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Friends, Romans, Countrymen,
I'm sorry that I haven't been up-to-date with every ebb and flow of this disaster, but believe me I have been following it all. A little background, please forgive me if you have heard this before. At my neighborhood peace group, Chelsea Neighbors United to End the War, back in November we were discussing what to do with Congress member Jerrold Nadler (NY 8th CD). We were considering making him our target. We were just about to challenge him on the issue of the war, considering sitting in at his office, etc. Then he came and stood with us at our weekly action: Chelsea Stands Up Against The War. He stayed a good while and we got to express ourselves on the need to stop funding the war. On January 12th he came out with his "Protect The Troops and Bring Them Home Act of 2007. We thought that this was as good as anything we had seen, endorsed it and started working for it.
We are all familiar with what has happend since January 12th. Here is my take:
The Democrats have narrowed the debate on the war. There are now two positions. One extends the war until August of 2008 and gives another $96 billion for the war in Iraq, the other is Bush's position, open ended war with another $96 billion for the war in Iraq. For those of us who wanted an immediate end to the war and to bring the troops home now, there is no difference between the two positions. As I have believed for some time, when it comes to war there is only one party -- the War Party.
The Democrats have played us well and will continue to do so. When you have an immoral and illegal war, the only way to oppose it is to take the moral position. The brilliance of Nadler's idea to state that the troops would not be abandoned, but the war would be defunded and a firm date would be set was compelling to all of us. The idea is still the solution to this war, the Democrats are not.
When push comes to shove, the Democrats did everything in their power to minimize the presence of true anti-war candidates last November. They knew that the war would carry them into power, they just wanted to have as few truly anti-war freshmen as possible. They accomplished their goal.
The Democratic wing of the War Party is necessary to make it fly. They limit debate and action in opposition to the war. They play the role of an opposition, but what they do is usher as many of us as they can to become participants in extending the war. They have blood on their hands and they want us to do the same.
Don't buy the hype. The Pelosi gang accomplished their goal, extend the funding, extend the "acceptable" time of the war as long as possible, and pervert as many anti-war activists as possible.
The only way out of this mess is to stay with the moral position. End the war now, bring the troops home now. The strategy could be to educate the American people on the fact that the true end was H.R. 455 or the Lee Amendment and that we must make the pressure so strong that the elected officials will have no choice but to pass it next time. The Democratic Party does not lead, it attempts to mislead as long as possible. When public pressure it so strong, when they have no choice but to do the right thing, they will do everything in their power to maintain their influence for the next go round. That's what they did in Vietnam. The people forced the end of that war, the Democrats followed.
My solution:
Continue to make the ending of the war and the return of our troops as our priority. Don't get sucked into the presidential election race as any sort of solution. We are in a good position to continue the education of the American people on how to end the war. The Democrats are here to exploit us, to use all our resources, time, money and energy to work on the campaign of one of theirs. What we saw in this charade, is that when push comes to shove, the Democrats, no matter how progressive, are Democrats first. When the pressure came, the Out of Iraq Caucus and the Progressive Caucus made the deal. They wouldn't stand in the way, they would give Pelosi and the War Party the win that they needed. A few of them would vote no to make us feel better, but none of them exposed the deal and fought against it.
I say that all us who are committed to ending the war should boycott the Democratic Party. Do not get involved in the presidential charade, we should continue to work as anti-war activists. We should expose them at every turn. In Chelsea, I will propose to Chelsea Neigbors United to End the War that we hound Nadler the way Code Pink shadows Clinton. Now, is the time for us to lead. I don't care how "few" of us there are now, our numbers will grow.
We know what the moral position is. We know that the Sirotas and the MoveOns will do the bidding of the Democratic Party, we know that at the end of the day the Democratic Party is for the war. They did their job well, to get more funding and to extend the war as long as possible. The time is now for us to do our job well. In Chelsea and in the 8th CD we have to shadow Nadler, in Brooklyn do the same for Yvette Clark, wherever you live do the same to your Democratic misleader.
My friends, this is real life, the responsiblity is ours as it has always been. To hell with both wings of the War Party. Now is the time for us to be what we have have always been, the Peace Party. There is a lot of hard work ahead for all us.
