Letter to moveon.org

My concern with moveon.org as of late is that it has come to resemble the Tom DeLay school of politics -- the difference being that I agree with what action you would have people take. None the less, the format of the message, an over simplified "Do what we want you to or else," is no different than the Republican tactics since 1994.

To be more concrete, I think it is important not to just brow-beat Congress into bringing our troops home and mesh that desire with strategies to keep non-Republicans in office (a clearly necessary activity, however ugly), but to go more in-depth, to elevate the conversation. Iraq can be a lightning rod:

1. How did this country get to a point where we have a President who, along with his staff (Rummy, Condi, Cheney, Wolfie, Karl, etc) has repeatedly lied and not been impeached?

1a. I don't buy the "it's the media" argument answer to #1, though I enjoy reading Frank Rich's excoriation of the Washington press corps, whose feckless toadyism is only surpassed by the White House itself for its hubris. The American people are demanding that they get something for their money in Iraq. What can we do to engage the other half of eligible voters who were asleep at the wheel until they started to figure out that this war could go on forever?

2. What concrete steps will we take to de-escalate Iraq? What duty do we have if any to clean up the mess we leave behind? Given that we have no idea what will happen when and if we leave, what steps are being taken so that we can quickly and effectively respond to whatever catastrophes unfold?

2a. When will we start taking homeland security seriously, rather than rely on prayer and good luck that a major catastrophe hasn't been visited on us by our friends in the middle east?

2b. When will we ask the American people to sacrifice (seeing as how we are in a perpetual state of war), something politicians seem terrified of doing these days? Just as our children today are over indulged little brats, so does the elected official treat their constituent. Sacrifice in this case would mean the immediate cessation of all foreign oil purchases, period.

2c. Iraq has acted as a brilliant smokescreen obscuring all the many issues that are leading to our country's rapid fall from grace. When will these topics be discussed?

3. How will the Democratic party avoid becoming a power-obsessed monster more interested in cementing itself into power than governing?

Your emails are becoming more and more shrill and dogmatic and it worries me. While it's clear that the Republicans are the foot soldiers of Satan hmiself, what steps are being taken to avoid their mistakes?