How to Vote for Peace this November

by Antony Adolf · 2010-10-12 07:09:00 UTC
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The most consequential U.S. mid-term elections in recent memory will be held three weeks from today. As candidates from both parties and the occasional independent bombard you with negative ads against their rivals, and partisan commentators try to persuade you to swing or stay their way, there's a simple alternative you can turn to in making your informed choice if you care about the peace and prosperity of our country, and the world.

Peace Voter 2010 is this election year's installment of an initiative that has been ongoing since 1996, informing and mobilizing Americans to vote for candidates who support peace work domestically and globally as a key path to shared prosperity. Organized by one of the country's largest and most respected peace and disarmament groups, Peace Action, the grassroots campaign provides training to local activists and concerned citizens based on critical analysis of candidates' positions on peace and disarmament issues unavailable anywhere else.

During the 2008 presidential campaign, the Peace Voter initiative distributed over two million voter guides in 39 pivotal Congressional districts. It was also a Peace Voter activist who questioned John McCain about the Iraq War during the New Hampshire primary, to which he infamously responded that being there for 100 years was okay by him. This year, the focus is on ending the Afghanistan War responsibly, reducing military spending, nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, and ensuring that war with Iran becomes less of a possibility than it currently is.

With the Iraq and Afghanistan War costs having passed $1 trillion dollars earlier this year, to say nothing of the thousands of deaths and millions of sufferers they have caused, voting for peace this November isn't just about upholding principles and ideals Americans have always held dear. Voting for candidates who support peace work domestically and globally is also a way to get the economy growing again, and reallocate human and financial resources towards what matters most to Americans: jobs, education, healthcare, benefits, local safety and national security: enter the causes you care about here.

Photo Credit: Jayel Aheram

Antony Adolf is the author of Peace: A World History, and a teacher, public speaker and independent scholar. He is the publisher of One World, Many Peaces: Current Events Creating the Future.
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