Dear Supporter,

As a membership organization we are required to poll our members and stakeholders each year and gather input on our priorities.  Of course, we don’t do it just because we have to.  As a grassroots membership organization, Peace Action cares deeply about the input of its members.

Please take a few moments to fill out this brief survey and tell us what is important to you so that we may improve as we approach our 55th year.

Based on last year’s member survey results, cutting military spending to meet the needs of our communities ranked the highest when compared with our other core issues.  These results, along with an increasing public awareness of the potentially dramatic impact on funding for critical domestic programs and growing public opposition to the war in  Afghanistan have led us to use Peace Action’s Move the Money Campaign as the main umbrella for Peace Action’s work over the next year.

Please click here to share your opinions. Completing this survey will take only a couple of minutes of your valuable time.

This year, we are acutely challenged by both danger and opportunity. In every election year since 1996 our Peace Voter campaign has worked to get candidates on record stating their views on wars and militarism. In fact, in 2008, it was a Peace Action volunteer in New Hampshire that got John McCain to famously declare he could see the US occupation of Iraq continue for 100 years. Fortunately, he wasn’t seeing clearly.

Among the opportunities, we’ve pressed for an end to the war in Afghanistan, successfully cajoling the Obama Administration to open talks with the Taliban in search of a political settlement, and we’ve won over a majority of Senators calling for a more speedy exit. If we keep up the heat, we may be able to end this terrible war much sooner than the current plans to do so by 2014 or even later.

We can also report some success in our campaign to Move the Money from unnecessary military spending, securing a start with modest cuts in the Pentagon budget. The President has just unveiled a “new” strategy that still calls for the ability to fight one major war, inflict enough damage to stymie another adversary, and of course keep our nuclear deterrent. How about a no-war strategy, like most of the rest of the world’s countries have? We aren’t fooled, the new ten year plan is not a real cut in military spending, just a smaller increase than originally planned. Keeping the pressure on the Administration and Congress by building powerful national and grassroots coalitions to Move the Money from militarism and war to human and environmental needs will be a long campaign, but we see signs it is beginning to pay off.

Apparently having learned nothing from the disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan, voices calling for a military strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities are growing louder. While the Obama Administration appears to prefer non-military means, crushing economic sanctions and the lack of meaningful diplomacy are creating a dangerous situation where miscalculation could lead to war. Peace Action is monitoring events and looking for ways to strengthen the call for diplomatic solutions, as another war is unacceptable.

Thank you for your participation and support. It is our collective actions that make up Peace Action. Working together we can make a difference in the year ahead.

Humbly for Peace,

Kevin Martin
Executive Director
Peace Action

P.S. If you have not renewed your membership, please renew today. Membership accounts for over 85% of our budget. Please click here to complete the survey. Working together we will make a difference! Thank you.