Second Star to the Right

[WilliamPitt]

http://www.pdamerica.org/articles/news/exit-iraq.php

This past weekend, at the California State Democratic Party Convention in Los Angeles, the largest gathering of state-party Democrats in the nation, activists with Progressive Democrats of America led by PDA Executive Director Tim Carpenter successfully lobbied 2,000 delegates to pass a resolution calling for the termination of the occupation of Iraq. The resolution included specific language demanding the withdrawal of American troops from that country. "The California Democratic party," reads the resolution in part, "calls for the termination of the occupation.of American troops in Iraq."

This victory is a powerful statement not only to the national Democratic party but to the Republican administration and the majority in Congress.

Carpenter and his tireless crew spent the weekend working all corners of the convention to create a coalition of delegates large enough and strong enough to support the proposed resolution. Elements of the convention attempted to water down the language of the resolution, but the PDA activists successfully beat back the challenge. Meeting and overcoming this challenge was significant in and of itself, because it resoundingly demonstrated the ability of grassroots activism to overcome the go-along-to-get-along inertia of machine politics.

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