Are you Pro-War or Pro-Peace?

Every political party has a Central Committee for each county in the state.  Leaders of these county-wide political party committees are referred to as “Party Chairs” and it is their job to grow their party, and bring their party’s message and platform to the voting public.  It’s no different for the Green Party. 

In the June Primary Election of 2012, I was nominated (and elected without opposition) to serve as the official Green Party representative of the 27th State Senate District, serving on the Green Party Los Angeles County Council (GPLACC), which oversees all Green Party activity in Los Angeles County. 

When the first council meeting following the primary was held, the GPLACC council members elected me to serve as the Los Angeles County Coordinator (or Party Chair, in normal, non-Green speak). 

Recently, I’ve just finished my 2012-2013 term as the LA County Coordinator overseeing the agenda for all Green Party business in Los Angeles County, which I hope explains my absence over the past several months from my “Engaged Citizen” AOL/Patch blog.  

As “Cheerleader-in-Chief” for LA Greens, you can imagine how full my plate has been in the past year, and how honored I have been to help the Green Party grow in LA County, and also to increase our party’s physical presence throughout our many communities county-wide.

The voter registration drive that we spearheaded, beginning in 2010, became a huge success, and we were able to add over 2,000 new Green Party voters as a result, which was also helped by the excitement generated by our 2012 presidential candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, who, last November, helped bring our Green Party nation-wide vote total and percentage, to its highest point for any Green candidate in a presidential election in our history! 

All Greens (actually, all Americans) should take their hats off to Dr. Stein for her tremendous efforts on behalf of our 10 Key American Values, and on behalf of our party.  

Jill was a tireless campaigner, operating with limited funds (the Green Party does not accept any corporate donations…so think about that you Dems and Repubs!) and she achieved results in heights that no other Green presidential candidate has ever seen before, including Ralph Nader! 

So…Now that I have a little more time to devote to “Engaged Citizen,” I’ve been thinking about how best to make an impact, and to truly engage our readers in important civic discourse, our elections, the selection of our candidates for office, and the direction of our nation. 

In the next year, running up to the June 2014 primary, we will try to engage our readers as entertainingly as we can, while providing information that will make it much easier for each of you to become more engaged as a citizen in our American democracy.  The recent low voter turnout for the LA City election, spurred me back to this blog activity, and the call to action we’re making.  

Though on this blog we try to keep the emphasis on local activities in Los Angeles and California, what with the Los Angeles City Election behind us, and the state election over a year away, we feel that we can afford to turn our focus to some of the bigger issues that we are facing as a nation. 

The fact is (and the point of this blog is…), that we simply must become more engaged if we wish to keep our democracy strong. 

So, with that in mind…here’s an issue that impacts each and every one of us, and that each of us should be heard upon, by contacting our representatives in Washington. 

If you support the Key Value of Non-Violence, then we need you this week, for sure! 

Let’s go right to the top and deal with the Pentagon Budget, shall we? 

If you have ever visited my voter registration table at the Studio City Farmer’s Market (or visited any of the many other locations where I register voters…) you will recognize this pie-chart, (see photo) which I always have available at my table in post card form, so that you can mail it in to your reps with your own budget priorities. 

The area in red on the chart represents the portion of our United States budget which is spent on militarism (wars, bombs, guns, death, destruction, etc…), while the green area represents the portion of our U.S. budget which is spent on the essentials of Life such as Education, Health, Housing, Environment, Transportation, etc… 

This is the discretionary budget for the United States for the 2010 budget, but it has looked a lot like this since World War II. 

The U.S spends nearly as much as the rest of the world combined on military. 

Let’s ask ourselves…How much do we need to spend to defend ourselves? 

In the next few days the House of Representatives will vote on Pentagon funding. 

Some of our friends on the Left in Congress will offer amendments to cut the overblown Pentagon budget.  Reducing military spending is something that I support, especially in view of the shocking amount of waste, and lack of financial accountability we have seen so far coming from the Pentagon. 

While our communities nationwide are lacking money for vital services, should shoveling more of our tax dollars to the wasteful, reckless Pentagon spending practices really be our nation’s top priority?” 

Peace Action, a group that has been working for Peace since 1957, has called all Americans into action this week, to stop the madness of our obscene military budget and we wish to support their cause, which is truly our own cause, if you think about it.  They have supplied me with some of the information for today’s column.  

And thanks, also, to Green Party Congressional candidate, Barry Hermanson, for the use of his "Not My Priorities" visuals of our budget.  (Barry ran for Congress against Nancy Pelosi in 2012.) 

Thanks to Congress’ absurd “sequestration solution,” right now, our home-bound seniors aren’t getting the food they need (Meals on Wheels), and neither are the staggering and growing number of American children now living in poverty since the Worldwide Economic collapse of 2008.  (Thanks, again, W!) 

Our kids are even being kicked out of pre-school because of sequestration’s cruel cuts to funding! 

