Proposal For A State Democratic Party Peace Caucus

(The following will be presented to Chairman Dean and the Democratic Party of Oregon at the state convention here in Eugene begining tomorrow.)

The peoples of our planet have an inalienable right to a life lived in peace. Preservation of this right constitutes a fundamental obligation of all governments. We the members of the Peace Caucus of the Democratic Party of Oregon believe that the right to a life lived in peace is the anchor without which all other human rights cannot be secured.

The world has become more violent and dangerous in these young years of the 21st century. National policies of pre-emptive war have combined with a "global war on terrorism” with no foreseeable end to have the intolerable effect on the peoples of the world of increasing insecurity, fear, and harm.

Yet such a world as we live in is not the inevitable result of all that has passed before. Rather, it is the failure of attention and imagination on the part of government and society toward building a culture of peace and nonviolence at home and abroad. Given the extent and current speed of nuclear proliferation in the world today, correcting this failure by promoting new perspectives on human security and developing nonviolent alternatives to war is the most urgent need of the human race.

Therefore, the mission of the Peace Caucus will be to infuse the Democratic Party of Oregon, and indeed the national Democratic Party, with an ethic of peace. The Peace Caucus will be the voice within the DPO guiding debate and decision-making both on domestic and international issues toward a culture of peace and nonviolence. Ultimately, the Peace Caucus aims to reinvigorate America’s role as global peace-builder.

The Peace Caucus will seek always to remind parties, organizations and institutions that peace building arises through the promotion of the nonviolent resolution of conflict; through the expansion of human rights and the security of persons and their communities; through social and economic justice, and; through full democratic participation in government. Through these and other principles enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Peace Caucus will endorse the right of every human being to a life lived in peace.

We the members of the Peace Caucus of the Democratic Party of Oregon pledge our lives, our creative energies, and our collective talents to the cause of peacemaking and peace-building at home and abroad. We believe that we can play a key role in supporting possibilities for peace in the world.

We also believe that lasting peace and security in the world must begin within each one of us, and must be extended to our families, our communities, our country, and to the community of the world. There can be no peace on earth without there first being peace at home.

We the members of the Peace Caucus of the Democratic Party of Oregon see peace as possible. We believe that taking action for a more peaceful future requires an optimistic spirit that is capable of embracing this possibility. After all, history shows that what is considered naïve in one era often becomes reality in the next.

The Democratic Party of Lane County Peace Caucus:
Betsy Steffensen (Chair)
David Sonnichsen
Kathlenn Epstein
Todd Huffman (Author)

Comments are welcomed at: nfp@efn.org, and doctortodd@att.net