Nuclear Disarmament Begins At Home

Nuclear disarmament is very important to get right. Getting it wrong is what got us embroiled in the Iraq war, and is about to get us into war with Iran. By "getting it wrong", I mean using the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) as an excuse to attack nuclear "have-not" countries who pursue nuclear weapons. The treaty itself is wrong because it sets a double standard, allowing the 800-pound gorillas on the world stage to keep their nuclear arsenals as a deterrent to attack, but prohibiting weaker countries from acquiring their own nuclear weapons. What idiot came up with that policy? Aren't the weaker countries the very ones that would feel the need for nuclear weapons the most, to deter attacks by the 800-pound gorillas? Wouldn't labeling the rogue states "axis of evil" only motivate them out of fear to pursue their nuclear deterrent capabilities all the harder?

How can the United States be so brazenly hypocritical as to denounce nuclear weapons programs elsewhere, while sitting on the biggest nuclear weapons stockpile in the world? Is the message it sends - "Do what we say, not what we do, or hook or by crook, we will crush you" - really the message it wishes to convey? This "Might Makes Right" nuclear non-proliferation policy gets no respect from developing nations and deserves none. "Nuclear disarmament begins at home" should be the foundational principle upon which nuclear non-proliferation policy is based. By repudiating the double standard and abolishing its own nuclear arsenal, the US could lead the world by example on this issue.

But before the double standard can be repudiated, at least one politician must stand up and publicly acknowledge its existence. C'mon Barack Obama and John McCain, you're both straighter shooting politicians than most. Why not face the embarrassing truth and admit that the NPT sets a double standard that is grossly unfair to non-nuclear states, and insist that the United Nations amend it to mandate the abolition of all nuclear weapons, including ours. Only then might the nuclear "have-nots" believe that the nuclear "haves" take non-proliferation seriously.