Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I’ll rise.
— Excerpt from the poem, “Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou
Millions gathered together in community this past weekend at No Kings: Vote Early events to affirm a simple truth – this is our democracy and power belongs to the people. Around the country, early voting is already underway and the stakes couldn’t be higher as we look ahead to a new Congress in January and the kickoff of the 2028 presidential election campaign.
There’s still 12 days to go before the election and opportunities abound for each of us to get involved, protect everyone’s right to vote, and to support the candidates of our choosing.
There’s much we don’t know yet – most notably what the make-up of the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate will be and which party will hold the majority in those chambers.
But here’s what we do know. Americans are fed up with forever wars. We fundamentally believe in a positive, constructive role for the United States in addressing collective global threats and problems. We believe in diplomacy. We know nuclear weapons don’t make us safe.
A recently released survey, Common Ground in the Battlegrounds? from the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy, which surveyed 20,000 voters in 11 “battleground” states, paints a clear picture of what significant, bipartisan majorities of the voting public support.
Some 80% support the United States pursuing nuclear arms control treaties with Russia, maintaining the current global moratorium on nuclear testing, and working with other countries to limit the development and proliferation of nuclear weapons. Similarly, there is broad support for collective security and institutions as well as U.S. foreign aid and development assistance.
Here’s what else we know: nuclear deterrence, the foundation of U.S. nuclear weapons policy, is living on borrowed time and facing real scrutiny. Indeed, those of us advocating for a world free of nuclear weapons contend that it is far more realistic to achieve a global agreement to abolish nuclear weapons and prohibit their future development and use than it is to believe that nuclear deterrence will never fail and our luck will never run out.
In the age of artificial intelligence, advanced technologies and weaponry, and cyber warfare it is increasingly naive and unrealistic to assume that human beings and the systems and technology used to manage nuclear weapons will be infallible. It’s also deeply immoral to have as the bedrock of U.S. national security policy the threat to commit mass murder, which is by definition what nuclear deterrence is.
The tide is turning but we have our work cut out for us – starting November 4th. The current 119th Congress will come back to Washington for a lame duck session, and it is so critical for us to continue to push for additional cosponsors of H. Res. 317 and S. Res 323. We’ll also be setting the stage for the introduction of new versions of these Back from the Brink resolutions by Rep. McGovern and Sen. Markey respectively early next year. We’ll be asking current H. Res. 317 and S. Res. 323 cosponsors to sign on as original co-sponsors of the new resolutions before they are introduced hopefully by the end of January.
During the lame duck session, the Congress has some unfinished business which will provide opportunities for us to engage with members on military spending and nuclear weapons issues, including President Trump’s Golden Dome trillion-dollar missile defense scheme. The Senate is expected to take up the annual National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) and Congress needs to pass another long term spending bill by December 13th to avoid a government shutdown.
The 120th Congress will formally convene on January 3rd but our ongoing work to cultivate congressional leadership starts now. There will be dozens of new members of the U.S. House and Senate – perhaps in your state or congressional district – who we hope will become leaders on this issue and make it a priority. Phone calls or drop-ins to their campaign offices in the days right after the election will be good opportunities to connect with them and their staff. Or keep an eye out for public events where you might have an opportunity to talk to them about the issue and seek a commitment from them to cosponsor the Back from the Brink resolutions once they have been introduced. If you’d like help with this outreach, please contact Jeremy Love at jeremy@preventnuclearwar.org or book a 15-minute chat on his Calendly to begin that conversation.
