Dear CCI friends,
I had an opportunity to meet with Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard in my living room on Sunday, October 8th. I have been following her rise in the Democratic Party, but had no idea that she knew I or CCI existed. We had a very interesting hour and a half discussion.
This young congress member has an amazing presence about her. She’s grounded, very well-informed and obviously has a deep concern about the state of our nation and of the world––no doubt more so since she served two rotations in Iraq prior to being elected to Congress.
I’ve been on her email list for a couple of years. From time to time, I get messages like the one below, and I am happy to report that she has pledged to not take PAC money.
Tulsi is increasingly in the spotlight today due to her courageous stand against “regime-change” wars and a number of issues not being adequately addressed by Democrats or Republicans. Did you see her in 2016 when she made the presidential “endorsing speech” for Bernie Sanders? Since then she’s been on CNN, Fox and other major networks numerous times.
I want you to be familiar with Tulsi – she is different from other politicians. Please watch the YouTube videos below. These are just three videos out of hundreds on the Internet that feature her initiatives and political positions. I’ll be interested in your thoughts about her.
Sharon
Sharon Tennison
Center for Citizen Initiatives
Tulsi with Wolf Blitzer CNN on ISIS
Tulsi on Fox on regime change wars – Syria
Sharon,
Our veterans and troops have paid a heavy price for our country’s decades-long addiction to interventionist regime change wars. This is not a failure that can be attributed to one party or another – it is the failure of leaders who for decades have lacked foresight and good judgment, either ignoring or blind to the consequences of our nation’s foreign policy decisions, that all Americans are still paying the price for.
After serving two tours in the Middle East with the Hawai’i Army National Guard, one of the main reasons I came to serve in Congress was to bring about an end to our country’s destructive interventionist war policies.
The cost of war is immeasurable. We have spent trillions of dollars, lost thousands of service members and seen hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians killed in the course of our counterproductive regime change wars.
Meanwhile, here at home, we have cash-strapped communities in my home state of Hawaii and across the country that don’t have the money for basic infrastructure or clean water. People are drowning in college debt, and the price of healthcare remains unaffordable to 28 million people who have no form of insurance coverage. We must end our costly, interventionist regime change war policies, and instead invest in rebuilding our communities right here at home. We can’t afford to do both.
We need real leaders in Washington who aren’t afraid to stand up and fight for peace.
Times are changing. People are coming to realize the destructive and counterproductive nature of decades of broken foreign policy. Mahalo for your support as we stand together in this fight.
Aloha, Tulsi