To bring the foreign policy debate down to the local level, ask your city and county office holders to put advisory questions on the November 2023 ballots that let voters show their opposition to our militarized US foreign policy.
Note that “Advisory Elections” are also known as “Advisory Ballot Measures” or “Advisory Votes” or “Advisory Questions” or “Advisory Propositions”. These are explained by the Ballotpedia website: https://ballotpedia.org/Advisory_question
To simplify the process, we offer this email template, which has been drafted with Houston area voters in mind. Voters elsewhere may want to do some editing:
Dear [elected official name],
I am a member of the Foreign Policy Alliance, Inc., a non-profit organization which formed in Houston in 2015 to stimulate a national movement for a prudent, restrained, non-interventionist, and constitutional United States foreign policy.We are encouraging a localist approach to reforming United States foreign policy by requesting that elected officials at the city and county levels place advisory questions on their Fall 2023 ballots.
Here is a sample “Proposition on United States Foreign Policy” for your consideration:“Should the United States government respect the constitutional limits on war making, negotiate reduction of nuclear stockpiles, and prioritize use of diplomacy to resolve international differences?
YES _____
NO _____ “
Advisory votes are non-binding. The purpose is only to gauge
public support and send a message to the President and to Congress
that voters want an end to unconstitutional combat operations, large
and small, including wars waged directly against “adversaries” or by
proxy. (Of course, combat operations when the United States is under a
military attack are unquestionably constitutional.)
Normally the November ballot is set in August. We request that your
decision to place this advisory question on the ballot be made
quickly so that elected officials in Washington immediately can see
that a movement for peace is growing in the country, and that they
should respect the escalating desire of the American public for peace.
Citizens in the Houston area will have a particular interest in this
proposal because we are one of the major energy centers in the country
and, therefore, would be a prime target for a nuclear attack in the
event of a widespread war.
Will you ask your colleagues to take this step for a safer Houston and
world by placing this proposition on the November ballot?
Please let me know your decision.
For your consideration,
(insert your name and contact information;
precinct number too if you know it, but not necessary)