BOTH POLITICAL PARTIES ARE RESPONSIBLE

I arrived in Albuquerque, N.M. last night and am at the home of longtime friends Bob Anderson and Jeanne Pahls. As soon as I finish up with this blog entry I'll hop back into the truck for the last leg - an 8 1/2 hour drive to Las Vegas. It's been a long haul - I'm tired of driving!

I was sad to see the emails this morning about Cindy Sheehan quitting the peace movement although I can't say I blame her. She is right to be criticial of those elements in the movement that are slavish to the Democratic Party. When Cindy first got started it appeared to me that the Dems found her useful and wanted to use her to bash Bush. Then when she began to take a position of integrity, calling both parties to blame, the Dems put their dogs on her.

I only wish Cindy would come out and name some names, tell some detailed stories about who some of the worst offenders are. Give a detailed description of those who claim to be peace activists but who ultimately are working for the interests of the Dems. Talk about how the Dems funnel money to those good folks in the "peace movement" who do their bidding for them.

I am absolutely convinced that the Dems have long ago placed people in the peace movement to keep some level of control on the national anti-war message.

The truth is, as the sign in the photo above rightly says, politicians lie. Not just the Republicans are lieing to us. But the Dems are as well.

I am getting a bunch of emails these days asking me "What do we do now that the Dems have given in to Bush?"

My answer is destroy all your illusions that the Dems, or any politician is going to save us.

Get out of bed with the two-party bait and switch, good cop-bad cop game. Be critical of all the political hacks, make strong demands on both parties. And finally, recruit good hearted trusted members of your local peace and justice community and have them run as Independents for Congress and the Senate in the 2008 elections. Use the campaigns to lay out our message. Stop worrying about, "But what if we help the Republican win?" So what.....what is the ultimate difference anyway?

I think Cindy Sheehan was just hitting her stride. She had recently been to South Korea where she met with farmers who were having their land taken so the U.S. military can build a new base. Cindy was connecting the dots in a good way and this began to make her a danger to the Democrats who only wanted her to chant the mantra "Bush is bad......Bush is evil.....Get rid of Bush."

The corporate empire builders in the Democratic Party had to push Sheehan off the stage because they could not have such a public personality holding them equally responsible for Iraq with the 2008 elections looming.

Welcome to democracy in America. Don't let Cindy's work die. Pick up the call and hold both parties responsible for the occupation of Iraq, the expansion of Pax-Americana, and the disinvestment in our own country.