On April 27th, at the Town Hall from 6pm to 7:30pm there will be a discussion telling where the money from the Stimulus Package is going, and information on how the money is being used in Cumberland County.
On April 7th, 2009 the Officers for the Cumberland County Democratic Party will be elected in the top courtroom of the Crossville Courthouse at 3pm. Doors open at 2pm, make yourself heard by voting!!!
The Democratic Headquarters is no longer open but the party is alive and well. Please contact us to get involved.
Congratulations Barack Obama!! Hope has returned to America!
We are proud to welcome our new President and his promise of hope and reconciliation for America and the world. While our part of the country did not recognize his talents and fell for the fear-mongering of the Republicans, the overwhelming majority of America said, "Yes We Can" and voted in President-elect Obama and voted out Republican Senators and Representatives in droves. While there will always be people who cannot admit their mistakes and overcome their prejudices, and who would prefer a felon like Senator Stevens over a strong progressive candidate who is interested in a better America, most people have chosen hope over fear, intelligence over failed strategies. We know that we are facing a very difficult economic situation and the solution to the mess we're in won't be instantaneous, but we know he will strive for fairness. That used to be an American value. It is again.
On the state level, we await with some nervousness the changing dynamics of Republican control of both the State House and Senate. Will the Republicans choose to govern wisely, recognizing that they are responsible for the welfare of all Tennesseans, or will they pursue the narrow partisan politics that they have been known for when they were in the minority? We can hope that they will learn from the national disaster that the Republicans caused when they had control of the Congress and will not want to repeat that mistake. If they do take the partisan road, their majority will be short-lived. If not, they will find that the Democrats are ready to take on the serious problems that our state is facing and will work with them for fair solutions for all.
Over the next few months, we will be having meeting to discuss how to build on the gains that were made this year. In late March, 2009, there will be our county convention to elect our Executive Committee and Officers. After that, we will begin again to prepare for the 2010 elections where we will have a very full ballot, with both local and state races, including the Governor. We welcome people who are considering running as a Democrat to contact the party early to let us know your intentions so we can provide you with advice and assistance.
There remains much to do.
Dennis Gregg, Chair
The following are previous messages which we are leaving up for a while to let people understand our perspectives on the issues as the 2008 campaign developed. We will take these down in 2009.
2008 is our Year!
The chickens are coming home to roost! The disastrous policies of the last eight years, designed to serve an elite group of Republicans have been blowing up like car bombs in the lives of the American people. President Bush has now been forced to acknowledge that U.S. forces are an occupying army and the Iraqis are tired of being occupied and are demanding a timetable for withdrawal. The Republican strategy of deregulation combined with easy money has led to a debt crisis that may take a hundred years to get out of. While the speculators on Wall Street and in the Banking and Mortgage industries got rich, homeowners and taxpayers got screwed. The Republican solution - bail out their friends with more borrowed money, and stick the taxpayers with the bill. And the "fired" executives of these big financial corporations walk away with $46 million termination packages, while their workers get to file for unemployment. Do we need to mention the oil industry, where the oil companies got to set energy policy for the country, which deemphasized efficiency, conservation, and alternative energy (except for ethanol which was a gift to their friends in the the corn processing and oil industry, and which we now know not only produces very little new energy, but has dramatically driven up food prices around the world. As Marie Antionette said, "let them eat cake!) And when the solution that they keep coming back to is borrow more money (heaven forbid that we end the tax cuts to the super-wealthy), and print more money, we end up with the U.S. dollar declining by almost half against other major currencies, making it cheap for foreign investors to buy U.S. companies (think Budweiser) and real estate, while making all imported goods (including food and oil) much more expensive. And don't forget policies like opposing any sensible fix for health care or social security arguing that we don't have the money while squandering our children's inheritance on an impossible military adventure in the Middle East. Ideas like cutting Medicare fee rates to doctors so that there are fewer and fewer doctors that will provide health care to our seniors. And how do the Republicans answer their failures - by fear-mongering. It's not going to work this time and every special election for Congress has gone for the Democrats. The American people have had enough. The people of this country, this state, and this county want a government that solves problems, addresses needs, and is not made up of people who are only in it for themselves and their friends, hiding behind their version of Christianity while supporting very un-Christian policies. Please join us in fighting to get qualified people who share the American values of opportunity, fairness, and justice elected.
