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2016 Postmortem
Related: About this forumLargest Peace Group Endorses Sanders
Last edited Wed Feb 10, 2016, 07:32 PM - Edit history (1)
https://peaceblog.wordpress.com/2016/02/10/largest-peace-group-endorses-sanders/Washington, DC February 10, 2016 For the first time in nearly 25 years, Peace Action PAC, the political action committee of Peace Action (the largest peace group in the U.S.) has endorsed a candidate for President: Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) for the Democratic primary.
Peace Action PAC is proud to endorse Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) for the Democratic presidential primary. With Sanders opposition to both Iraq Wars, support for the significant reduction of nuclear weapons, endorsement of the Iran agreement, championing the reduction of Pentagon spending and general support of diplomacy over war, he best represents the values that Peace Action and its 200,000 supporters have espoused for nearly 60 years, said Kevin Martin, Peace Actions executive director.
The organization has a high-bar for presidential endorsements requiring the agreement of two-thirds of its board of directors. Before the board voted, it polled its supporters, and Sanders received 85% support. The Sanders endorsement easily passed with near unanimity.
Sanders opposed the proposed Syria airstrikes in 2013, sending arms to Syrian rebels, and military escalation in the region with U.S. special ops forces. His clear preference to find alternatives to costly, ineffectual and many times backfiring military intervention, making him deserving of Peace Action PACs rare endorsement, added Paul Kawika Martin, Peace Action PACs director.
###
About Peace Action:
Founded in 1957, Peace Action (formerly SANE/Freeze), the United States largest peace and disarmament organization, with over 100,000 paid members and nearly 100 chapters in 36 states, works to abolish nuclear weapons, promote government spending priorities that support human needs, encourage real security through international cooperation and human rights and support nonmilitary solutions to the conflicts with Afghanistan and Iran. The public may learn more and take action at http://www.Peace- Action.org. For more up-to-date peace insider information, follow Peace Actions political director on Twitter. http://twitter.com/PaulKawika
Notes to Editors:
For a more reasons why Peace Action PAC endorsed Sanders:
Top 5 Reasons Peace Action PAC is Endorsing Bernie Sanders for President
By Kevin Martin, Executive Director, Peace Action & Jon Rainwater, Executive Director, Peace Action West
After 15 years of war, the next president of the United States will inherit daunting foreign policy challenges. Sadly, many of those challenges were fueled by an act first, think later U.S. military policy in places like Iraq and Libya that has backfired. At the same time, the new president will need to sustain diplomatic initiatives started by President Obama including the Iranian nuclear deal and peace talks to end the Syria war.
We need a president that can cultivate diplomatic openings while turning the country away from an over-reliance on the blunt military instrument. Bernie Sanders has vocally opposed this military-first foreign policy and the sprawling quagmire the U.S. is enmeshed in. Thats why Peace Action PAC is endorsing Senator Bernie Sanders for President in the Democratic primary.
Sanders didnt just get the Iraq war vote right. Then and now, hes had the foresight to predict the dangers of a military-first foreign policy.
Bernie Sanders has been a leading voice in Congress against risky U.S. military adventurism. Sanders was prescient in describing the pitfalls of the Iraq war that so many of his colleagues were blind to. Sanders predicted the high cost of the war for the U.S. in terms of lives and wasted resources. He had the foresight to accurately predict that a U.S. invasion of Iraq could lead to sectarian conflict and he argued that the ensuing chaos could support the rise of extremism.
Sanders has continued to point out when blunt military tools only make the complex conflicts in the Middle East worse. He opposed plans to bomb Syria over concerns about chemical weapons use. He voted against the disgraced program to arm moderate Syrian rebels that resulted in some U.S.-trained rebels taking their weapons stockpiles and joining the ranks of extremists.
Sanders now opposes sending U.S. ground troops to Syria and warns of a potential quagmire. There are already roughly 6,000 Americans involved in the fighting in Iraq and Syria and most of the leading presidential candidates are calling for more. Sanders also opposes the proposed no-fly-zone in Syria which many experts feel would endanger civilians while risking a direct conflict with Russia that could spiral out of control.
Sanders supports a truly diplomacy-first foreign policy
Sanders is not afraid to take bold positions on behalf of diplomacy and conflict resolution. He was a vocal and visible leader in the debate about the Iran nuclear deal and forcefully rebutted the deals critics like Benjamin Netanyahu. Now, like President Obama, he wants to build on the Iran deal to help reduce tensions in the Middle East. Recently, when Sanders expressed cautious optimism about normalized relations with Iran he was immediately pounced on by opponents as naive despite the fact that allies like Canada and Europe are eagerly moving towards economic and diplomatic normalization with Iran. We need someone who can seize and sustain diplomatic openings.
Sanders has articulated a much more cautious approach to regime change and military intervention than the other leading candidates for president. In the run up to the Gulf War (1991) and the Iraq War (2002) he pushed for a diplomatic resolution. He is also resisting the growing saber rattling and talk of a new Cold War by some U.S. and Russian politicians. Sanders instead calls for a diplomatic approach to the conflict in Eastern Europe.
Sanderss campaign is also making a critical strategic point that the country needs to hear: If the military fight against extremism in the Middle East continues to be led by the U.S., the extremists recruitment narrative and thereby their lasting power is strengthened. In the long run that makes us all less safe. Most experts agree that only political and diplomatic solutions can bring stability to Iraq, Syria and Libya. But Sanders is the rare elected official willing to resist the climate of fear that leads to band-aid military tactics. He instead champions the tools that can really keep us safer.
