NOT prevention)---diet, exercise, and supplements as determined by a physician so that it is individualized to the specific person. Like treating people as individuals, and allowing physicians to take TIME with their patients (some HMOs require a maximum 10 minutes per patient; my doc spends a minimum of 30 minutes with established patients, and for the same or less money--but then she isn't affiliated with an HMO). Like using all medical techniques that might help, including chiropractic, acupuncture, naturopathy, etc, as an integrative approach to medical care.

See http://www.futurevisionsfoundation.org for more information

[polichick]

3. Deepak is a very wise man - wonder if Barack knows him. Hope so.

[FloridaJudy]

5. And let's join the civilized world

In signing on to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. Why we continue to support/use a weapon that continues to kill and maim long after the conflict has ended is a national disgrace.

http://www.unicef.org/graca/mines.htm