The “Arc de Trump” being planned for our nation’s capitol will be an eyesore and an embarrassment to the nation. We have plenty of monuments to war and militarism. We don’t need another one and we certainly don’t need this $100 million egotistical monument to Donald Trump.

What people honor and memorialize reveals who they are and what they value. There are numerous war memorials in D.C., and all over the country (including to Confederate monuments). But there are virtually no memorials to peace and peace advocates.

This is a clear statement that we are a militaristic society. It shows the powers that be, who control the public messaging and media, don’t want people normalizing peace and getting the idea it might be patriotic or good for the country. That would cut into the profits from war.

We need to understand that peace is patriotic. War is not what keeps us safe and free. War is the failure of our national leadership to resolve conflicts peacefully.

We are all victims of war. Our lives are all diminished by the obscene levels of military spending and the resulting inadequate spending on human needs.

What we really need is affordable healthcare, childcare, debt-free education and job training, living wages, clean water, clean air, modern public infrastructure and communities that allow all of us to live free, prosperous, fulfilling lives.

What we really need is peace. But we will never achieve peace – and the real security that only peace can provide – as long as we continue to believe war is necessary. We have to change our militaristic thinking in order to give peace a chance.

A good place to begin is by honoring the patriotic Americans who have cared enough about our country to speak truth to power about the costs and folly of war. Many of these folks have sacrificed (and died) opposing war and working for peace. They, like the “troops” who sacrificed fighting our many wars, deserve to be honored.

As President John F. Kennedy said, “War will exist until that distant day when the conscientious objector enjoys the same reputation and prestige that the warrior does today.”

As Dr. Michael Knox, founder of the U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation, says, “Our society should be as proud of those who fight for alternatives to war as it is of those who fight wars.”

Dr. Knox has been working for many years to raise a paltry $2 million to build a memorial to our nation’s peace advocates on the Washington Mall. Even though millions of Americans have worked for peace through the entire history of our country, there is no national monument to honor these patriotic citizens.

The contrast between these two monuments speaks volumes about our country – who we are as a people and what we are becoming under the current leadership. One speaks to our “better angels” to promote a positive goal for national improvement. The other speaks to the dark side of human nature promoting an arrogant, jingoistic national pride – the kind of pride that often “goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18 in the Christian Bible).

The U.S. Peace Memorial Foundation (uspeacememorial.org) is working to “promote a culture where our traditions and rituals not only pay tribute to those who fight for our freedom, but also honor those who exercise this freedom by seeking peaceful alternatives to war.”

A broader view of patriotic service would include all the people who have worked for peace, freedom, justice, equality and democracy. These struggles were fought in the legislatures, courts and the streets of America and not on foreign battlefields.

But the peace and justice activists have not been recognized for their service to our country. More often they have been denigrated as unpatriotic (and recently as “domestic terrorists”).

The proposed U.S. Peace Memorial is a long overdue “thank you” for the many people advocating better foreign policy and a step toward changing our national culture of militarism. Honoring peacemakers sends a clear message that cooperation, negotiation, diplomacy and respect of international law are patriotic, honorable and socially acceptable activities in a democracy.

As a nation we only give lip service to being a peaceful nation. Our history and culture are steeped in violence and militarism. Our nation was built on slavery and the extirpation of native Americans. Wars or military interventions have occurred in every decade of our existence.

On Truth Social Trump wrote that his gaudy monstrosity was, “the GREATEST and MOST BEAUTIFUL Triumphal Arch, anywhere in the World.”

In January he told reporters, “I’d like it to be the biggest one of all...We’re the biggest, most powerful nation.”

The U.S. is not geographically, or in population, the “biggest” nation. Once again Trump has the facts wrong.

We are, however, #1 for the ignorance and arrogance of our “great leader” (although the mullahs in Afghanistan are strong contenders).

When Trump was asked on a CBS News interview “who the monument was meant to honor” he replied “me.”

Regarding the Iran war Trump recently said, “It’s not possible for us to take care of day care, Medicaid, Medicare, all these individual things. They can do it on a state basis. You can’t do it on a federal. We have to take care of one thing, military protection. We have to guard the country.”

So why is Trump wasting $100 million a needless monument? Or planning to waste $20 billion to return to the moon in 2028 (since 2020, $93 billion has been spent on the Artemis mission). Or wasting $1.2 trillion in the next 20 years for his “Golden Dome” missile defense system which experts say won’t work?

Foreign policy expert, Andrew Bacevich has written, “Perpetuating [war] is not enhancing American freedom, abundance and security...it is having the opposite effect. One day the American people may awaken to this reality. Then and only then will the war[s] end...”

He also suggests, “There is an alternative approach far more likely to yield positive results...[a foreign policy] based not on muscle flexing in faraway places but on modeling liberty, democracy, and humane values here at home.”

As with every effort for “good change” it is citizens that must push progress from the bottom up.
We can all help by supporting The U.S Peace Memorial Foundation and speaking out against the “Arc de Trump.”