What can the anti-war movement do to get Congress to cut off funding? Put pressure on them. Organize letter writing campaigns. March on each congressional member's local office and demand an end to the war. March on the Capitol on a weekday when Congress is working. These activities are going to do more to end the war than marching on Washington on a Saturday when no one who can do anything to end the war is there. Hell, just writing a letter every day to your representative and senators would do more than a Saturday march on Washington.
Examining that paragraph again, what was I thinking when I mentioned organizing letter writing campaigns? I was under the illusion that Congress listened to the people. I was completely wrong.
It's obvious now that Congress doesn't listen to the people, but in my defense, I wrote the post a year before the bank bailouts. The American people wrote and called Congress, and the people were against the bailout 100 to 1. Congress voted to bail out the banks anyway, despite the strong opposition from the American people.
The bank bailouts showed Congress doesn't care what the public thinks. On March 10 Congress showed they have no intention of stopping the wars. The House voted 356 to 65 against Dennis Kucinich's resolution to leave Afghanistan.
Let that sink in. The vote was 356-65 in favor of continuing the Afghanistan War. 356-65 is not the Republicans and some Blue Dog Democrats coming together to keep the war going. 356-65 is strong bipartisan support for war. Democrats voted 189-60 to continue the war. Over 75% of Democrats, the supposed anti-war party, voted to continue the war. That should be a wake-up call to anyone who thinks the Democrats are going to end the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
I will end this article on a positive note. In my original article I said there were two ways to end the wars: the President can withdraw troops and Congress can cut off funding. There is a third option. The military could stop fighting. It worked in Vietnam, but it's tougher with an all-volunteer army. But the military getting fed up and refusing to fight is our best option at ending the wars right now.
