| September 27, 2005 |
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| Serving Maine and Lincoln County for over a
century. |
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| Peace Activists Push Peace
Department
Proposal |
| By Sherwood
Olin |
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| Schweizer and Cameron (2nd &
3rd from left)
| It’s an idea
whose time has come, say local activists Shelley
Schweizer and Kristin Cameron.
Both
Cameron of Nobleboro and Schweizer of Portland
have returned to Maine following a national
conference in Washington D.C. on the subject of
creating a federal Department of
Peace.
The conference was held Sept.
10-12 under the auspices of The Peace Alliance,
a group that is mobilizing nationally to push
for the peace proposal.
On Sept. 14, Ohio
congressman and former Democratic presidential
candidate Dennis Kucinich introduced legislation
proposing the creation of just such an entity
with a Presidential cabinet level position for
the department secretary.
As proposed,
this new department would create a cabinet level
position, led by a Secretary of Peace who,
according to the proposed legislation, would be
“dedicated to peacemaking and the study of
conditions that are conducive to both domestic
and international peace.”
Referring to
her literature, Cameron said, “The primary
function of the Department of Peace will be to
research, facilitate and articulate non violent
solutions to domestic and international
conflict.”
During the course of the
three-day peace conference, participants heard
from numerous speakers including Kucinich,
former CBS newsman Walter Cronkite and Peace
Alliance co-founder Marianne
Williamson.
Schweizer recalled that
attendees also received a firm grounding in the
how-to’s of lobbying for this specific
legislation as well as a chance to meet with
elected representatives on the
subject.
“I was brought to this
personally because I feel our nation needs a
paradigm shift,” Cameron said. “This is for our
children and our children’s children. The time
is now and there is nothing more important than
this.”
“We need a complete paradigm
shift, away from a paradigm of fear to a
paradigm of hope,” Schweizer
said.
Schweizer, Maine Peace Alliance
team leader for Maine’s Congressional District
I, points out that the Peace Dept. as proposed
is a non partisan effort. Currently 57 elected
representatives from both major parties are
co-sponsoring the legislation.
“The
spirit of the legislation is non partisan,”
Schweizer said. “In fact I would go so far as to
say it is a-partisan.”
The spirit of non
partisanship was evident during the conference
which, Schweizer said, was notable for its lack
of negative politics.
“It was all
positive,” she said, “There was nothing
negative.”
Schweizer added that similar
legislation was introduced in 2003, 2001 and
1969, but its concept dates as far back as 1792
when it was supported by Dr. Benjamin Rush,
whose signature appears on the Declaration of
Independence.
“This is not a new
concept,” Schweizer said. “This is a way to try
and make solutions to any conflicts. Really,
when you talk of the Dept. of Peace you are
going back to the Founding Fathers, so this is
not a new idea.”
As proposed the Peace
Department would receive funding equal to two
percent of the Defense Department budget.
Cameron points out that two percent of Defense
Dept.’s $400 billion budget works out to $8
billion. Included in the funding is a proposed
peace academy, similar in design to the nation’s
existing military academies at Annapolis and
West Point.
Over the long term, a
national emphasis on peace and addressing the
root causes of violence would lower the cost of
such violence at home and abroad, Cameron
said.
“A piece about this is it is in
support of our military,” Cameron said.
“Eventually in theory, this would bring down
their budget needs.”
For more information
on The Peace Alliance and the proposed Dept. of
Peace, reference The Peace Alliance website at
www.ThePeace Allaince.org.
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| Vol. 130 - No. 38 |
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