Dear President Obama,
Like millions of Americans, I'm looking forward to hearing you deliver the State of the Union address tonight.
And like millions of Americans, I look forward to hearing about initiatives that will make the quality of life better for people in this country: those who are poor and aspire for better lives, and those who are clinging to the notion of middle class status but who are losing ground. I also look forward to what you can say about peace and true security for this country, and how we can promote those ideals throughout the world.
My work with the Friends Committee on National Legislation ties together many concerns of Quakers committed to living our faith though action to make the world a better place. Your leadership and that of Congress are essential to the aspirations of people in this country and across the globe for peace and justice.
Economic Justice
I'm encouraged by the early reports of your ideas for taxing the inheritance and capital gains on those who are most able to afford increases. When we can help our neighbors who are struggling to patch together child care in order to work or who can’t afford to pay the rent –these people in our community often can't imagine a chance for college--for themselves or their children.
We live in a country where half of all students in public schools are poor, as measured by participation in free and reduced lunch. This is stunning, disturbing, and has ramifications for our nation’s children as well as the opportunities these students have as they grow into adulthood.
State and local governments bear a heavy burden for delivering high quality education for all children, but especially for those from disadvantaged backgrounds. Your action, with the support of Congress, to help in this area would be a prudent investment in the future workforce of our country and could make a big impact in the lives of millions of families.
One of your proposals, universal preschool for 3 and 4 year olds, would be a positive step to assure that young children from all backgrounds have the opportunity for an enriched learning environment. Another proposal, free tuition at community colleges, is also a positive step, particularly when those who are attending and have low incomes have adequate resources for the support to be a successful student, including food, housing, transportation.
We know that public policies that help working families have adequate income to provide a home, food, health care and opportunity for their children are good public investments. Your support for the earned income tax credit and child care tax credits and for raising the federal minimum wage are all significant actions that can provide stability in peoples' lives.
Racial Justice
Racial disparities in policing and throughout the criminal justice system have increasingly been confronting the consciences of all. The deaths of Trayvon Martin, Eric Garner, Michael Brown and others gained widespread national attention to this problem that has been evident to the communities most affected for years.
The structural problems of racial injustice and the resulting fear and mistrust that pervade communities of color cannot be fixed with any single action, but your attention to how federal resources are directed to local law enforcement bodies is an important step. Reining in the Pentagon's 1033 program, which sends military gear to our cities, towns, campuses and rural communities, can help our police forces stay focused on the all-vital nature of community policing and reject militarized responses.
Pressing for legislation that has bi-partisan support to reduce the travesty of mass incarceration through sentencing reform is another way to address systemic racial injustice, and I hope you'll speak in support of actions your administration will make to advance this disparity.
Immigration
The executive action you took last fall was a step in the right direction toward fair and compassionate solutions for immigrants, many of whom are refugees fleeing violence. Now, your call for nonpartisan congressional action to support a pathway to legal status is essential for continued progress. Deportation is simply impractical and immoral. I urge you to reject the push to further militarize our borders. Instead, in the spirit of compassion, we encourage security for all families, including refugees of unimaginable violence, many of whom are children.
Energy and Environment
Quakers and many people of faith carry an abiding concern for the welfare of humankind and the planet we live on. We carry this moral voice in our dialogue with Congress and we urge you to speak to the imperative need for increasing action for international climate action. The agreement you announced a few weeks ago with China to reduce carbon output has far-reaching implications. This is a huge step to addressing the alarming climate disruption that is costing U.S. loss of life and billions of dollars right now and that puts our planet in peril.
The more that you can do in your final two years in office to reduce U.S. energy use and dependence on fossil fuels and to accelerate a global response to similar reductions, will be a legacy for our children and their children and beyond. The Green Climate Fund, a U.N. fund designed to assist developing countries in adaptation and mitigation practices to counter climate change, will be one way to ensure that countries around the globe will have resources to address the problems that cause and are caused by climate change.
Your promotion of investment in renewable energy that protects our natural resources is another way to fuel the economy with new jobs and protect our planet.
Peace and Security
Current negotiations with Iran are still moving towards an agreement to guard against a nuclear-armed Iran and another war. Your leadership in diplomacy to bring a peaceful resolution to a longstanding confrontation and to establish relationships with Iran that advance diplomatic relations is hugely important for the Middle East and for progress in nuclear non-proliferation. FCNL has worked with thousands of people across the country who have communicated with their members of Congress to keep the space open for diplomacy with Iran, and we will continue to press that message assertively in our efforts to prevent war and the threat of war.
In past years, you proposed and realized Congress support for significant investments in nuclear non-proliferation to secure the so-called "loose nukes." This program has made the world a safer place, and I hope you will propose new resources. In the next few years, our country is facing an unprecedented demand to spend billions of dollars to modernize and refurbish our nuclear weapons systems. Now is the time to give this investment a very hard look and make choices about which of these Cold War weapons can be eliminated. One system that can be cut now is the refurbishment of the B-61 tactical nuclear bomb that is deployed in Europe.
Cutting the Pentagon's budget may be one of the most prudent actions you could take to restore fiscal discipline in federal government spending. While the Budget Control Act has capped the ever-expanding increases in the Pentagon's budget over the past several years, the Overseas Contingency Operations Account--the multi-billion appropriation for fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan--has become the slush fund for new U.S. military operations in countries with violent conflict. This method of funneling so-called "security assistance" needs open and transparent consideration with consideration to its effectiveness or ethical basis for U.S. foreign policy.
Your call to repeal the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force would be a bold statement in acknowledging that war is not the answer. In many speeches, you have said as much, yet your reluctance of your administration to let go of this overly broad law, passed in the raw days following 9/11, has fueled military actions by the United States that we have come to regret. The use of lethal drone strikes, justified by this overly broad law, in Yemen, Somalia, Pakistan, Afghanistan create the status of endless war.
In addition to a clear statement that you support Congress in repealing the 2001 AUMF, your willingness to reiterate your commitment to close Guantanamo would be a powerful message to the world and to the people of the United States that the continued operation of this prison undermines our country's belief in human rights and due process. Your leadership that recognizes the need to right the wrongs of the past including holding those Americans responsible for conducting torture accountable for their actions.
Finally, we commend the work of peacebuilding as a cornerstone of U.S. foreign policy and as a method to de-escalate U.S. military involvement and foreign assistance that funds the militaries and militias of other states and non-state actors. Through the leadership of our State Department and U.S. Agency for International Development, our work to prevent and end violent conflict must tap the knowledge of locally-based civilian leaders and activists committed to non-violence as a first step. Your commitment to do all in within the power of the U.S. to prevent violent conflict should be the highest priority for an ethical and effective foreign policy.
Sincerely,
Diane Randall, Executive Secretary
Friends Committee on National Legislation
No comments:
Post a Comment