Tell your Members of Congress & President Biden: We Can Support Ukraine and Strengthen NATO Without a Combat Role for US Troops
Call BOTH of your Senators.
Call ONE of the Representatives. Note: only one of these Congressmembers represents you. Find out which one here.
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Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
For President Biden: I support the Ukrainian people in their struggle for freedom, independence, and real democracy. I applaud your opposition to Russia's ruthless and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine. I unequivocally condemn Trump and other Republicans who aligns themselves with authoritarians like Putin who reject democracy and seek to undermine and destroy it.
For the Members of Congress: I support the Ukrainian people in their struggle for freedom, independence, and real democracy. I applaud President Biden's opposition to Russia's ruthless and unjustifiable invasion of Ukraine. I unequivocally condemn Trump and other Republicans who aligns themselves with authoritarians like Putin who reject democracy and seek to undermine and destroy it.
For all: I support your commitment to working with our allies and strengthening NATO to defend democracy in Europe and elsewhere.
I support providing American military and humanitarian aid to the Ukrainian people through normal State Department, international, and NGO channels.
But I strongly oppose any active military engagement by U.S. combat forces in the Ukraine war.
And I strongly oppose using the Ukraine crisis to justify greater increases in the already bloated Pentagon budget. Our defense spending is larger than the next 11 nations combined – that's far more than enough.
I also call on you to oppose and condemn – publicly and by name – Trump and other Republican authoritarian-lovers who praise Putin and provide aid and comfort to democracy-haters whoever and wherever they may be.
Since oil and gas exports make up a significant percentage of the Russian economy, I urge you to aggressively promote environmental and economic policies that reduce our reliance on fossil fuels. If Senators Manchin and Sinema continue to ally themselves with Republicans to block climate-emergency measures, I urge you to make maximum use of your executive powers even if doing so upsets the GOP.
Background
History teaches us that despite rhetoric and propaganda, most wars are – at root – caused by domestic politics in the aggressor nation rather than any real external threat or attack from whomever they invade. Ukraine posed no military threat to Russia, and an enlarged NATO only threatened to contain expansion of Russia's sphere of power. But under Putin, Russia is an anti-democratic police state kleptocracy where all power is concentrated in his hands and those of his crony oligarchs as they siphon off their nation's wealth into Swiss bank accounts and Manhattan real estate. They cannot tolerate the example of the Ukrainian people's march towards democracy and a more equitable economy because it shows the Russian people that a better and fairer life is possible. Hence Russia's destabilization campaign, then biting off the Crimea and Donbas, and now full scale invasion.
Putin's invasion of Ukraine is not an isolated event. It's part of a broader attack against democracy that echoes events of the 20th century. In the 1930s, when corporate greed and Wall Street speculators threw the entire planet into a decade-long global depression, the resulting poverty, hunger, despair, and social unrest posed an existential threat to the economic and political elite's status quo of wealth, power, and privilege. They reacted by promoting and financing a worldwide fascist movement to destroy democracy and suppress social movements that threatened their continued rule. Similarly, today’s climate crises pose an existential threat to those at the top of the pyramid, and once again, we see an international rise of authoritarianism and a global assault against democracy and social movements that might threaten or reform the established order.
It is a truism that authoritarians mutually support each other against their common foes, democracy and equality. Here in America, Trump and his Republican sycophants proclaim the "stolen election" lie, attack the Capitol, and launch a racist, multi-state assault against voting rights. Simultaneously, they praise and openly admire Putin of Russia, Bolsonaro of Brazil, Orban of Hungary, Modi of India, and other "strongman" autocrats.
Authoritarianism and militarism go hand in hand. Armies, police, and prisons are their tools for imposing their rule on recalcitrant subjects and enlarging their sphere of control. The more a nation spends on militarism, the less it can spend on improving the lives of its people. Subject populations who lack a minimal level of economic stability and security are easier to control – and easier to exploit, because people who are barely surviving on the ragged edge of hunger & homelessness have no choice but to accept whatever work is offered, however onerous, dangerous, or underpaid.
So it's no surprise that here in America, Republicans and corporate Democrats like Manchin and Sinema urge greater spending on the Pentagon, police, and prisons, more tax cuts for Wall Street, and less regulation and larger subsidies for the fossil fuel industry, while they simultaneously block voting rights legislation and sabotage domestic initiatives that raise people out of poverty, strengthen education, heal the sick, feed the hungry, and shelter the homeless.
References
Why did Russia invade Ukraine? The Conversation, 2/26
Statement by President Biden on Russia’s Unprovoked and Unjustified Attack on Ukraine, 2/23
Biden approves $350 million in military aid for Ukraine, Reuters, 2/26
Republican sabotage of the Biden administration is coming back to bite all of us, Daily Kos, 2/24
Laundered Money Could Be Putin’s Achilles’ Heel, NY Times 2/24
Clyburn slams Trump, others praising Putin: 'Domestic enemies', The Hill, 2/27
How the Ukraine invasion connects to Trump's first impeachment, Politico, 2/24
Russia Is a Potemkin Superpower, Paul Krugman, NY Times, 2/28
IPCC issues ‘bleakest warning yet’ on impacts of climate breakdown, Guardian, 2/28