Dear Senator Harkin:

As Vice President Biden said yesterday during his speech at the National Defense University, “the very existence of nuclear weapons leaves the human race ever at the brink of self-destruction, particularly if the weapons fall into the wrong hands.”

I am a supporter of the administration’s arms control policy as Vice President Biden laid it out yesterday as I know you are. Like many of my friends, I choke at the thought of spending $7 billion on the stockpile stewardship program, when I know those funds could meet pressing needs elsewhere. I am willing to stay the course and I ask one thing of you.

Why haven’t you been speaking more publicly in support of the administration’s initiative?

During the past year, I have been traveling around the state speaking on the need for nuclear disarmament. One of the questions I am frequently asked is about Dr. Helen Caldicott who traveled with you and your family during your 1984 campaign. She remembered you in her memoir as “one of the staunchest supporters of the nuclear freeze.” I just found a copy of your book, Five Minutes to Midnight: Why the Nuclear Threat is Growing Faster than Ever and I look forward to reading it. Your staff has indicated to me that you support ratification of START and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. For many of us, you are one of the people wearing a white hat in Washington.

Our family and friends hate the gridlock in Washington. We look at nuclear disarmament as an issue where legislators of all party preferences should be able to come together in bipartisan support. For that to happen, there need to be leaders in breaking the partisan gridlock and my expectation is that you will be one of those leaders.

I urge you to speak publicly about you support for the administration’s arms control policy.

If you do this our children and grandchildren will thank you for it.

Best Regards, Paul Deaton

~Paul Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County.  Check
out his blog, Big Grove Garden.
   E-mail Paul Deaton