It was an unfortunate road that took me to the stage with Michael Moore, but he gave me a microphone, an audience and simple instructions--"Take as long as you need. Say whatever you have to say."
I had joined him on the Slacker Uprising Tour to speak about my own tragic experiences with the Iraq War. I was proud to be a part of that tour, and today, I'm proud to be a part of the documentary. And given what we face between now and November, this film is a stark and timely reminder of the power and consequences of our votes.
I first wrote to Michael Moore when my brother, Sgt. Sherwood Baker, was deployed to Iraq. I was fervently against the war, along with my entire family, and I felt I had no where to turn. Sher was being sent to provide site security for the Iraq Survey Group as they looked for Weapons of Mass Destruction. In fact, he landed in Iraq the very week George Bush got big laughs making fun of the entire premise.
This seemed like insanity to me. Politicians, the media--I wrote, spoke out--no one was listening. Only Mike wrote back.
Six weeks into his deployment, Sherwood was killed. I wrote Michael Moore a second letter.
Mike published those letters in his book "Will They Ever Trust Us Again?" After the success of Fahrenheit 9/11, he launched the Slacker Uprising Tour and I joined him to speak at a few of the stops.
Mike brought needed enthusiasm and urgency to the political debate. At one event I spoke at in Del Mar, California, over 10,000 people showed up. That, alone, gave me hope.
Despite Michael Moore's efforts, and the efforts of countless dedicated citizens, Bush won in 2004 and immediately spent his political capitol on Fallujah. 137 American lives were lost that November. In the intervening four years, over 3,000 troops have been killed in Iraq. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have likely perished, millions are refugees. God forgive us, we don't know the true numbers.
Sons and Daughters, Husbands and Wives, Brothers and Sisters forever erased from this precious earth because of our unwillingness to realize a better way. Our efforts to stop the war changed the terms of the dialogue--it is no longer if but when--however the war rages on, death and destruction are still present, only obscured now behind rhetorical banners and political finger pointing.
This film frames the 2004 election as one of the most critical in our history. Indeed, it was. And now, the stakes are likely even higher.
I could have written these last 4 years after that election. Frustration followed by a shot of hope followed by a slow forgetting. Meanwhile, the wheels churn, one knock on the door at a time, and the true cost of the war is not understood until it reaches our wallets (and I don't think that link has truly been made even now).
What scares me is that I truly have no idea where a McCain/Palin administration would lead us. Air war with bunker busting nukes against Iran? Proxy or direct war with Russia?
Here is how we ought to look at this election. Think of a young person in your life. Imagine him two years from now in uniform and under the command of a President McCain or a President Palin. For what cause, under what pretense, will he be sent to fight? Will that uphold the ideals of our nation? Will that person's death benefit you?
I have the unfortunate experience to be able to answer that question. My brother's death was of no benefit to his family, his community or his country. He ought to be here. He would be turning 35 years old in two weeks, he would be mourning with us our father's recent passing.
On the tour stops, I tried to use my humble voice to inspire through hope. I tried to speak against the fear campaigns that had caused the Iraq War. The propagandizing that appealed to the worst parts of our human nature and caused us, as a nation, to be complicit in this atrocity had to stop.
Now I am truly fearful. This is no longer what some believe is the lonely suffering of 4,000 families and some obscure debt our kids have to pay off. This is the real prospect of ruin.
Check out the documentary. It's free, for Christ's sake! Those of you on the campaign wagon, God Speed, let it keep you inspired. Those sitting on the sideline consumed with cynicism, get moving. The story of the last two Presidential elections tells me that fate plays big hands on small tables.
It will, without a doubt, be your effort that writes the outcome.
UPDATE: video clip of the movie that includes my mother's speech as well as mine.
Diggthe video