War protestor Cindy Sheehan and a panel of fellow antiwar and electoral reform advocates presented their ideas in a discussion Monday at Memorial Union.
Sheehan, whose 2005 protests outside then-President George W. Bush's Texas ranch earned her national and international attention, opened the discussion with blunt disapproval for both past and current foreign policies.
""I don't think much has changed since the Bush administration,"" Sheehan said. ""My new line is ‘Are you against the war, or are you a Democrat?'""
Sheehan said she had become disenchanted with the two-party system's ability to solve problems as a result of the left's support for increased war funds and an Obama foreign policy that she described as ""Bush on steroids.""
""There really is no difference in federal politics between a Democrat and a Republican,"" Sheehan said. ""We need an alternative to the war party. We need an opposition party, and we need to do that at the grassroots level … We can't do this by playing their whole ‘left-right' game.""
Other speakers included California secretary of state candidate Christina Tobin and former Ralph Nader campaign manager Theresa Amato.
Both spoke on the need for electoral reform to provide third-party, antiwar candidates with the necessary opportunities to succeed, as well as a way for voters to avoid what Tobin called ""wasted-vote syndrome.""
""How can we think that by doing the same thing, by voting for the lesser of two evils over and over again, that there will be change?"" Amato said.
When the panel as a whole was asked whether is was possible for antiwar proponents with otherwise divergent views to unite behind a single candidate, Antiwar.com development director Angela Keaton said it is important for voters to come together behind the antiwar effort itself.
""There can be a broad, antiwar-based coalition if we just make a conscious decision that the issue comes first,"" she said.
Sheehan agreed and said this kind of activism needs to start with local elections that transcend the left-right polarization seen at the federal level.
""We have no effect on federal politics,"" she said. ""We have to focus on the local level to make change.""
