the night that reason ruled

The vote is in, and reason prevailed. The motion to have DC for Democracy endorse the United For Peace/International ANSWER D.C. Anti-War Mobilization was defeated, failing to clear the 2/3 hurdle necessary for endorsement. The final tally was 20 votes against endorsement to 21 for endorsement.

The things that last night’s meeting displayed in spades were passion and enthusiasm. No matter what side you happened to be on regarding endorsement of the rally, the thoughts and opinions expressed revealed a level of passion not seen within DC for Democracy in some time. The level of respect and decorum was also very high, which made what turned out to be a fairly long meeting a lot easier to swallow. My most sincere gratitude goes out to Mike Shor, who ran the meeting with a very even hand.

And that’s the thing: it’s not the people with whom I had an issue last night, nor was it the idea that it would be nice to have peace in Iraq and to bring our troops home. To me, it was the abject futility that comes with unfocused, mob mentality marches that have been endorsed by some extremely fringe organizations. To participate on one’s own, or in an unofficial DC for Democracy contingent is just fine, and I hope that those people who want to participate in the rally go out there and represent us well.

As was expected, some fallout has occurred from this no-endorsement vote. A member of the DC for Democracy executive committee resigned (though this member will remain active within the organization). Others left the meeting very quickly when their side didn’t prevail. But on the whole, the group remained civil and respectful. The reasonable outcome was achieved, as it should be.

It made me proud to be a member of DC for Democracy.