[Peace-discuss] "We won't take it anymore" ?

[Morton K. Brussel]

A voice from the (Utah) wilderness.

Subject: Salt Lake City Mayor's astonishing address: "We won't take it
anymore"


Address by Mayor Ross C. "Rocky" Anderson
October 27, 2007 in Salt Lake City, Utah


Today, as we come together once again in this great city, we raise our
voices in unison to say to President Bush, to Vice President Cheney, to
other members of the Bush Administration (past and present), to a  
majority
of Congress, including Utah's entire congressional delegation, and to  
much
of the mainstream media: "You have failed us miserably and we won't take
it any more."

"While we had every reason to expect far more of you, you have been
pompous, greedy, cruel, and incompetent as you have led this great  
nation
to a moral, military, and national security abyss."

"You have breached trust with the American people in the most egregious
ways. You have utterly failed in the performance of your jobs. You have

undermined our Constitution, permitted the violation of the most
fundamental treaty obligations, and betrayed the rule of law."

"You have engaged in, or permitted, heinous human rights abuses of the
sort never before countenanced in our nation's history as a matter of
official policy. You have sent American men and women to kill and be
killed on the basis of lies, on the basis of shifting justifications,
without competent leadership, and without even a coherent plan for this
monumental blunder."

"We are here to tell you: We won't take it any more!"

"You have acted in direct contravention of values that we, as Americans
who love our country, hold dear. You have deceived us in the most  
cynical,
outrageous ways. You have undermined, or allowed the undermining of, our
constitutional system of checks and balances among the three presumed
co-equal branches of government. You have helped lead our nation to the
brink of fascism, of a dictatorship contemptuous of our nation's treaty
obligations, federal statutory law, our Constitution, and the rule of
law."

"Because of you, and because of your jingoistic false `patriotism, ' our
world is far more dangerous, our nation is far more despised, and the
threat of terrorism is far greater than ever before.

It has been absolutely astounding how you have committed the most
horrendous acts, causing such needless tragedy in the lives of  
millions of
people, yet you wear your so-called religion on your sleeves, asserting
your God-is-on-my- side nonsense - when what you have done flies in the
face of any religious or humanitarian tradition. Your hypocrisy is
mind-boggling - and disgraceful. What part of "Thou shalt not kill"  
do you
not understand? What part of the "Golden rule" do you not understand?  
What
part of "be honest," "be responsible, " and "be accountable" don't you
understand? What part of "Blessed are the peacekeepers" do you not
understand?

Because of you, hundreds of thousands of people have been killed, many
thousands of people have suffered horrendous lifetime injuries, and
millions have been run off from their homes. For the sake of our nation,
for the sake of our children, and for the sake of our brothers and  
sisters
around the world, we are morally compelled to say, as loudly as we  
can, `
We won't take it any more!' "

"As United States agents kidnap, disappear, and torture human beings
around the world, you justify, you deceive, and you cover up. We find  
what
you have done to men, women and children, and to the good name and
reputation of the United States, so appalling, so unconscionable, and so
outrageous as to compel us to call upon you to step aside and allow  
other
men and women who are competent, true to our nation's values, and with
high moral principles to stand in your places - for the good of our
nation, for the good of our children, and for the good of our world."

In the case of the President and Vice President, this means impeachment
and removal from office, without any further delay from a complacent,
complicit Congress, the Democratic majority of which cares more about
political gain in 2008 than it does about the vindication of our
Constitution, the rule of law, and democratic accountability.

It means the election of people as President and Vice President who,
unlike most of the presidential candidates from both major parties, have
not aided and abetted in the perpetration of the illegal, tragic,
devastating invasion and occupation of Iraq . And it means the  
election of
people as President and Vice President who will commit to return our
nation to the moral and strategic imperative of refraining from  
torturing
human beings.

In the case of the majority of Congress, it means electing people who  
are
diligent enough to learn the facts, including reading available National
Intelligence Estimates, before voting to go to war. It means electing to
Congress men and women who will jealously guard Congress's sole
prerogative to declare war. It means electing to Congress men and women
who will not submit like vapid lap dogs to presidential requests for  
blank
checks toengage in so-called preemptive wars, for legislation permitting
warrantless wiretapping of communications involving US citizens, and for
dangerous, irresponsible, saber-rattling legislation like the recent
Kyl-Lieberman amendment.

We must avoid the trap of focusing the blame solely upon President Bush
and Vice-President Cheney. This is not just about a few people who have
wronged our country - and the world. They were enabled by members of  
both
parties in Congress, they were enabled by the pathetic mainstream news
media, and, ultimately, they have been enabled by the American  
people- 40%
of whom are so ill-informed they still think Iraq was behind the 9/11
attacks - a people who know and care more about baseball statistics and
which drunken starlets are wearing underwear than they know and care  
about
the atrocities being committed every single day in our name by a
government for which we need to take responsibility.

