Inside the Belly of the Beltway Beast

The first meeting of the now revitalized Greens Party of Fairfax County was held yesterday at the Oakton Public Library. I am glad to be working with Green veterans Jim Lowenstern and Paul Hughes. Jim has run for House of Delegates in the past. Paul started the meeting with a presentation on corporate personhood, which has again become a hot topic in light of the Supreme Court's disastrous decision stating that money equaled free speech and that corporations are entitled to the same First Amendment rights that we as human citizens of the U.S. enjoy. We had a larger turnout than expected at this meeting. A couple Greens moving to the area from other states, and three folks who are new to the Green Party but expressed an interest in becoming involved. I truly believe we can make a difference on the local level, and I hope more progressives will become actively involved in their own communities. Our next meeting in March will continue where we left off in deciding which local issues w...

I promised myself I would write this for a while now. Dissatisfied with the pace of change and lack of cohesion and supportive community within the peace and justice movement, I decided to return to my own life and focus on building my career and having a good life with my partner. I knew I would be taking a long break from activism and organizing before I even went to jail (Dec. 18-21), but my time in there simply confirmed this in my own mind. I realized that leaving this "movement" was the right thing, but at the same time I was annoyed that people I cared for were sacrificing a great deal more than 98% of the rest of the peace and justice movement, and were getting precious little support. I wanted to make a point about this. This fact exposes a major injustice. I also was not getting hardly any support for my own ordeal. Furthermore, a few I had considered good friends had already turned against me. They were angry that I would challenge them, and be so completely honest...