BACK TO WHAT'S HAPPENING INDEX

2 August, 2001
A Message From John Hagelin: Rep. Kucinich Introduces Bill To Create Department Of Peace

Dear Friend,

Today we have a remarkable opportunity to fulfill one of the Natural Law Party's most cherished goals: the creation of a more secure foundation for national and global peace. But we need you to act immediately.

On July 11, Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio) introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives to create a Department of Peace--a cabinet-level agency dedicated to peacemaking and the study of conditions conducive to both domestic and international peace.

The Department of Peace would focus on nonmilitary peaceful conflict resolutions, prevent violence, and promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights. A Peace Academy, similar to the five military service academies, would be created, its graduates dispatched to troubled areas around the globe to promote nonviolent dispute resolutions.

Since the Natural Law Party's inception in 1992, we have advocated the use of proven, peace-promoting technologies to help neutralize international tensions and conflict and to promote stability and harmony within the family of nations. Similarly, we have advocated the creation of a "prevention wing" in the military--a true peacekeeping force trained to diffuse regional tensions among warring factions, using proven nonviolent methods of conflict resolution, and to preserve and strengthen national and international peace.

Rep. Kucinich's bill (H.R. 2459), which already has 38 congressional cosponsors, opens the door for the realization of these long-standing Natural Law Party goals.

Rep. Kucinich strongly supports the Natural Law Party platform, and consequently he received the Party's enthusiastic endorsement during his 2000 campaign. He has also sponsored two bills on genetically engineered foods, one for labeling and one for testing. During the past two years, he has been in close touch with me, both before and during my 2000 presidential campaign; with Zanna Feitler, former state chair of NLP-Ohio and 1998 NLP gubernatorial candidate; and with Laura Ticciati, executive director of Mothers for Natural Law. The wording of both his peace legislation and his GE legislation reflects these ongoing conversations.

As he introduced H.R. 2459, Rep. Kucinich commented, "The time for peace is now. Peace is not only the absence of violence, but the presence of a higher evolution of human awareness with respect, trust and integrity toward humankind."

PLEASE HELP ENSURE PASSAGE OF H.R. 2459 SO THAT PEACE CAN BECOME A REALITY IN OUR TIME. PLEASE ACT TODAY!

With all best wishes,

John Hagelin, Ph.D.
2000 Presidential candidate, Natural Law Party

ACTION STEPS

Please contact your Representative immediately and strongly encourage him or her to support H.R. 2459.

Just call the national Capitol switchboard at 1-202-225-3121 and ask to speak to your Representative. You can also email your Representative directly from

http://www.house.gov/writerep

If your Representative is a cosponsor of H.R. 2459 (see list below), please contact him or her to offer your thanks and support for this decision. We also urge you to send your congratulations and support to Rep. Kucinich at

http://www.house.gov/kucinich/action/peace.htm

(just scroll to the bottom of the page). You can also find out more about the Department of Peace at this site.

Although the Senate version of H.R. 2459 has not yet been introduced, you may also contact your Senators and urge them to become familiar with and support this legislation. To obtain email addresses, mailing addresses, and phone numbers for your Senators, just go to

http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm

to link to your Senators' websites.

A summary of H.R. 2459 is given below. For the full text of the bill, please visit http://thomas.loc.gov/home/c107query.html#billno

and type in H.R. 2459 under Search Bill Text #2, Bill Number.

SUMMARY of H.R. 2459

• Establishes a Department of Peace, which shall be headed by a Secretary of Peace appointed by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Sets forth the mission of the Department, including to: (1) hold peace as an organizing principle; (2) endeavor to promote justice and democratic principles to expand human rights; and (3) develop policies that promote national and international conflict prevention, nonviolent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured mediation of conflict.
  
  
• Establishes in the Department the Intergovernmental Advisory Council on Peace, which shall provide assistance and make recommendations to the Secretary and the President concerning intergovernmental policies relating to peace and nonviolent conflict resolution.
  
  
• Transfers to the Department the functions, assets, and personnel of various Federal agencies.
  
  
• Establishes a Federal Interagency Committee on Peace.
  
  
• Establishes Peace Day. Urges all citizens to observe and celebrate the blessings of peace and endeavor to create peace on such day.

COSPONSORS OF H.R. 2459
(ALPHABETICALLY BY STATE)

Rep. Farr, Sam (D-CA)
Rep. Filner, Bob (D-CA)
Rep. Honda, Michael M. (D-CA)
Rep. Lee, Barbara (D-CA)
Rep. Solis, Hilda L. (D-CA)
Rep. Stark, Fortney Pete (D-CA)
Rep. Waters, Maxine (D-CA)
Rep. Watson, Diane E. (D-CA)
Rep. Woolsey, Lynn C. (D-CA)
Rep. Udall, Mark (D-CO)
Rep. Lewis, John (D-GA)
Rep. McKinney, Cynthia A. (D-GA)
Rep. Davis, Danny K. (D-IL)
Rep. Evans, Lane (D-IL)
Rep. Gutierrez, Luis V. (D-IL)
Rep. Jackson, Jesse L., Jr. (D-IL)
Rep. Schakowsky, Janice D. (D-IL)
Rep. Carson, Julia (D-IN)
Rep. McGovern, James P. (D-MA)
Rep. Conyers, John, Jr. (D-MI)
Rep. Clay, Wm. Lacy (D-MO)
Rep. Holt, Rush D. (D-NJ)
Rep. Payne, Donald M. (D-NJ)
Rep. Hinchey, Maurice D. (D-NY)
Rep. Maloney, Carolyn B. (D-NY)
Rep. Nadler, Jerrold (D-NY)
Rep. Owens, Major R. (D-NY)
Rep. Serrano, Jose E. (D-NY)
Rep. Towns, Edolphus (D-NY)
Rep. Velazquez, Nydia M. (D-NY)
Rep. Brown, Sherrod (D-OH)
Rep. Jones, Stephanie Tubbs (D-OH)
Rep. DeFazio, Peter A. (D-OR)
Rep. Jackson-Lee, Sheila (D-TX)
Rep. Scott, Robert C. (D-VA)
Rep. Sanders, Bernard (I-VT)
Rep. Baird, Brian (D-WA)
Rep. Rahall, Nick J., II (D-WV)

BACK TO WHAT'S HAPPENING INDEX