7. What do you say to peace groups that are active in various projects and think they don't have time or energy for another?
Current strategies for ending war and promoting peace are not working. We are going backwards. We have more war, greater prospects for yet more war, massive militarization of our society and economy. We need different arguments.
All current "arguments" for peace are valid for those who agree with their premises and logic. Unfortunately, our moral arguments are vulnerable to being twisted. The public is misled with lies, manipulated and confused by the masters of prevarication and spin. Not only humans but truth and reason become casualties of war.
A classic example is R2P Responsibility To Protect (15). The counter-argument is bad people over there are doing bad things. So we need to bomb those countries, kill tens of thousands of innocent civilians, to stop the bad people from killing innocent civilians " or us! For an even more surreal experience, look at the religious version of this tortured logic. What about 'Thou shalt not kill'? They say: while this is true, we're killing bad people to keep them from killing good people that would be U.S. citizens, all God-fearing Christians, of course and the Almighty is such a wise and perceptive God that he blesses our killing and will reward us for doing good as his chosen people. How is this different than the Muslim terrorist belief that their cause is so just that if they strap explosives to their chests and blow themselves up in a crowded street market to kill bad people that they will be rewarded by Allah with eternal salvation?
The budgetary argument about having so many problems at home that we need to cut military spending and put that money to work for us has the counter-argument: Well, that's true, but if we don't defend our country, there won't be any schools, roads, and bridges. The bad guys will vaporize us in a nuclear fireball. That's why we need to spend $1.5 trillion more on nuclear arms, and put more bases all over the world to control everybody and everything.
By contrast, the logic of the Peace Dividend refund is so basic and visceral it can't be distorted. "We've been conned! OUR money has been stolen to fight fraudulent wars. WE deserve a refund!" And as we struggle for that reparation, the insane war system can be stopped in its tracks.
The simple truth is the public is frustrated, unhappy, and many are desperate. They know the government and mass media constantly lie and lie. The public is ripe for our calling out the fraud. They already know about the mind-boggling waste of the military, the F-35s that can't fly in the rain and asphyxiate the pilots. They know the system is rigged. Many voted for Trump, because he said a lot of the things on the campaign trail they wanted. Yet their trust was once again misplaced.
Whatever we do to promote peace, the big challenge is getting the public to pay attention. People are busy and distractions are many. They don't want traditional answers. That is the beauty of the Peace Dividend idea. It's fresh! It could start a peace "buzz" in the public! It's so out there, it could even make headlines, which our current peace efforts do not. When is the last time you saw a news report on a anti-war demonstration or a peace rally in front of the White House?
8. Let's say hypothetically that you get a candidate contract, that you get enough congressional votes for the peace dividend. You still have the president veto.
1) Think back to your high school civics class and take note of this fundamental constitutional asymmetry: Congress can impeach the President, but the President can't impeach Congress.
2) A movement of this scale must include the election of a peace-friendly, or better yet a Peace Dividend Refund-committed president.
9. Let's say you get the president to sign the dividend contract, you still have a capitalist system with a military empire fortress. You say you want real reform and peace. Why do you think The Establishment is going to let you (the majority) get away with that?
Reform is a polite, unintimidating term. The Peace Dividend Project is radical reform, a gateway for deep systemic change, even revolution peaceful or otherwise, all abhorrent to The Establishment.
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