"Dotmocracy" at the Festival, June 2007

How can we end the war?

People took their three dots and decided which options to "vote" for. Some wrote in their own solutions.

RESULTS OF THE VOTING

• 461 – Use diplomacy to engage other Middle East countries in negotiating an end to the war.
• 293 – Impeach Bush and Cheney.
• 216 – Withdraw all troops and military contractors on a timetable.
• 210 – Withdraw all troops and military contractors immediately.
• 143 – Restrict military funding to only the amount needed for safe withdrawal of our troops.
• 129 – Fund reconstruction in Iraq as generously as we funded the war.
• 110 – Revoke the authority that Congress gave the president in 2002 to conduct the war.
•   55 – Stabilize Afghanistan instead.
•   23 – Stay the course – keep fighting.

64 dots were also added to these write-in votes:

• "Withdraw as occupying force. Be presence to help Iraqis as needed. Restore the country."
• "No peace without justice – Liberate Palestine!"
• "Stop most military funding and instead fund diplomacy and talk and not forcefully."
• "Pray for peace every day; alone, with other families, and in our churches."
• "No permanent military bases."
• "Work for a just settlement in PALESTINE."
• "Don't use nuclear weapons."
• "Vote Democrat in 2008."
• "Do everything with great humility and kindness."
• "Split the country into Kurds, Shias."
• "Find a strong local leader."
• "Prosecute Bush and Cheney."
• "Quit electing morons.!"
• "No need to figure out how to end a war, if you simply not engage in war in the 1st place."
• "Send the Bush Administration to jail for pre-meditated murder!"
• "Put mothers of military-age children in charge of solution and problem-solving."

Neighbors for Peace handed out Peace Pencils and dots for voting on how to end the war.

It was a good chance to talk to neighbors about important issues, and to register our opinions.