The Bangor Daily News editorial “Protest by Ballot” of Jan. 17 suggests that individuals can best affect the outcome of the war in Iraq by voting, and questions the efficacy of civil disobedience in influencing the Bush administration.

While we agree voting is essential, we believe a vibrant and effective democracy is a multifaceted process and involves much more than people simply stepping into the voting booth on Election Day.

The editorial correctly points out that in the last election: “It was clearly a case of the people getting far ahead of their leaders. The country may have been slow to see the mistakes, deceptions and mismanagement in the Iraq war, but when the tipping point came, the people were ahead of the politicians, the press and the entire public establishment.”

Had the politicians, the press and the entire public establishment listened to the people who held public hearings, signed petitions, wrote letters, visited congressional offices, held vigils, demonstrated and were willing to face arrest for the past four years, the deaths of more than 3000 of our troops might have been prevented.

Hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis might still be alive and we would not have lost respect for our country around the world. It is true that no one action by itself led to the tidal wave of protest culminating in the last election. However, thousands of protest actions around the country helped to make that election result possible.

Those of us who chose to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience prior to the election did so after four years of petitioning our elected representatives to no avail. We chose to engage in nonviolent civil disobedience in the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr. and Mahatma Gandhi, who believed civil disobedience was necessary when elected representatives failed to act to stop extreme injustice.

As part of a national Declaration of Peace Campaign, we were willing to face the consequences of our actions with the hope that others would take whatever steps they could to put an end to the occupation of Iraq and bring our troops home safely.

For the past four years, Sens. Susan Collins, Olympia Snowe and Rep. Tom Allen have consistently voted for funding the Iraq war. Only Rep. Michaud voted against funding the war. While Allen did attend a hearing organized by peace activists, Collins and Snowe refused to attend any such public hearings. We applaud Collins, Snowe, Michaud and Allen for recently refusing to support the troop surge now proposed by President Bush. Now we urge them to provide the leadership to bring an end to the occupation of Iraq and reject the foreign policy of domination that has led us into this quagmire.

Today we call on our elected representatives to reassert the authority they abrogated when they gave President Bush a blank check to wage an endless war in Iraq. We call on our congressional representatives to stop funding the war and to allocate funds only to bring our troops home and for humanitarian reconstruction in Iraq.

We call on our elected representatives to hold this administration accountable for misleading and lying to the American people about the dangers posed by Iraq and for waging a disastrous, pre-emptive, unnecessary, illegal, endless war that has been so destructive of innocent human life and of the well-being of Mainers and other U.S. citizens. It will take many more vigils, letters, hearings and rallies to ensure our elected representatives respond to the will of the people and stop the occupation of Iraq. Join the thousands who will be in Washington on Jan. 27 to call for an end to the occupation.

Help plan for a major statewide action on March 17 – www.everyvillage-me.us. Sign a petition calling for an investigation of this administration at www.maineimpeach.org. Let’s not wait until the next election to make our voices heard.

Ilze Petersons is a member of the Peace & Justice Center of Eastern Maine.