I would like to second the very thoughtful posts of Brandon Lacy and Paul Rohlfing articulating why it is appropriate and ethically necessary for the City Council and Mayor to take official positions on certain issues that are not strictly confined to the boundaries of the City of Minneapolis. I made some arguments on this issue in a previous post: http://www.mnforum.org/pipermail/mpls/2002-September/016944.html The bottom line is that we live in a global society and are citizens of a global empire, where the federal actions done around the world are in our name, paid for with our tax money, and ultimately affect our local communities. A war will have people from this city (at least who are in the military) killing innocent people and being at risk of losing their own lives. A war will take a huge amount of resources that should be spend on addressing serious social and economic urban problems that the City of Minneapolis government cannot possibly address by itself. It is necessary for elected officals to demand that the federal government refocus priorities. The refusal to take a position on an unjustified war is a cop-out - both ethically and pragmatically.
The real question is not whether to take a position on the imminent war against Iraq, but how to do so effectively. An anti-war resolution must be anti-war, but should also tie in policy issues (such as those suggested by Gary Hoover), and should declare Minneapolis to be a war-free zone where the City affirmatively refuses to cooperate with the war effort in any way that it might be expected to. Jordan Kushner Golden Valley works downtown, lived in Minneapolis for 14 years, and will someday return. _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
