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25 Jan 05 - Copyright 1999-2009 by Andrew Homer - Webmeister
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"The
New Party - the most successful third party
since the 1930's."
- Nation Magazine
*
Where's your hemp paper ballot when you need one?
Progressives should unite ASAP
Rather than conceding American politics to the anti-democracy consortium; the
progressives, greens, populists, socialists, and labor should put their bickering
aside and unite to produce effective campaigns by using the New Party strategy
and exploit the media coverage that will be provided the 2000 General Election.
We should offer our humble efforts to keep the press from being bored to
tears by the vacuous likes of George W. Bush, Al Gore, and Bill Bradley.
If not you, who?
If not now, when?
Why Bring the NEW PARTY into New Mexico?
by Andrew Homer
Since 1990, of
the three new progressive or populist political parties in America, the New Party,
founded in Wisconsin in 1992, seems to be superior and is clearly the winner.
I see a day when the Green Party and the Labor Party will fold into the New Party.
In New Mexico, the Green Party is doing good if it wins 1 out of 10 of the
elections where they've placed a candidate. While in the states where the New
Party runs a candidate in a local race, over 200 out of 300 candidates have won.
Pundits Say the Darndest Things
The
police chief of Mexico City got rid of corruption among his 3,000 traffic cops
by replacing them with women. In other words, men are basically dishonest. And
as long as the Green Party of New Mexico is dominated by men, the dishonesty we
detest in the major parties will continue within the Green Party.
Within
the Green Party of Bernalillo County, I've been on the receiving end of rentless
lies, slander, and character assasination by men within the Green Party ever since
I joined in 1994, shortly after I moved to Albuquerque. So, I have no choice but
to move on to find a more wholesome politically (and spiritually) aware setting.
Reading the material on the New Party website leads me to believe that I've
found a more mature group employing a wiser gameplan to promote progressive values.
Organizing Strategy
On
your website, on circulated flyers, and in club notices in the media: announce
that your monthly meetings of your local chapter of the New Party are scheduled
at 7PM on the 10th of each month at your favorite restaurant.
This way the meetings fall on a different day of the week each
month, so folk taking a night class won't miss out. "Breaking bread"
is an ancient bonding technique employed by our ancestors.
Below are my favorite excerpts
from the New Party website -
New Party "Full
employment, a shorter work week, and a guaranteed minimum income for all adults;
a universal "social wage" to include such basic benefits as health care,
child care, vacation time, and lifelong access to education and training; a systematic
phase-in of comparable worth and like programs to ensure gender equity."
Family-Supporting Jobs
"The
low road on industrial production must be closed off, to stop the downward trend
in the quality of life for American workers. We would block the low road and pave
the high road by raising standards and helping firms to meet them. We would significantly
increase the minimum wage, end "subsidy abuse" by removing tax and other
incentives to low-wage employers, and shorten the workweek to bring us closer
to full employment, thus redistributing the benefits of increased productivity."
Educate Forever
"We
believe in a genuine learning society - characterized by continuous innovation
and lifetime educational opportunity. We would redesign American elementary and
secondary schooling - for equal funding, accountability in achievement, and universal
opportunities for further learning. We support reform of student loan payments
to be a proportion of future earnings, and for the non-college-educated, we would
provide, on the same terms, individualized training accounts available throughout
their working lives."
Trading Up
"Trade
policy should promote higher living standards, reduced cross-national inequalities,
and sustainable development. We support international worker rights, environmental
regulations, and social tariffs to raise the standards of trade - "leveling
up" rather than "leveling down" as under the current GATT (General
Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)."
CEDS uses generic tax
abatements and other fiscal giveaways as drivers for development.
"We
would propose putting performance conditions on any assistance, and linking all
subsidies to the achievement of desired ends."
"People of color and women continued to
be disproportionately represented in low-wage or so-called "secondary labor
markets" with inferior wages, benefits, job security and job conditions.
Nevertheless, aspects of the "golden age" system did work their way
down to the secondary labor market. The point is perhaps made by contrast with
what is happening today: the breakdown of the previous regime has left workers
at all levels with fewer and fewer protections, less of a share in productivity
gains, and with a deteriorating job situation. It's the "scramble to survive"
system. And it's no surprise it is creating fear, insecurity, and anger. The destructuring
of the employment system (i.e., scramble to survive) lies at the heart of the
failure of economic recovery to improve the lives of many Americans, and the inability
of the Clinton Administration to garner credit for what it sees as positive economic
news. A majority of Americans are
working longer and harder, earning less, and living with more uncertainty. It's
a recipe for political disaster."
"The Clinton Administration argues that
the market knows best, which is to say that corporations know best. Clinton's
team sees the government's proper role as aiding the aims of commercial enterprises,
rather than helping to set priorities. As a result, they balk when it comes time
to intervening in markets in ways that business dislikes; in the public or environmental
interest. But will entrusting even more control and power to our large corporations
serve the interests of the public or benefit the environment? Increased attention
to international competitiveness may well further undermine our quality of life
- by creating even more pressure to increase working hours, lower wages, and weaken
environmental standards. The passage of GATT, with its undemocratic World Trade
Organization, suggests as much. Maybe what we want most from our jobs are satisfying
work and employment security, not the anxiety produced by an ever 'freer' market."
"Might we not be better served by upgrading
the quality of public goods, such as schools, parks, and culture? Perhaps what
we want is more time to be with our children, safer streets, better schools, and
environmental preservation. The resumption of high levels of industrial growth
will intensify ecological contamination, imbalance, and decay.
The debate
between Republicans and Democrats on economics has narrowed to a marginal one.
Both sides now worship at the alter of the market, differing mainly on whether
it should be marginally regulated in the public interest or not regulated at all.
Both defend the sanctity of the existing distribution of income, wealth and power.
And both Republicans and Democrats turn their back on democracy to genuflect to
the twin Gods of 'growth' and 'free trade.'
Compared to the late nineteen
sixties, the average worker is working about an extra month of work per year.
Giving more power to business is not the way to cure the nation's ills.
If the economy is to serve the people, it needs to be controlled by the people."
"Since the real purpose of socialism is
precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase of human development,
economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist
society of the future." - Albert Einstein
"This crippling of individuals I consider
the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system suffers from this evil.
An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained
to worship acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through
the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system
which would be oriented toward social goals." -
Albert Einstein
Progressives should unite ASAP
