Smoking Grass Roots

I've written about my frustrations about MoveOn.org elsewhere, but after yesterday's post it seems appropriate to talk about an e-mail I received from my (un)favorite grass roots organization this morning. Am I complaining? Sure. Am I being hypocrtical about complaining about complainers? Yeah, okay. But I'm a Democrat at heart, so what can I do?

MoveOn is urging me to join a rally to stop the escalation of troops going to Iraq. Why? Because "Stopping escalation is important because it will help us get out of Iraq faster. We voted against "Stay the Course" in November and if can show widespread opposition to escalation tonight the only other option is a responsible exit from Iraq."

Um, when did MoveOn change from "grass roots" to "military strategists"? Look, it's clear that our involvment in Iraq has been totally fucked up in so many ways that it makes me giddy. But what is MoveOn proposing? What if we need more troops there? What if getting out fast is not in the cards, that getting out quickly now means a bad, bad mess in the near future? I have no friggin clue what we need. I can only tell you what one of my ex-students who went there reported back to me: "Our guys are in deep trouble--that's why I am going back. Not for any other reason but to get our guys home safe." That could mean pulling everybody out...or it could mean putting more guys in to make it safer for our guys so they can all make it home later. I dunno.

But if somebody is going to tell me to stop something, that there is a problem, then he had better provide me a solution too. Otherwise, we the "liberals" sound like a bunch of English teachers bitching about the administration and not-very hot lunches.