I've put $200 (all I can afford) in escrow in hope of restraining Sen. Obama's shuffle to the right. The organized right didn’t get where it is by bowing down to an imaginary center. It articulated its principles, argued, propagandized, and stuck to its message. I’m tired of Democrats who follow where they think the polls are leading instead of leading until the polls follow. I support the Open Letter recently published in “The Nation” magazine, and encourage others to do so. It congratulates Sen. Obama, and calls on him to stick to the policies he originally put forward. Some key items are:
• Withdrawal from Iraq on a fixed timetable.
• A response to the current economic crisis that reduces the gap between the rich and the rest of us through a more progressive financial and welfare system; public investment to create jobs and repair the country's collapsing infrastructure; fair trade policies; restoration of the freedom to organize unions; and meaningful government enforcement of labor laws and regulation of industry.
• Universal healthcare
• An environmental policy that transforms the economy by shifting billions of dollars from the consumption of fossil fuels to alternative energy sources, creating millions of green jobs.
• An end to the regime of torture, abuse of civil liberties and unchecked executive power that has flourished in the Bush era.

To view the Open Letter go to
www.thenation.com/doc/20080818/open_letter