Carol Ann Rittenhouse

Green Party Candidate for U.S. Congress

Oshkosh, WI June 26, 2004

Hello and best wishes to all!

I am here to express sympathy for the victims of the tragic war that distorts our lives

I am here because other Oshkosh area persons have asked me to run for Congress.

I am here because of their trust in me, because of my younger family, and because of your families, all persons in the US, and our loved ones abroad.

I am here to honor our natural world, and those who have given us their energy, and sometimes their lives for what we have.

I am here to plead for peace, for peace planning and for peace actions.

I believe that the U.S. Congress and President Bush are equally responsible for this mess because a bipartisan majority voted to give the president the power to go to war with Iraq, even though the case for it was never made by the administration.

My reasons to serve you are to benefit us all, not to take funds away for needless conflict and bloodshed. I believe that democrats and republicans alike got us into the tragedy of the so-called war on terrorism—that dems and reps are both responsible for our spending ONE BILLION dollars a WEEK for a catastrophe that has caused thousands of innocent persons to be wounded or dead; (that will require our children and their children, to be forced to pay for this folly that is not their fault, in the future), by the lessening of jobs for workers, because of political and corporation alliances, by the lessening of social security help for our elders, by downgrading medicare, by turning our health issues into a profit center for corporations, by the destruction of our environment, and quality of life on earth.

I believe that our American dollars need to be invested in our children and in their health and education, and in providing jobs with wages that are sufficient to support working families.

I believe that an orderly plan to pull out of Iraq immediately is way past due, and that we need to turn toward jobs development of sustainable environmentally intelligent industries.

I believe that with my candidacy, I can help to provide for the future of our natural world, the benefits of clean air, and clean water, and the maintenance of the natural environment that we all need and deserve

I ask for peace NOW, and I ask for your help to make that PEACE happen. Please support my candidacy to make peace happen!