Peace Action West

Dear Peace Voter,

When voters expressed their hope for change in the 2008 election, they demanded a new direction for U.S. foreign policy. In the first days of the new administration, the President used the bully pulpit to bring a refreshing change of tone to U.S. statecraft. His willingness to personally and repeatedly embrace the vision of a world free of nuclear weapons is one of the highlights of the past year that this voting record does not capture.

However, voters are not seeing the kind of strong change in foreign policy many of us hoped for. A year into the president’s term, real progress on nuclear disarmament has not yet been achieved. Obama’s decisions to twice increase the number of U.S. troops in Afghanistan were, simply put, the wrong strategy to bring peace to the region.

In fact, anyone watching the political action this year knows that Washington, D.C. has a way of tripping up hopes and visions on their way to becoming realities. Despite the public’s clarion call for change, the votes here demonstrate that transforming an outmoded, saber-rattling approach to foreign policy is still incredibly challenging. You may be surprised to see scores have lowered since the Bush era, as many Democrats teamed up with Republicans to vote in favor of discredited strategies like blunt military force and harsh sanctions.

The debate on the war in Afghanistan has embodied the lack of foreign policy boldness and creativity in Congress and the White House. Most of Congress publicly supports the current military-dominated strategy, even while many have privately shared serious concerns about its viability. Like a sleepwalker going through the motions, Congress has funded a military-dominated approach while underfunding civilian alternatives, even though almost everyone now agrees that the problems facing Afghanistan can’t really be solved using military tools. But even in this tough year in which politicians stuck to old habits and many Democrats hesitated in criticizing their own party’s president, our supporters applied enough pressure to get leading members of Congress to voice their skepticism of war and speak out for peaceful alternatives. With your help, our organizing can continue to bring more politicians into the fold.

If you’re reading this scorecard you know that real democracy means more than voting every few years. It certainly means a lot more than the non-stop, smash-mouth grudgefest that is the perpetual campaign season. For democracy to flourish, citizens need to be fully engaged. And that means learning more about the critical issues that face the country and tracking what your representatives are doing.

This voting record helps you know the score — you know whether your representatives in Congress are standing up for a foreign policy that reflects your values.

But knowing the score is, of course, not the end of your engagement. We invite you to let your representative and senators know that you know. Communicate your views often by calling, writing or e-mailing — or better yet — visiting their offices. And when election time rolls around, vote your views. True and lasting change doesn’t come easy and it doesn’t come in a single election or a single year. Engaged citizens need to keep speaking out and keep pushing. Issue after issue. Vote after vote.

Together, staying engaged and holding our elected representatives accountable, we can make the changes that the people truly want become real.