Dozens of congress members claim to be "opponents" and "critics" of the wars. But almost none of them are publicly expressing their opposition to the war escalation funding. Almost none of them have written "Dear Colleague" letters, released press statements, or asked people to lobby their colleagues. None of them have signed onto the statement agreed to by 63 challengers. If the Republicans vote yes, because reckless spending for education and things that don't kill anyone is left out of the bill, then some Democrats will vote No when the bill reaches the floor after Memorial Day. But few if any of them will spend the next week in their districts speaking out against it.
And what will that majority of us who oppose the wars do, while our congress members are home for a week? Some of us may be willing to nudge them a little, unless they belong to whichever of the two parties we have sworn our loyalty to. In that case, we will preface our protests by assuring them that we will help them get reelected no matter what they do. I think this is a moment in which to reconsider that position. Because these wars make us less safe and in fact gravely endanger our country, because these wars siphon off all the resources we need so that teachers will be laid off in all of our schools, because preventing the ongoing mass murder that is war must be a top priority, I would urge you to connect with the campaigns of candidates in your district and around the country who have committed to not voting another dime. Yes, we have a winner-take-all system, and a challenger can become a spoiler, leading to the election of somebody even worse than what you've got now. But they cannot be much worse, that's no longer possible. And only by using the leverage of threatening to throw them out can we compel incumbents to represent us.
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