Willie Nelson

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Members of the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) founded the Friends Committee on National Legislation (FCNL) in 1943. According to their web site, FCNL has played a pivotal role in the creation of the Peace Corps, was instrumental in lobbying for the creation of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency, played an important role in lobbying for the Civil Rights Act, and led efforts in Washington to oppose both the first (1991) and second (2003) Iraq wars.

They have a current campaign illustrating how much of the United States tax dollar goes toward war. It certainly puts a new light on things when you realize that 41% of United States taxes, that is $.41 out of every dollar, is spent on war. This being tax month here in the United States, I hope every U. S. taxpayer thinks about this.

The thing that makes this even more shocking is that only 1-penny out of every tax dollar goes to humanitarian aid, diplomatic missions and international cooperation. I hope I’m not the only person who sees something out of balance with these numbers. And in providing alternatives to lives of crime, only 5 pennies out of every dollar goes to education, job training, employment and social services. The FCNL has provided a handy chart and suggestions on who to show it to.

The scope of their activities is very impressive. The list of the issues they address is lengthy. But now I’m wondering about cooperation between them and other peace organizations. Considering their stated goals it is surprising that there is no mention of support for the creation of a Department of Peace on their web site. I would think that this would be something the largest peace lobby in Washington, DC would be interested in.

The Peace Alliance needs team leaders in many Congressional Districts. So I took it upon myself to use the FCNL contact page to ask them to put the word out asking for people to step up and become team leaders for the Peace Alliance in the districts that need them. I hope this is not too much to ask. The creation of a Peace voting bloc goes hand-in-hand with a Peace lobby.

It seems to me that if the Friends Committee on National Legislation used their media resources to connect across organizational lines to another peace organization it could only help their efforts. What could be more powerful for a peace lobby than to be able to point to a large and growing peace voting bloc? The movement to create the cabinet level position of the Department of Peace would also create powerful allies for the FCNL lobbying efforts. The synergy would be awesome.

Tell me what you think. You can also tell the FCNL what you think as well.

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Tags: Blogroll, civil_rights_act, friends_committee_on_national_legislation, humanitarian_aid, iraq_wars, Peace, peace_corps, quakers, society_of_friends, tax_dollar

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