Tell our MoC’s: No War With Iran
Call BOTH of your Senators.
Call ONE of the Representatives. Note: only one of these Congressmembers represents you. Find out which one here.
Call Script
My name is __________. I am a constituent, and my zip code is _______. I am a member of Indivisible SF.
No War with Iran!
No more forever wars.
Vote FOR the War Powers Act resolution.
Vote AGAINST any supplemental appropriations for an Iran War.
No Kings! No MAGA-regime!"
Background
Trump and his MAGA regime launched a military attack against Iran in violation of Article 1 of the Constitution and the War Powers Act of 1973. As of Tuesday afternoon, a shakey truce was still in place. If the truce fails to hold, Trump's unilateral action could lead to an ongoing war of unknown dimensions.
Make no mistake, Iran is a brutal, fundamentalist, misogynistic, expansionist, theocracy, that oppresses its own population while inciting and enabling international terrorism. We are no friends of the Iranian rulers.
We also remember, though, that the JCPOA nuclear weapons deal President Obama got Iran to sign was effective, Iran was not on the verge of building nuclear weapons. Then Trump impulsively and unilaterally withdrew from the agreement which left Iran free to ignore it and resume development.
As we have seen in Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and elsewhere, American military interventions and attempts at "regime change" have all resulted in misery and catastrophe for everyone in the Middle East, and unending "forever" wars that cost American military and civilian lives and divert our resources away from desperately needed domestic priorities.
If an ongoing war with Iran flares up it will:
Result yet more increases in defense spending that already eats up 60% of the federal budget. And that will mean another round of crippling cuts to domestic programs that we need and rely on.
Like some character from Game of Thrones, Lord Trump is obsessed by his desire to rule as a king. He is already using imaginary and fake "emergencies" to illegally expand his personal power while repressing our freedoms and imposing police-state tactics to silence dissent. How much farther will he go with the excuse of an actual war?
In response to Trump, the Iranians have threatened to close the Straight of Hormuz – which they have the military capability to do. Some 20% (one-fifth) of all oil and natural gas shipments pass through that narrow stretch of water. If the strait is blocked, the global economy will experience a huge spike in the costs of gasoline and electricity – leading inevitably to job layoffs and a rapid increase in the cost of the necessities we have to purchase.
Both political parties are split by Trump's new war.
In both parties, "Defense Hawks" who rely on defense-industry campaign contributions have joined with allies of Netanyahu and AIPAC to support and cheer on yet another forever war – this time with Iran.
In the Democratic Pary, Progressives and some centrists like Pelosi oppose Trump's war. Either because it is reckless and counter-productive or because of the unconstitutional way he started it without involving Congress. Or both.
In the Republican Party, the MAGA/America-first wing is also opposed to an Iran war. While we in Indivisible stand strong against MAGA and MAGA-ism, even a broken clock shows the correct time twice a day.
Article I of the American Constitution grants Congress (and only Congress) the power to declare war. But the last president to honor that provision was Franklin Delano Roosevelt on the day after Pearl Harbor. Since World War II, every subsequent war and military intervention has been unilaterally initiated by the president – Korea, Vietnam, Dominican Republic, Iraq (twice), Libya, etc, etc.
After the Pentagon Papers revealed how Johnson and Nixon lied and tricked America into into the Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia wars, public anger was so great that Congress was forced to pass (and Ford to sign) the War Powers Act. But it turned out to be a sham designed to fool the public. The language allowed presidents of both parties to circumvent and ignore it. The proof of a pudding is in the eating, and in the 50 years since it was enacted, the War Powers Act has never stopped, or even limited, a single instance of presidential war-making and military-intervention.
Stopping wars is hard. But silence equals assent. If we do nothing to prevent an Iran War, we are complicit in it.
Wars are only stopped by political processes that mobilize public opinion – protests, petitions, lobbying, nonviolent resistance, and ballot box victories that lead to war-ending elections or legislation. War Powers Act resolutions against an Iran War have been submitted in both the House and Senate. Their chances of being passed are slim. And even if they do pass both chambers, the chance of Lord Trump being influenced by them is slimmer still.
Yet demanding that our Members of Congress vote for the War Powers Resolutions to prevent an Iran War is what we can do today to begin the process of building public opposition. In the coming days and weeks there will be other actions we can take to prevent this new forever war, and also to resist the atrocities of the MAGA regime, and to eventually replace it through the ballot box.
This Week's US Congressional Call Scripts:
