Deer Island Town Meeting

A neat article from Common Dreams.

Deer Isle Town Meeting Day, March 1, 2010. It was an event for which to be proud and it ought not go uncelebrated. Two thirds of those at the Deer Isle Town Hall on this picturesque island of 2400 lobstermen, artists, tradesmen, and “from-awayers” took their stand. Effectively saying, “No more”, the substantial majority voted to approve an article on the town warrant calling on Congressman Mike Michaud not to fund the wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan and to take a lead in demanding the same principled position of his colleagues. Thanks in large part to impassioned statements made in support of the article (No one spoke in opposition.) Deer Isle may boast of playing a lead in Maine’s prerogative, showing the country the way...

The article on Deer Isle’s Town Warrant was inspired by the Bring the War Dollars Home campaign, a collaboration of 17 concerned citizens’ organizations led by the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space and Code Pink Maine. A number of other towns and cities in the state may soon follow Deer Isle’s lead as the campaign reports similar resolutions being considered in 10 other municipalities. There are other promising signs. One of Maine’s school district boards has voted 9-4, to support a “Bring the War $$s Home” resolution which will ask state legislators to request Congressional representatives to stop funding war and to use the money to fund education. The campaign also reports that 17 state legislators have now signed on to the “Bring the War $$s Home” letter asking Maine’s Congressional reps to support votes that will terminate war expenditures. On the weekend of April 10 and 11, supporters of the campaign weary of good-money-after-bad rationale, and unwilling to support one more appropriations bill will fan out in many towns across the state to place notices on residential doors which remind us that the average Maine family has paid $10,000 for warfare in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Right now, I'm hoping two things will happen: local governments will demand that the US bring its money home to its people, and students will continue to protest tuition hikes and the stripping of American colleges and universities.