Come on, Minnesota, home of Paul Wellstone, a courageous American who stood with Bernie Sanders opposed to the preemptive War in Iraq.
Paul Wellstone, no friend of the billionaire class, in Bernie’s parlance.
The beat goes on.
Paul Wellstone, who said on the floor of the Senate on Oct. 3, 2002, when the Bush Administration and chicken hawks were clamoring for shock and awe:
“This debate must include all Americans, because our decisions finally must have the informed consent of the American people, who will be asked to bear the costs, in blood and treasure, of our decisions. When the lives of the sons and daughters of average Americans could be risked and lost, their voices must be heard by Congress before we make decisions about military action.”
Of course, their voices weren’t heard over the din of the trillion-dollar war machine.
And with war in the offing, pressure on politicians grew every day until most of them caved in.
It was not a failure in judgment that explains why Congress voted to let Bush and Cheney attack a nation few thought posed a serious threat to the United States.
It was a failure of nerve.
Two days after Paul Wellstone died in a tragic plane crash, on October 27, 2002 a good friend and I joined 100,000 others in Washington to protest Bush’s war in the making. There were protests around the county, and within days, around the world, because millions knew this was a war of choice, not necessity.
When we heard the administration’s sketchy claims of WMDs, we remembered the Gulf of Tonkin Incident and the many ways there are to cook up a war. (And so did our Senators and Representatives.)
But damned few leaders had the courage to defy an administration hellbent on war, despite crowds in the street, chanting the truth.
Bernie had the foresight and the backbone then, and he’s never stopped fighting the good fight.
So let’s vote for him today, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Oklahoma, Maine, Vermont, Tennessee, Virginia, Texas, Georgia, and Arkansas.
It’s time for the little fellas — not Big Banks, Big Pharma and Goldman Sachs — to win!