Dear Fellow Democrat,
I wrote the above introduction, "2008 is our Year" back in January. Unfortunately, my criticisms of the Bush Administration have turned out to be understated. Can we get a reality check, now? I know that candidates for office aren't allowed to say it, so I will, "We're broke!" During the past eight years, we have seen the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of the world so that an increasingly small group of speculators could get rich at the expense of everyone else. Their speculations, aided by government policies that encouraged speculation and the removal of regulations that had been put into place to limit the impact of speculators, drove up the price of everything, which the Wizards of Wall Street and their buddies at the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department cheered as increasing the Gross Domestic Product. Having changed the way that unemployment is calculated during the Reagan years so that the official rate is roughly half of what the old method of counting would say, and coming up with new ways to calculate inflation, we were assured that all was well. Us normal folks recognized that while our incomes were rising (for most of us), our purchasing power was not keeping up. In Cumberland County, a $40,000 house became a $90,000 house, and a $100,000 house became a $250,000 house. But don't worry, now you can borrow more against the value of your house. The net result - the Bush years were financed by debt - personal debt, corporate debt (how do you think these folks buy and take over other companies), and government debt (how else can you raise Defense spending by $200 billion a year at the same time as you cut taxes on the wealthiest Americans?). In the last few weeks, it has become clear to the world that the emperor has no clothes. Stock markets all around the world have crashed, and banks have declared bankruptcy, or been "rescued" because the "assets" that were supposed to be at the basis of their loans turned out to be worth a whole less than they had been pretending.
Unfortunately, in the U.S., the tailors are still in charge. They insist that all they need to do is repair the invisible clothes and we'll be all right. The only problem they see is we lack confidence and any suggestion that they have any responsibility for the mess we're in shows how unsophisticated we (the people) are. The same people who told the Cumberland County schools that they needed to "tighten their belt" as they refused to adequately fund them, find it perfectly acceptable to borrow trillions to try to keep the game going for Wall Street. I think it's time someone told them that you can't borrow your way out of debt. Congressman Davis said "No" and he deserves our gratitude for recognizing that this is real money and when we give it for dubious schemes like Wall Street bailouts, we lessen our ability to respond to future needs of the people of our district as the recession deepens. Not to mention funding a single payer health care system to provide a real safety net of real people, as opposed to the golden parachutes for corporate executives. Or funding the transition to alternative energy sources so that we don't need to depend on the goodness of the Oil industry for our energy needs (can anyone explain the $150/barrel oil now, other than rampant speculation by commodity traders?)
Times are already tough in America. I know that's news to the folks on Wall Street and the ultra-rich who enjoyed raking in the dough these past eight years. But it's not news to those whose jobs went overseas, subsidized by bills promoted by Lamar Alexander and the Bush Administration. Unfortunately, times are going to get tougher. Even thoughful Republicans are beginning to admit it.
