May 19, 2010
Dear Representative Woolsey,
May should be a time of celebrating the beauty of living, with spring in full bloom and the recognition of our mothers as our source of life. But there have been too many events that make celebration difficult, if not impossible, for the members of Progressive Democrats of America.
Twenty-nine people lost their lives in a West Virginia mine, because we continue to promote coal as a primary source of energy. We do not effectively monitor the safety of these mines, allowing companies like Massey Energy to use stalling tactics to flout regulations—and CEOs like Don Blankenship to buy the judges he needs to keep dangerous mines open and violations unpunished.
The oil spill that BP had told the government last year was “highly unlikely” has cost 11 lives and could become the largest environmental disaster of all time. Around 25,000 barrels a day are spewing from the wellhead, and the health of ocean life and the fragile land ecosystem in the region—as well as the area’s economy—is in jeopardy. While offshore oil drilling has been halted, there are no assurances that it will not resume, because the US insists on focusing on oil as our major fuel source, blinding ourselves to the folly.
The state of Arizona has outraged people of conscience by enacting a law allowing law enforcement to arbitrarily demand proof of citizenship from anyone they encounter. Buying into the xenophobic, jingoistic, and bigoted fears of Americans whose feelings of disenfranchisement are based upon a fantasy of this country’s foundations—fueled by the media—Arizona has acted in betrayal of the moral imperatives of equality and justice laid out in the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Still, there is too much of a chance that other states will follow Arizona, rather than condemning its action.
The primary season is nearly upon us, and soon we will be seeing the effects of the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United vs. Federal Elections Commission. Unfettered by restrictions, the upcoming elections will make it harder for average voters to weed through the lies and spin to know for whom and what they will be voting. Yet again in Arizona, public campaign financing is under attack, and the outcome of the legal challenge will determine if the other states with public campaign financing can withstand the well-funded machine trying to undermine an effective way of keeping campaigns fair and free of corporate influence.
And still our military presence in Afghanistan and Iraq drains our Treasury and further pulls down our economy. Realistic estimates of joblessness and underemployment put the figure at 20 percent of our workforce, but only a trickle of tax money is spent on what needs a river: jobs programs for training and employment that will sustain our workers—and our economy—into the future.
The planned action in Kandahar is moving forward with no guarantee of lasting results and without the support of the Afghan people in the province, 94 percent of whom, according to the US government’s own poll, prefer negotiating with the Taliban over a military confrontation. Yet the US marches with blinders on, unwilling to consider alternatives to military action. The work of numerous NGOs and the UN, proposing humanitarian, diplomatic, and social solutions, is ignored as more and more Afghans—Taliban and civilians—die along with NATO troops.
This has to stop, and you, as the elected representative for this district, are in a position to stop these environmental, civil, economic, and moral wrongs in their tracks and prevent their reoccurrence. Thank you for your support of HR 5015, calling for a timeline for our exit from Afghanistan. First and foremost, your “no” vote on President Obama’s supplemental budget is essential. Further, we urge you to publicly commit to voting “No” on any bills that fund wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, or Yemen, and to publicly urge your colleagues and the House leadership to make the same commitment.
The way to move us from fossil-fuel dependency and forward to alternative, safe energies is to support carbon taxes (with the revenue returned to households) over the ineffective and loophole-ridden cap-and-trade policy. Until then, let the EPA do its job, unfettered by corporate influence. Thank you for your support of HR 1310, as a step toward effective regulation and oversight of coal mining and, ultimately, its long-overdue cessation. Make the stay on offshore oil drilling permanent, but do not allow a resurgence of nuclear power development to replace one dangerous energy policy with another.
Just as our budget can include paying for Medicare for All, rather than the corporate compromise facing us with the recent health insurance legislation, so can it afford—and it needs—investment in expanding already viable alternative energies and developing those still in their infancy, along with educating our current and future workforce in these and other technologies that will carry our economy forward. All it requires is to stop the hemorrhaging of tax money into the Middle East and to redirect it into our needs at home—and the realization that our security fears are overblown.
These requests can be summed up by urging you in the direction of legislation that upholds the ideals of our country—that we are a democracy that fights for individual rights but does not compromise on caring for all of our population. These are the ideals that put people above corporations, humanity over individual privilege, and our planet over profits.
We look forward to hearing from you to know what action you will take regarding these issues.
In the hope of peace,
Progressive Democrats Sonoma County
PDA Chapter
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Ed. Note – for purposes of this post, letter heading including Rep. Woolsey’s address, PDSonoma’s address and the footer, containing our contact info removed.
