130 More U.S. Troops to Iraq...There's Always Going to be an Excuse - This is Classic

[bigtree]

6. when our organizing principle is 'trust' the president, instead of organizing around our values

. . . and principles, we get this kind of top down paternalism.

I just read another thread where there are posters here equating opposition to war with an attack on the party or some subversive attempt to discredit or merely an attempt to bring down the President.

We can't organize against government or military actions that we find outrageous or abhorrent to our own values by expecting the WH or the Pentagon to set the pace of our expectations or regulate the tone of our responses to their actions by demanding some fealty to government or the military. Principle should come first, and our politics should be about their response to OUR expectations, not just a matter of adjusting our expectations to meet their politics.

We're now a victim of too many Americans allowing the politicians to dictate the direction of our political advocacy, instead of establishing our own set of principles and values and demanding they respect us or stand aside for someone who will.