We Marched, They Listened!

A few weeks ago, I took part in a local peace march against stirrings in the House for war with Iran over their nuclear ambitions. I received the below correspondence this morning from the march organizer, Jeff Nall, that our efforts combined with other progressive groups around the country were successful. I know it often seems as though we have no voice in American politics but I've learned that having a voice means using your voice in any way you can, whether with a group or on your own. If you want to see changes in this country or on this planet, then you must become the change.

From Jeff Nall:

All of our hard work to stop war with Iran has paid off: we stopped House Con. Res. 362. On September 29, Asia Times credited “an unexpectedly strong lobbying effort by a number of grassroots Iranian-American, Jewish-American, peace and church groups” for derailing the initiative. The publication also called our victory “a significant and highly unusual defeat for the so-called ‘ Israel lobby’” (“Israel lobby loses on Iran resolution”).

On the 26th, the Washington Times reported that the House Democratic leadership “shelved” the resolution because they fear “it could be viewed by the Bush administration as a green light to use military force against Iran ” (“Dems bury resolution due to war fears”). The only reason House Democrats changed their tune is because peace activists stood up and shouted out about the dangers of this bill.

The irony is that when we win we never know how much of an impact our efforts made. We can be certain, however, that our mass march; our barrage of emails and phone calls; our conversations with friends and family helped smother the sound of the political establishment’s war drums.

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In addition to the above, I forwarded the below letter to my state representatives regarding the Banker's Bailout legislation under consideration in the Congress. Whether you are in support of a bailout or not, if you don't let your representatives know where you stand, then you can't be surprised by how it turns out. Send your own letter too.

The people of this country have spoken. The bailout legislation has been defeated. We oppose the bankers' bailout. Backroom arm-twisting is an unacceptable hijacking of democracy. I will not accept any vote change in favor of the bailout.

Fallout from bad business practices cannot fall on the tax payers' shoulders. American families and individuals are financially burdened as it is. The current administration has strapped all our financial resources to fund the unjust actions in Iraq and now they expect us to support the unjust bailout of billionaires. It's time the United States Congress returned its focus to the American people. Education, health care, and quality of life are all in a sad state of affairs for Americans across our country.

America is part of the world but we are not the world police. There are times, many times, when we must rely on other nations to carry the burden of world affairs. If the U.S. continues to send so much financial and military support outside its borders, then we will never have the resources to repair the weaknesses within.