Why I Resigned from Two Democratic Party Posts in Alaska This Month

People here know me as an irascible defender of the underdogs in a number of battles: the sea, the air, the earth, indigenous peoples, Afghan women, common sense in Alaska, culture, fundamentalisms' dangers, and the rights of Palestinians, among other causes. Until two weeks ago, I also held two offices in Alaska's Democratic Party structure. I resigned from both on June 6th.

I had just been re-elected secretary of the Mat-Su District of Alaska, an area bigger than most of New England, excluding Maine. And I stood for election of Legislative District 13, a GOP bastion, and won there. That was late last winter.

In the months between the election and my resignation, I increasingly felt I couldn't do the jobs because I didn't identify with the national or state party structures anymore. I was already quite disturbed that the Obama administration is not only willing to forgive war crimes committed by members of the Bush administration, but is using the grounds against civil liberties in the USA made by Bush, as terrain from which to advance a similar agenda.

I was also increasingly distraught by the growing cognitive dissonance between US actions supporting deepening criminality by the government of Israel, and the judgement of almost every other country save ours and Israel, regarding the legality of the Israel's intentional debilitation of over a million innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip. My Party not only supported the president's immoral stances, but backed them with resolutions, legislation and votes on them, some of which defy both common sense and international law.

On the state level, two things worried me most. One was actions taken last Fall by Patti Higgins, the Chairman of the Alaska Democratic Party. Writer and lecturer, Alison Weir had a multi-city, multi-venue tour of Alaska lined up. Weir is one of the most articulate defenders of Palestinian rights.

Higgins, along with other members of the Alaska Democratic Party, according to my sources, sought to have Weir's venues pulled. She was only successful with one of them, a proposal to speak at Anchorage's Alaska Pacific University. Weir's other appearances were not stopped. I attended one. I wrote a critical review.

The biggest problem with Higgins' and Alaska AIPAC head David Gottstein's efforts to suppress Weir's rights to free speech was the total dishonesty in how it was done. They were both careful to keep their dirty fingerprints removed from this debasement of the values Democrats pride themselves in defending.

The other state-level incident that worried me over the mid-spring the most, was Alaska Sen. Mark Begich's non-response to my letter sent to him on April 15th, regarding a vote he took in the U.S. Senate on my behalf, as a constituent.

I have written hundreds of letters to my U.S. congressman and U.S. senators over the past 34 years. This was the first one that remains unanswered. Don Young or his staff has answered every letter. Mike Gravel even sought me out, and answered every letter. Ted Stevens and I had a rich history of resonance and disagreement, yet he always responded, sometimes in his inimitable handwriting. Frank Murkowski always had somebody respond. Lisa Murkowski sometimes took a few weeks, but continues to be responsive.

It has been three months since I published my open letter, and sent a copy to his staff (they acknowledged receipt). I doubt I will get a response.

Why?

It was a courteous letter about a set of substantive issues. He knew that I was a:

1) Multi-time contributor
2) Volunteer for his 2008 campaign
3) Prominent Alaska liberal blogger
4) Elected Alaska Democratic Party officer

Seems to me, unless he's been told to STFU, if Mark was a decent guy, he would have at least sent a blah-blah-blah letter, like I've sometimes gotten from Don or Lisa.

Thanks, Mark.

So, why even participate in a party that is beginning to show attributes of non-responsiveness that equal Bush's and surpass Palin's?

I'm not about to leave the Democrats - there's nowhere else to go. But I can't honestly represent a party whose chief spokesman (our president):

1) Supports the continuing starvation and malnutrition of Gaza children
2) Allows Israeli settlers to continue to steal Palestinian land, dignity, wealth and lives
3)Allows the Israelis to bring their nuclear cruise missiles, aboard submarines, into the Persian Gulf, right next to our warships there
4) Refuses to even acknowledge when US citizens or their spouses are killed or severely maimed by Israelis, alone among other countries in this respect
5) Expands the role of privatized mercenaries in Asia, Africa and Latin American more quickly than has any previous president

The saddest thing about resigning these posts is that my Mat-Su Dem colleagues are the best group of firebrands and hard workers I've ever worked or volunteered with. I realize that, due to my being a Wasilla resident, some wag will say "See, they ALL quit from Wasilla!" This may have more truth to it than I know myself yet, but I was getting so pissed off that I was totally ineffective and bumming other people out by my lack of enthusiasm. It was the best thing to do.

Am I just another 'quitta from Wasilla" on this?