A lesson for the American people from our mess in Iraq.

[Cleita]

Before we raided Iraq, I believed that we the people could still get our leaders to do the will of the people if we stood up to them as a block and demanded that they do the right thing. When King George was appointed by the Supreme Court I still believed that if we wrote our representatives, if we stood in protest and if we demanded accountability, they would have to listen.

I was wrong.

This mobilization of our military to invade another country on the basis of lies and propaganda would never have happened if my view of the power of the people had been a correct one. We demanded by letter, by telephone, by email and by the largest anti-war protests in the history of this country that we not send our military into Iraq until all other means of dealing with Saddam Hussein had been exhausted but it all fell on deaf ears.

It’s as though we the people had never existed. We were slapped across the face and told we were not patriotic making those demands and daring to criticize those who were behind this. We have found ourselves not to be the democratic republic that was set up by our forefathers but part of a fascist dictatorship as evil as any in history. The true axis of evil, are the extreme fundamentalists in religion, the ideological right wing think tanks that are dictating our policy and a media propaganda machine that spreads the lies coming from our present government.

We are helpless in demanding that they listen to us because we are of no consequence except as cheap labor and a source of tax revenue to fund their plans for world domination. If we don’t concentrate all our efforts into sending these people into history, I fear we will have nuclear war as the end result before the end of this first decade of the twenty first century.

This coming election is far more important than any other in the past century because we have never been so close to losing our democracy forever as we are now. All you apologists for Bush are not helping when you don’t want to see the handwriting on the wall and insist that we shouldn’t criticize the horrible things that have happened in his administration and because of his policies.

[FloridaPat]

1. Before Bush I never wrote to my congressmen, never even knew

who they were. Before the war I wrote countless less against it. Now know who my "representatives" are. And I was not pleased with the Iraq invasion vote. I've written just a couple of letters since then asking for impeachment. Really no point in writing these people. They march to a different - and better financed - drummer. Bill Nelson, with all the anti invasion letters "listened to those who did not write in". Ginny Waite-Brown is beyond convincing of anything. To her, Bush walks on water.

It's amazing how each year I think I've reached the bottom of my disrespect for our leaders, and each year - or week now that Bush is in - it just goes lower.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

2. Makes me appreciate mine.

My rep and one of my senators voted against the IWR. They always answer my (and, my wife's) letters. Even my other senator, who voted for it, was responsive and gave a detailed answer.

Keep writing.

[Cleita]

3. One of my senators Barbara Boxer does try to do the right thing.

The other one Dianne Feinstein, also a Democrat, seems to think she only needs to make her deep pocket supporters happy. Sad.

[Cleita]

4. Regardless, if Bush gets another term, it will be an awful

blow for the America we once knew.