That's why we need Barack Obama, Bob Tuke, and Lincoln Davis representing us in Washington. We need folks who will judge how we're doing in America by how the middle class and the poor are doing, not by how well corporate CEOs and Wall Street traders are doing. We need folks who are willing to recognize that it was not just the people who were wrong, but that their ideas were wrong. We cannot move forward as a nation by asking the people who got us into this whole to keep digging. If it wasn't obvious before, it is surely obvious now - despite their degrees, their inflated incomes, and inflated egos, they don't know what they're doing. Just like Iraq, just like Katrina, just like spying on Americans, just like believing that torture was OK, just like subsidizing the oil companies, just like denying benefits to veterans, just like No Child Left Behind, just like .... (you fill in your favorites - there's a long list). We must tax the rich more because frankly they have the money, and the super rich have the highest percentage of the nation's wealth than any time in our history. We must make choices, because as I said at the beginning, "We're broke." When your family is out of money, you make choices. You may have to decide to eat or pay the rent, to buy clothes or buy food. I want Barack Obama, Bob Tuke, and Lincoln Davis making those choices for our country - not John McCain, Lamar Alexander, or Lankford (whatever his first name is). The contrast between the Democratic candidates and the Republican candidates has never been starker. All three Republican candidates stand with the rich and their interests, all three Democrats stand with the majority of Americans who are not rich, but who work hard and sacrifice both for their families and their communities.
Early voting has begun. I know who I want on my side as times get tougher and tougher. Each of us needs to do everything we can to explain to our friends and families what is at stake and to make sure that they vote for our candidates and a future that we can be proud of.
Dennis Gregg, Chair
Dear Fellow Democrat,
What a great convention we had, with the kind of inspiring speeches that call on us to make the shared commitments and sacrifices to return to the American values of the past while facing the challenges of the future. Isn't it great to have a candidate for President like Barack Obama, who can speak clearly and plainly about the challenges we face and the direction we need to take. As many have said, we have a clear choice in America between the continuation of failed policies which appeal to voters fears and new policies which speak to voters hopes and the needs of future generations. Republicans are turning again to their anti-abortion platform to try to hold on to a certain kind of religious voter, but they don't reveal that their policies have done nothing over the past eight years to reduce the number of abortions in this country. We know how to reduce the number of abortions - sex education and readily available contraceptives. Study after study has proved this, but Republicans consistently vote against both of these. The majority of people in this country don't like abortion, but the majority don't want the government to arrest women and doctors who feel it is their only choice. We know that the Bush Republicans don't believe in privacy, since they are now spying on unprecedented number of Americans without warrants, yet they claim that they want to get big government out of our lives. It's almost as hypocritical as John McCain claiming in his TV ads that he stands up to Big Oil, he ought to say he stands up for Big Oil, voting for every subsidy that they ask for.
It's easy to list the defects of the current Republican party, and it's important to recognize that it is not simply George Bush. He has been supported almost universally by the Republican members of Congress on every single move he has made. It has been pointed out that John McCain voted with the White House 90% of the time. Lamar Alexander, as Minority Whip, guided every one of these bills through the Senate when the Republicans were in the majority and has led the blockage and filibustering of good legislation for the past two years since the Democrats gained control. If you don't like Bush's policies, you can't like Alexander. Alexander, whose teflon coating has been amazing since he was one of our worst Governors, who became a millionaire while sitting in the Governor's mansion, has got to go. Bob Tuke, an ex-Marine who served in Vietnam, has the kind of clear-thinking problem-solving approach that we need. Sure, he's proud to be a Democrat and served as our state Party Chair, but like Barack Obama, he is someone more interested in solving problems than scoring points. He is committed to serving the people of Tennessee and not just a small group of wealthy Republicans. We need to work hard to get him the support he needs in order to defeat the Piano Man.
Our Congressman Lincoln Davis who comes from one of the poorest counties in the state, is being challenged by a wealthy man from the wealthiest county in the state. Our district, which is the third most rural and one of the lowest income in the U.S. has been well represented by Lincoln who doesn't forget who he represents. He spends every weekend and every break visiting some part of his district. If you want to share your opinion, he and his staff listen and they are there to solve problems. Lincoln, a devoted Baptist, is not afraid to reveal how his Christian beliefs guide his understanding of serving those in need. His opponent is running a campaign based on his Christianity and is asking people to vote for him for that reason. However, when he told a lady at the Cumberland County Fair that God told him to run, she asked him what God wanted him to do if elected. He had no answer. When she offered to take him for a tour of the county and show him the needs of the poor people, he said he didn't have time. Apparently, Mr. Lankford in another one of these Republicans who wants the office for their own power and to help their friends, rather than to serve the people who elected them. We need to see that Lincoln is reelected to continue to serve us.
