Elections Really Will be Referendum on War, Executive

(Liberty Tree Foundation) -- This Tuesday millions of citizens will cast their votes for or against immediate troop withdrawal and impeachment in local elections across the country. In the face of continued congressional support for the war in Iraq and increasing popular opposition to it, citizens in hundreds of communities have won initiative and referenda campaigns to place on their ballots resolutions calling for immediate withdrawal US troops. In some states, citizens will also vote on initiating impeachment proceedings against Bush and Cheney.

"We're seeing ever-increasing opposition to this war," said Juscha Robinson, a Fellow with Liberty Tree, a national pro-democracy organization. "Citizens are being ignored at the federal level so they are turning to their local communities to make their voices heard."

Wisconsin's Troop Withdrawal Referendum Was Heard Around the World

A popular slogan is "Think Globally, Act Locally." On April 4, 2006 the actions of loosely coordinated groups of local citizen's participation in the democratic process bore fruit. Twenty four out of thirty two municipalities in Wisconsin voted to approve referenda calling on the United States to begin an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq.

In one night the list of cities for peace in the United States increased to 100. That is how may towns, villages and cities have passed resolutions calling for the end of this ill conceived war.

The echos of that action have reverberated across the nation and the globe. Here is a sampling of links where news of this historic event was published on the net.

The results of the Bring the Troops Home referendums send a clear message: Wisconsin wants an orderly but quick withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq. Thirty-two cities, villages and towns voted Tuesday on the anti-war referendums - most of which called for immediate withdrawal.

(The Nation) In November 2004, the village of Luxemburg, Wisconsin, voted to re-elect George W. Bush by a hefty margin of 701 to 431. Always a GOP stronghold, the community voted for other Republicans as well, even the challenger to popular Democratic Senator Russ Feingold, who was winning by a landslide statewide.

There's not much question that the majority of the 2,000 residents of this rural northeastern Wisconsin village of well-maintained homes, neat storefronts and large churches think of themselves as old-fashioned Midwestern conservatives.

So, by the calculus of the Bush White House and its echo chamber in the national media, Luxemburg ought to be just about the last place in the United States to express doubts about the President's handling of the war in Iraq. And surely, no national pundit would have predicted that the village would vote in favor of a referendum declaring: "Be it hereby resolved, that the Village of Luxemburg urges the United States to begin an immediate withdrawal of its troops from Iraq, beginning with the National Guard and Reserves."