OntheWilderSide

Cynthia McKinney

Emergency Anti-Afghanistan Escalation Rally

December 12, 2009

My fellow Americans,

Millions of us are drinking dirty and contaminated water;

4 million of us will get foreclosure notices by the end of this year;

25 million of us are un- or underemployed;

47 million of us have no health insurance and millions more are under-insured.  My aunt was killed by the health care system in this country, not because she didn’t have insurance—she did.  What she didn’t get was quality care.  And amid all the talk about health care, no one is talking about quality care.

My cousin, who is no more than 24 years old, is now $100,000 in debt because she wanted to get an undergraduate college education.

But the trials of my family are not our story alone:

Millions of us are in the same boat.  And no matter how hard we wish for a better world, and a kinder country, our policy makers are not delivering on our hopes and dreams.

In fact, the dreams of our country stand deferred and drowned in debt.

Sadly, in the face of growing income inequality, our President chose to transfer over 23 trillion of our hard-earned dollars to the bankers and financial elite—who didn’t have to work hard for it at all, just tank our economy.

So huddled in fear, we pray together that the flu, a hurricane, the Great Depression, or the next terrorist attack doesn’t hit us.

Now, given all these problems what do our leaders do?

Bomb, maim, and kill people on the other side of the planet whose resources certain powerful people in this country want to steal and whose territory occupies the land needed for global conquest.

Instead of investigating war criminals in the Bush Administration, President Obama has chosen to become one.

Our President is now complicit in torture, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against the peace.

So what are we to do?

We will not give up and we will not go away.

We are not so demoralized that we can’t see the truth; we know that lies are not truth; ignorance is not strength, and war is not peace.

We see the power of the ballot in Latin America where voters in unrigged elections are choosing freedom.  Our freedom is under siege—as much right here as it is in Haiti or Honduras.

If U.S. politics was truly democratic, we would not have war.  That’s why I support Senator Gravel’s national initiative project.

Who has $100 million of their own money to spend to get elected, like New York’s Mayor did?

We are ready to act on our dreams—to create the kind of change that graduates students from college–free of charge.

That treats medical ailments–free of charge.

That reflects our interests, not the special interests.

That gets peace candidates for Congress elected all over this country.  And that elects a peace President!

While our fellow Americans are afraid to get sick; struggle to keep a job, educate their children, stave off foreclosure, and make ends meet, we will not rest.

As long as bombs drop and civilians die, we will not rest.

While the oligarchs and the war machine get our money, we will not rest.

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. lamented that both political parties failed to take a stand for what was right; he said that our scientific power had outstripped our spiritual power; that we possessed guided missiles and misguided men.

Well, President Obama:  Don’t be misguided!!

Stop shielding war criminals from justice in our courts;

Stop supporting the Patriot Act and spying against us environmentalists and peace activists;

Stop granting power to the Federal Reserve;

Close Guantanamo!

Stop torture and rendition, secret prisons, and building military bases all over the planet.

President Obama:  Stop the saber-rattling at Iran!

Stop the drones and depleted uranium; Stop bombing Somalia.  Stop using war as an energy policy!

Stop bankrupting our nation!

We will not rest; we will not stop; and our peace candidates will win!

—
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http://dignity.ning.com/
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Filed under: activism, Anti-War, cynthia mckinney, election, Election 2008, elections, grassroots democracy, Green Party