A Better Way Than War
“Peace is not the absence of conflict, it is the ability to handle conflict by peaceful means.” President Ronald Reagan.
We know from long experience that wars do not solve problems. Wars are the problem and only result in death, destruction, debt and suffering. There are better ways to settle conflicts and interact with our international neighbors. We know what can, and should, be done to end the scourge of war and create a world where conflicts are solved by peaceful means.
One of many solutions is more, and more robust, democracy. This is not a panacea. Democracies fight wars – especially our nominal democracy. It is easy, even in democracies, to stir up fear, hatred, racial bigotry, religious division and patriotism to promote a war.
But, if the prior approval of the citizens was required, there would be fewer wars. In our country the people don’t get to vote directly on wars, but their elected representatives do have the power to approve or reject going to war. The current war with Iran is illegal because there was no congressional declaration of war.
Many presidents have started wars without prior approval by Congress and Trump also is ignoring this Constitutional requirement. But unlike past presidents, he has been acting like a dictator and violating many laws. Congress is not their job and are letting him getting away with it.
In 1948 Dwight Eisenhower warned us about fake leaders like Trump assuming to much power. “Never let yourself be persuaded that any one Great Man, any one leader, is necessary to the salvation of America. When America consists of one leader and 158 million [today 340 million] followers, it will no longer be America.”
Eisenhower also said, “You do not lead by hitting people over the head – that’s assault, not leadership.” He could have been describing Trump’s bullying behavior as president or his threatening foreign leaders and attacking other countries.
Dwight Eisenhower knew a lot about effective leadership. He served 42 years in the Army, was Supreme Allied Commander in WW2, President of Columbia University for 4 years and U.S. President for 8 years.
But Eisenhower also reflected the militaristic thinking and the anti-communism hysteria of the Cold War era. He, like many people, was inconsistent in his thinking, statements and policy decisions about peace. As president he led the arms race with Russia but also warned about the “military-industrial-complex.” He spoke eloquently about the need for peace but began our disastrous military involvement in Vietnam. He also initiated the current conflict with Iran by authorizing the CIA to overthrow a democratically elected government in Iran in 1953.
Our country has a culture of militarism. We believe “peace through strength” — with strength defined as military power – is essential to national security. But military power is not the only way to project strength. Strength can be expressed through wise policy, cooperation, compromise, negotiation, respect for others, the rule of law and the morality and justice of one’s behavior. When our nation practices these values and leads by example – modeling people first, economic, social, and political democracy – we project a more effective (and less costly) strength than military power.
But, you may say, we live in a dangerous world full of enemies, rogue nations, terrorists and bad guys like Putin, Stalin and Hitler. Preparing for war is a deterrent that ensures peace. We need military supremacy to keep us save. The problem with this thinking is that history shows it doesn’t work. Our massive, worldwide military didn’t prevent 9/11 and few of our many wars were about national defense.
Our current “defense” structure is offensive with weapons systems and overseas military bases to “project power” and dominate other countries. Most of our wars were about expanding territory, protecting commercial interests or ideological paranoia. We don’t need 850 worldwide military bases, nuclear weapons, 11 aircraft carrier battle groups, and endlessly increasing military spending to defend our country. A truly defensive military posture would not preemptively attack other nations or start “wars of choice.”
National security based on military power produces fear, mistrust and competition between nations. Struggles for balance of power and spheres of influence result in arms races and global insecurity.
What is needed is demilitarized, common security where all nations are secure from threats and attacks. Armed conflict is replaced with international courts, the rule of law, mediation and respect for national borders and sovereignty.
International conflicts often have complex historical roots. Successful, long lasting, win-win solutions build the relationships, norms of behavior and conflict resolution structures needed to prevent violence well in advance of a war. Simplistic solutions – like bombing or sending in the Marines – don’t solve political, economic, social or ideological differences. Life is not a football game where brute strength determines winners and losers.
Peace is a process, not an event. War is a highly organized, learned behavior that requires advanced planning, preparation, weapons development, deployment and mobilization of personnel. A demilitarized common security system requires similar organization, preparation, funding and long term commitment to succeed.
World Beyond War, an international peace advocacy organization, has a plan for creating a peaceful world. Their publication, “A Global Security System: An Alternative to War,” lays out a practical, comprehensive program to build alternatives to war. Much of this article is based on this publication. You can access the publication, including free downloads, at https://worldbeyondwar.org/
Much of the needed peaceful conflict resolution infrastructure already exists. The world has been working on abolishing war for hundreds of years. The United Nations, International courts, the Geneva Conventions, and numerous arms control and other treaties are examples. We simply need to strengthen, and adequately fund, these institutions and honor these treaties.
We can learn to resolve conflicts without violence. Homo sapiens are not “killer apes” and violence is not genetic. It is a social, learned behavior. Cooperation is just a human as competitiveness. History shows humans have lived without war for most of our existence. Peace is not an unrealistic, Utopian dream.
But for world peace to become a reality the major militaristic nations, especially the United States, must change our thinking, violent behavior and belief in militarism. Our country should be leading this effort. To effectively lead we must stop being the world’s largest arms merchant, the biggest bully and, in the words of Martin Luther King, Jr., “…the biggest purveyor of violence in the world…”