Is this the type of nation we want...seniors and kids being physically harmed by lack of leadership in Washington?  I think not. 

And…Don’t forget some of the recent outrages involving what President Eisenhower called the “Military/Industrial/Congressional Complex," otherwise known as the Pentagon, Wall Street Corporations & banksters, and their corporate-owned puppets in Congress. 

Millions of Americans have been put out of their homes, fraudulently, I might add, and made homeless by the Too-Big-To-Fail banksters, who are still writing their own regulations, thanks to a Corporate-owned, Do-Nothing Congress and Senate.  

Our Congress does not believe in the Key American Value of Accountability, mainly because they are beholden to those same Wall Street banksters and multi-national corporations, who have shown no allegiance to the United States, or its well-being….and don’t even pay their taxes! 

If our Congress truly believed in Accountability, then most of these fraud-peddling banksters would be doing time in a federal penitentiary.  

Instead, they are criminals at-large, still planning the next economic collapse, which would shatter our nation and our world, as they have done so many times before, but yet would see them riding high with the billions of their ill-gotten gains that they’ve stolen from our pocketbooks/treasury, with the approval of our Congress, who are, in my opinion, accessories after-the-fact to this massive financial crime.

They are the criminals who profit most from ongoing Wars for Oil and sales of big-ticket weaponry that we simply don’t need, weapons that they shove down our throats (as the Teabaggers like to say…) merely because they have the power to do so, and also because the practice enriches these 1%’ers immensely, which grants them even more power over our democracy! 

This citizen, raised in a military family, and loving of his country and our democratic process, believes that we can join together to bring Congress to its senses regarding our military budget.  

All we have to do is take action.  

We can make it simple for you so that anyone who believes in the Key Values of Non-Violence and Accountability can be heard. 

Your Representative is deciding right now on how to fund the Pentagon.

Here’s what Peace Action suggests, and what we Greens (and this Green) recommend… 

Congress needs to hear from you.  We need more funding for our communities, not for Pentagon wars and waste.  

We must get this message through to them. 

We finally got rid of Congressman, Howard “the War-Hawk” Berman…but will Brad Sherman pick up the torch of violence, war and wasteful spending, and continue the Berman legacy of never opposing any far-fetched, wrong-headed or groundless military action? 

Frankly…that’s up to us.  

Your Representative will need to decide on how to vote on the most likely amendments that will spring up this week, including amendments that: 

1)         Will bring our troops home from Afghanistan before the President's deadline of 2014...

2)         Will cut unneeded and wasteful weapons such as the F-35 Jet, V-22 Osprey plane and Abrams tank (which our military leaders have publicly stated they do not need or even want!)...

3)         Cut nuclear weapons and the number of troops stationed abroad... 

We Greens believe that the Pentagon budget could be cut be at least 50%, but I leave the amount of cuts up to you.  

One thing for certain is that the amount we are continually spending on our War Machine is NOT sustainable.  It wasn’t for Ancient Rome, and it certainly isn’t for us. 

The best way to communicate with your rep in Congress is to MAKE A PHONE CALL!  

Emails can be easily ignored, and, in this case, we don’t have time for a hand-written letter (though they are very effective, too!) because of the time-sensitivity of the Pentagon Budget vote this week! 

So…make that call to your rep while there’s still time! 

Here’s a bit of guidance to make easy for you…

Make a free call to your Representative NOW at 877-429-0678 and say: 

"Please vote for amendments that cut the Pentagon budget without affecting troop benefits and bring all of our troops home from Afghanistan before 2014." 

You can reach your Representative in their Washington, D.C. office by calling toll-free 877-429-0678 between 9-6 PM Eastern.  

Or you can find their local number here:  http://www.contactingthecongress.org

Congressman Brad Sherman’s DC office number is 1-202-225-5911.  

If you need to find any other California representatives phone contact info, please go to http://www.contactingthecongress.org/cgi-bin/newseek.cgi?site=ctc2011&state=ca

We will know more about which amendments will make it to the floor later and Peace Action will post updates on their blog to keep you informed as it happens. 

Don’t delay.  The Pentagon budget vote comes only once a year, if that. 

If you’re fed up with the billions we waste on unnecessary military spending, and the harm it does to our citizens and communities….then please call now. 

Please feel free to forward this information to your friends, family and colleagues. 

Let’s bring our soldiers home and let’s bring our tax dollars home, where they are sorely needed.  

The price our nation has paid for the misadventure in Iraq, and our ongoing presence in Afghanistan, has been extremely high, a price that every citizen has felt in their pocketbook…except for the 1%’ers whose wallets are swollen with billions in Wars-for-Oil profits. 

We the People, should have something to say about that, wouldn’t you agree? 

That’s the best way I can think of to be an engaged citizen for this week! 

Gandhi said, “Action expresses priorities.”  Is making War our nation's top priority?  According to our actions and budget...it is!

Take action to express YOUR priorities!

Are you Pro-War, or Pro-Peace?