Can we as a people, elevate ourselves beyond the noise and chatter and just end this war ourselves?

[Ninga]

Isn't that what the MoveOn.org NY Times ad tried to do with it's outrageous take (that happens to be the truth by the way).

Those of us who despise the war, and mourn every day the loss of humanity on all sides, are nothing more than a collective body that has become an unmovable mountain.

We are stuck in the mud of our own making.

We are waiting the the "elected ones" to take the action that we ourselves are not willing to take.

We talk, write, call, talk some more, meet, wear buttons, support the anti-war movement with money......but what is missing? Why don't all of our talk and writing work?

We micro mange and micro criticize people like Cindy, and groups like Pink...and yet offer no alternative.

I recommend we chose a Wednesday and take to the streets in our own towns, villages and cities.

We stop traffic, we stop business, we stop people from getting to their lunch meetings, their tennis matches, their classes, their jobs, their doctor appointments......and try to impart on this fat, lazy country that a few moments of inconvenience on a Wednesday is exactly what the Iraqi people will have to deal with for a life time. It is exactly the legacy the families of our service people will have to bear for the rest of their lives......

Where is "The Inconvenient Truth of War" playing these days?

[robinlynne]

1. unfortunately our political system gives them the power to decide "on our

behalf". I agree with you 100%, but unless there were hundreds of thousands of people in the streets, which there are not, we can onyl be heard at their offices.

[AndyA]

3. This is correct.

And until we have hundreds of thousands, or millions, of people take to the streets, we can only try to hold our elected representatives accountable. And we do that by voting them out of office if they don't do as we want them to do, or as they promised they would.

Accountability and responsibility in our government today are cherry picked. That's why we have Vitter getting a pass, dirty diapers and all, and Craig taking the heat for something that was really less of an issue.

It's disgusting.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

6. apathy reigns

[Rosa Luxemburg]

so what stopped the Vietnam war?

http://www.socialistworker.org/2007-1/615/615_08_Vietnam.shtml

Turn the clock back to the 60s/70s - Congress, dominated by the Democrats, complained more loudly each year about the war, but it never stopped funding it. The war might still be going on today if it were left up to them. Fortunately, it wasn’t.

[LakeSamish706]

5. I think it was ultimately the Draft that really got the people pissed...

enough to put huge pressure on Congress to act.

[LakeSamish706]

2. And the attached site shows the human and monetary costs...

of this war. What a disgrace this is.... The lives, the money all for what?

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/

[John Q. Citizen]

4. Have you seen this conference call transcript

between some leaders of the peace movement and progressives in congress? It's an amazing read. The link to the transcripts are at the post. It sets out the stadedgy to accomplish what you are writing about in your post.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=3512143&mesg_id=3512143

[Ninga]

8. Thanks, I read it and am going to email it out to other like mined souls. I will not give up

the drumbeat of getting masses into the streets to protest those who support it, and give creedence to those in DC who still have no courage.

We need our elected officials to "sit in", filabuster, but no.......they are more worried about re-election than anything else.

[John Q. Citizen]

11. If you haven't K&R that thread, please do. I'm working to get it to

greatest, so more people can read the transcripts. It's a great lession in politics as well as a lot of insight inot the dynamics of activism as opposed to legislating.

[maxsolomon]

7. stopping commerce alienates those you need to persuade

when protests in seattle march down i-5 from the u-district to downtown (about every 2-3 years), that's the story. not the purpose of the march. inconvenience & lost "wages" trump remote waste & pointless carnage.

i wish you were right, but i have no faith that americans will demand an end to this war en masse.

[LakeSamish706]

9. Question: Could congress take away the Comander in Chief title from..

Bush with a vote?

[Kelly Rupert]

12. Not without amending the Constitution,

in doing so erasing over 200 years of legal precedent, which would take decades to hash out in the Supreme Court. Not the best option.

[ChicagoRonin]

10. The system must destroy itself

Unfortunately, I think that is the only real thing that stops certain bad things from continuing. The way I see it, it took the stock market crash and the Great Depression for the U.S. Government to take responsibility for the welfare of it's citizens, it took the Haymarket Riot (and subsequent fear among moneyed elites of anarchic violence spreading like a virus) to introduce some workers' rights and the 8-hour work day, and in Japan it took a major environmental disaster (the mercury poisoning of Lake Minamata) to encourage corporate responsibility in environmental matters. Human nature is such that until a vast majority of people his hit with a devastating, unavoidable form of loss, they simply will not act to improve things. The way I see, no real change until the twin demons of U.S. foreign policy (exemplified by Iraq and Afghanistan) and weaknesses in the U.S. economy (exemplified by the housing bubble) strike at the heart of each and every member of the lower class, middle class and some sections (likely the bottom rung) of the upper class. Unfortunately, as history has shown, national humiliation and economic upheaval also make it very easy for fascism to take hold of a society, so things could possibly get way worse. I'm really hoping that when fall comes, it's those with cooler heads that shall prevail (fingers crossed tightly).

[AndyTiedye]

13. Around Here You'd be Preaching to the Choir (as Well as Really Pissing Off the Choir)

Blocking traffic doesn't accomplish anything.
It just pisses people off and makes them waste more fuel taking long detours.
You're blocking buses and bikes too.
You won't actually have any chance to talk to most of the people who get stuck in your traffic jam.

70% already agree with you. Why do you want to punish us?

[Seabiscuit]

14. Yup. I'll fly to Iraq tomorrow and wave my magic wand and bring our troops home on my magic carpet.

[DangerDave921]

15. Lennon said it best

THINK PEACE

We CAN make it happen.

The longest journey starts with a single step.