What’s that sound I hear?
Is it the masses of America demanding? . . .
Peace! Peace Now! We Want Peace!
Oops! My mistake.
Sorry to be the bearer of bad news . . .
It’s actually a death rattle. The low guttural burbling of a movement on its death bed.
The sad truth is that the peace movement in America is in a coma, just a whimper away from an inglorious burial in an unmarked grave behind the county dump.
When is the last time more than a few hundred showed up at a massive rally for peace?
Is there hope?
I’d like to think there is.
But we have to be realistic. If we’re going to have a serious national conversation about peace, ending the senseless self-sabotaging wars, and taking America off permanent war footing, we must approach everyday citizens in language they understand, in terms they can embrace, in a way that is so powerful and over-the-top they can’t possibly ignore it.
The Peace Dividend concept is just that. It is so extreme and outside-the-box — not that that discredits or invalidates it in the least — it can only get traction from two sources.
Either a bold and charismatic politician makes it central to his public oratory and serious political agenda. Obama, Sanders, and (I hate to admit it) Trump would all be capable of “selling” it. Obama and Sanders both love war. Trump is mentally challenged. Maybe there’s another MLK out there somewhere. We can dream!
Or we must look to the second and more likely path, which is through citizen demand.
Yet another senseless war breaks out. Body bags are piling up. The national debt begins skyrocketing. People have finally had it. They are sick of empire building, endless wars, appalling waste. This scenario could unfold sooner than we think. We have a tough guy president who’s just proposed a 10% increase in our already bloated military budget, we have both major parties screaming for war. Major confrontation with Iran, China, Russia — or all three — is on the horizon.
Unfortunately, when that happens all chaos will be unleashed, the fog and frenzy of battle will roll over everyone like a toxic oil spill, the media will go into hyper-drive to “support our troops”, the imbeciles who led us into the conflagration will be grandstanding and/or pointing fingers of blame at everyone else, and clearer heads will be lopped off in displays of fanatic super-patriotism as the media fills our eyes and ears with tales of valor, sacrifice, and superhuman acts of heroism. It will be a bullshit storm of epic proportions.
So we need to act . . . and we need to act now!
We should be sounding the alarm loud and clear: People need to know about the “rip off” of their tax dollars and the grotesque lies being told to promote slaughter across the planet purely to stuff the coffers of the military corporations and their rich beneficiaries.
We could be doing this right now. There already exists a phenomenal network of peace activism. But these organizations are totally ineffective now because their message, 1) is not getting heard, 2) is not engaging, 3) is stale and boring. I have contacted hundreds of these groups and their spokespersons. No one is interested in new ideas. These include a lot of very famous peace activists (you would definitely recognize most of the names).
So . . .
Either I’m crazy.
Or . . .
These peace creeps can’t get their heads around the idea that for 40 years now, continuing right up to the present, they have completely failed. The old methods and battle cries from the Vietnam War days haven’t worked since the 70s. These folks need a new paradigm. They need new memes. They need both a new message and better messaging.
Just look around. We just had a Peace Prize president who dropped 26,171 bombs last year on countries we’re not even at war with. The U.S. has engaged in massive military aggression in eight countries since the peace dividend was originally promised in 1992. We are now in an open-ended war on terror that is making us and the entire world less safe. Our military is the scourge of the planet!
Is the current peace movement actually going to claim they’re making progress? That the demonstrations, petitions, bumper stickers are working? [Insert Einstein’s definition of insanity here.]
The Peace Dividend concept is not some impulse, some catchy phrase developed over a bowl of hashish. It’s a fully developed strategy. I’ve outlined what the approach entails, how it can be implemented, how we can pay for it. This last point is very important. The Peace Dividend refund, because of its scale and the manner in which it is funded, drives a host of other progressive reforms. It is a watershed for massive realignment of our priorities and appropriation of economic resources. Seems like that would be worth paying attention to.
If you know anyone working in the anti-war organizations, please tell them they absolutely must take a look at my plan. Singing Give Peace A Chance doesn’t cut it anymore. Neither does getting a peace sign tattooed to your forehead.
The world is rushing headlong toward world war, risking nuclear annihilation and the end of the human race. Eliminating geo-political idiocy, imperial hubris, and monomaniacal delusions of conquest by challenging our warmongering elites with a powerful and truly effective plan of action, should be what shapes and defines the struggle of those noble organizations attempting to abolish war and promote peace throughout the world.
A strategy like the Peace Dividend must be the centerpiece giving focus to their efforts.
Otherwise, the next time I file an update, the response will be . . .
“What peace movement?”
The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World is now available both as an ebook and deluxe paperback at all of the usual outlets.
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