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Dear Editor,
As a resident of Stoneham who works in Malden, I am hopeful that Congresswoman Clark will join Senators Markey and Warren and Congressional leaders Jim McGovern, Stephen Lynch, Ayanna Pressley and Richie Neal in cosponsoring an important resolution to the US Congress that addresses the incredibly dangerous situation in the world right now: the risk of nuclear war.
- Res 317 calls upon the United States government to enter into negotiations with the other nuclear-armed states for a verifiable, enforceable agreement to eliminate their nuclear arsenals. It also urges our government to implement commonsense safeguards to reduce the danger of nuclear war while these negotiations take place. The resolution does not call for unilateral disarmament.
The threat of nuclear war is hiding in plain sight, but the threat is real and growing. Former top defense officials and atomic scientists rate the danger of nuclear war today to be greater than ever. Former Defense Secretary William Perry wrote that “Nuclear weapons no longer provide for our security—they now endanger it… Our chief peril is that the poised nuclear doom… is too far out of the public consciousness.”
The best science we have projects that a war between the US and Russia would kill nearly every resident of the state, and even a much more limited war, between India and Pakistan would lead to climate disruption and a global famine that could kill 130 million Americans, including 3-5 million people in Massachusetts.
Nuclear weapons are the only force capable of destroying the US, and within a matter of hours. The time to act is clearly now. US national security depends on our willingness to bring the other nuclear powers to the negotiating table to map out a comprehensive plan to achieve and enforce an end to nuclear weapons.
As the House Minority Whip, the Congresswoman is understandably highly selective about which pieces of legislation she endorses. H. Res. 317 deserves her support.
The highest responsibility of the government is the protection of its citizens. Nothing is more important.
Michael Christ
Stoneham, MA
