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Cindy Sheehan: leaving the Democratic Party and calling for July 4 meeting in Philadelphia
By James Marc Leas
 Like her sit-in in Crawford Texas in 2005, Cindy Sheehan's letter to the Democratic Congress following their vote to fund the war (SEE HERE ) marks an important initiative for the antiwar movement.
Cindy calls for a meeting in Philadelphia on July 4 "to try and figure a way out of this 'two' party system that is bought and paid for by the war machine which has a stranglehold on every aspect of our lives." She concludes her letter to the Democratic Congress by saying, "As for myself, I am leaving the Democratic Party. You have completely failed those who put you in power to change the direction our country is heading. We did not elect you to help sink our ship of state but to guide it to safe harbor. "We do not condone our government's violent meddling in sovereign countries and we condemn the continued murderous occupation of Iraq. "We gave you a chance, you betrayed us."
People all over the country have recognized that the vote to fund the war--and all the trickery leading up to that vote--means that new ideas are needed. The Democrats thought they did not have to worry about the vast antiwar majority in this country because we have no where else to go. Cindy Sheehan is sparking an alternative. We all know that business as usual is not enough. The July 4 meeting in Philadelphia provides an opportunity for new ideas and new directions.
Ideas from history: When the two parties of slavery (the Democratic Party and the Whig Party) reached a similar point of discrediting themselves in the late 1850s, and people were fed up with both, activists from those parties and various smaller abolitionist parties merged to form the Republican Party that nominated Abraham Lincoln for the 1860 election. He won, and the Whig Party soon ceased to exist.
More recently, for decades two major corporate parties alternated control in Venezuela. Hugo Chavez formed a new party in 1998. After his victory in the 1998 election both those two major parties shrank to single digits.
Our forefathers gathered to declare independence on July 4, 1776 in Philadelphia and to initiate an alternative to colonial rule. The American people have a similar opportunity on July 4, 2007 to gather in Philadelphia, declare independence from the two colonial war parties, and initiate an alternative that is of, by, and for the people, and free of control by war makers and corporations. I hope everyone will go to Philadelphia on July 4 to support this declaration and contribute proposals for an alternative. James Marc Leas, a frequent contributor of MWC News, is helping organize the Vermont impeachment campaign. He is a patent attorney and a member of the National Lawyers Guild.} Recommend this article...
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