Peace,
Chuck Zlatkin
I'm sorry that I haven't been up-to-date with every ebb and flow of this disaster, but believe me I have been following it all. A little background, please forgive me if you have heard this before. At my neighborhood peace group, Chelsea Neighbors United to End the War, back in November we were discussing what to do with Congress member Jerrold Nadler (NY 8th CD). We were considering making him our target. We were just about to challenge him on the issue of the war, considering sitting in at his office, etc. Then he came and stood with us at our weekly action: Chelsea Stands Up Against The War. He stayed a good while and we got to express ourselves on the need to stop funding the war. On January 12th he came out with his "Protect The Troops and Bring Them Home Act of 2007. We thought that this was as good as anything we had seen, endorsed it and started working for it.
We are all familiar with what has happend since January 12th. Here is my take:
The Democrats have narrowed the debate on the war. There are now two positions. One extends the war until August of 2008 and gives another $96 billion for the war in Iraq, the other is Bush's position, open ended war with another $96 billion for the war in Iraq. For those of us who wanted an immediate end to the war and to bring the troops home now, there is no difference between the two positions. As I have believed for some time, when it comes to war there is only one party -- the War Party.
The Democrats have played us well and will continue to do so. When you have an immoral and illegal war, the only way to oppose it is to take the moral position. The brilliance of Nadler's idea to state that the troops would not be abandoned, but the war would be defunded and a firm date would be set was compelling to all of us. The idea is still the solution to this war, the Democrats are not.
When push comes to shove, the Democrats did everything in their power to minimize the presence of true anti-war candidates last November. They knew that the war would carry them into power, they just wanted to have as few truly anti-war freshmen as possible. They accomplished their goal.
The Democratic wing of the War Party is necessary to make it fly. They limit debate and action in opposition to the war. They play the role of an opposition, but what they do is usher as many of us as they can to become participants in extending the war. They have blood on their hands and they want us to do the same.
Don't buy the hype. The Pelosi gang accomplished their goal, extend the funding, extend the "acceptable" time of the war as long as possible, and pervert as many anti-war activists as possible.
The only way out of this mess is to stay with the moral position. End the war now, bring the troops home now. The strategy could be to educate the American people on the fact that the true end was H.R. 455 or the Lee Amendment and that we must make the pressure so strong that the elected officials will have no choice but to pass it next time. The Democratic Party does not lead, it attempts to mislead as long as possible. When public pressure it so strong, when they have no choice but to do the right thing, they will do everything in their power to maintain their influence for the next go round. That's what they did in Vietnam. The people forced the end of that war, the Democrats followed.
My solution:
Continue to make the ending of the war and the return of our troops as our priority. Don't get sucked into the presidential election race as any sort of solution. We are in a good position to continue the education of the American people on how to end the war. The Democrats are here to exploit us, to use all our resources, time, money and energy to work on the campaign of one of theirs. What we saw in this charade, is that when push comes to shove, the Democrats, no matter how progressive, are Democrats first. When the pressure came, the Out of Iraq Caucus and the Progressive Caucus made the deal. They wouldn't stand in the way, they would give Pelosi and the War Party the win that they needed. A few of them would vote no to make us feel better, but none of them exposed the deal and fought against it.
I say that all us who are committed to ending the war should boycott the Democratic Party. Do not get involved in the presidential charade, we should continue to work as anti-war activists. We should expose them at every turn. In Chelsea, I will propose to Chelsea Neigbors United to End the War that we hound Nadler the way Code Pink shadows Clinton. Now, is the time for us to lead. I don't care how "few" of us there are now, our numbers will grow.
We know what the moral position is. We know that the Sirotas and the MoveOns will do the bidding of the Democratic Party, we know that at the end of the day the Democratic Party is for the war. They did their job well, to get more funding and to extend the war as long as possible. The time is now for us to do our job well. In Chelsea and in the 8th CD we have to shadow Nadler, in Brooklyn do the same for Yvette Clark, wherever you live do the same to your Democratic misleader.
My friends, this is real life, the responsiblity is ours as it has always been. To hell with both wings of the War Party. Now is the time for us to be what we have have always been, the Peace Party. There is a lot of hard work ahead for all us.
Peace,
Chuck Zlatkin