Last weekend, Our Revolution played a major role in this year’s Reducing the Threat of Nuclear War Conference — one of the nation’s most significant gatherings of Nuclear Disarmament advocates, led by Massachusetts Peace Action.
Joining the discussion with leading peace advocates from around the country were U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna and Our Revolution Board Chair Larry Cohen, who spoke to the need to defend and expand progressive representation in Congress in order to advance an agenda for peace.
“We can’t just elect Democrats who support a bloated military budget,” Larry said. “And, this isn’t just about a single issue, but the need for a coalitional politics that stands for real change.”
As a member of Congress who has repeatedly voted against the Pentagon budget, opposed new rounds of nukes, and more , Ro Khanna is an important voice against militarism.
Ro worked with Bernie Sanders to pass the first War Powers resolution to bring the war in Yemen to a close. During the call, he dug into the details of why he is calling on President Biden to abide by the resolution following dozens of American and UK strikes in Yemen last week.
“We can’t have a president of either party getting us involved in another Middle East conflict,” Ro said. “I’ve spoken for Ceasefire for humanitarian reasons: children are being killed, the possibility of famine, the release of hostages.”
“But there are also regional reasons for deescalation,” he explained, “so we don’t expand into Yemen and prevent a wider war in the Middle East. I view this as an urgent task for members of Congress, particularly the Congressional Progressive Caucus, to get us to a point of ceasefire in Gaza.”
Merkley spoke to how the current Senate is broken, gridlocked, and a threat to the foundations of our democracy. He explained how the minority party can just declare a “no talk” filibuster requiring 60 votes to pass nearly any bill, and have veto power over the majority’s agenda — all behind closed doors.
“The filibuster is used by the powerful to block progress on every issue – from democracy reforms to climate legislation,” Merkley said. “No matter what aspect of the progressive movement you’re passionate about, we need to push Congress to fix this.”
We were also joined by Mike Zamore, who served as Sen. Merkley’s chief of staff from the beginning and co-authored their new book “Filibustered: How to Fix the Broken Senate and Save America.”
“The filibuster is perfect for the Republicans, it’s ‘heads I win, tails you lose,’” Zamore said. “We can’t build power when we’re hamstrung by the filibuster. It’s not just policies that get blocked, it’s us and our power and our ability to show that our vision of America is worth fighting for.”
U.S. Rep. Barbara Lee has been on the forefront calling for a Ceasefire and we all remember how she stood alone to vote against giving George W. Bush unilateral power to go into war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“Wherever I am or what platform I have, I’m going to fight for peace and security for people no matter where they live — Gaza, Ukraine, and our own communities,” Barbara told Our Revolution.
“I don’t believe in taking our resources and tax dollars to enrich arms dealers that are scamming the system and creating war,” she said.
Check out this LA Times article on why Barbara is the Peace Candidate in this race compared to her opponents, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, then sign up at the link below to help elect Barbara Lee to the U.S. Senate!