In March of this year, 52 towns in the state of Vermont went on record expressing their opposition to the war in Iraq. The wording of the resolutions passed at town meetings across the state differed from community to community, but the messages that Vermonters sent to their elected representatives were clear:

• The Vermont Legislature was instructed to assess the impact of deployment of the National Guard on readiness to handle in-state emergencies and, more broadly, the impact on families, communities, employers and the very fabric of life in Vermont
• Vermont's congressional delegation was called on to work toward restoring state powers over Guard deployments in cases of "wars of choice," such as the Bush administration's "pre-emptive" invasion and occupation of Iraq.
• The president was urged to withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq, consistent with the mandate of international humanitarian law.

Since Vermont voted, the state's Republican governor and legislators of both major parties have taken steps to examine the impact of the deployment of Vermont National Guard troops in Iraq, and all three members of the state's congressional delegation - a Democrat and two independents - have begun efforts to restore state authority over Guard deployments.

Unfortunately, President Bush, who has always been more interested in talking about "spreading democracy" in other countries than in respecting democratic expressions of popular sentiment in the U.S., has shown little interest in withdrawing U.S. forces from the quagmire he has created in Iraq.

But there is little question that the Vermont Network on Iraq War Resolutions campaign played an important role in democratizing the debate about this wrong-minded war. And communities across the country have followed the lead of Vermonters. In April, for instance, the Gary, Ind., City Council voted 8-0 for a resolution urging the president to bring troops home immediately.

Now the campaign is coming to Wisconsin. The Wisconsin Green Party has announced that it will work with citizens across the state to place advisory referendums regarding the war on as many local ballots as possible in next spring's town, village, city and county elections. The question put to the voters will be straightforward: "Should the United States begin an immediate, phased withdrawal of its troops from Iraq?"

The Greens are onto something here. The cure for what ails America is democracy, and the more of it the better.

The late U.S. Sen. Robert M. La Follette, R-Wis., who read anti-war resolutions from Wisconsin communities on the floor of the Senate before the start of World War I, liked to say: "The people shall rule." That motto holds as true today as it did in 1917. It is time for the people of Wisconsin to weigh in on this war and, hopefully, to tip the balance toward peace

© 2005 Capital Times

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