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CounterPunch
January
30, 2003
Green Party
Response to Bush's State of the Union Address
by NATALIE JOHNSON
LEE
Greetings from the Green Party, the party of peace!
Tonight the President promised America
a policy of war. War on Iraq. War on minorities. War on the poor.
War on regular working people. In response, the Green Party,
America's only growing political party, offers an alternative
of peace.
I represent almost 30,000 working people
in Minneapolis, Minnesota. I know my constituents personally,
and I know their struggles for decent housing and decent work.
When my constituents need help, they call me on the phone. That's
grassroots democracy in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Tonight, in Washington D.C., I must ask:
"Who phoned Bush and asked for this war?" "Who
phoned Congress and asked for this war?"
I know that America did not dial that
number.
Someone else did.
I've got a message for the CEOs of the
oil corporations and of the weapons manufacturers. You're tying
up the line. America is trying to get through.
Like 169 other Green city council members,
mayors, county supervisors, school board members, and state representatives,
my phone is ringing off the hook. Our constituents are calling
us.
They are saying, "We are worried
about this war." They are saying, "We want respect
and equality." They are saying, "We want good jobs,
education, and health care." The Green response is always
the same: "You are not alone. We will help you."
That's our message tonight.
* *
*
The President promised a policy of war
on Iraq. In response, the Green Party offers the only national
security policy that really works: A policy whose goal is peace,
not war.
America can make peace, not war, by putting
a stop to the global trade in weapons. We must stop it at its
source. That's here, at home, in the United States. <U.S.-based>
corporations are the prime suppliers of weapons to the world,
and European corporations are not far behind. It's common sense.
It's time to put the weapons manufacturers out of business.
America can make peace, not war, only
if we are consistent in our support for democracy. The foreign
policy of supporting "our" dictators against "their"
dictators has been a failure. Saddam Hussein is in power today
because the U.S. government once supported him, just as it once
supported bin Laden. It is time instead to consistently support
democracy. Perhaps it is unfair to expect George W. Bush to understand
democracy, much less consistently promote it, but that's the
agenda that will win America trust and allies in an uncertain
world.
America can make peace, not war, by helping
the economies of the poorer countries of the world. Exploitation
breed poverty, poverty breeds hatred, and hatred breeds terror.
Unrestricted corporate power has caused massive unemployment
across Asia, Africa, and Latin America, and today threatens the
United States as well. In its place, we need a global economic
policy whose primary goal is the elimination of poverty, the
creation of sustainable industries, and support for real democracy
based on the empowerment of working people.
America can make peace, not war, by breaking
the hold of the oil corporations on Congress. It's time to kick
the oil addiction. Right now. America has the technological know-how
and the renewable resources to make the break. We can and should
build up our solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources
now.
Americans want security, not unending
war. In its eagerness to invade Iraq, the political establishment
has revealed its true purpose. Not security for Americans, but
oil for corporations. Not peace in the Middle East, but military
bases across the globe. Bush is no reluctant warrior, he is a
warmongering draft-dodger, and together with a weak and compliant
Democratic Party in Congress, he is threatening American interests.
The President claims the inspections
have failed. He is wrong. In fact, his attempts to drum up a
war fever are what has failed. The lives of millions of innocent
Iraqi civilians are not worth one drop of Bush's oil, and American
soldiers should not be sacrificed for it. Let us build our security
on a foundation of international peace, justice, and democracy.
*
* *
Americans want a policy for domestic
peace as well.
The Bush administration's attacks on
minorities don't sit well with many Americans. The Democratic
silence in the face of these attacks is shameful. The slogan
"United We Stand" is mirrored by "Divided We Fall"
and the constant chipping away at the legacy of the civil rights
movement leaves us wondering why he is promoting division. Why
the attacks on human rights, on immigrants, and on affirmative
action?
Tonight, in Washington D.C., I must ask:
"Who phoned Bush and asked for these attacks?"
I know that America did not dial that
number.
