A Letter to Senator Schumer: End the War!

On January 1, 2007, I learned that the three thousandth American was killed in the War against Iraq. I wrote to my senior senator, Chuck Schumer, to ask when he would start working to end the war.

(My junior senator is the slightly more useless Hillary Clinton, and there is no point in writing to her.)

The citizens of the United States have spoken loud and clear that they are done with war-mongering. The mid-term elections made it clear that a plurality are done with the war. It is up to the Democrats to end the war, now.

The Democrats, in all their divine uselessness, will take no action to end the war. They are too busy considering future elections to take any action that might be helpful to anyone today.

The Democrats should be stopping government until the war is done. Every bill should have an amendment that requires total withdrawal of all troops. No new law should be passed until all our soldiers are out of Iraq. Period.

Nothing. No budget. No gay marriage. No amendments to oppose gay marriage. No laws repealing Roe v. Wade. Nothing! Every time a bill comes up, a Democrat should insist that an anti-war amendment be attached to it and when it passes, all soldiers should be withdrawn from Iraq, now.

If the Democrats really wanted peace, they would work for it.

I ask you to challenge all elected Democrats and insist they withdraw the troops now.

Dear Senator Schumer:

Happy New Year!

Yes, a new year has begun. The end of 2006 brought us a potentially complete Democratic majority in the legislature. The Senate majority is threatened, but that does not discount the importance of the American people summarily dismissing the purveyors of war-mongering in the GOP.

Sadly, the voters have not yet dismissed the war-mongers in the Democratic Party. As a life-long Democrat, that is my next order of business.

It is January 1, 2007. You have done nothing, and you have said nothing about withdrawing our troops from Iraq.

Now is the time, Senator!

Today the 3,000th American death was announced.

Can you please reply to me and let me know what number of Americans must die in Iraq before my senior senator will take a stance against the war and will commit his resources to ending this disaster?

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Best regards,
[Dick Mac]
Brooklyn, NY

How man Americans will have to die before guys like Schumer actually do something? Anything! You can write to Senator Schumer, too! Let's all do it!

I then received this:

Subject: Thanks
From: senator@schumer.senate.gov
To: dickmac
Date: Mon, 1 Jan 2007 10:35:41 -0500

Thank you for your e-mail. Each and every piece of correspondence I receive is important because it allows me to better understand the New Yorkers I serve in the United States Senate.
      As you can imagine, my office receives a great number of messages every day regarding a variety of issues – this is particularly true of e-mails. It makes me proud to know that my constituents take an active role in our government by corresponding with me, and I look forward to responding to your concerns in greater detail. In the meantime, I just wanted to let you know that your e-mail has been received, and to ask for your patience until I send you a more detailed response.
      Again, thank you for writing. Please feel free to visit my website http://schumer.senate.gov to follow my work in the Senate and to learn more about the services my office can provide to you.
     Warmest regards

Please note, that like the senator's position on the war, this email is almost unreadable!