The week of September 10th, 2001 was one of the darkest in U.S. History. However it is the week of September 10th, 2007 that we take time out to honor a true American hero that asserted herself that week: Representative Barbara Lee of California. Rep. Lee was the lone dissenting vote against the Authorization to Use Military Force, and on this day 6 years ago, she spoke these prophetic words:
Let's just pause, just for a minute, and think through the implications of our actions today, so that this does not spiral out of control.
Spiraling out of control doesn't even begin to describe what's happened since that day, as this AUMF has been the platform upon which Bush's unprecedented power grabs have been built. Let's work with Rep. Lee's One Voice PAC and the Progressive Caucus to end this occupation and the madness associated with it sooner rather than later.
Thank you Rep. Lee. I am proud to call you an American Hero.
What makes someone heroic? Heroism comes from courage; the courage to say what you believe in your heart. The bravery to stand before your peers with whom you know you disagree and tell them that they are wrong. The courage to look at a country in mourning and tell them to hold; don’t act so fast, cooler heads prevail, the fearlessness that allows you to be the only one in the room. Barbara Lee is a true American hero by my standards. Anyone that can stand up on September 14, 2001 and say, “ . . .let us not become the evil that we deplore” without fear or trepidation is a hero in my book.