Anti- War: The New Political Force?

Maybe, but I doubt it.

This piece from Antiwar.com suggests that, since polls are showing a large percentage of Americans are opposed to the Iraq occupation, the anti- war movement might well be one of the new major players in national elections. That's if they could become unified, and that's a big IF.

I'm skeptical mostly because anti- war sentiment is a fleeting thing with many Americans. Remember that just after 9/11 over 80% of the American people were in favor of some sort of military action, if memory serves me correct. Then, shortly after that when the attack plan for Iraq was made up, seems to me about as many people still favored military action on Iraq. Only after the casualties started mounting and the case against Iraq started falling apart did the polls show people changing their minds.

So, all that's needed is some sort of attack on American soil, and a lot of these so- called anti- war types will be looking for blood again.

Still, even the 20 or 30 per cent that tend to oppose military action more on principle could be a substantial voting block, if unified. But could they unify? It's doubtful. The Voters For Peace organization mentioned in the article looks to do just that. That will be tough row to hoe and I wish them luck, despite not being an absolutist pacifist myself.

I have to wonder, though, if Voters For Peace is really just another version of MoveOn.org? MoveOn.org is just a shill for the Democratic Party. They rally people around a certain issue, like the invasion of Iraq, and then try and convince their followers that the only way to solve whatever problem they're focusing on is to elect Democrats. I know. I'm on their e-mail list.

I had to laugh when they were focusing on Iraq and put up an online poll for members to vote for who they deemed the best candidate to support in the last presidential election. All the choices were Democrats. For the life of me I forgot who won that poll, But it wasn't Kuccinich, who was probably the only anti- war candidate on the list, if memory serves me correct.

Will Voters For Peace end up being another MoveOn.org? I don't know, but their job of unifying the anti- war vote seems almost undoable to me.