"Yes, We Can End the War & Fix the Economy!"

John Nichols of the Nation recently named Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) the "Most Valuable Political Group" of 2008. PDA will be living up to that billing during inauguration week, distributing a couple hundred thousand flyers demanding "Health Care, Not Warfare!" to those attending events in D.C., but also in cities across the country. The leaflet they will be handing out, quoting Dr. King and making the case for single-payer national health care, is here:
http://pdamerica.org/misc/PDA_IG_FINAL.pdf

The basic concept is simple--that we spend too much on our military, and not enough on the social needs of the American people. The PDA push fits in well as part of the strategy endorsed by the national meeting of United for Peace & Justice (UFPJ) last month, to press for a 20% cut in the military budget by 2010. UFPJ is our most broad-based peace & justice coalition, and has led the fight against the Iraq War from before it started. The UFPJ effort is called "Yes, We Can! Beyond War, a New Economy Is Possible!". The goal is to tie the need to end the occupation of Iraq and cut the military budget to the crying need for good green jobs, health care for everyone, new infrastructure spending on levees and bridges, and greater provision of needed social services like food stamps and unemployment insurance.
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=4003