The nervous silence that has characterized the Nation's Capitol on the possibility of a pre-emptive strike against Iran was broken for a couple hours yesterday afternoon, thanks to the leadership of two of our best progressive leaders, Rep. Barbara Lee & Rep. Lynn Woolsey.
As is so often the case, we owe these two women our thanks for stepping up in times of crisis.
You can watch the video here, thanks to David Grossman & PoliticsTV. It includes intelligent analyses -- the kind you rarely hear anymore, with nuance and complex thought -- from Professor Samantha Power & Dr. Jessica Matthews.
You can be forgiven for not knowing this, since even most of the antiwar movement has not been paying much attention to it, but Lynn Woolsey is being challenged in the primary by a more conservative Democrat, a term-limited politician with money to spend, strong connections to RAND, to big Pharma, and to the insurance companies that oppose single-payer health care, and whose donors also happened to have given more than a million and a half dollars to Bush & top Republicans!
Lynn Woolsey is Co-Chair of the Progressive Caucus. She is one of the leaders on peace issues in the House. Lynn was an early opponent of the Iraq War, and the first to hold a hearing to study ways to end the occupation there. She has been taken the lead on trying to formulate a sensible security plan for the 21st century, one that doesn't depend on fear, hype and lies while actually making Americans more secure rather than less secure. She is honest, principled, and open to working with grassroots activists.
I think she is one of our best Reps, and has earned the support of anyone who believes this war was a mistake, a fiasco, and/or a crime. (conflict-of-interest note: I have played a tiny role in the campaign)
You can donate or find out more here. If you have friends who live in Marin or Sonoma Counties in California, make sure they vote on June 6th. Send an email to all your friends from California, or and ask them to do the same. And if you live in northern California, you still have time to help the Progressive Democrats of America canvass and "human billboard".
Lynn is likely to win. But we all know that there are no sure things in politics, and we cannot take this primary for granted. Rep. Woolsey has time and again in recent years spent her political capital on our behalf, by standing up for peace when the war drums were beating loudest. She is a leader, and has paid a price in controversy for standing up for her principles. At a time when so few members of Congress have the courage to stand up and be counted, we should stand up for her.