Democratic leadership out of touch

By now perhaps you have heard that Sen. Mark Dayton, who will not be running for reelection in 2006 when his term ends, has signed on as a Senate sponsor to the House bill which calls for the formation of a new Cabinet office, the Department of Peace.

Activists in the group Peace Alliance were lobbying their members of Congress, including Dayton, and reportedly he was so moved by one family who brought their children along to lobby with them that he decided to sign on. This news, while welcome to all who value peace both home and abroad, was also frustrating to some activists, who hoped Dayton would also advocate bringing home the troops from Iraq.

“The Democratic leadership is so out of touch,” said longtime peace activist Marv Davidov. “It’s the same old shit—the Democrats are becoming Republicans.” Davidov said he wishes he would run into Dayton so he could talk to him about “ending the damn war.”

Davidov was among the hundreds of thousands of anti-war protesters who traveled to Washington,D.C., two weekends ago despite his health problems. Davidov has dialysis twice a week for his kidney problems, but decided to go to the D.C. protest anyway. He had no trouble on the bus, but did get a flat tire on his wheelchair in Washington, he said, laughing. He said he’s encouraged by a lot of new faces on the scene, saying “18 out of 45 people” on his bus had never been to an anti-war protest in Washington, D.C.

Davidov said that while the new peace department legislation is important, it is more important to end the war in Iraq. His group, AlliantAction, will hold a peace convergence on Oct. 22 at the University of St. Thomas beginning at 12:30 p.m. and a nonviolent direct action on Oct. 24 at Alliant Techsystems, a local producer of weapon systems, including cluster bombs, landmines and depleted uranium munitions. The events are sponsored by numerous peace groups in the Twin Cities area and Wisconsin. For more information, call 651-644-8118 or 715-472-4185.