Looking for a great last-minute holiday gift idea for your favorite Democratic legislator? How about a brand-new dictionary--with the entry for "mandate" lovingly highlighted for maximum clue-train-ticket effect?

Specifically, let's talk about the sense of the word "mandate" that's been massively chatted up by the punditry in the wake of Nov. 7: to quote Merriam-Webster, the popular standard-bearer: "an authorization to act given to a representative [e.g.,] accepted the mandate of the people>."

And what specific action, above all others, did the majority of American voters authorize Congress to take when we blatantly swept business-as-usual out of office on Nov. 7? Let's not mince words: We The People want a swift and decisive end to the US occupation of Iraq.

Maybe that's a slight oversimplification. Iraq of course wasn't the sole, simple reason for the Democratic sweep of 2006--one can cite civil liberties, Hurricane Katrina and RepubliChristian hypocrisy among the other myriad motivators--but it's still a no-brainer that American voters were ultimately rejecting The War and demanding an end to it.

But now, lo and behold, key Democratic Party leaders are already relapsing into the sordid form of public behavior known as triangulation, apparently not realizing that the election results were the people's punishment of Republican sins--not a green light for similar Democratic sins.

Witness new Senate majority leader Harry Reid, D-NV, commenting on Nov. 28 regarding future funding for the Iraq occupation, as the White House revealed plans to submit yet another "emergency supplemental" spending bill to Congress in January calling for more funding (this time, at least $100 billion) for unfettered war profiteering in Iraq--excuse me, continuing the Global War on Terror: "We're not going to do anything to limit funding or cut off funds."

There lies the rub: For months now, in response to increasing public opposition to the US occupation of Iraq, certain Congressional Democrats--including and especially Washington State's own Maria Cantwell--have given lip service to the notion of ending the occupation, while continuing to vote for the key Congressional appropriations bills that continue to fund the re-deployments, the war profiteering, and the staggering bloodshed in Iraq. Now it looks like the Dems plan to continue such venal triangulation--in spite of the clear antiwar mandate of Nov. 7.

Whence the tragic need for a national grassroots charity drive to bring the semantic magic of Merriam-Webster to the offices of the linguistically and politically impoverished in our nation's capital. Won't you please help?

Fortunately, there are Democrats in the 110th US Congress who do recognize the antiwar mandate of Nov. 7 and are acting on it--most notably Rep. Jim McGovern, D-MA, who in 2005 introduced legislation to cut off funding for the Iraq occupation. McGovern's bill, House Resolution 4232 (the "End the War in Iraq Act of 2005"), would prohibit further use of Defense Department funds to deploy US troops to Iraq, while allowing for funds to be used to pay for the safe and orderly withdrawal of existing troops. (The bill also allows for non-defense funding to carry out reconstruction in Iraq). In the wake of Nov. 7, McGovern and several Congressional supporters of his bill are currently working to bring it to a floor vote when the 110th Congress convenes in January.

So far, nineteen House members have co-sponsored H.R. 4232: Arizona's Raul Grijalva; California's Sam Farr, Barbara Lee, Pete Stark, Maxine Waters and Lynn Woolsey; Georgia's John Lewis; Illinois' Jan Schakowsky; Maryland's Albert Wynn; Massachusetts' Barney Frank; Michigan's John Conyers and Carolyn Kilpatrick; New Jersey's Donald Payne; New York's Jose Serrano, Edolphus Towns and Nydia Velazquez; Ohio's Dennis Kucinich; Pennsylvania's Chaka Fattah and Washington's Jim McDermott.

Along with H.R. 4232, a couple of nationwide activist coalitions are currently working to teach the timid among DC's Dems the meaning of the word "mandate." First, there's Mandate for Peace, a coalition working to convince the incoming Democratic majority to act to end the Iraq occupation--in large part by organizing grassroots constituent support for H.R. 4232. Mandate for Peace comprises more than three dozen national and regional organizations, including After Downing Street, CODEPINK, Global Exchange, Veterans for Peace, the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition, the Backbone Project and Progressive Democrats of America.

In addition, an activist coalition calling itself The Occupation Project is organizing a campaign of sustained nonviolent civil disobedience to end the Iraq occupation, to commence on Feb. 5, 2007--the anniversary of Colin Powell's 2003 speech to the UN advocating the US invasion of Iraq. The centerpiece of The Occupation Project's campaign is a collective, public demand that US senators and congressmembers publicly pledge to vote against any additional funding for the Iraq occupation, to be backed up with locally-organized, nonviolent CD at the offices of those officials who refuse to make such a public pledge.

It's now dreadfully obvious that a swift and decisive end to the US occupation of Iraq is desired by the majority of both Americans and Iraqis. But alas, the incoming Democratic majority leadership, whether out of political cowardice or fealty to the military industries that bring jobs to their districts and money to their re-election campaigns, are still inclined to ignore the clear transnational mandate against the occupation.

Enter the grass roots, a k a you, me, our friends, families, colleagues and co-workers. In the parlance of electoral politics, there's another word for us: constituents. And hence another key word whose definition needs to be re-presented to a certain number of our elected un-representatives by means of a lovingly highlighted reminder, ideally in the form of constituent action--direct, if necessary.

The 110th Congress convenes on Jan. 4. Constituents, start your engines.

--Jeff Stevens. For more info on H.R. 4232, and to sign a petition in support of the bill, visit http://pdamerica.org/petition/mcgovern-petition.php. For more info on Mandate for Peace, visit www.mandateforpeace.org. For more info on The Occupation Project, visit http://vcnv.org/the-occupation-project.