Department of Peace

File:Us-dept-of-peace-logo-framed.jpg

Logo of U.S. Department of Peace Movement

The United States Department of Peace (or DoP) is a proposed cabinet-level department of the executive branch of the U.S. government. The original idea of a Peace Department in the United States dates back to the administration of George Washington, but has been most recently proposed by Rep. Dennis Kucinich in 2001 and formed a part of Kucinich's presidential campaign platform in 2004. A bill for this purpose, HR 3760, was introduced in the House of Representatives, with more than 60 co-sponsoring members of Congress, on September 14 2005.

On September 22 2005 Minnesota Senator Mark Dayton introduced a senate version of the Department of Peace legislation, bill number S.1756. This bill has one co-sponsor, Senator Jim Jeffords of Vermont. Both Dayton and Jeffords have retired and will not return to the Senate for the 110th Congress.

The US Department of Peace is also an independent grassroots political movement that operates autonomously and that has continued to gain momentum after Kucinich's bid in the 2004 presidential election. The ongoing movement is co-led by Kucinich and the author and popular motivational speaker Marianne Williamson. This movement actively lobbies for the endorsements of congressional leaders. It has local grassroot chapters in over 200 congressional districts, and to date over 60 members of Congress have co-sponsored Kucinich's bill.

The Kucinich proposal

In July 2001, Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich introduced Department of Peace legislation to Congress though it is unclear how similar his version of a Department of Peace would be to that of the founding fathers. The September 11 attacks several months later put the idea on hold.

Kucinich proposed a Peace Department again (House Resolution 1673) in April 2003; the legislation currently enjoys the support of 75 co-sponsors and is endorsed by groups including Amnesty International and the National Organization for Women. Highlights of the legislation include tying the budget of the department to a fixed percentage of the budget of the Defense Department and creating a "Peace Academy" parallel to the U.S. military academies.

This bill appears to include many proposed mandates which are nearly identical with the existing mandates of the federal agency, the United States Institute of Peace, however it also includes several additional proposed mandates which would go beyond the existing mandates of the US Institute of Peace. Some highlights amongst the areas of proposed additional responsibility include:

• Monitoring of all domestic arms production, including non-military arms, conventional military arms, and of weapons of mass destruction,
• Making regular recommendations to the US President for various arms reductions strategies,
• Assumption of a more pro-active level of involvement in the establishment of international dialogues for international conflict resolution (as a cabinet level department),
• Establishment of a US Peace Academy, which amongst other things would train international peace-keepers,
• Development of an educational media program to promote non-violence 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 US 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:

1. Drug rehabilitation,
2. Policy reviews concerning crime prevention, punishment, and rehabilitation,
3. Implementation of violence prevention counseling programs and peer mediation programs in schools,

• Also Making recommendations regarding:

1. Battered women's rights,
2. Animal rights,

• Various other "peace related areas of responsibility".

Proposed funding for the Department of Peace would initially come from a budget that is defined by the bill as, "at least 2 percent of...the Department of Defense (budget)". Whether or not the chairman of the US Institute of Peace would be promoted to a cabinet level position, or whether an entirely new position would be created, is not addressed by this bill.

Kucinich continues to energetically promote and lobby for this legislation.

Criticisms of the Department of Peace proposal

The bill appears to include a broad purview of responsibilities. This bill would give the US Department of Peace the authority to monitor and make recommendations to restrict the entire US arms industry, yet it provides no counter-balancing mandates to enable the proposed department to directly monitor any non-domestic arms production.

The seemingly random groupings of responsibility, and their closeness with liberal and Democratic causes have caused some conservative observers to criticize the idea, claiming that these responsibilities overlap the responsibilities of the Secretary of State, Secretary of Defense, Drug Czar, and Secretary of Health and Human Services and that the list was thrown together in an effort to create a department that would have clear liberal leanings and intent. The inclusion of drug rehabilitation, prison reform, and the claims that these are “peace-related activities” have drawn criticism causing some to label it the "Department of Liberalism" or the "Department of Socialism".

Similar proposals in history

The idea for the establishment of a U.S. Department of Peace can be traced back to debates by the framers of the U.S. Constitution. While George Washington declared in 1783 in his “Sentiments on a Peace Establishment” that “a large Army in time of Peace hath ever been considered dangerous to the liberties of a Country,” the first formal proposal for the establishment of a U.S. Department of Peace dates to 1792. This was the product of efforts by architect and publisher Benjamin Banneker and physician and educator Dr. Benjamin Rush. Their proposal called for the establishment of a "Peace Office" which was to be on equal footing with the "War Department". Their proposal also noted what it referred to as the urgent need for the establishment of "an office for promoting and preserving perpetual peace in our country" in order to maintain the greater welfare of "these United States." Please visit http://www.lewrockwell.com/vance/vance76.html for the full text of “A Plan of a Peace-Office for the United States.”

UNDER CONSTRUCTION

Matthew M. Neely

Lent, Ernest S. (1968) “The Historical Development of Past Legislation to Establish a U.S. Department of Peace, with Reasons and Statements in Support of the Proposal.” Prepared for ? by the United States Legislative Reference Service.

Schuman, Frederick L. (1969). Why a Department of Peace? Beverly Hills, CA: Another Mother for Peace.

In 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 Peace and Conflict Resolution with a Secretary of Peace who could challenge the Secretary of Defense when necessary.

See also

• Peace
• Nonviolence
• Mark Dayton
• Dennis Kucinich
• Marianne Williamson
• United States Institute of Peace
• Ministry of Peace

External links

• United States Institute of Peace Website
• The Peace Alliance Campaign for a US Department of Peace
• Representative Dennis Kucinich's Personal Site Discussing this Legislation
• Senator Mark Dayton's Press Release
• The Propeace community