Donald Trump’s belligerent words in the United Nations have made plain our desperate need for a Department of Peace.
For months Trump and Kim Jong-un have been exchanging taunts like school-yard bullies over North Korea’s testing of nuclear weapons. And now the president in his first appearance before the United Nations, has told the world, that if the United States needed to defend ourselves or our allies, we would “totally destroy North Korea.”
It is possible that many Americans, accustomed to Trump’s exaggerations, don’t take this literally. But my guess is that the people of North Korea do, because they know that during the 1950s war on the Korean peninsula most of the cities of North Korea were obliterated by American bombing. That is the kind of thing that people don’t forget, and Trump’s statement will only remind them.
And Kim Jong-un, obsessed with his own security, believes it. Did America not recently destroy two regimes, in Iraq and Libya? Could she have done this, would she have done this, if Iraq and Libya had had nuclear weapons?
And vital to us is the question, does Trump believe what he says?
And how shall we protect the world from lone individuals in places of power?
You know that I am proposing A U. S. Department of Peace, authorized to lead our government in the pursuit of peace. Such a proposal was made in the past by David Kucinich and is now being pushed by Barbara Lee, a California representative.
In a survey box on my website, I have stated,
“Building armies to defeat whatever enemies come is a reasonable response to tensions in the world. Making friends instead of enemies is even better. Solving problems before people lose hope is better. Promoting justice, acting justly, erasing oppression, listening, apologizing, respecting, opening doors, sharing essential commodities, resolving neighborhood conflicts, all of these are preferable to war. All of these are deterrents to war. And cheaper. And doable.
“The catch is that they mostly have to be done before a crisis occurs, and nobody does them unless they are someone’s job.
“Peace, like war, is a responsibility that has to be assigned.
That’s why we need a Department of Peace with a place in the President’s Cabinet.”
Until we have such a department, leaders like Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump will be free to spread fear and belligerence.
Vote for a Department of Peace at www.InBorrowedHousesLebanon.com
(This blog has been turned into a news release which you can access through the link below.)
Shortened URL: http://bit.ly/2xCVVKe
Thank you for your support.
Frances Fuller