Presidential Peace Politics

Will we get a lasting peace?

Is that possible at all, ever?

I’ve come to believe after my short years on this planet that holding peace might not yet be possible for the human race.

There seem to be just too many people alive at this point who are still steeped in the old ways of war, killing, and in the case of the large corporations that make up the War Machine, profitting from war itself.

So I’ve come to think that longing for, and hoping for, and counting on a lasting world-wide peace just isn’t in the cards right now. There are too many Aces, Kings and Queens stacked in this crooked, murderous deck we call Civilization.

There is too much greed. Too much hatred. Too many people fanning the flames of bigotry, racism and sexism to count on peace happening across the world in the blink of an eye.

We are too comfortable, we in this Western world and here in the U.S., to get out of our complacency to the extent needed to lead the world in peace-making.

So I’ve had to ask myself, "So what DO I do toward the kind of world I wish to create? Where can I make a difference, and what kind of difference CAN I make in my lifetime?"

And what I land on over and over again is that if perhaps we can’t hold a world-wide peace, we can surely hold onto a ‘Process of Peace’.

What is a Process of Peace? It is the action steps needed to get folks to stop fighting, and start cooperating. It’s the courage to step into the fray of competing interests, and create Win-Win-Win situations that ripple out in our families, into our communities, in our school boards and town councils, and on up the ladder into our State, National and International negotiations.

A Process of Peace is what I’ve been writing about in a different form, in my articles on "The Way of We". Except that this Process of Peace is looking at the same philosophical stance but on a larger context.

Here are a few examples:

    *We each take time every day, making it part of our own personal spiritual path, to contribute somehow to peace in our world.

    *We look at what we want the world to look like–peace-filled, open-hearted, generous–and BE that change we wish to see in the world.

    *We take a look at the folks in our communities who are struggling, can’t eat or don’t have shelter, and we help them out in some way, shape or form.

Now, about the title of this article: Presidential Peace Politics. Can any of these ideas apply to the current race here in the U.S. for the Presidency, the contest between Barack Obama and John McCain? Is it at all possible to influence either one of these men, or both, to consider peace as a path that the United States could follow, rather than the aggressive war-mongering that the BushCo war crinimals have followed these past eight years?

The United States has had a history of warring, in some ways second to none in history. There is a case that can be made for saying that every war this country has been in since its inception falls into the category of Acts of Aggression toward other peoples and nations, rather than defensive acts or acts to promote freedom, as our U.S. mythology would have us believe.

Can we influence these two men running for President of the United States to consider peace as our national security plan, rather than pre-emptive warring as the best way to protect our ‘national interests’?

Perhaps not. Unfortunately. But perhaps with enough anger turned toward action, enough outrage turned into love, and enough of our own tendency to demonize our leaders changed into compassionate action, we can make a difference that will eventually ripple into the hightest office in the land.

We can hope, as Mr. Obama asks us to do. We can hope for peace, and plan for peace, and act for peace.

We can actually experience ourselves in peace in all of our relationships:within our Selves, with our loved ones, across our communities, across the world, and not wait for our elected leaders to forge the path toward peace for us.

We can never doubt that we are enough. You are enough, now, and always, to make a difference in this world.

Perhaps, when more and more of us create peace in our lives and between us and others, then our leaders will get in line with us, and we will lead.

Go for the experience of peace yourself. That’s a Process of Peace that goes beyond simply hoping.

It is real.