Local Referendums on the Iraq War (1 Viewer)

[tryreading]

I haven't seen anybody else bring this up. Are these useful? Will they mean anything to the people in the federal government? Could they be harmful to the troops in Iraq?



Nationally, three years after the U.S. invasion, 76 cities have passed resolutions calling for troops to come home, most recently Corvallis, Ore., and Lansdowne, Pa. Among them are Chicago; Berkeley, Calif.; Chapel Hill, N.C.; and Gary, Ind., as well as dozens of towns in Vermont.


Chris Muller, chairman of the La Crosse Republican Party, runs Choosevictory.org, which aims to defeat the antiwar activists at their own game. Like their counterparts to the east, La Crosse council members permitted the referendum but voted 13 to 3 to oppose an immediate troop withdrawal.

"A defeatist attitude is not going to get us anywhere in the world, and it's certainly not going to help our children in the future," Muller said, adding that a yes vote would harm troop morale. "Constantly seeing the negative stuff and not seeing the good that they're doing over there, and having people essentially second-guessing them and their leadership has got to have an effect on them."

That is not how the referendum's supporters see the exercise.
"People always have to lead politicians. Politicians are waiting to see which way the wind is blowing," said Bill Reichertz, who gathered signatures for the petition in Watertown. "The fight is worth it no matter whether we win or lose, because democracy lets people have a vote."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/03/17/AR2006031701800_pf.html

 

[RightinNYC]

[PIE] Moved, from March 18th, not "Today's News" [/PIE]

 

[tryreading]

[PIE] Moved, from March 18th, not "Today's News" [/PIE]

Sorry. I had heard the story on the radio that day, and didn't read the date on the printed article.

 

[cherokee]

tryreading]I haven't seen anybody else bring this up. Are these useful? Will they mean anything to the people in the federal government? Could they be harmful to the troops in Iraq?

Mean anything? No it wont....

Harmful? I dont think so.
The troops know what needs to be done before they can leave.

 

[oldreliable67]

In another article about the Wisconsin vote, a prof of poli sci at Marquette observed that:

Supporters shouldn't be too pleased with the results, said John McAdams, an associate professor of political science at Marquette University.

Victory margins in many of the liberal-leaning cities were lower than rates won by Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry in 2004, meaning swing voters haven't been swayed by anti-war sentiment, he said.
[emphasis added]

Source.

The results of such a vote in those particular districts should not have been surprising. The Dems, though, might be a little disappointed in what should have been for them, a disappointing margin.

 

[tryreading]

In another article about the Wisconsin vote, a prof of poli sci at Marquette observed that:



Source.

The results of such a vote in those particular districts should not have been surprising. The Dems, though, might be a little disappointed in what should have been for them, a disappointing margin.

The first thing I thought of after reading the Watertown article is that the outcome of some of these votes, if these same cities had voted on the same referendums before the war, would have been supportive of the Iraq war, so the referendums in those cities would only have revealed how many people had changed their minds about it in the last three years.

I wonder if there are going to be any referendums suggested, in more conservative areas, in support of the war?

I was against the Iraq invasion, but I want the outcome to be as positive as possible. I don't think the referendums indicate anything that polling couldn't.