Comments on: It’s Time for Kucinich, Conyers, Feingold and Other ‘Progressives’ to Take a Stand

By: Moncler womens jacke

Moncler womens jacke — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 04:23:48 +0000

sometimes it is certainly hard to tell the difference between the parties

By: George Bates

George Bates — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 22:41:02 +0000

While corporatocracy runs a muck… and sometimes it is certainly hard to tell the difference between the parties… The GOP appointed corporate sponsored Supremes by turning corporate money loose in elections have very clearly spelled out to anyone that is paying even the slightest bit of attention that there is indeed a difference….

By: whatweneedtodo

whatweneedtodo — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 14:34:44 +0000

If more independent congressional candidates could get their name on the ballot in time for the next election next November (while making it clear they are not a nut or a crackpot) they should stand a good chance of winning just by virtue of having their name on the ballot. Shouldn’t they?

Every state is different. In Florida, closing date for the petition process (the cheapest way of doing it) is March 29th – you have to get 1% of the registered voters in your district to sign a petition on your behalf and pay 10cents each to have the signatures verified. (A modest grassroots effort should be enough to accomplish that.) In Texas, I believe, the ballot may have already been closed. It might already be too late in most states to mount a serious independent effort.

But I believe people like Mr. Lindorff, with his name recognition and speaking ability (wherever he lives or might move to for strategic reasons) would be a shoo-in for Congress if he could get his name on the ballot. There is talk that Ralph Nader might run for Senator in Connecticut. There should be others…

If enough new independent candidates were to get elected that would be soon enough to start third party negotiations… (Political parties, after all, are part of the problem not the solution.)

Anybody who wants to run as a true unaligned independent progressive from the 10th District of Florida (a gerrymandered major portion of Pinellas County) – five thousand verified signatures is all you will need… One of them could be mine (and I might even help you get more if you aren’t a nut).

By: Jack Harrington

Jack Harrington — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 06:42:45 +0000

An interesting idea. I have my own pet idea, and that is to organize left wing activist groups under a political umbrella, the political piece to be the sharp end of a united progressive/liberal political action stick.

If our two ideas were to meld, we might have an unbeatable combination.

It would, however, take some significant amount of time to negotiate, I think, so we would need an intermediate level to work from, as the elections of 2010 and 2012 are critical, as the US is now in ICU, courtesy of those 5 conservative judicial activists.

By: Jack Harrington

Jack Harrington — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 03:09:58 +0000

I did not go negative Dave. I only pointed out a serious weakness in your argument. (one of several.) If you are going to discuss ballot access laws, it would help if you actually knew of what you speak.

I speak not in negativity but in reality, in facts, not misty eyed pollyanna solutions.

you also need to recognize that those ‘;former Dem progressives would not gat a pass to the ballot line by virtue of being former dems. They would still have to pass the gate just like any other third party or independent candidate.

Again-I am not being negative-only facing reality-the parties today do not need those old ward heeler bosses because they have re-written the laws for ballot access all across the country. Why rough someone up, unless it is only a campaign worker, when you have the force of laws you wrote and judges you put into office on your side.

If you knew much of the history of the third party and independent candidacies of the early part of the last century you would find the names of many members of Congress who were not D’s or R’s. That is my point and obviously you missed it again.

I think you are the one whining here, in your inability to accept criticism.

By: Dave Lindorff

Dave Lindorff — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 02:48:41 +0000

Rather than trying to anoint one existing party like Peace&Freedom or Green Party as the way to go, why not urge all the left parties and progressive special interest parties around the country to rally together and unite to form a non-ideological, non-special-interest, broad-based party of the left. It could meld the Greens (environmentalist, social justice) with Peace&Freedom (anti-war), Socialist (economic justice), NARAL, NOW (women’s rights), Labor party (workers issues) etc. into one mass-based party of the left, which might be called the American Progressive Party, or Progressive America Party, or Progressive Party of America.

Dave
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

By: Brian W

Brian W — Sat, 23 Jan 2010 00:44:11 +0000

This idea — that well-established congressional Democrats have the potential to jumpstart a progressive third party — is excellent, Dave, and deserves wide circulation. As you point out, we have a model in Bernie Sanders; and steadfast, but disempowered, progressives like Kucinich have little to lose, and a whole country to gain.

As a followup, perhaps you can pick through the existing left-wing parties and anoint the most worthy? We wouldn’t want the eighty-something progressives in the House and Senate to split off into as many factions — a distinct possibility given the proclivity of lefties to quarrel over minor differences.

As it becomes increasingly clear that the two major parties are nothing more than “two names on the same checking account,” there is more and more “talk” on the web about a third party revolt. But, in none of this talk does one ever encounter an actual endorsement of an EXISTING party! If you choose to followup on this idea, Dave, as I hope you do, I suggest this is the way to go.

By: Dave Lindorff

Dave Lindorff — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 22:48:14 +0000

Nowhere in my piece do I suggest that creating a progressive third party would be easy. That, Jack, is your imagination. I do think, however, that in the unlikely event that a significant number of the genuinely progressive members of Congress quit the Democratic party, it would give a jolt to efforts to form a mass national progressive party, and would also be a huge blow to the Democratic Party, hollowed out and disliked as it is by those who have been disconsolately voting for its candidates.

I find the kind of negativity that you demonstrate here to be one of the enduring infirmities of the left. Do you honestly believe that the old ward bosses back in the Thirties and Twenties made it any easier for third parties like the Socialists? And yet they managed to become quite a force in some jurisdictions, and even at times on the national stage. They didn’t whine about how hard it would be, or how powerful the two parties were.

And by the way, do you honestly believe that things have been easier for the people who elected Aristide in Haiti, or Bachelet in Chile, or Morales in Bolivia. Jeez, we have it so easy here in the Belly of the Beast, and yet people are going around saying we can’t win.

There’s enough negativity on the left. I don’t need more.

We should be pushing for real progressives to quit the party in Congress, and should be warning them if they are our representatives, that we aren’t going to vote for them anymore on a Democratic ticket.

Dave
http://www.thiscantbehappening.net

By: Jack Harrington

Jack Harrington — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 21:37:52 +0000

Dave-some of your thinking shows a serious naivete about third party and independent electoral politics. You really need to understand the road blocks the D’s and R’s have thrown up across the country to block candidates. Read Teresa Amatos “Grand Illusion” for more info. There is a reason the Green and others do not get significant numbers of votes. Look to the 2004 efforts by the Denocrats to keep Ralph Nader off the ballot in as many states as possible.
this last decade has created a political truism. The Republicans play games with the election results and steal elections and the Democrats rig ballot line access against potential competitors to insure that no one else can run against them.