We are in the final stretch of this campaign. Early voting starts on October 15th. There will be change. The question is whether the change is for the better or for the worse. We need to work like never before to keep the focus where it belongs - on the future of our country and the kind of life we want for our children and grandchildren. American's greatness is slipping away due to greed, ignorance, and the addiction to power. We need to reclaim for America the principles that Abraham Lincoln so proudly proclaimed, that we have a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. We need to elect Barack Obama, Bob Tuke, and Lincoln Davis.
Dennis Gregg, Chair
Dear Fellow Democrat,
We have our Presidential nominee, a historical first for our Party and the Nation, Barack Obama, a young dynamic U.S. Senator from Illinois, who in his actions and words seeks to pull the country together to face the hard times that are upon us. He is calling for an end of the class warfare promoted by the Republicans where the wealthy are given the benefits and the middle class pays the bills. He is calling for all Americans to rise to the occasion to do their part, sharing the costs and sharing the benefits. The current price of gasoline is partially caused by speculators, but the underlying problem is that the world is no longer finding oil at a faster rate than it is using it. Other countries like India and China want to have lifestyles like ours and now that we are sending them most of our money for the goods that we buy, they have the money to afford this. We are facing a period of great adjustment. While many people view these trends as close to disastrous, the fact is that our lifestyles are going to change, our per person energy consumption is going to go down, but if we're thoughtful and creative about it, our quality of life is not going down. Europe and Canada both have as high if not higher standards of living than we do with a much lower energy consumption per person. Think $14/gallon gasoline and you'll understand why they're way ahead of us. Would we like to go back to $1.00/gallon gas? Of course, but there is no way to make it happen. Would it help if the Oil companies drilled more? Sure, but they have millions of acres of leases that they are not drilling now and they're not doing it. Giving them more places to drill, either closer to shore or in Alaska, does not mean they will necessarily drill there not would there be any new oil in less than 10 years. By then, we will all have made adjustments in how we travel, in order to keep our energy costs within our budgets. And one thing's for sure, the oil brought on line in ten years will be more expensive than the oil that's being produced now.
I talked about oil because energy is fundamental to every single thing in our economy. It's required for harvesting or mining raw materials, manufacturing goods, transporting those goods, storing the goods, and in the case of food, preparing the goods. The theme of Bill Clinton's first presidential campaign was, "It's the economy, stupid." Barack Obama's challenge is to stabilize the economy while we make the transition to an economy based on more expensive energy. This will not be easy. Many people are upset that they are having to change the way we do things. We all dislike change, and the people with the least money, have the fewest options. If you're wealthy, you can buy a more fuel efficient vehicle, if you're poor, the cheapest used cars are going to be the ones that get the worst gas mileage. But if we work together and harness the imagination and energy of the American people, the next ten years can be a dramatic reversal of some disastrous policies of the past thirty years. Instead of jobs going overseas, they will come back to the U.S. to reduce transportation costs (think of the new VW plant north of Chattanooga just announced). It can mean the resurgence of the family farm as local markets for local food once again become important as it no longer makes sense to buy lettuce from California and grapes from Chile. It can mean smaller regional manufacturing facilities serving a state or a few states, rather than a region or the nation. It can mean new investments in low-cost transportation such as rail, barges, and busses. In Cumberland County, it can mean more retail stores and more restaurants as people are less willing to shop and dine in Knoxville and Nashville.
