The CEO's Corner, from The Global Citizen - Spring 2009 Issue

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In January, I had the privilege of being at the Capitol to watch as our new president, Barack Obama, was sworn into office. It was an incredibly moving moment - people of many different ages, races and national origins stood together to witness the dawning of a new era. It also, hopefully, marked the end of a period when, ostensibly in the pursuit of security, our country needlessly abandoned many of the principles that had long defined it. President Obama signaled in his inaugural speech that he will reverse that shift: "Our Founding Fathers, faced with perils we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man...Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake."

Our mothers and fathers, grandmothers and grandfathers worked hard to build a country based on the shared beliefs that all people are created equal, that the world should be ruled by laws rather than by force of arms or decrees, that nations should live in peace with others and solve their problems through negotiation and cooperation rather than military might, and that nations should be governed by the people and for the people.

In the words of President Obama, "We are the keepers of this legacy. Guided by these principles once more, we can meet those new threats that demand even greater effort - even greater cooperation and understanding between nations."

Citizens for Global Solutions shares this vision. In 1947, grassroots organizations from around the world gathered in Asheville, North Carolina and in Montreux, Switzerland to form a movement to replace the law of force with the force of law. They came together to say "never again" to the gas chambers of Auschwitz, Dachau and Buchenwald, to bring an end to the nuclear horror unleashed in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, to create a global federation that would bring democracy, human rights and the rule of law to all peoples of the world.

While not all aspects of their vision fit our incredibly complicated world today, the essence of it remains: responsible U.S. global engagement; stopping nuclear proliferation; protecting the environment; and support for human rights. Standing on the shoulders of those who have come before us, we can see on the horizon the world they envisioned - a world of peace, justice and equality for all. However, reaching this goal will require all of us to pitch in and make it happen.

I call upon all global citizens to complete the cycle; to go out into our communities and begin anew to build grassroots support for these policies and empower a web of effective international institutions with the power to bind a just global society together. I call upon you to reach out to your neighbors, friends, associates, and networks, and to educate your children, in order to make this vision a reality. There is now more support in Washington, D.C. than ever before for these initiatives. We have an unprecedented opportunity to see our policies adopted; we must not let this opportunity pass us by.

During the next few months, you'll find ideas on how you can help in our weekly chapter emails, our bi-monthly Partners Calls, and at our Annual Meeting in March. But don't wait for us - if you see an opportunity to address climate change, stand up for justice or support a global solution, take action now. It's time for change -- it's up to each of us, each day, to make it happen.

In Peace,
Don