General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsToo bad we have not established a Department of Peace
Department of Peace
The Department of Peace is a proposed cabinet-level department of the executive branch of the U.S. government.
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Provisions of the Kucinich Bill
Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced U.S. Department of Peace legislation to Congress in July 2001, two months before the September 11 attacks. Kucinich had reintroduced the legislation every 2 years since. The bill currently has 52 cosponsors. Some of the numerous organizations endorsing the legislation include Amnesty International and the National Organization for Women.
This bill includes several additional proposed mandates that would work in partnership with the U.S. Department of State and go beyond the existing mandates of the United States Institute of Peace. Some highlights among the areas of proposed additional responsibility include:
Provide violence prevention, conflict resolution skills and mediation to America's school children in classrooms as an elective or requirement, providing them with the communication tools they need to express themselves beginning in elementary school through high school.
Provide support and grants for violence prevention programs addressing domestic violence, gang violence, drug- and alcohol-related violence, and the like.
To effectively treat and dismantle gang psychology.
To rehabilitate the prison population.
To build peace making efforts among conflicting cultures both here and abroad.
To support our military with complementary approaches to ending violence.
Monitoring of all domestic arms production, including non-military arms, conventional military arms, and of weapons of mass destruction.
Make expert recommendations on the latest techniques for diplomacy, mediation, conflict resolution to the U.S. President for various strategies.
Assumption of a more proactive level of involvement in the establishment of international dialogues for international conflict resolution (as a cabinet level department).
Establishment of a U.S. Peace Academy, which among other things would train international peace-keepers.
Development of an educational media program to promote nonviolence in the domestic media.
Monitoring of human rights, both domestically and abroad.
Making regular recommendations to the President for the maintenance and improvement of these human rights.
Receiving a timely mandatory advance consultation from the Secretaries of State, and of Defense, prior to any engagement of U.S. troops in any armed conflict with any other nation.
Establishment of a national Peace Day.
Participation by the secretary of peace as a member of the National Security Council.
Expansion of the national Sister City program.
Significant expansion of current Institute of Peace program involvement in educational affairs, in areas such as:
Drug rehabilitation,
Policy reviews concerning crime prevention, punishment, and rehabilitation,
Implementation of violence prevention counseling programs and peer mediation programs in schools,
Also, making recommendations regarding:
Battered women's rights,
Animal rights,
Various other "peace related areas of responsibility".
Proposed funding for a U.S. Department of Peace would initially come from a budget that is defined by the prevention bill as, "at least 1 percent of the proposed federal discretionary budget, FY 2008 of which 53% is already allocated to the Department of Defense (budget)". Whether or not the U.S. Institute of Peace would be promoted to a cabinet level position, is not addressed by this bill.
A growing, national movement of citizens continues to actively promote and lobby for this legislation.
The Peace Alliance is the National Organization spearheading the passage of the legislation.
Peacetrain
(22,881 posts)about peace
Imagine a nation focused on peace and justice.
G_j
(40,372 posts)Last edited Sat Aug 24, 2013, 06:15 PM - Edit history (1)
that it often comes under ridicule.
The fact that we do not have one, and the chances of ever establishing one are more remote than ever, speaks volumes about us.
LWolf
(46,179 posts)Democrats could have done this, and didn't.
They still could, and won't.
I'm wondering how many people, regardless of political affiliation, would support the all or most or some of the parts of that department, if it were presented to them without the loaded word "peace," which they have been conditioned to resist.
adieu
(1,009 posts)most of the Scandinavian countries have a peace-centric focus with regards to their foreign policies.
Rex
(65,616 posts)We use to have a department of war...but the truth was a hard pill to swallow, so we changed it to the department of defense (as that sounds better than perpetual war department).
adieu
(1,009 posts)There's far more money to be made in providing non-lethal devices. The only problem is that there's no guarantee that you'd be the one making that money.
If you're a weapons manufacturer, you have a contract with the government, that's pretty much a guarantee of long-term income, because of secrecy and other national security issues that prevents others from muscling in on your turf. I mean, it's not easy for some new start-up to build the next generation fighter-bomber jet.
But, if we invested that money currently going for fighter-bombers into iPods or other cool gadgets, they could earn even more. But there will be competition and it isn't clear that the cool gadget that one company makes will succeed in the marketplace. But without a doubt, products and services for the consumer will generate far more wealth than weapons.
Tierra_y_Libertad
(50,414 posts)bahrbearian
(13,466 posts)silvershadow
(10,336 posts)tecelote
(5,122 posts)Peace needs to be profitable.
Then we, as a nation, could get behind it.
FarCenter
(19,429 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)The Department of Peace, protecting the freedoms and justice of the Homeland.
Dennis Kucinich was absolutely right!
AnotherMcIntosh
(11,064 posts)Then it was called the Department of "Defense." It was the same Department, but sounded better.
It would be good to have a Department of Peace, but that would, of course, be actively opposed by the military-industrial complex.
liberal_at_heart
(12,081 posts)either he or someone like him runs.