The most important event in recent years is coming soon to Montgomery County (well, at least we describe it that way!)--and you can be a part of it. Please put our Sept. 20 Town Hall on your calendar and invite everyone you know to attend.
Now, this is not just a one-off event. It is designed to amplify our voices and provide an opportunity for us to organize in response to unending wars, the disgraceful budget deal, and the multiple other political outrages of recent years. It represents our chance to demand a politics that is right and fair and just.
Here are the details:
TOWN HALL MEETING
Taking Back the Budget Debate
Help fix the crisis of priorities in Washington and Annapolis. The U.S. has the resources--what we need is the political will to:
- Put Americans back to work
- Institute a fair and progressive tax system
- Protect Americans' health and save the environment
- Preserve Social Security
- Reduce the Pentagon budget
- Bring all the troops and military contractors home
Let's shift the debate
Join us to organize for real, progressive solutions
WHERE: Silver Spring Civic Center (Ellsworth & Fenton, Silver Spring)
WHEN: 7:30-9:30 PM, Tuesday, September 20th
PANEL: US Rep. Donna Edwards, MD State Senator Roger Manno, Economist Heather Boushey, IPS Fellow Karen Dolan. Moderator, NAACP's Elbridge James. Music by Christina Van Norman.
QUESTIONS & ANSWERS: Your questions to our distinguished panel.
BREAKOUT INTO ACTION GROUPS: Planning the next steps of a new grassroots movement in Maryland!
Sponsored by the Maryland Coalition to Fund Our Communities, Bring the War Dollars Home, in addition to national organizations like the Coalition on Human Needs, Social Security Works, the American Friends Service Committee, and others.
Our Money . . . Our Voices . . . Our Budget Priorities
We ask you to forward this invitation to everyone you know. It is past time to begin serious, non-partisan organizing in Maryland for the progressive values that we believe in.
Lies and Myths
Major cuts to military spending need to be made, but such reductions are not proposed in the budget deal. Nevertheless, the Pentagon and military contractors claim that the minimal "cuts" put forward--which would likely only reduce the rate of increase in the Pentagon budget, not cut it below what it is today--constitute a doomsday scenario. We have to call them on this lie!
However, we do need to seriously cut the military budget, and in order to get military spending to a reasonable level, we must redefine America's proper role in the world. Our military should be responsible for protecting Americans instead of engaging in "global power projection." Such a change in the U.S. military's mission would enable us to dramatically cut spending--well beyond what is remotely possible under the budget bill--and use those saved resources in socially useful ways at home and elsewhere.
For our full analysis of the debt deal, check out our latest blog piece, Five Myths About the Deficit.
In peace and solidarity,