As we continue down this election path, with Obama's announcement of a Vice-Presidential choice, and the Democratic National Convention, and the Presidential debates, remember what's at stake. Cumberland County Democrats overwhelmingly supported Hillary Clinton, but that pattern did not hold for the rest of the nation. Senator Clinton, who clearly has the best interest of the American people at heart, has fully endorsed Senator Obama and is actively working for his election. She is not deterred by the fact that he is half-white, something he had no control over. She is not deterred by the fact that his father was a Muslim, something he had no control over. She is not deterred by the fact that the minister at his Christian church, occasionally overstepped the line of truth in order to make a point, something which Obama could not control and which he has publicly rejected. She has acknowledged his intelligence, his compassion, his morality, and his effectiveness in bringing people together to solve difficult problems. The smear campaign against Obama began before the Tennessee primary and will continue until the November election. Don't fall for it and don't let your friends fall for it. After the last election, a friend came up to me and said, "I'm so sorry. I know I shouldn't have voted for Bush, but I was so afraid of the terrorists, that I lost sight of the election, and the fact that John Kerry was the better candidate." I don't want to hear that this time. We have an opportunity to put America back on the right course, or we can choose to stay on the wrong course. It's that simple
Dennis Gregg, Chair
Dear Fellow Democrat,
It's been an exciting primary season with the end in sight. For those able to look beyond the media's attempt to turn a serious campaign into a soap opera, it has been a very positive race. The field was narrowed to two candidates, both U.S. Senators, with strong desires to serve the country and to lead us in a new direction. There are differences in policy, approach and styles, but they are nothing like the stark contrast with the Republican's choice, a man who has voted for literally every failed policy that the Bush Administration has put forward, and who promises to continue those policies into the future. Our selection process is nearing its conclusion and we will soon have a candidate to unite behind. If we unite, we will reclaim the Presidency. You can be sure that those who do not want this to happen will use every trick in the book to try to divide us. They will use the only tool that they are good at - fear. If it is Obama, they will stir up fear of having a man with African descent in his heritage in a position of such power. If it is Hillary, they will stir up fear of having a woman in such a position. They will make up lies about our candidate and they will put them on the internet, circulate them through e-mails so that those who are not willing to take the time to find the truth will be confused. They will do everything they can to discourage Democrats from showing up at the polls because they know, as we know that the majority of Americans identify themselves as Republicans, yet the Republicans do a better job of showing up to vote. Make no mistake about it, this will be a nasty campaign. It's the only way the Republicans know how to play.
Which gets us to our U.S. Senate race. Senator Alexander, who has become a multi-millionaire while serving in public office has voted for every single piece of the Bush agenda, and as a Republican "leader" in the Senate, has strong-armed other Republicans to toe the Bush line. Now that he has serious opposition from three excellent Democrats who are vying to replace him, he comes to Tennessee with his "new idea" - give money to Oak Ridge to "solve the energy crisis," as long as doesn't include wind power, which he opposes and supports coal and nuclear which he supports. That's it. After six years, one idea that didn't come directly from the Bush White House. Well, not quite just one idea. He did have another, which thankfully died. He wanted to personally decide what should be taught in U.S. History in every high school in America. Seems he found it upsetting that some teachers were looking at some of the parts of U.S. History that we might not be proud of. Better not to talk about those things at all. Next thing you know, folks might be questioning their government. Isn't it interesting that the Party that used to say they were for small government and getting government out of our lives wants to take away local control and state control and oversee exactly what it taught. I guess they're only against government intrusion when its not "their" government. I won't even talk about the Patriot Act and the routine spying on U.S. citizens without warrants. Privacy is for Vice President Cheney, not for you. Anyway, that little rant was just a lead into the fact that you can come meet our excellent candidates for U.S. Senate on June 14th at Martin Elementary School. They'll all be there, they're going to speak, take a few questions, and they'll be there to meet you and talk to you individually. We can have a different and more responsive Senator. You come help pick the one.
We're having a busy Democratic Summer, so please go to the Calendar Section. We start off how in June with the Democratic Regional Rally and Meet the Candidates Event, followed the next Saturday by our booth at Depot Days, then on July 4th we'll be at Fairfield Glade, on July 18th, we have a Rally on the Courthouse Lawn, then we cap off the summer with the Democratic Women's Picnic at Cumberland Mountain State Park. Come join us at these events and work with us to get good Democrats elected.
