[WCUSP] Can't take it anymore

[yvonne simmons]

This speech has been cited on several websites. I
found it on Veterans
Against the Iraq War website:
http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3376
<http://www.vaiw.org/vet/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=3376>

Salt Lake City Mayor says 'We won't take it anymore!'

October 27, 2007 City & County Building Salt Lake
City, Utah

Address by Mayor Ross C. 'R

Today, as we come together once again in this great
city, we raise our
voices in unison to say to President Bush, to Vice
President Cheney, to
other members of the Bush Administration (past and
present), to a
 majority
of Congress, including Utah's entire congressional
delegation, and to
 much
of the mainstream media: 'You have failed us miserably
and we won't
 take it
any more.'



While we had every reason to expect far more of you,
you have been
 pompous,
greedy, cruel, and incompetent as you have led this
great nation to a
 moral,
military, and national security abyss.' 'You have
breached trust with
 the
American people in the most egregious ways. You have
utterly failed in
 the
performance of your jobs. You have undermined our
Constitution,
 permitted
the violation of the most fundamental treaty
obligations, and betrayed
 the
rule of law.



You have engaged in, or permitted, heinous human
rights abuses of the
 sort
never before countenanced in our nation's history as a
matter of
 official
policy. You have sent American men and women to kill
and be killed on
 the
basis of lies, on the basis of shifting
justifications, without
 competent
leadership, and without even a coherent plan for this
monumental
 blunder.



We are here to tell you: We won't take it any more!



You have acted in direct contravention of values that
we, as Americans
 who
love our country, hold dear. You have deceived us in
the most cynical,
outrageous ways. You have undermined, or allowed the
undermining of,
 our
constitutional system of checks and balances among the
three presumed
co-equal branches of government. You have helped lead
our nation to the
brink of fascism, of a dictatorship contemptuous of
our nation's treaty
obligations, federal statutory law, our Constitution,
and the rule of
 law.



Because of you, and because of your jingoistic false
'patriotism,' our
 world
is far more dangerous, our nation is far more
despised, and the threat
 of
terrorism is far greater than ever before. It has been
absolutely
 astounding
how you have committed the most horrendous acts,
causing such needless
tragedy in the lives of millions of people, yet you
wear your so-called
religion on your sleeves, asserting your
God-is-on-my-side nonsense -
 when
what you have done flies in the face of any religious
or humanitarian
tradition. Your hypocrisy is mind-boggling - and
disgraceful.



What part of 'Thou shalt not kill' do you not
understand? What part of
 the
'Golden rule' do you not understand? What part of 'be
honest,' 'be
responsible,' and 'be accountable' don't you
understand? What part of
'Blessed are the peacekeepers' do you not understand?



Because of you, hundreds of thousands of people have
been killed, many
thousands of people have suffered horrendous lifetime
injuries, and
 millions
have been run off from their homes. For the sake of
our nation, for the
 sake
of our children, and for the sake of our brothers and
sisters around
 the
world, we are morally compelled to say, as loudly as
we can, 'We won't
 take
it any more!' '



As United States agents kidnap, disappear, and torture
human beings
 around
the world, you justify, you deceive, and you cover up.
We find what you
 have
done to men, women and children, and to the good name
and reputation of
 the
United States, so appalling, so unconscionable, and so
outrageous as to
compel us to call upon you to step aside and

allow other men and women who are competent, true to
our nation's
 values,
and with high moral principles to stand in your places
– for the good
 of our
nation, for the good of our children, and for the good
of our world.



In the case of the President and Vice President, this
means impeachment
 and
removal from office, without any further delay from a
complacent,
 complicit
Congress, the Democratic majority of which cares more
about political
 gain
in 2008 than it does about the vindication of our
Constitution, the
 rule of
law, and democratic accountability. It means the
election of people as
President and Vice President who, unlike most of the
presidential
 candidates
from both major parties, have not aided and abetted in
the perpetration
 of
the illegal, tragic, devastating invasion and
occupation of Iraq. And
 it
means the election of people as President and Vice
President who will
 commit
to return our nation to the moral and strategic
imperative of
 refraining
from torturing human beings.



In the case of the majority of Congress, it means
electing people who
 are
diligent enough to learn the facts, including reading
available
 National
Intelligence Estimates, before voting to go to war. It
means electing
 to
Congress men and women who will jealously guard
Congress's sole
 prerogative
to declare war. It means electing to Congress men and
women who will
 not
submit like vapid lap dogs to presidential requests
for blank checks to
engage in so-called preemptive wars, for legislation
permitting
 warrantless
wiretapping of communications involving US citizens,
and for dangerous,
irresponsible, saber-rattling legislation like the
recent Kyl-

Lieberman amendment.



We must avoid the trap of focusing the blame solely
upon President Bush
 and
Vice-President Cheney. This is not just about a few
people who have
 wronged
our country - and the world. They were enabled by
members of both
 parties in
Congress, they were enabled by the pathetic mainstream
news media, and,
ultimately, they have been enabled by the American
people - 40% of whom
 are
so ill-informed they still think Iraq was behind the
9/11 attacks - a
 people
who know and care more about baseball statistics and
which drunken
 starlets
are wearing underwear than they know and care about
the atrocities
 being
committed every single day in our name by a government
for which we
 need to
take responsibility.



