DEPARTMENT OF PEACE
Posted September 16, 2003 thepeoplesvoice.org
by
Dan Dvorak
This piece started out WHAT I DID ON MY SUMMER VACATION but it ended quite
differently. Our first vacation in many years ended with the last few days
in
Washington
DC
, as tourists and with the help of a family friend and her husband, a Navy
Captain. Both of them high level Pentagon or something, the only thing
that was closed to any discussion what so ever was about their work or
position in politics.
We walked 25 miles in the few days were
there and the kids got to see a lot of things, but only a fraction in
reality. We saw the Lincoln Memorial with his words etched in stone, a
reminder of what a good president was capable of, then the
Washington
Monument
and the Jefferson Memorial. The greatness of these men so evident in
contrast with what now occupies the Whitehouse.
Then
the
Viet Nam
wall, 10 feet high and as long as you can see, etched with the names of
the almost 70,000 dead American boys from that protracted war. I searched
out in the index the names of some of my fallen friends, 34 west, row 72.
His life cut short for nothing. The Korean War memorial was next with
it’s bigger than life bronze soldiers occupying a field of graves in
full warlike poses, 58,000 more dead. Many more than that, U.N. troops.
The World War II exhibit still under construction promises to recognize
still more dead.
Our
guided tour stopped at
Arlington
National
Cemetery
, where as far as the eye could see in any direction, graves of the dead
who ‘served’ their country. What tour could be complete without a trip
to the
Iwo Jima
memorial with its 50 foot bronze statues of the flag raising on that
volcanic rock in WWII by the Marines in the middle of live gunfire.
Interestingly
enough the base of the monument was inscribed with all of the wars
America
fought through its 227 year history, some 20 wars averaging about 1 war
every 10 years. Astounding as it may seem “wars” such as
Panama
and
Grenada
were counted in the total. Iraq II had not made it as yet but I did see
some activity in the area.
The
ride back to our friends house the conversation turned to his duties on
board his Ship included taking charge of ‘burial at sea’ which he
presided over five times.
Death,
dead, graves, monuments, walls, heroes, war, bombs is all these people
think about, respect and admire. Our government has their priorities
severely misplaced at best, at worst they don’t share the same
priorities as the American people they serve. Department of Defense (now
the Department of Offense) the War Department, Star Wars, new generation
of nukes all bear witness to the emphasis on death, destruction and war,
quite a sad commentary on the “greatest country on earth”. Are we
really? We can do better than that.
All
through my visit, visions of Dennis Kucinich’s “DEPARTMENT OF PEACE”
flashed
through my mind. What an incredible idea that would be. Imagine PEACE
being pursued with the same vigor as war. And it makes so much sense.
Peace would be so much more profitable than war. Just as cleaning up the
environment could become a major profit center, so could peace. Maybe not
for the corporations that thrive on weapons and war, but they could
convert. Just as they were born from conversion of domestic manufacturing
to creating the instruments of war, they could return to domestic projects
like smokestack air scrubbers.
As
we approach INTERNATIONAL PEACE DAY,
SEPTEMBER 21, 2003
, we are reminded that Dennis Kucinich is the consummate PEACE CANDIDATE,
as a Congressman from
Ohio
he is pushing hard in Congress for a permanent Cabinet level DEPARTMENT OF
PEACE, the most novel approach to world conduct since the advent of war!
Maybe,
just maybe, we can finally elect a man with a vision, similar in many ways
to Martin Luther King’s dream, but the American people are going
to have to first want peace, want a clean environment, and elected leaders
who are beholding to no one. There is only ONE among all who seek the
Presidency. Dennis Kucinich may not be the best known, but he is the best
candidate.
© Copyright 2003 All rights reserved by Dan Dvorak
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