Dennis Gregg, Chair
Dear Fellow Democrat,
As I sit here waiting for the results of the New Hampshire primary, I am excited about the possibilities in front of us for this election year. There has been an impressive surge in voter registrations, not only in Tennessee but across the United States. People understand that we will have a real opportunity to choose the next President. It is not a "done deal," with slick packaging and no substance. As Democrats, we have the strongest field of candidates in my lifetime and they're talking about real issues that people care about and which the government can do something about. Instead of wasting time talking about fear issues, our candidates are talking about solutions to real problems, like the adjustments that our economy will have to make as we deal with $100 and then $200 a barrel oil over the next twenty years. Like the impact of moving jobs overseas when we get back contaminated products that are no longer cheap because of the transportation costs. Like getting serious about health care for all Americans, so that we can join the other industrialized nations that invest in the health of their citizens. Like balancing the federal budget so we don't pass on to our children the kind of instability that the current financial markets are suffering under. Like getting serious about public education, recognizing that we're asking more from our schools than ever before, and it's not going to happen without everyone recognizing the importance of investing in our future generations. Like assisting small business and entrepreneurs who create 80% of the new jobs in our economy, rather than subsidizing the biggest corporations that have been steadily moving their jobs overseas.
2006 will be a busy year for Democrats. We're starting off this month with a number of events and there will be things happening all year long. We're already making phone calls to identify our fellow democrats and we're hosting a number of candidate forums before the February primary and we'll have more as we get our candidates for State Representative and US Senator. Keep checking the site for our calendar of events.
This is our year, but it won't be handed to us. Join in the work. We'll have fun and we'll win.
Dennis Gregg, Chair
Dear Fellow Democrat,
I want to welcome you again to our website and share some reflections with you over the past month and a half. On July 4th, I intended to write a new message but I was overwhelmed with sadness and anger. The Declaration of Independence was written by men who were willing to sacrifice their lives over a principle, the principle that government must be accountable to the people that it is set up to govern. This present administration in Washington has made a mockery of this principle, refusing to comply with requests from Congress for information, misleading the public about its spying on American citizens, its secret meetings with oil company executives, and its true intentions in Iraq. It's Attorney General lies to Congress to protect the Administration, hardly the role of the "people's lawyer" who has sworn an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States, not allegiance to the President. When less than 30% of the public support the President's policies, we no longer have a representative government.
Out of these difficulties, we have opportunity. While it is still legal to practice democracy, and we are allowed to publicly speak out about issues of importance, more and more U.S. citizens are doing so. Our Democratic leaders are moving forward with plans to address global warming (have the new record temperatures and drought brought any new folks around to accepting the overwhelming scientific evidence?). There has been leadership in reducing the U.S. dependence on foreign oil by enacting incentives for conservation, efficiency, and alternative energy. Health care has been extended to millions more low income children. Our Democratic Congress has held the line on spending, seeking to return the country to the fiscal discipline of the Clinton years. Congress is also heeding the call from the U.S. people to end our disastrous fantasy in Iraq. It is clear to all now, that as bad as Saddam Hussein was, he was no threat to the U.S. but we have now provided a training ground for guerrilla fighters that did not exist before. We have made far more enemies than friends, created a refugee problem of massive proportions, and destabilized the region. It will not be easy to find a way to move forward that will not make things worse, but the Democrats understand that you cannot solve a problem if you don't admit you have one. If only the Bush administration had recognized the gap between their desires and reality earlier, we would have more options.
