Why
José Won’t Be Home
For Christmas
By John A. Murphy
13 October, 2006
Countercurrents.org
“Now I have precisely
the right instrument, at precisely the right moment in history, in exactly
the right place. All I need is a few miserable gallons of gasoline.
Right now the weakness is here. In ten days we could be in Berlin!"
– General
George S. Patton
José knew the war was
going to end one day. One day he would be coming home from Iraq. His
sister wrote him about the antiwar movement and how people were standing
on the corner every Saturday morning. She told José the Democrats
would win in November and that the war would be all over. His sister
was only nine years old.
A woman in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
told me that story about her son and daughter. I did not tell her that
the Democratic Party had no plans to end the war in Iraq. I did not
tell her that people standing in silent vigil on a Saturday morning
would not be able to bring José home. Maybe it's because I'm
not a professional politician but I just didn't know what to tell this
woman. She had never heard of me. I'm a 60-year-old man but I felt like
crying and I'm not exactly a cream puff.
Most people I stop on the
street while I’m out campaigning have never heard of me. I know
that. I know I've built a very powerful campaign. Along with the endorsements
of four political parties, I've been personally endorsed by such nationally
prominent Americans as Michael Berg, Peter Camejo, Noam Chomsky, Ralph
Nader and Howard Zinn. I was even praised by a local veterans group
for my position on Iraq.
We know the Democratic Party
is not going to bring José home from Iraq. The local Democratic
candidate says that our troops cannot come home from Iraq until we have
created a government whereby the Sunnis, Shi'ites and Kurds have all
been equally represented, when our national interests have been secured,
when the area is no longer destabilized and when the international community
comes in to help us.
Most of us know that those
conditions can never be met. Most of us know that very few Democrats
are calling for the immediate return of our troops.
When the local Democratic
candidate asked Michael Berg for his endorsement she was turned down
because she was at least honest enough to tell Michael that our troops
couldn't come home for quite some time. Michael Berg has endorsed me.
WHY JOHNNY CAN'T WIN
Some days I feel pretty bad
that I put together this powerful antiwar coalition and no one has heard
of me. I feel like the proverbial manufacturer who has built a better
mousetrap but could not afford to advertise. I have built a "product"
that 62% of Americans want: a congressional candidate who wants to end
the war in Iraq immediately, repeal the USA Patriot Act, expose the
truth about the bogus wars on terrorism and drugs, end corporate welfare
and corporate personhood, institute universal single-payer healthcare
and Instant Runoff Voting.
I know how General Patton
must have felt. Like Patton, I have precisely the right instrument,
at precisely the right moment in history, in exactly the right place.
All I need is a few miserable gallons of gasoline.
Essentially I have four armies
at my command and I'm armed with precisely the right issues at the most
opportune moment in our history. An opportunity like this will not come
again. One candidate supported by four political parties who are often
180° apart! For a miserable 50,000 gallons of gasoline a truly progressive,
corporate free representative could be in Washington in 26 days. But
there is no gasoline.
Why didn't the gasoline arrive?
Who prevented shipment? Who said they wanted to be in Washington but
then decided it was too expensive? I sent one drastic communiqué
after another begging for the fuel I needed. The green army controlled
the fuel. I needed about 500 greens to ship me 100 gallons each. I relied
upon the army that I thought would want to advance to Washington most
urgently. We could have been in Washington in 26 days. They did not
send me 50,000 gallons as I requested. They did not send me 25,000 gallons
they did not send me 10,000 gallons. They didn't even send the enough
to advance one mile!
When the Democrats realized
that it was too difficult for them to compete with the Republicans relying
on contributions from registered Democrats, they consorted with the
enemy 25 years ago and began taking corporate money. More and more candidates
in my position realize that while the Democratic Party is certainly
not salvageable, we are beginning to ask wouldn't it be better for us
to join the Democrats so that we could at least cast an antiwar vote?
Wouldn't it be better to be a progressive Democrat and get elected rather
than be a progressive independent or a Green Party candidate only to
be denied the election because the greens refuse to provide the necessary
financial support to beat the two corporate owned parties? Wouldn't
it be better to be a bad guy who does a few good things every now and
then rather than be a good guy who never gets to do anything at all?
The election will occur on
November 7, 2006. About four weeks from. There is still enough time
for me to get my message out. Not plenty of time but enough time; but
only barely enough. I desperately need the 50,000 gallons.
When my gallant forces lay
in ruins one month from now who will be to blame? When my hundreds of
troops go to the polling place with no literature to hand out, no lawn
signs or commercials to have prepared the way for them who will they
have to thank? Will we continue to whine about the corporate owned duopoly
and think that whining is enough?
In 2002, just before this
war began my children and I stood on the corner with candles. Something
more must now be done. Every day now is critical. Every day the two
pro war candidates against whom I'm running are plying the people with
the language of professional politicians.
Like Patton, I couldn't have
asked for a better scenario to advance the antiwar/pro-civil liberties
agenda. It's tailor-made for me. The Democratic Party, by running the
same candidate who was pummeled two-to-one in 2004 by the incumbent
Republican, has conceded the this District and left the door wide open
for me!
Without those few miserable
gallons of gasoline, everything that my volunteers and I have done will
be of no more significance than standing in silence on a street corner
holding a candle and carrying a sign.
Like José's little
sister I want our troops home now but my forces sit stranded and immobilized
simply because they lack one simple element: a few miserable gallons
of gasoline. I would love to meet José’s mother once more
in six weeks on the Streets of Lancaster without feeling like I was
going to cry this time. Will we ever get those few miserable gallons
of gasoline?
John Murphy
is the independent candidate for House of Representatives in the 16th
Congressional District of Pennsylvania. He has been endorsed by Michael
Berg, Peter Camejo, Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader and Howard Zinn. He has
been endorsed by two county level Green Parties, two county level Libertarian
Parties, the Pennsylvania Reform Party, the New American Independent
Party of Pennsylvania and the GDI among others. It can be reached through
his web site: www.johnmurphyforcongress.org
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