|
Millions to Vote on Troop Withdrawal and Impeachment Measures Across the Country |
|
|
|
Written by Ben Manski
|
|
Sunday, 05 November 2006 |
|
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."
On Tuesday, voters residing in communities comprising 8.7 million people in the states of Illinois (5.5), Massachusetts (1.4), California (0.8), and Wisconsin (1.0), will cast ballots on the war and impeachment. Communities voting on impeachment range from mid-American cities such as Wisconsin Rapids and Pittsville, Wisconsin, to the progressive bastions of San Francisco and Berkeley. Voters in Cook County, Illinois, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, as well as 139 Massachusetts municipalities and a dozen other communities, will vote on immediate withdrawal.
"The troops home and impeachment resolutions expose the disconnect between federal politicians and American citizens. Soldiers on active duty are speaking out in the hundreds against the war and this administration. These resolutions aren’t only the demands of anti-war activists, they are also the stirrings of a new democracy movement,” said Robinson.
The effort began in Wisconsin earlier this year. In April, 24 of 32 communities voted in support of the "Troops Home Now" resolutions. |
