Department of Peace

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The Department of Peace is a proposed cabinet-level department of the executive branch of the federal government of the United States.

Contents

History

The peace movement in the United States has a proposed legislative history that dates to the first years of the republic:

1. Let a Secretary of Peace be appointed to preside in this office; . . . let him be a genuine republican and a sincere Christian. . . .

2. Let a power be given to the Secretary to establish and maintain free schools in every city, village and township in the United States; . . . Let the youth of our country be instructed in reading, writing, and arithmetic, and in the doctrines of a religion of some kind; the Christian religion should be preferred to all others; for it belongs to this religion exclusively to teach us not only to cultivate peace with all men, but to forgive—nay more, to love our very enemies. . . .

3. Let every family be furnished at public expense, by the Secretary of this office, with an American edition of the Bible. . . .

4. Let the following sentence be inscribed in letters of gold over the door of every home in the United States: The Son of Man Came into the World, Not To Destroy Men's Lives, But To Save Them.

5. To inspire a veneration for human life, and a horror at the shedding of human blood, let all those laws be repealed which authorize juries, judges, sheriffs, or hangmen to assume the resentments of individuals, and to commit murder in cold blood in any case whatever. . . .

6. To subdue that passion for war . . . militia laws should everywhere be repealed, and military dresses and military titles should be laid aside. . . .

Support

The Peace Alliance [10] and the Student Peace Alliance [11] organizations support the creation of a U.S. Department of Peace. Both are national nonprofit organizations and independent grassroots political movements that operate autonomously. The ongoing movement is supported by several members of Congress, the late former CBS Evening News anchor Walter Cronkite and author Marianne Williamson. Also joining the increasing list of national endorsements are Yoko Ono, Joaquin Phoenix, Frances Fisher and Willie Nelson. This movement actively lobbies for the endorsements of congressional leaders and is active in soliciting and receiving a growing list of bipartisan endorsements from city councils in California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Mexico and Ohio. [12] Local grassroots chapters have been formed in all 50 states. [13]

Fiction

The novel 1988 (a fictional work about the upcoming 1988 presidential election published in 1985) by then-Governor of Colorado Richard Lamm, includes a very similar proposal where the third-party presidential candidate in the novel proposes a cabinet-level Agency for U.S. Peace and Conflict Resolution with a secretary of peace who could challenge the secretary of defense when necessary.

See also

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References

  1. ↑ Rush, Benjamin, M.D. (1806). "A plan of a Peace-Office for the United States". Essays, Literary, Moral and Philosophical (2nd ed.). Thomas and William Bradford, Philadelphia. pp.  183–188. Retrieved 2010-06-03. benjamin rush peace plan office.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  2. ↑ Phillips, P. Lee (1917). "The Negro, Benjamin Banneker; Astronomer and Mathematician, Plea for Universal Peace". Records of the Columbia Historical Society. Vol. 20. Washington, D.C.: Columbia Historical Society. pp. 114–120.
  3. ↑ Jacqueline Van Voris (1996). Carrie Chapman Catt - A Public Life. Feminist Press. ISBN   978-1-55861-139-9.
  4. ↑ Kirby Page. A National Peace Department.
  5. ↑ 91 Cong. Rec. 7274 (1945)
  6. ↑ Frederick L. Schuman. Why a Department of Peace?. OCLC   339785.
  7. ↑ 115 Cong. Rec. 3154 (1969)
  8. ↑ Frederick L. Schuman. Why a Department of Peace?. OCLC   339785.
  9. ↑ 125 Cong. Rec. 35111 (1979)
  10. ↑ "The Peace Alliance".
  11. ↑ "Student Peace Alliance".
  12. ↑ "City, County and Governing Body Resolutions in support of a U.S. Department of Peace". Archived from the original on 2009-11-09. Retrieved 2009-10-25.
  13. ↑ "Get Active and Volunteer". The Peace Alliance. Archived from the original on 2007-10-03. Retrieved 2007-10-24.
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