Sanders is taking on Pentagon bloat
Bernie Sanders is one of the leading voices in Congress in the fight against wasteful Pentagon spending. He has opposed the special war-funding account that is being used as a slush fund for the Pentagon. Hes repeatedly pointed out that the Pentagons out of control spending is based on Cold War era military thinking and weapons systems. Sanders also points out that the Pentagon budget is so mismanaged that the Pentagon is unable to say where they actually spend all their money.
Sanders knows that diplomacy, humanitarian aid, and economic development are often more effective security building tools than military intervention. Hes pushed to reform security spending by cutting wasteful Pentagon weapons systems and foreign arms transfers to increase spending for programs that work to prevent conflict and build stability.
Getting Big Money out of our politics is as important for a progressive foreign policy as for domestic priorities. Economic fairness and truly secure communities are linked.
Sanders is the only candidate challenging the power of the military-industrial complex and their campaign contributions. Pentagon industry insiders are reaping record profits for weapons systems that arent needed given our real twenty-first century security needs. Meanwhile other needs that also contribute to real security for U.S. communities are starved for funds.
Sanders has smart, concrete proposals for an accessible education system; for fixing our crumbling infrastructure; for investments in clean energy and a healthy of the environment; and for a strong, resilient universal health care system. In the twenty-first century these things are part of what makes our communities truly safe and secure. It will be very difficult to fund those proposals without taking on entrenched interests that benefit from a military budget that currently gobbles up half of discretionary expenditures.
I would ask all of my colleagues to remember what Eisenhower said [about how the military-industrial complex robs from social investments] and understand that today, when we have this bloated and huge military budget, there are people who are talking about massive cuts in food stamps, massive cuts in education, massive cuts in affordable housing, cuts in Social Security, cuts in Medicare, cuts in Medicaid. I would argue very strongly that before we cut from the elderly and the children and the sick and the poor, maybe we take a hard look at this bloated military budget.
Bernie Sanders on the floor of the U.S. Senate, December 2013
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Largest Peace Group Endorses Sanders (Original Post)
G_j
Feb 2016
OP
People who "know" peace, want Bernie. So let's see if this can be presented to
Jackie Wilson Said
Feb 2016
#1
P-E-A-C-E....such a nice word. Thank you for polling your members - this is a wonderful endorsement!
in_cog_ni_to
Feb 2016
#6
I hope to see him get Greenpeace, The Sierra Club and Amnesty International.
Spitfire of ATJ
Feb 2016
#14
I proudly stand with Peace Action PAC in their endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders.
frylock
Feb 2016
#19
Jackie Wilson Said
(4,176 posts)1. People who "know" peace, want Bernie. So let's see if this can be presented to
potential supporters in a "peaceful" way and not one which will alienate.
G_j
(40,367 posts)10. I think the endorsement speaks for itself
It's all there, and very well presented.
Luminous Animal
(27,310 posts)2. Great! I've been a member since 1982 (formally known as SANE)
beam me up scottie
(57,349 posts)3. Wonderful endorsement!
K & R!
Arazi
(6,829 posts)4. I'm a member of this group. This is an excellent endorsement! eom
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)5. NO WAR, KNOW PEACE, VOTE BERNIE!
in_cog_ni_to
(41,600 posts)6. P-E-A-C-E....such a nice word. Thank you for polling your members - this is a wonderful endorsement!
The organization has a high-bar for presidential endorsements requiring the agreement of two-thirds of its board of directors. Before the board voted, it polled its supporters, and Sanders received 85% support. The Sanders endorsement easily passed with near unanimity.
PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE
PEACE
LOVE
BERNIE
DerekG
(2,935 posts)7. There's a special place in Hell for peace activists who vote Sanders!
Hillary's done so much for women around the world. (Except Iraqi, Libyan, Syrian and Honduran women.)
Uncle Joe
(58,366 posts)8. Kicked and recommended.
Thanks for the thread, G_j.
Nyan
(1,192 posts)9. It turns out that the "foreign policy defecit" to some
means "peace" to others.
Kick & Rec!!
Enthusiast
(50,983 posts)11. Kicked and recommended!
Don't allow the assholes to get you down.
madokie
(51,076 posts)12. And the endorsements have only began
This is a big one in this realm of big'ns. Peace, try it america you might like it
Punkingal
(9,522 posts)13. Wonderful!
Spitfire of ATJ
(32,723 posts)14. I hope to see him get Greenpeace, The Sierra Club and Amnesty International.
PowerToThePeople
(9,610 posts)16. K&R!
TIME TO PANIC
(1,894 posts)17. Awesome!
RoccoR5955
(12,471 posts)18. And I stand proudly with them! n/t
frylock
(34,825 posts)19. I proudly stand with Peace Action PAC in their endorsement of Senator Bernie Sanders.
WillyT
(72,631 posts)20. HUGE K & R !!! - Thank You !!!
G_j
(40,367 posts)21. and this has nothing at all to do with HRC's Iraq vote
It's all based on Sanders record.
Duval
(4,280 posts)22. Great post, G_j
The reasons we need Sanders as our next President!
FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)23. Good choice! Congrats Bernie! Been a member since 1971
Kurovski
(34,655 posts)25. He's not for peace!!
He yells and stuff!!!
MisterP
(23,730 posts)26. and he's not a woman! all warmongers are male and he is one, too!
(this was literally one WaPo comment)
Kurovski
(34,655 posts)27. OMG! Right?!!!
So true, defeat the murderous penised-person!!!
MisterP
(23,730 posts)28. that was Qantas's policy a while back--"you can't sit next to the child, you have a Devil's
joystick and thus an about-even chance of being a rapist"
G_j
(40,367 posts)30. just a reminder