Letter from Marianne Williamson [Peace Alliance - Dept of Peace]

June 30th, 2005

Dear Friends,

As I travel around the country, I notice a "politics fatigue" -- an attitude much like, "Why diet? It never works." Yet this pervasive sense of "Whatever I do doesn't make a difference anyway," is an insidious threat to our collective well-being. If early American revolutionaries, abolitionists, women suffragettes and civil rights workers had succumbed to it, then there would be very few liberties left for us to protect.

Though people have valid concerns about our electoral process, still the biggest secret in our midst is not how much of our power is seeping away. Rather, it's how much power we still have but we're not using.

America needs a pro-democracy movement of our own. Many of us don't remember the civics we learned in the seventh grade; we don't even know who our Congressional representatives are, how to contact them or that it makes so much difference when we do.

An overwhelmed generation wants easy steps, and here they are:

1) To use our new Congressional contact system, visit: http://www.demaction.org/peaceallian...mpaign_KEY=902, mail or call your member of the House of Representatives (we'll try for Senate support a bit later), and urge them to support the Dept. of Peace legislation that is being re-introduced this September. If even ten people in your Congressional district call your Congressman asking for his or her support, that will put the legislation on their radar. Congresspeople react to their constituents when their constituents make themselves heard.

2) If at all possible, come to Washington DC for the Department of Peace Conference (www.thepeacealliance.org/events/sept_conf_05.htm) which takes place from September 10-14 and urge others to come as well. People from all over the United States will be there lobbying Congress to pass the bill. What walking through the streets was to the Sixties, walking through the halls of Congress is today. Just as important, just as exciting, and just as powerful.

The Department of Peace will be part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, articulating and facilitating nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. It will house a Peace Academy to augment the work of the Military Academy, turning conflict-resolution, nonviolent communication and humanitarian concern into serious political tools. It will provide our leaders with broader problem-solving options than the mere application of brute force. It will create an institutionalized voice for the interests of peace within the workings of the United States government, making the effort to wage peace as serious a political conversation as the effort to wage war.

This legislation will not pass easily or quickly. It is a very serious cause and it necessitates a very serious effort. Yet it's an idea whose time has come, and we are the ones it has come to.

Let's do this for our children, and for theirs...

God bless everyone.

Marianne Williamson
Chairman of the Board
The Peace Alliance

----

tell me that wouldn't be one of the greatest things this country has ever done if they were to have this dept of peace that would be about pushing nonviolent solutions to our problems

[Sinner]

I recently contacted our senators about my support of a bill to LIMIT censorship. A few days later, I received an email saying “Thanks for contacting me! I’m working hard to enforce more censorship and appreciate your support on this matter.” Talk about selective hearing…. errrr… reading.

[dfwtrader]

hey sg...whats up.... are you going to go to the peace alliance conference?
i have actually heard a lot about this and it sounds like an interesting concept...not peace but the actual organizational body to represent the ideals.

Originally Posted by stargazer

June 30th, 2005

Dear Friends,

As I travel around the country, I notice a "politics fatigue" -- an attitude much like, "Why diet? It never works." Yet this pervasive sense of "Whatever I do doesn't make a difference anyway," is an insidious threat to our collective well-being. If early American revolutionaries, abolitionists, women suffragettes and civil rights workers had succumbed to it, then there would be very few liberties left for us to protect.

Though people have valid concerns about our electoral process, still the biggest secret in our midst is not how much of our power is seeping away. Rather, it's how much power we still have but we're not using.

America needs a pro-democracy movement of our own. Many of us don't remember the civics we learned in the seventh grade; we don't even know who our Congressional representatives are, how to contact them or that it makes so much difference when we do.

An overwhelmed generation wants easy steps, and here they are:

1) To use our new Congressional contact system, visit: http://www.demaction.org/peaceallian...mpaign_KEY=902, mail or call your member of the House of Representatives (we'll try for Senate support a bit later), and urge them to support the Dept. of Peace legislation that is being re-introduced this September. If even ten people in your Congressional district call your Congressman asking for his or her support, that will put the legislation on their radar. Congresspeople react to their constituents when their constituents make themselves heard.


2) If at all possible, come to Washington DC for the Department of Peace Conference (www.thepeacealliance.org/events/sept_conf_05.htm) which takes place from September 10-14 and urge others to come as well. People from all over the United States will be there lobbying Congress to pass the bill. What walking through the streets was to the Sixties, walking through the halls of Congress is today. Just as important, just as exciting, and just as powerful.

The Department of Peace will be part of the executive branch of the U.S. government, articulating and facilitating nonviolent solutions to domestic and international conflict. It will house a Peace Academy to augment the work of the Military Academy, turning conflict-resolution, nonviolent communication and humanitarian concern into serious political tools. It will provide our leaders with broader problem-solving options than the mere application of brute force. It will create an institutionalized voice for the interests of peace within the workings of the United States government, making the effort to wage peace as serious a political conversation as the effort to wage war.

This legislation will not pass easily or quickly. It is a very serious cause and it necessitates a very serious effort. Yet it's an idea whose time has come, and we are the ones it has come to.

Let's do this for our children, and for theirs...

God bless everyone.

Marianne Williamson

Chairman of the Board
The Peace Alliance

----

tell me that wouldn't be one of the greatest things this country has ever done if they were to have this dept of peace that would be about pushing nonviolent solutions to our problems

Originally Posted by dfwtrader

hey sg...whats up.... are you going to go to the peace alliance conference?
i have actually heard a lot about this and it sounds like an interesting concept...not peace but the actual organizational body to represent the ideals.

no, i cant go... but i support this 100%

just to have an official body that presents the nonviolent methods... is amazing

to have someone to help integrate nonviolent methods into the military.. is amazing

this whole idea is great... i can't really see it happening while Bush is president for various reasons... but I really don't see any reason why they wouldn't want it to be implemented

if you go, please let me know how it goes...

[Element4040]

Originally Posted by stargazer

no, i cant go... but i support this 100%

just to have an official body that presents the nonviolent methods... is amazing

to have someone to help integrate nonviolent methods into the military.. is amazing

this whole idea is great... i can't really see it happening while Bush is president for various reasons... but I really don't see any reason why they wouldn't want it to be implemented

if you go, please let me know how it goes...

Baby steps, it's good to get the agenda on the table.