On a local level, we are confronted with a situation that no one is happy with but must be faced - funding for our public schools. Americans have a long history, starting before we were a nation of resenting the paying of taxes for any purpose, but as time has gone on, most Americans have come to realize that we don't get anything for nothing. We've come to a general agreement about services that we understand that the government can provide more efficiently and effectively than any other entity. Things like police, fire, roads, and schools are necessary for the kind of community and nation that we want for ourselves. In Cumberland County, we have been fortunate in receiving a higher percentage of state funding for our schools than most of the other counties in the state. This allowed us to keep our local property taxes near the bottom in the state. Unfortunately for us, but perhaps fairly for other Tennesseans, the state decided not to continue this and is supplying over $3 million dollars less this year than last. For a school system our size, that's a lot of money and it cannot be made up by simply "tightening the belt." The number of students in our schools continues to increase, the number of teachers required by state law continues to increase, and the need for new schools to accommodate these students increases as well as the utilities and maintenance needed to keep schools safe and adequate for learning. Many would argue that we should just increase class size, but that is no longer allowed. When the state and federal governments give you money, (even if it's not all you would like), they also give you rules to follow. Don't follow the rules and you get no money. We need to applaud the fiscal oversight that the School Board, the Director of Schools and the County Commission all are displaying is looking for ways to reduce costs, and there may be some "extras" that can be eliminated. In the end, though, it looks like there will need to be a property tax increase, and we owe it to our community's children, even if we have no children of our own in school, to support that investment in our community.
Remember, democracy only works when it is practiced. Get involved.
Sincerely,
Dennis Gregg, Chair
Dear Fellow Democrat,
I want to welcome you to our website and tell you how much your participation in our county party can mean. Democracy is just a word unless we exercise our rights to express our views and insist that our elected officials listen. Democracy requires that we take on the issues that concern us and we sit down and discuss our views with each other. We must show respect for each other, not engage in name-calling and labeling because that blocks listening and understanding. We have real problems and concerns that we face at the local, state, and federal levels. We need all the ideas on the table, and we need to allow everyone to participate in the discussion, even those who have different views. We can't be sure that the majority view is being adopted if we don't discuss an issue enough to find solutions that the majority can actually support. If we allow a minority to make decisions for the rest of us, we've given up the most fundamental right we have, the right to determine our own future.
A good example of this is the situation in Iraq. Support for the invasion was based on scaring the American public with information that we now know was false. Millions of people around the world demonstrated against the war before it began because they suspected that the reasons given were not accurate. Now we find ourselves in a situation where over 75% of both the citizens of the U.S. and Iraq want the U.S. troops to leave. The Democratic leadership said to President Bush, "Tell us your plans and your timeline to end this." His response was "No timelines and no end." Why can't we talk about this? If we're in Iraq because of the oil and we don't intend to leave ever because of the oil, let's talk about that. We're adults. We're strong enough to handle the truth. We understand what losing access to cheap (or not so cheap) Middle Eastern oil could mean to our country. But let's talk about it. Let's weigh the issues. Let's consider the alternatives. Let's consider all the alternatives, not just those that the oil companies want us to consider, or the private defense contractors. We all love our cars and the freedom of mobility that they give us. But how much are we willing to pay in terms of the national debt and the deaths of many of our soldiers and the permanent disabilities of others? When we honor our veterans on Veterans Day and Memorial Day and ignore their needs every other day of the year, we say they served to guarantee our freedom. Do we really mean the freedom to drive our cars as much as we want?
I'm not suggesting that I know the best way to proceed. What I am saying is that we've lost democracy in the U.S. because our government does not represent the American people. There is no policy in Iraq that the majority supports and majority rule is the foundation of democracy. I could extend this discussion to health care or public education, or public safety and prisons, but I won't at this point. I believe that the only way we can restore democracy to America is to practice it. The Democratic Party, though imperfect, supports fundamental beliefs about equality under the law and the rights of the many to be raised up against the claims of the powerful. I invite you to become involved with the Democratic Party as we organize for change in how our government makes decisions. Individuals are made to feel powerless, but people working together is more powerful than any special interest.
Get involved. You will make a difference and together we will make things better for the majority.
Sincerely,
Dennis Gregg, Chair