Phyllis Kahn wrote: > Part of being an elected representative is helping to magnify > the voices of those who elected you. That's why we should support and > congratulate Zerby and Zimmerman and complain to RT, Ostrow, Benson, > Goodman et al.
I don't understand the logic here. Since it is unclear if a majority of Minneapolitans are unconditionally opposed to a war with Iraq how is passing an antiwar resolution by the Minneapolis City Council justified? > The time issue is irrelevant, as such actions take less time to pass > than to oppose. When Allan Spear and I were first elected, our first > act was to pass an anti Vietnam War--stop the bombing resolution, with > the help of then Speaker Martin Sabo. Not to malign the contributions of Representative Kahn, but 1972 was a year before the war ended. Chicago happened in '68 (four years earlier) and the anti-war movement had been active before '65. As I tried to point out in another post, activists never seriously considered lobbying government because support for the war was so well established. The strategy was to change the attitudes of the American public by providing information (remember Daniel Ellsberg?) and causing the government to overreact and alienate middle America (remember Chicago?). [As a side note, just to illustrate how much we've forgotten: There was a large antiwar demonstration in Los Angeles in 1967 that was just as bloody as Chicago, but never made it past the underground press. It was this event that contributed to the strategy of confrontation used in Chicago at the Democratic convention. Which also points out that the Democratic Party doesn't have clean hands when it comes to Vietnam, the truth is much to the contrary.] In the current situation I don't see any need to short cut the American public and the citizens of Minneapolis. If there is a valid argument for not attacking Iraq then present it. The "war is bad, Bush is evil" posturing of people on this list is inadequate. I think that the lack of intellectual rigor and debate on this topic may indeed be caused by the decline of educational standards in the public schools (see it all ties together ;-). > Now I don't need any comments from list members on my competence, > but I will maintaain that Martin and Allan are two of the most > esteemed legislators to have ever served Mpls. City Coucil members > should be proud to follow their example. Context, context, context. We're not living in the past anymore. It's a different world now. Let's adapt our policies and discussion to the present situation. Michael Atherton Prospect Park TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Send all posts in plain-text format. 2. Cut as much of the post you're responding to as possible. ________________________________ 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
