Why isn’t peace on anyone’s platform?
by Nicholas Burns
The Boston Globe
IS THE word “peace’’ disappearing from our national conversation? Armies of talking heads, bloggers, and op-ed opinionators assault us daily on every subject . . . but rarely on peace. When was the last time we heard a national leader of either party, especially one running for president, put the goal of peace at the center of a political platform or place it among our highest national aspirations?
Comments
Many factors contribute, not least of which is that no candidate wants to be labeled as "weak" or "soft" by his competitors. I suspect this is what prompted President Obama to take his position to double down on Afghanistan as a counter to his position against our operations in Iraq.
Another factor is the the post Cold War concept that peace comes by "making others more like us" as described by Dr. Peter Feaver of Duke University. http://shadow.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/11/23/8_myths_about_american…
Unfortunately this means going around attempting to make people stop being like themself. And that tends to generate friction, which leads to conflict, which leads to war.
Perhaps it is time to once again become the country that stood for encouraging and allowing every one to simply be themself. That dusty phrase from our founding that we retired during the Cold War was "Self Determination."