By David Swanson
To hear some activist bloggers, we only lobby because we are sure of swift victory or want to express our inner feelings. I think that neglects the most significant and effective strategy for lobbying: Pressuring Congress in order to produce a record of who stands where under pressure in order to use that for and against candidates in the next election and then come back and win. We need people on record. And, yes, we have to unelect the ones on record for the wrong thing, even if they belong to the better of the corporate militarized Parties. Otherwise, what are we doing?
The most likely mechanism through which public pressure will end wars is House votes against funding, but that doesn’t mean we’ll win immediately, any more than we pass the rhetorical timetable stuff immediately or expect the Senate and President ever to approve of it. When the House ends funding, we won’t need the Senate or the President.