As loyal Americans, without regard to political partisanship -- as
veterans, as teachers, as religious leaders, as working men and  
women, as
students, as professionals, as businesspeople, as public servants, as
retirees, as people of all ages, races, ethnic origins, sexual
orientations, and faiths -- we are here to say to the Bush  
administration,
to the majority of Congress, and to the mainstream media: "You have
violated your solemn responsibilities. You have undermined our  
democracy,
spat upon our Constitution , and engaged in outrageous, despicable acts.
You have brought our nation to a point of immorality, inhumanity, and
illegality of immense, tragic, unprecedented proportions. "

"But we will live up to our responsibilities as citizens, as brothers  
and
sisters of those who have suffered as a result of the imperial  
bullying of
the United States government, and as moral actors who must take a stand:
And we will, and must, mean it when we say `We won't take it any more.'"

If we want principled, courageous elected officials, we need to be
principled, courageous, and tenacious ourselves. History has  
demonstrated
that our elected officials are not the leaders - the leadership has to
come from us. If we don't insist, if we don't persist, then we are not
living up to our responsibilities as citizens in a democracy - and our
responsibilities as moral human beings. If we remain silent, we  
signal to
Congress and the Bush administration - and to candidates running for
office - and to the world - that we support the status quo.

Silence is complicity. Only by standing up for what's right and never
letting down can we say we are doing our part.

Our government, on the basis of a campaign we now know was entirely
fraudulent, attacked and militarily occupied a nation that posed no  
danger
to the United States. Our government, acting in our name, has caused
immense, unjustified death and destruction.

It all started five years ago, yet where have we, the American people,
been? At this point, we are responsible. We get together once in a while
at demonstrations and complain about Bush and Cheney, about Congress,  
and
about the pathetic news media. We point fingers and yell a lot. Then  
most
people politely go away until another demonstration a few months later.

How many people can honestly say they have spent as much time learning
about and opposing the outrages of the Bush administration as they have
spent watching sports or mindless television programs during the past  
five
years? Escapist, time-sapping sports and insipid entertainment have  
indeed
become the opiate of the masses.

Why is this country so sound asleep? Why do we abide what is  
happening to
our nation, to our Constitution, to the cause of peace and international
law and order? Why are we not doing all in our power to put an end to  
this
madness?

We should be in the streets regularly and students should be raising  
hell
on our campuses. We should be making it clear in every way possible that
apologies or convoluted, disingenuous explanations just don't cut it  
when
presidential candidates and so many others voted to authorize George
Bushand his neo-con buddies to send American men and women to attack and
occupy Iraq.

Let's awaken, and wake up the country by committing here and now to  
do all
each of us can to take our nation back. Let them hear us across the
country, as we ask others to join us: "We won't take it any more!"

I implore you: Draw a line. Figure out exactly where your own moral
breaking point is. How much will you put up with before you say "No  
more"
and mean it?

I have drawn my line as a matter of simple personal morality: I cannot,
and will not, support any candidate who has voted to fund the atrocities
in Iraq. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate who will not  
commit
to remove all US troops, as soon as possible, from Iraq. I cannot, and
will not, support any candidate who has supported legislation that takes
us one step closer to attacking Iran. I cannot, and will not, support  
any
candidate who has not fought to stop the kidnapping, disappearances, and
torture being carried on in our name.

If we expect our nation's elected officials to take us seriously, let us
send a powerful message they cannot misunderstand. Let them know we  
really
do have our moral breaking point. Let them know we have drawn a bright
line. Let them know they cannot take our support for granted - that,
regardless of their party and regardless of other political
considerations, they will not have our support if they cannot  
provide, and
have not provided, principled leadership.

The people of this nation may have been far too quiet for five years,  
but
let us pledge that we won't let it go on one more day - that we will do
all we can to put an end to the illegalities, the moral degradation, and
the disintegration of our nation's reputation in the world.

Let us be unified in drawing the line - in declaring that we do have a
moral breaking point. Let us insist, together, in supporting our troops
and in gratitude for the freedoms for which our veterans gave so much,
that we bring our troops home from Iraq, that we return our  
government to
a constitutional democracy, and that we commit to honoring the  
fundamental
principles of human rights.

In defense of our country, in defense of our Constitution, in defense of
our shared values as Americans - and as moral human beings - we declare
today that we will fight in every way possible to stop the insanity,  
stop
the continued military occupation of Iraq, and stop the moral depravity
reflected by the kidnapping, disappearing, and torture of people around
the world.

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