I am a proud to be a member of the political
party that guarantees the rights of ALL Americans. That's the
guarantee of the Green Party. We defend the rights of immigrants,
and we call for amnesty for all undocumented workers. We support
the civil rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered
people in housing, jobs, civil marriage and benefits, child custody
and in all areas of life, the right to be treated equally with
all other people. We believe in making right the wrongs of history,
and we support affirmative action and reparations for slavery.
We Greens say to the President and to
Congress: "Immigrants are not the enemy!" "Lesbian,
gay, bisexual, and transgendered people are not the enemy!"
"People of color are not the enemy!" It's time to stop
your war on minorities. It's time to secure domestic peace through
equal rights for all. That is the Green guarantee.
* *
*
Americans want not only peace, we also
want prosperity.
Struggling to pay for housing, struggling
to pay for school, struggling to find a secure job, worrying
about whether we'll keep it, working people in this country have
gotten a raw deal. Now the administration would compound our
pain by cutting taxes on the rich, at a time when public services
are being eliminated.
Tonight, in Washington D.C., I must ask:
"Who phoned Bush and asked for these cuts?"
I know that America did not dial that
number.
Bush calls it an economic stimulus package.
Greens ask "economic stimulus for whom?" It is time
for an economic stimulus package for the rest of us.
Where the Washington establishment wages
a war on public education, social welfare, public lands, and
local government, the Green Party takes a very different view.
We call for full federal funding to support
children, families, the unemployed, elderly and disabled. We
call for a graduated supplemental income to maintain all adult
incomes above the poverty level. We support a guaranteed living
wage for all Americans. We support health care for all through
universal national health insurance. We support the preservation
of public wildlands for future generations. We support the labor
movement and call for the repeal of the undemocratic Taft-Hartley
law so that workers can freely organize unions.
The Green Party stands with working people
because we ARE working people, and we're committed to an economic
policy that puts human needs before corporate greed.
* *
*
Yet tonight, as the economy is failing
most Americans, the President promises war.
Mr. Bush, America did not ask you for
this war. America did not ask you for these attacks on minorities.
America did not ask you for tax cuts for the rich.
Mr. Bush, it is time to hang up the phone.
America's trying to get through!
* *
*
And to the members of Congress, both
Democrat and Republican, the 250,000 members of the Green Party
have this to say:
You have wasted too many opportunities
to deal directly with America's problems. Tonight, on the eve
of war, America cannot wait any longer.
Our nation cannot afford to see pressing
issues, like health care for all, kicked back and forth like
a political football from election to election. Working people
need health care now.
Our people and planet cannot afford this
war for oil. Dependency on oil is unhealthy for Americans and
it is contributing to the global warming threat. The time for
political procrastination is long gone; it's time for corrective
action now.
I know that many Americans feel the same
way. I hear it from my constituents all the time.
To those Americans who are looking for
a way out, the Green Party says, "We are here, we are growing,
we are your way out!" We are the alternative.
Together with Greens in 90 nations worldwide,
we represent a new kind of politics resting on four pillar values:
Grassroots Democracy--Ecology--Social Justice--Non-Violence.
No corporate contributors are tying up
our phone lines. We are waiting to hear from you.
Call 1-866-41-GREEN. Look us up on the
web at www.GP.org.
Millions of Americans want peace, want
equality, want social justice. We are with you. We know that
another world is possible. If we will it, and act on it, it is
no dream.
Natalie Johnson Lee is a Minneapolis City Councilwoman and Green
Party member.
Yesterday's
Features
Sheldon Hull
An Extended
Promo with No Payoff
Notes on the State of George W. Bush
Emily Zitter-Smith
Watching
TV in Cairo
Linda Heard
Showdown
at the Crawford Corale
Mike James
Smear Pete Townshend, Cover Up Blair's Cabinet:
Alleged Pedophiles in Britain's War Room
Kathryn Casa
The Other
State of the Union
Brian Cloughley
WMD:
Okay, Where Are They?
Gloria Bergen
Work
That Kills
Mark Weisbrot
Another
World is Possible
Alexander Cockburn
Yes, That Was the President
Philip Farruggio
My Flag Held Hostage
Adam Engel
Domicide
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