March 25, 2007
By alan k
It is WAY past time to muster the resources, or even sentiment to resist this hijacking of our nation which, let us be frank, has been going on for decades.
You name it -- schools, housing, healthcare, decent jobs, livable wages, womens' rights, healthy food supply, air quality, political representation, dialog, respect, peace -- which of these has improved in the past decades??
But, let's stand together...
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Elizabeth Kucinich wrote today
Today as the Democratic leadership celebrates the passage of HR 1591, Dennis and I are in mourning. We mourn the deaths of those who have passed and those whose lives are now on the line, both in the military and civilian Iraqis. We mourn the destruction, the ecocide. We mourn with families in Iraq and the US who will see more death and devastation. We mourn the callous and calculated political spin cloaking the Congress's hawkish support of war with the rhetoric of peace.
Congressman Kucinich voted NO. Standing firm with him on this NO vote were 13 Democrats...
I could hardly agree more with the sentiments and position taken in her correct message, "It is Time to Take a Strong Stand."
Indeed, it is WAY past time to try to muster some resources, or even sentiment to resist this hijacking of our nation which, let us be frank, has been going on for decades. It has been occurring in slow motion, and with the help and collaboration of both major political parties (or as many would say, the Duopoly).
You name it -- schools, housing, healthcare, decent jobs, livable wages, womens' rights, healthy food supply, air quality, political representation, dialog, respect, peace -- which of these has improved in the past decades??
So, of COURSE, it is time to stand up against putting more of our dwindling dollars into further ghastly dismembering of nameless residents of lands which house resources we covet, not to mention the the mincing of our own children in the process.
We should stand up strongly, as many of us as we can get together.
That is why I wrote her to take exception with Elizabeth's statements when she thanked those who have stood together
I would like to thank Iraq Veterans Against the War, Military Families Speak Out, Veterans for Peace, Code Pink, Gold Star Mothers and all those other organizations who have worked so valiantly in recent years to raise awareness about what is going on in Iraq and to end the war.
It's "hats off" to the efforts of all those stalwart and courageous groups. However, in those "other organizations" was a political party, the Green Party, which stands and says out loud all that most Democrats have run away from. Having put in countless hours along with many other Greens in many venues working, educating, and fighting for issues such as getting Congress to stop the funding of this immoral debacle, I decided to set the record straight with this letter to Elizabeth:
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Dear Elizabeth,
I couldn't agree with you more on your statement, and give encouragement to those who REALLY stood up for America's troops and best interests by NOT voting for more funding for the criminal occupation of Iraq.
Indeed! It's time to take a strong stand! Sometime it's incredibly lonely out here trying to get a message out to this society of what to us seems common sense and moral behavior. At times it is incredibly difficult and wearing. Those taking such stands must work together and try to grow.
That is why I write you, Elizabeth. In your mention of groups out there doing the hard work you should include the Green Party, even though that would seem to go against certain political niceties.
If you are willing, however, to stand up to those in your party who work hand in hand-out with the oligarchy, then I think it behooves you to recognize publicly that there is another political party that does not have trouble in telling its constituents to take a strong firm stand against escalating this war and in demanding an end to this illegal occupation. We are on the same side, mouthing YOUR message, something your own party won't do.
I have always marveled how the Democratic Party (certainly not your followers) reserve more vitriol and action against the Green Party than they do against our real adversaries. Funny, no? The Republicans, especially the neocons and religious right threaten the very substance of our land, its institutions and Constitution. What do Greens "threaten"? Apparently it is the Democratic piece of the power pie, which seems to be more important than all the rest.
That would make sense if when they did get a piece of the pie they would do the People's business, but both you and I know that the pushing of NAFTA, the media concentration and destruction of welfare and social services, served not the people, but those who have usurped all the rest of the peoples' roles in deciding anything.
It might do wonders for your party to be forced to recognize that it is possible for a political party even in America to represent people, not corporations even in these times. My sad conclusion: those who run your party do not trust nor really care for the American people.
If the Democratic Party ever truly wanted to do something decisive, important and -- why not -- patriotic for this country to really end this war, or, say, to get universal health care all they would have to do is to call upon the People to back them in public. Populism. Dennis may appear alongside concerned citizens and activists at antiwar rallies, but your party, as a party, does not show up. The Green Party is always there.
If the Dems, once in their history actually CALLED such a rally themselves to show what Americans truly wanted, there would easily be millions showing up in DC. We could end this war in one WEEK, if the Democrats trusted the people...sadly they don't, they can't -- or have higher obligations. A dirty little secret no one wants to talk about: With two political parties in America, neither represents the interests of the people first. At best it is about the size of the crumbs.
One of the problems in the US is that we need political PARTIES saying the words and offering the visions that can unite a population to reclaim their citizens' roles in democratic decision-making. You who still opt to work in the shadows, as it were, of a party which never says out loud what its base wants -- and therefore never really LEADS the nation in a progressive direction that is truly necessary to deal with the most pressing life and death issues -- should be GLAD to show that it IS possible for a political party to take such stands, and encourage yours to emulate.
A ship cannot arrive anywhere if it has neither chart nor destination. An organization cannot get anywhere without at least saying out loud where it is they are going. Anything else is obfuscation and does nothing to build a conscious constituency prepared to fight for its disappearing rights.
When John Kerry said in 2004, "This is the most important election of your lifetime," he was probably right. But not only did he not bother to tell the American people WHY, he did not ACT as though it were all so important when he backed away from facing down voting fraud in Ohio (as though they were HIS votes, and not the peoples'), and when he lobbed softballs at W in the debates.
The constant moves for appeasement being passed off as "compromise" or "civility" or "being cautions for electoral reasons" have absolutely nothing to do with what you and I both know is required to fend off this great menace which now threatens us. In fact, agonizingly, it only serves to keep us UNinformed and UNprepared to fight the real enemy assaulting us, which -- let us not mince words here -- is domestic.
For those of your colleagues who are not pleased that Greens exist and actually offer alternatives both in goals and in process, they have a few options. We can work together for the same issues. They can retain their votes by satisfying the goals and desires of our constituents to whom the Green agenda is meaningful, and indeed very important. They can fight for electoral reform such as proportional representation and Instant Runoff Voting to make it easier to bring new topics and meaning into the nearly inexistent American political dialog.
Sadly, in general the Democratic party does NONE of those things. They curse us and try to ignore us, and then attack us when we actually succeed in making a crack in the the dumbed down consciousness of those willing willy nilly to let "others" to decide everything. Those "others" have destroyed our industrial base, sent our jobs overseas, left the people without healthcare, sent us off to die and kill in phony wars based upon delusions (or worse) -- all while under the watch of BOTH major parties.
And they want US to be quiet and disappear???
What ever happened to democracy?? Ahh, the "marketplace of ideas"...whose? When did it become a chess game of power?
The Democratic game, it would seem, is to take the sincere efforts of people like yourself and Dennis, and those who support you, and use it ultimately to back the central party power brokers which never attends your -- or the peoples'-- agenda. So...they silence you (effectively), and they attack or ignore us.
Therefore, as colleagues actively working on the same side of a progressive agenda, and under similar circumstances, I would expect that we of the Green Party deserve minimally the same recognition from fellow progressives that advocacy groups receive when describing those who are working for peace, sanity, and responsibility in our nation.
Alan Kobrin
spokesperson, Green Party of Florida
Authors Bio:
Watching, observing, analyzing, communicating, provoking, organizing....