Next Friday, September 21, is the first Iraq Moratorium Day. We are called, on the Third Friday of every month, to break with our daily routine and take some action, alone or with others, to end the war.
There are several suggested activities for folks who aren't in a position to do anything public, or don't yet want to, including calling elected officials, boycotting gas or driving ten miles below the speed limit, etc.
The best one I've heard yet is simplicity itself.
Have your Congressperson and/or Senators been voting for the "emergency appropriations" or otherwise enabling the Bush/Cheney administration to continue this fiasco? Just follow these three easy steps:
1. Write a check to his or her campaign committee, for a reasonable amount--$20, $40, $110.
2. Write on the front of the check, in large letters, the word VOID.
3. Mail it off with a brief note stating that until he or she steps up and takes concrete and consistent action to stop the war, you will not cough up a single dime! (And feel free to mention the Iraq Moratorium.)
The beauty of this is obvious. For too many in Congress, constituents are essentially an annoyance--people who want passports expedited, their nephews admitted to the Coast Guard Academy, the privacy of their phone calls and emails protected, national health insurance. There's just no end to their demands.
Donors, though...that's another story. Donors are the best humanity has to offer; they provide the very lifeblood of a modern political career--money!
Now imagine Representative X getting the report from the campaign committee. "Well, Congressman, the good news is we took in $13,000 this week. The bad news is that $3,700 of it was in voided checks because of your stupid kowtowing to Bush."
What do you think, Kossacks? Might this be the proverbial 2x4 that gets the attention of these retrograde Donkeys?