I came up with the Peace Dividend strategy over two years ago. At the time, recognizing that the plan was -- to say the least -- very radical, completely unprecedented, totally outside-the-box, I thought that if it had even the slimmest chance of getting any traction, it was going to be a long and winding road to successfully "sell" and implement it.
To get the plan underway requires that we package peace in an entirely different way, that instead of only appealing to individual conscience, we target individual self-interest.
This is not meant to be cynical. It's not that people don't care about suffering. It's that most individuals care first about the suffering of those immediately around them, not that of those in far flung nations they can barely find on a map.
The Peace Dividend strategy is a bottoms-up, grass-roots approach especially targeting those on the bottom of our economy -- the 160+ million who are hovering around or are below the poverty line -- because these folks are most devastated by the economic impact of our war economy.
The Peace Dividend strategy is about letting citizens know what's really going on with the military waste and the endless wars, and making them very angry! Angry enough to do something about it, certainly for their country, but most of all for themselves and their families -- those whose suffering they see every single day in the struggle for survival.
Such a citizen's "uprising" would be premised on generating a widespread, critical mass understanding that in terms of America's prosecution of wars, aggressive foreign policy, promoting militarism both overseas and here at home, we as citizens are "being lied to", we are victims of a huge scam, that the "system is rigged", that a bunch of "insiders" are running the show who couldn't care less what the general public considered important, what we as regular citizens wanted done.
Do "being lied to", "system is rigged", "insiders are running the show" sound familiar?
Trump's election as president, leaves little doubt that a large segment of the population, viewing our government establishment as a whole, do indeed believe those things. It's obvious to anyone paying attention that everyday citizens are being taken advantage of, that we have been and continue to be had by a ruling elite, that they will suck every last drop of blood out of the American economy and us individually if we let them.
Therefore, I'm now convinced that if we as peace advocates make the case for the Peace Dividend with boldness and clarity, it is all but inevitable. Yes! It could really happen.
As rigorously documented in The Peace Dividend: The Most Controversial Proposal in the History of the World, the military-industrial-security complex allied with a lunatic inner circle within our foreign policy institutions have perpetrated over the past two-and-a-half decades the most odious fraud in history. This conservatively amounts to stealing $4.82 trillion of tax payer money. We have every right to and should demand not only that the deception and theft immediately end, but that as victims of this swindle we as citizens be compensated. We deserve and demand full reimbursement: The Peace Dividend Refund.
I consider the beauty of my approach to voicing our outrage and asserting our rights as citizens is that it is entirely legal, based completely on the official facts published by our government, assiduously aligned with the Constitution -- therefore not able to be labeled insurrectionist or illegal -- and consistent with democracy based on government of the people, by the people, for the people.
I'm not going to condense a mercifully short but still 86-page-long book for this article. What I will do is give you the "big picture" so that you don't so casually dismiss the idea.
RECOGNIZE: No current elected official will go along with the Peace Dividend proposal. They and their ruling class puppeteers will oppose it with every dirty trick in the book.
CONSIDER: When everyday people understand that they've been ripped off, defrauded, bilked out of at least $4.82 trillion, there might be a little bit of anger out there.
ACKNOWLEDGE: When everyday people realize they have the power to demand this fraudulently collected tax payer money back in the form of a $14,952 refund to each and every living citizen, they might just get a little excited. In fact, if the word gets around, I predict they will immediately, forcefully, uncompromisingly demand their money back -- every last dollar!
Let's put this together. The VOTING public demands their Peace Dividend refund. The incumbents cannot, will not even fake interest in giving in to such an outrageous demand. They will dodge and lie and rail against it. The VOTING public sees this as more evidence that the "system is rigged", that "they are getting shafted", that they are again being had by the establishment blowhards who never do anything for everyday citizens. Here we have the seeds, the tinder for a MASSIVE VOTER REVOLT. We unite these angry, frustrated voters into a VOTING BLOC, rejecting business as usual -- fraud as usual! -- behind the demand of justice and fair compensation in the form of a Peace Dividend Refund. As a result, the vast majority of corporate lapdog incumbents are defeated and replaced by OUTSIDERS who agree to go to Washington DC and put into law . . .
The Peace Dividend Refund Act of 2019!
Sound at all familiar? Sort of the way an OUTSIDER got elected to president, via a voter revolt that basically said: "Fuck you! We're sick of it. The hell with politics as usual."
Is this mere fantasy? In these outlandish, ridiculous times? Really?
I think it's pretty clear. And it will especially true after Trump and the current pack of bloodthirsty, Wall Street/ruling class puppets in Congress totally muck everything up.
People are going to be ripe for revenge! They'll want their money back, I guarantee you!
By the way, please take a few minutes and look at the way the Peace Dividend is funded. You will note that it drives a lot of the very things on any sensible progressive reform wish list. Meaning, the Peace Dividend is a watershed for revamping the way our government does business. I would think that alone would make it worth the time to carefully study, with an open and alert mind, and some creative engagement.
I know that marching in the streets, getting clubbed, pepper-sprayed, manhandled and arrested, are good times and all. But a lot of people are working two or three jobs just to make ends meet, and can't join in on the fun. All the Peace Dividend strategy requires is that people look at it, then stand strong and united -- stick up for themselves and other good decent American citizens who have been getting the shaft -- then go into the voting booth and only vote for candidates who give us a legally-binding guarantee that they will go to Washington DC and do what needs to be done.
And even if a lot of folks have extremely demanding schedules -- thus are too busy to fly to Washington DC to attend a peace rally -- I'm confident most will find the time to deposit $14,952 in their bank account.
How about you?
[ This originated at the author's personal website . . . http://jdrachel.com ]
The Peace Dividend: Could It Really Happen?
