Dem with a Dream

It might be a dream that will die a quick death, but behind it is exactly the kind of vision I’m talking about when I say the Dems need to stake out their own territory.

In what peace activists call a milestone, Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., introduced legislation Thursday supporting a long-shot citizen lobbying effort to create a U.S. Department of Peace and Nonviolence.

He is the first and, so far, only member of the U.S. Senate to publicly endorse the plan.

A remnant of the quixotic 2004 presidential candidacy of Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, the idea of a "Peace Department" has been derided by critics as utopian and naïve, while supporters say it is an idea whose time has come.

Almost half of Minnesota's congressional delegation -- all the Democrats but one -- have lined up in support of the campaign, which calls for a cabinet-level secretary to develop an array of policies from international conflict-resolution to reducing domestic abuse and violence against animals.

Nobody gives the plan much of a chance in a Republican Congress. But backers in Minnesota -- where Kucinich turned in one of his best electoral performances -- say their support is intended as a political statement.

"It sends the right message," said Rep. Betty McCollum, D-Minn. "It's about promoting justice, expanding human rights and preventing conflict."

[…]

Minnesota is one of 12 states whose Democratic Party has endorsed the plan.

The project has a proposed budget of $8 billion annually, which is two percent of the Pentagon’s defense budget. The GOP is of course dismissing it as “a naïve and unreasonable approach to dealing with the problems of the 21st century, including international terrorism” and an idea spawned of “liberal extremists.” The first charge requires a bit of nuance, explaining how diplomacy indeed does have a role in combating terrorism, especially with the leadership of countries in which terrorism has fertile soil, but the second one is easily countered: Since when are the ideas of peace, human rights, and justice extreme?

The idea of peace is only extreme to warmongers.