As loyal Americans, without regard to political
partisanship – as
 veterans,
as teachers, as religious leaders, as working men and
women, as
 students, as
professionals, as businesspeople, as public servants,
as retirees, as
 people
of all ages, races, ethnic origins, sexual
orientations, and faiths --
 we
are here to say to the Bush administration, to the
majority of
 Congress, and
to the mainstream media: 'You have violated your
solemn
 responsibilities.
You have undermined our democracy, spat upon our
Constitution, and
 engaged
in outrageous, despicable acts. You have brought our
nation to a point
 of
immorality, inhumanity, and illegality of immense,
tragic,
 unprecedented
proportions.'



But we will live up to our responsibilities as
citizens, as brothers
 and
sisters of those who have suffered as a result of the
imperial bullying
 of
the United States government, and as moral actors who
must take a
 stand: And
we will, and must, mean it when we say 'We won't take
it any more.



If we want principled, courageous elected officials,
we need to be
principled, courageous, and tenacious ourselves.
History has
 demonstrated
that our elected officials are not the leaders – the
leadership has
 to come
from us. If we don't insist, if we don't persist, then
we are not
 living up
to our responsibilities as citizens in a democracy -
and our
responsibilities as moral human beings. If we remain
silent, we signal
 to
Congress and the Bush administration - and to
candidates running for
 office
- and to the world - that we support the status quo.



Silence is complicity. Only by standing up for what's
right and never
letting down can we say we are doing our part. Our
government, on the
 basis
of a campaign we now know was entirely fraudulent,
attacked and
 militarily
occupied a nation that posed no danger to the United
States. Our
 government,
acting in our name, has caused immense, unjustified
death and
 destruction.



It all started five years ago, yet where have we, the
American people,
 been?
At this point, we are responsible. We get together
once in a while at
demonstrations and complain about Bush and Cheney,
about Congress, and
 about
the pathetic news media. We point fingers and yell a
lot. Then most
 people
politely go away until another demonstration a few
months later.



How many people can honestly say they have spent as
much time learning
 about
and opposing the outrages of the Bush administration
as they have spent
watching sports or mindless television programs during
the past five
 years?
Escapist, time-sapping sports and insipid
entertainment have indeed
 become
the opiate of the masses. Why is this country so sound
asleep? Why do
 we
abide what is happening to our nation, to our
Constitution, to the
 cause of
peace and international law and order? Why are we not
doing all in our
 power
to put an end to this madness?



We should be in the streets regularly and students
should be raising
 hell on
our campuses. We should be making it clear in every
way possible that
apologies or convoluted, disingenuous explanations
just don't cut it
 when
residential candidates and so many others voted to
authorize George
 Bush and
his neo-con buddies to send American men

and women to attack and occupy Iraq.



Let's awaken, and wake up the country by committing
here and now to do
 all
each of us can to take our nation back. Let them hear
us across the
 country,
as we ask others to join us: 'We won't take it any
more!'



I implore you: Draw a line. Figure out exactly where
your own moral
 breaking
point is. How much will you put up with before you say
'No more' and
 mean
it?



I have drawn my line as a matter of simple personal
morality: I cannot,
 and
will not, support any candidate who has voted to fund
the atrocities in
Iraq. I cannot, and will not, support any candidate
who will not commit
 to
remove all US troops, as soon as possible, from Iraq.
I cannot, and
 will
not, support any candidate who has supported
legislation that takes us
 one
step closer to attacking Iran. I cannot, and will not,
support any
 candidate
who has not fought to stop the kidnapping,
disappearances, and torture
 being
carried on in our name.



If we expect our nation's elected officials to take us
seriously, let
 us
send a powerful message they cannot  misunderstand.
Let them know we
 really
do have our moral breaking point. Let them know we
have drawn a bright
 line.
Let them know they cannot take our support for granted
- that,
 regardless of
their party and regardless of other political
considerations, they will
 not
have our support if they cannot provide, and have not
 provided,principled
leadership.



The people of this nation may have been far too quiet
for five years,
 but
let us pledge that we won't let it go on one more day
- that we will do
 all
we can to put an end to the illegalities, the moral
degradation, and
 the
disintegration of our nation's reputation in the
world.



Let us be unified in drawing the line - in declaring
that we do have a
 moral
breaking point. Let us insist, together, in supporting
our troops and
 in
gratitude for the freedoms for which our veterans gave
so much, that we
bring our troops home from Iraq, that we return our
government to a
constitutional democracy, and that we commit to
honoring the
 fundamental
principles of human rights.



In defense of our country, in defense of our
Constitution, in defense
 of our
shared values as Americans - and as moral human beings
– we declare
 today
that we will fight in every way possible to stop the
insanity, stop the
continued military occupation of Iraq, and stop the
moral depravity
reflected by the kidnapping, disappearing, and torture
of people around
 the
world.



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