[Peace-discuss] A conservative on anti-war movements

[C. G. Estabrook]

Several points, Mort:

[1] It's surprising that you should start with MoveOn, a
Democratic party front group that is thoroughly liberal in my
lexicon -- and their position on the war is "stay the course"!

[2] I'd make a distinction between liberal and left,
fundamentally on the point of support for or opposition to
capitalism.  All of the elected Democratic politicians in the
country (including Bernie Sanders, tho' he would deny it) fall
into the first group; the Progressive, Z Mag, Counterpunch
etc. (I have doubts about The Nation), into the second group.
 On that reading, it's almost exact that the left opposes the
war and liberals don't.

[3] Where are the brave actions of the "progressive caucus" in
the House against the war?  Only now do we get a a hat-in-hand
petition from some of them, asking the president please to
tell them how and when he's going to get out of Iraq. (It's
true that with the exception of Ron Paul and one or two
others, the paleo-conservative position is not represented in
the House.)

My point is that principled opposition to the war (and not
just worries that it isn't working very well) is found among
paleo-conservatives (what I posted was an example) and on the
left -- and not among liberals.  --CGE


---- Original message ----
>Date: Tue, 12 Jul 2005 21:20:23 -0500
>From: "Morton K. Brussel" <brussel4 at insightbb.com>  
>Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] A conservative on anti-war
movements  
>To: "C. G. Estabrook" <galliher at uiuc.edu>
>Cc: Peace Discuss <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
>
>> Can you think of (m)any liberals who have had as principled a
>> stand against the war?
>
>Carl, almost all those who signed on to MoveOn.org are/were
liberals  
>and strongly against the war, even if they've wobbled at
times since  
>about the occupation. The same is true of UFPJ (United for
Peace and  
>Justice), Peace-Action, liberal periodicals like the
Progressive, The  
>Nation, Z Magazine. Internet sources such as CommonDreams.org
or  
>ZNet. Of course, most social-ist inclined folks, Greens,  
>Counterpunchers, etc.   were strongly against the war, but I
guess  
>you would not classify them as liberal. Is Nader a liberal?
>
>You are right that the so-called liberal politicians
(Democrats) have  
>failed miserably to stand up and speak out loudly against
this war,  
>but neither can I remember any "conservative" politicians
who've done  
>so . At least there is a progressive caucus in the House that
has  
>been against the war policies; there is no equivalent group
on the  
>other side. I could go on to list many other liberal
organizations  
>who've taken strong stands against the "war". There is no
equivalent  
>that I know on the other side.
>
>It is for this reason that I dislike your promotion of certain  
>conservative spokesmen to the exclusion of those on the left
who've  
>said the same things, and far longer.
>
>--mkb
>