The Price of Peace

Everyone is for peace. We put the sentiment on Christmas and other holiday cards and we talk about a "peace process" in the Middle East, which is more process than peace.

Since Cain murdered his brother Abel, humanity has tried to make peace on Earth and create good will toward men. It hasn't been for a lack of trying.

Now comes another group, rushing in where angels fear to tread.  They are creating what they call a United States Peace Government (search).

On their Web page, they announce a "new $6 million, 12,000 square foot Peace Palace in Washington, D.C." It's a mansion, fit for a rich Washington celebrity or lobbyist. Similar palaces have been built in Lexington, Kentucky and Fairfield, Iowa.

John Hagelin, founder of the U.S. Peace Government and a Harvard-trained quantum physicist, says,"The new Peace Palace in Washington will do what the endless rancor and divisive politics of the White House and Congress cannot do: Promote harmony in America and peace in the world."

Didn't the Fifth Dimension express similar sentiments in their Sixties hit "The Age of Aquarius"?

The peace government has a cabinet that includes people with advanced degrees and long resumes. You can't say their purpose isn't high-minded. We're told:

"The U.S. Peace Government is more than a gigantic policy think-tank, because it will directly implement proven programs for the prevention of problems and the promotion of peace in cities across America. Moreover, the U.S. Peace Government will actually govern the country in the crucial area of national consciousness, by addressing and alleviating the acute social stress that fuels violence and conflict. By bringing the life of the country more into accord with Natural Law, the U.S. Peace Government will prevent crime, improve health and thus elevate the destiny of the nation."

Far out, man! I wonder if they'll have burglar alarms on the peace palace?

This sounds like the last gasp of the hippie generation. Unfortunately, the "peace government" has about as much chance of achieving its noble objective as the League of Nations and its failed progeny, the United Nations.

We fight with each other because of an internal condition theologians once called sin before we all became dysfunctional. No human can fix that problem.

And that includes a collection of highly-educated eggheads, whether they live in an ashram in the Sixties or a "peace palace" in the Third Millenium.

Peace, man!

And that's Column One for this week.

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