“The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing that it seeks to destroy… Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
A National Security Strategy of Generosity and Care
In the 21st century, our security and well being depends on the well being of everyone else on this planet as well as on the health of the planet itself.
An important way to manifest this caring is through a Global Marshall Plan that would dedicate 1-2% of the U.S. annual Gross Domestic Product each year for the next twenty years to eliminate domestic and global poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, and inadequate health care and repair damage done to the environment by 150 years of ecologically irresponsible forms of industrialization and “modernization” throughout much of the world.
We support a Global Marshall Plan that includes:
- Participation in planning and fund-distribution decisions by the recipient countries’ most talented and ethically sensitive leaders as well as activists from local communities representing the poor and outstanding figures in the ethical, cultural, religious and non-profit sectors of the relevant societies.
- Methods for ensuring that the monies are used in the most effective, environmentally sustainable and culturally sensitive ways.
- Safeguards to guarantee that the monies are not siphoned off by governments or local elites or primarily for creating the infrastructure for large corporations, but actually reach the people in need.
Amending all existing and future trade agreements to ensure that they serve the economic well-being of the poor and not just the interests of the wealthy nations or local elites in countries with high levels of poverty. - Retraining the military to build and rebuild vital infrastructure.
- Global leadership by the United States to start this effort and encourage other advanced industrial societies to join the plan.
We approach this initiative with a spirit of humility, not only because of the legacy of colonialism and self-interested Western trade policies which contributed to the underdevelopment in poor countries, but because we can learn much from the cultures and spiritual heritage of other societies—recognizing that their economic poverty does not signify a poverty of wisdom. Generosity of spirit as well as financial generosity are an integral part of our Global Marshall Plan , which we affirm not only because it is a central component in any rational plan to achieve “homeland security,” but also because it reflects our commitment to recognize every human being on this planet as equally valuable and deserving of care.
The NSP’s Global Marshall Plan is a strategy for real homeland security. To download a colorful brochure explaining the plan, please click here.
Representative Keith Ellison
Click here to read information about House Resolution 87 Introduced by Representative Keith Ellison (MN) in February 2017 and co-sponsored by Representatives John Conyers (MI) and Gwenn Moore (WI)
