Over the course of history there’s been little violence on U.S. soil. There was the Trail of Tears and Jim Crowe laws from American aggressors and Pearl Harbor and 9/11 from foreign aggressors. Unfortunately, these incidents might only be the beginning of violence perpetrated in our country.
For centuries we have lived with a feeling of superiority. Europe, the Middle East and Asia all seem so far away that few presidents ever considered that there would be repercussions for their actions.
We have a powerful military, but we don’t use it properly. We selectively choose which dictators to remove, while we openly support other brutal regimes (Nicaragua, etc). Many Iraqis were awed by our force of violence in their country, as well as dismayed that we harness that power in a more peaceful, productive manner.
The word missing from the current American regime’s vocabulary is diplomacy. As Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle stated last year, “I’m saddened that the President failed so miserably at diplomacy that we [were] forced into war.”
Unfortunately we are an arrogant nation. We anger other countries and their citizens without considering the consequences. Our poor diplomacy calls for double standards. Preemptive strikes that are supported by circular logic. America, against the rules of the United Nations, invaded Iraq because they broke the rules of the United Nations. Another example of this hypocrisy is encouraging countries like Israel to have nuclear weapons but condemn all others.
People might ask themselves why we need diplomacy. The answer is simple, good diplomacy is our best defense, not a good offensive attacks. I’m rewriting this article, since I originally wrote this only the day before the Madrid terrorist attacks, committed in retaliation for the warring in Iraq. It doesn’t take clairvoyance to see that violence will only perpetuate more violence. The only way to prevent future attacks is to be more a peaceful society with a strong emphasis on world issues.
Security measures are just a false attempt of fixing problems. These measures won’t really protect us. They merely prey on the public’s fears and sometimes exaggerate these fears.
In America they targeted airplanes (which had lax security with my experience flying). In Madrid they targeted trains. Possibly next time, they will target sports stadiums, crowded city blocks, or nuclear plants. There is no way the military or security officials can prevent terrorism.
Foreign policy must include listening to world governing bodies such as the United Nations and the International Criminal Court. It must also ratify treaties that almost every other nation has accepted as truth except the United States.
America is in for another harsh awakening unless there is immediate change. Evidently a few years ago hasn’t taught us much. Few Americans have even flinched at the tragedy in Spain.
Dennis Kucinich is on highly qualified candidate that could create this change for a more positive, peaceful world. But a poor primary schedule and a media system that constantly omits candidates’ platforms eliminated Kucinich.
Kucinich’s decriminalization of certain drugs, raising minimum wage in accordance with inflation, and the Payroll Tax Credit, which taxes the rich instead of the poor are just a sample of the wonderful ideas overlooked.
His best idea, however, would be something that would protect us, the creation of the Department of Peace. As Dennis explains in his platform, the department‘s goal is, “to make non-violence an organizing principle, to make war archaic through creating a paradigm shift in our culture for human development for economic and political justice and for violence control.”
He continues, “Its work in violence control will be to support disarmament, treaties, peaceful coexistence and peaceful consensus building. Its focus on economic and political justice will examine and enhance resource distribution, human and economic rights and strengthen democratic values.”
Imagine such a peaceful world. I can hear John Lennon singing right now.
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Copyright 2004, Kevin Semanick