Live your principles. Lord knows I try - sometimes I succeed and other times, I'm sure, I fail. One of the most obvious steps I took to visibly live my principles occurred over the summer. In August, within days of seeing An Inconvenient Truth, I posted a diary about my decision to trade my SUV for a fuel-efficient hybrid car. I loved that SUV - and I could afford the gas. But I couldn't, any longer, drive that SUV and discuss energy efficiency and global warming with friends and especially on this site. I put a deposit down on a Toyota Camry Hybrid and took possession of it in September. Bye-bye SUV.
This isn't a diary about fuel-efficiency or even (really) about principles generally. It's a diary about an opportunity for YOU to take part in something that is long overdue. There's a march against the Iraq War happening on January 27th in Washington DC.
Make the jump.
I did a tag search and found other diaries (which I will link and credit below) on the planned January 27th march on Washington. None of them got a lot of traction - the highest traffic was 34 comments. It's not surprising - we've had a lot on our minds lately, and a lot to attend to. But this subject is important, so I'm going to pick up the torch for those who have valiantly tried to bring this message to the Daily Kos community and give it another try. For additional details and perspectives you can visit the work of:
StopFamilyViolence - The America I believe in... - a dKos video project
Free Spirit - The Best-Timed Peace March Evah!
dancewater - Organizing for January March & Lobby In DC
srcnyc - Help Mobilize Every Congressional District for Jan. 27th!
Ava Lou - NEW VIDEO: UFPJ - Keep Hope Alive!
srcnyc - Bring the Mandate for Peace to Washington DC -- Jan. 27!
Now - I have to also give a major hat tip to leftvet who posted this comment in Senator Kennedy's diary. Without having seen that comment, I wouldn't have known about the planned march nor would I have done a tag search to find all the other wonderful diaries trying to spread the word.
The march is being coordinated by United for Peace and Justice. You can find a PERMANENT MARCH LINK HERE. I've poked around the links related specifically to the march and I have to say - this looks like it could be BIG. I went specifically to the transportation link and saw that transportation is being arranged from across the nation. I repeat: buses, trains, flights are being organized from states as far away as California.
A little bit of context for those of you who have been here less than a year - the last peace march in Washington DC (September 2005) had a Daily Kos representation:
LOTS of kossacks came from as far away as California to meet up before the march and we all marched together, following the obnoxiously orange flag. ;-) It wasn't limited to dKos, either. We had Boo-Tribbers and MLWers and Culture Kitcheners and a whole bunch linked together by progressive politics, blogging, and a dedication to ending the war.
It was such a success, in fact, that I have established a Coordinator's spot on the march's events map page. If you search for events within x miles of zip code 20026, you should find one SPECIFICALLY for bloggers. If the event is not there when you check it out, it will be - it just needs time to post.
Sometime about a week ago as I was watching the news as reports about the likelihood of a proposed "surge" were first being reported, Mr. RenaRF walked by and basically said "Jesus. How stupid does this guy think we are?" We all know the answer to that - either he thinks we're pretty stupid or he just doesn't think about us at all. But my comment to him was eye-opening even for me. I said, "I don't understand why we aren't flooding the streets, marching, and chaining ourselves to the White House fence." Indeed. So when I saw leftvet's comment, I was relieved that I wouldn't have to go alone and chain myself to the White House fence or alone to march (which would just put me with any number of muttering, shouting crazy people in downtown Washington DC).
Here's another little picture from the September 2005 march to whet your appetite:
In the center are Jesse Jackson and Cindy Sheehan. Note also the CRUSH of people - this march was terribly under-reported but VERY well attended. Given the drop in Bush's approval ratings as well as the growing discontent over the Iraq War, I expect this one to be better attended and reported on. Numbers will make the story, and your body will help make the numbers. Don't let walking this talk pass you by.
And finally, here's what you'll get from me if you DON'T march and don't have a good reason not to march:
So will you be there?
Update [2007-1-9 15:36:7 by RenaRF]: The map link on United for Peace and Justice's page will show you what other sister events are occurring across the country.
Also, you can email me if you want future updates as the date gets closer and plans change and soldify - renarf at comcast dot net.