Hollie (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} hoillie) wrote,@ 2009-01-05 02:43:00 |
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Things to think about in the wake of the new administration, new war in Gaza, new year...
9 Steps to Peace for Obama in the New Year
By Deepak Chopra, AlterNet. Posted January 1, 2009.
Steps the incoming president can take to build a peace-based economy.
The following is a memo to Barack Obama from Deepak Chopra
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.
2. Write into every defense contract a requirement for a peacetime project.
3. Subsidize conversion of military companies to peaceful uses with tax incentives and direct funding.
4. Convert military bases to housing for the poor.
5. Phase out all foreign military bases.
6. Require military personnel to devote part of their time to rebuilding infrastructure.
7. Call a moratorium on future weapons technologies.
8. Reduce armaments like destroyers and submarines that have no use against terrorism and were intended to defend against a superpower enemy that no longer exists.
9. Fully fund social services and take the balance out of the defense and homeland security budgets.
These are just the beginning. We don't lack creativity in coping with change. Without a conversion of our present war economy to a peace economy, the high profits of the military-industrial complex ensures that it will never end.
Do these nine steps seem unrealistic or fanciful? In various ways, other countries have adopted similar measures. The former Soviet army is occupied with farming and other peaceful work, for example. But comparisons are rather pointless, since only the United States is burdened with such a massive reliance on defense spending. Ultimately, empire follows the dollar. As a society, we want peace, and we want to be seen as a nation that promotes peace. For either ideal to come true, you as president must back up your vision of change with economic reality. So far, that hasn't happened under any of your predecessors. All hopes are pinned on you.
Deepak Chopra is acknowledged as one of the world's greatest leaders in the field of mind-body medicine. He is the author of over 50 books, including Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment and Ageless Body, Timeless Mind.
Posted by: AlexLawyer on Jan 1, 2009 12:16 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All good ideas, and all about as likely to happen as Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton joining the Quakers and becoming pacifists.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: marxalot on Jan 1, 2009 3:46 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Any politician could publicly argue against any of these points and be supported by the majority of Americans. Peace begins within your own heart. Act peaceably yourself, but do not be discouraged when the world fails to follow your lead. Because it most likely won't.
Posted by: BillSamuel on Jan 1, 2009 3:56 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Elections are unclear in mandates. At the end, the economy appeared to be the major issue.
All the polls showed an anti-war majority, but they only polled about Iraq. They did not go to the broader issues.
Obama's assumption all along, clear in his original Iraq speech in 2002, is that America's way of war and domination is right; it's just Iraq which is wrong. His national security team are all hawks, mostly even on Iraq. His Chief of Staff is a very extreme hawk, a longtime supporter of state terrorism whose father was a terrorist and who was named after a terrorist. Obama ran on a platform of a larger military budget and larger military forces. He spent most of his 2002 speech assuring folks he was not for peace, and everything since then has reaffirmed that.
The proposals are great, but the corporatist political parties and mainstream media fail to even allow these issues to be raised. Obama seems no more likely than Bush to follow any of these proposals. We must redouble our efforts to raise the critical issues and get the people to rise up nonviolently against the perpetual warfare state.
Posted by: rnagisetty on Jan 1, 2009 4:54 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Agree with most of what you say. Polls are unreliable and in the case of war they are plainly wrong. Almost 50% of America loves war and it hates it only when it loses. That is about right for any country. Only misfortune takes us to peace and wisdom. US is too strong at the moment to be affected by minor bad luck.
Also the major religions of the US do not help, their holy books encourage war and hate. So the struggle for sanity would be long and hard.
So we must continue knowing that peace is right, path is difficult but there is no other way. Hope and joy should come from the path itself and occasional success. Thanks for your thoughts.
9 Steps to Peace for Obama in the New Year
By Deepak Chopra, AlterNet. Posted January 1, 2009.
Steps the incoming president can take to build a peace-based economy.
The following is a memo to Barack Obama from Deepak Chopra
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.
2. Write into every defense contract a requirement for a peacetime project.
3. Subsidize conversion of military companies to peaceful uses with tax incentives and direct funding.
4. Convert military bases to housing for the poor.
5. Phase out all foreign military bases.
6. Require military personnel to devote part of their time to rebuilding infrastructure.
7. Call a moratorium on future weapons technologies.
8. Reduce armaments like destroyers and submarines that have no use against terrorism and were intended to defend against a superpower enemy that no longer exists.
9. Fully fund social services and take the balance out of the defense and homeland security budgets.
These are just the beginning. We don't lack creativity in coping with change. Without a conversion of our present war economy to a peace economy, the high profits of the military-industrial complex ensures that it will never end.
Do these nine steps seem unrealistic or fanciful? In various ways, other countries have adopted similar measures. The former Soviet army is occupied with farming and other peaceful work, for example. But comparisons are rather pointless, since only the United States is burdened with such a massive reliance on defense spending. Ultimately, empire follows the dollar. As a society, we want peace, and we want to be seen as a nation that promotes peace. For either ideal to come true, you as president must back up your vision of change with economic reality. So far, that hasn't happened under any of your predecessors. All hopes are pinned on you.
Deepak Chopra is acknowledged as one of the world's greatest leaders in the field of mind-body medicine. He is the author of over 50 books, including Buddha: A Story of Enlightenment and Ageless Body, Timeless Mind.
Posted by: AlexLawyer on Jan 1, 2009 12:16 AM
Current rating: 3 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
All good ideas, and all about as likely to happen as Joe Biden and Hillary Clinton joining the Quakers and becoming pacifists.
[Report this comment]
Posted by: marxalot on Jan 1, 2009 3:46 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Any politician could publicly argue against any of these points and be supported by the majority of Americans. Peace begins within your own heart. Act peaceably yourself, but do not be discouraged when the world fails to follow your lead. Because it most likely won't.
Posted by: BillSamuel on Jan 1, 2009 3:56 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Elections are unclear in mandates. At the end, the economy appeared to be the major issue.
All the polls showed an anti-war majority, but they only polled about Iraq. They did not go to the broader issues.
Obama's assumption all along, clear in his original Iraq speech in 2002, is that America's way of war and domination is right; it's just Iraq which is wrong. His national security team are all hawks, mostly even on Iraq. His Chief of Staff is a very extreme hawk, a longtime supporter of state terrorism whose father was a terrorist and who was named after a terrorist. Obama ran on a platform of a larger military budget and larger military forces. He spent most of his 2002 speech assuring folks he was not for peace, and everything since then has reaffirmed that.
The proposals are great, but the corporatist political parties and mainstream media fail to even allow these issues to be raised. Obama seems no more likely than Bush to follow any of these proposals. We must redouble our efforts to raise the critical issues and get the people to rise up nonviolently against the perpetual warfare state.
Posted by: rnagisetty on Jan 1, 2009 4:54 AM
Current rating: 5 [1 = poor; 5 = excellent]
Agree with most of what you say. Polls are unreliable and in the case of war they are plainly wrong. Almost 50% of America loves war and it hates it only when it loses. That is about right for any country. Only misfortune takes us to peace and wisdom. US is too strong at the moment to be affected by minor bad luck.
Also the major religions of the US do not help, their holy books encourage war and hate. So the struggle for sanity would be long and hard.
So we must continue knowing that peace is right, path is difficult but there is no other way. Hope and joy should come from the path itself and occasional success. Thanks for your thoughts.
