Green Party Peace Pledge: Candidates for US State or Local Offices
The Green Party Peace Action Committee requests all Green Party candidates for U.S. state or local offices to swear or affirm that they will uphold the following principles if elected to office.
I, ________________________, as a Green Party candidate seeking to be elected to the _____________________, do hereby swear or affirm that:
- I recognize all acts of military aggression are illegal under established international law, including the Kellogg-Briand Pact of 1928 (46 Stat. 2343), Article 6 of the Nuremberg Charter, recognized as international law by the International Law Commission of the United Nations in 1950, and Article 2, sections 3, 4 and 7, and Article 51 of the Charter of the United Nations. Article VI, paragraph 2 of our Constitution makes treaties to which the United States is a signatory a part of the “Supreme law of the land.” Therefore, violations of these international laws are also unconstitutional under U.S. law.
- I recognize that all acts of military aggression are fundamentally immoral and never justifiable and that the use of military force can only be justified, if at all, as an act of self-defense, to repel an actual attack on the United States or its people. I categorically reject justifications for war based on claims that pre-emptive action is necessary.
- Accordingly, if elected, I promise to use the power of my office to advocate measures and policies that promote peace and oppose the aggressive use of military force. Such measures could include the following:
- Resolutions to oppose U.S. acts of military aggression, including but not limited to ongoing illegal attacks and/or occupations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, Somalia, and Yemen. The introduction of such resolutions can be used as an educational tool to raise public awareness of the terrible human, environmental and economic costs of war.
- Resolutions to oppose U.S. acts of economic aggression and other forms of illegal interference in the internal affairs of other sovereign nations, including but not limited to Iran, Venezuela, Bolivia, and Nicaragua. The introduction of such resolutions can be used as an educational tool to raise public awareness of the adverse consequences of such interference.
- Resolutions to establish local nuclear-free zones. The introduction of such resolutions can be used as an educational tool to raise public awareness of the dire and ominous threat of nuclear war and the pressing need to promote nuclear disarmament.
- Policies to prevent the militarization of local police and the use of disproportionate force by police, and to promote alternative forms of conflict resolution and civilian control over police functions.
- Limitations on military recruitment, and/or opportunities for peace organizations to present their views in response to military recruitment efforts, at public educational institutions.
- Opposition to the establishment or operation of military facilities that do not serve any legitimate defensive purpose, and/or that damage the environment.
- Opposition to the expenditure of state/local funding to promote militarism and dogmatic nationalism masquerading as “patriotism.”
- Relating budgetary constraints and the difficulties in funding social needs at the state and local level to the paucity of federal funding for social needs, caused by the tremendous cost of funding militarism and war.
- Promoting the use of nonviolent language and civility in political discourse, as another step toward the promotion of nonviolence in society at large.
Signed: ___________________________ Date:_________________________