WWW--Yes, I still receive emails from Moveon.org, don't you? If you've ever filled-out a petition of theirs, or affiliated net activist groups, you'll find yourself getting a veritable torrent, usually requesting money. This is fine and legitimate when an organization uses the funds in a way that the donors want them used, however, there seem to be some rumblings lately amongst the activist Left on the internet. Today, I get no-less than three coordinated emails (one from Democrats.com, Voters for Peace, and the other from a group calling itself "Democracyrising.us") stating that Moveon.org is dragging-their-feet on impeachment and ending the war. Well, yeah, we know this. The last group had this to say:
MoveOn is polling its members in a biased fashion about the Iraq supplemental -- they are doing their best to manipulate their members into supporting the slow bleed in Iraq that will result if the Pelosi-Obey supplemental is approved. More than 200 members of the U.S. military have died since the Democrats had the power to end this war. How many more? How many Iraqis? If you are a member of MoveOn vote vote to oppose the supplemental and tell MoveOn to join the rest of the peace movement in pressuring the Democrats to end the war -- not to continue it.
What's wrong with the supplemental? The deadline for removal is not until August 31, 2008. And, even then loopholes will allow as many troops as President Bush wants to stay in Iraq to "capture or kill" Al Qaeda or other terrorists and to train Iraqi soldiers. These are loopholes big enough to drive a war through! The requirements for sending combat ready troops can be waived by the president so exhausted troops that are inadequately trained can be sent into this quagmire. And, the supplemental does not restrict the president regarding using the funds to attack Iran. (democracyrising.us mass-email, 03.19.2007)
They are summarily correct, and I've gotten the poll questions--they are biased and slanted towards an agenda touted by Moveon.org, which calls itself "grassroots." Still, would the other legislation even get passed? I have to play the devil's advocate here--can the anti-war bloc in Congress get a better bill passed?
But let's take a look at the term "grassroots": it means ordinary people, creating their own social-networks, their own agenda, all emerging spontaneously from them due to circumstances affecting their lives directly. It strikes me that Moveon.org might have begun as this, but surely they don't fit-into the realm of the "grassroots" at all anymore. The only point that the term seems to apply is in how they get their funding, which is from working-class and upper middle-class Americans who can afford to give. But that's where it appears to end. When they don't want to listen to their donors/members, they're asking for an early-end to their institution. People have a right to feel that Moveon.org might just be another self-perpetuating Goliath:
If you are a MoveOn member, TAKE ACTION and tell MoveOn to oppose the supplemental!
MoveOn is polling its membership in a biased fashion on whether to support or oppose the $124.1 billion Iraq supplemental. The Democratic leadership's plan for the supplemental prolongs the Iraq occupation and provides loopholes that will allow President Bush to keep as many troops as he wants to stay in Iraq to "capture or kill" Al Qaeda or other terrorists and to train Iraqi soldiers. Unfortunately, the MoveOn poll doesn't explain the issues. MoveOn has often changed their tune on Iraq, and now they are again waivering from a bold call for immediate withdrawal for purely political reasons.
It is important that MoveOn takes a stand against this supplemental and puts the principle of peace ahead of supporting the Democratic Party leadership. Please vote to "Oppose the Plan" in the MoveOn poll, and spread the word to others. Progressive members of Congress have carried the antiwar banner on Capitol Hill for years and do not approve of the Democratic leadership's plan as currently written. (votersforpeace.us mass email, 03.19.2007)
I won't recount my run-in with Moveon.org again (it's here in the archives), but I can vouch that face-to-face, they are coarse, authoritarian, and make-it-plain to those they have "invited" that they set the agenda, and that they are in-control of events. This is peculiar coming-from a group that calls itself "grassroots." From my own personal experience with them, they don't strike me as anything more than an institution bent on political power for themselves, and show a tendency towards "conventional wisdom", or that of mainstream politicians and big business. This is troubling for any group which calls itself "progressive" and "grassroots."
You cannot build a better society on a group that has a backwards approach towards rebuilding social-networks in a fragmented society. People have to reach-out to each other, and it has to occur naturally. There has to be credibility, trust, friendship, and solidarity that has substance. People have to have each other's backs, essentially. They have to be willing to bail people out from jail, to feed them, to house some of them, to really support one another. You will not find this with Moveon.org, nor very often with many of the self-proclaimed anti-war activists who currently monopolize the movement to assuage their middle-class guilt.
If you're not close with a group personally, and if you don't feel comfortable around them--quit immediately. Start your own group of friends, family, and people who really care, rather than wasting your time with the "more-liberal-than-thou" crowd of snobbish bourgies. Democrats.com has this to say:
Moveon Betrays Peace Movement
Even as hundreds of thousands were protesting the 4th anniversary of Bush's illegal and disastrous war in Iraq, Moveon was urging its 3.2 million members to support $93 billion more for Bush's War. Moveon conducted a dishonest member "poll" which deliberately left out the Barbara Lee Amendment that would limit new spending to a "fully funded withdrawal" of our troops by the end of the year. http://www.democrats.com/move-over-moveon
Moveon used its dishonest poll to claim 85% of its members support the $93 billion Supplemental.
Send a message to Moveon by voting in our poll:
http://www.democrats.com/iraq-supplemental-poll
And if you want to quit Moveon, tell them why:
http://pol.moveon.org/feedback/fb/form.html?tp=suggest
It's the little, private, persistent acts of kindness and resolve that turn the tide of an era, the smallest things. These clowns need to be jettisoned, just as the Civil Rights movement smartly did in the late-1960s--unless they decide to change their ways and truly "join" us, the "nobodies." You cannot build community out of liars, careerists, or individuals who simply covet power and the preservation of their own petty-privileges. That is a foundation built-upon mud, not by people, for people.
It is a lie that must be exposed and murdered for all time. This is all supposed to have acrimony and adversarialism. It's feeling like a social revolution again, a time that trys men's (and women's) souls. And just think, it was an ordinary woman named Cindy Sheehan who started this volley against Moveon.org around two-weeks ago. She is the real deal, and that's why she's treated poorly by the entitled and the privileged everywhere, even within the anti-war movement. Class is everything. Welcome to the movement, brothers and sisters, it's yours for-the-taking. It was always yours, now take it back. Hah, you've already begun!
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