Mn-prog-events Mailing List: Progressive Calendar 10.29.08

[David Shove (shove001]

            P R O G R E S S I V E   C A L E N D A R    10.29.08

1. Sales tax/voting  10.29 11am
2. Economic crisis   10.29 3:30pm
3. Corridor          10.29 6:30pm
4. Ban torture       10.29 7pm Rochester MN
5. Farheen/61B       10.29

6. Hancock/46B       10.30 4pm
7. Eagan peace vigil 10.30 4:30pm
8. New Hope demo     10.30 4:45pm
9. Northtown vigil   10.30 5pm
10. Marxism/$$crisis 10.30 6:30pm

11. PC Roberts    - The end of the American road
12. Ralph Nader   - Two bills that would change America
13. Reza Fiyouzat - High time to boycott elections

--------1 of 13--------

From: Andy Driscoll <andy [at] driscollgroup.com>
Subject: Sales tax/voting 10.29 11am

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 29  11:00AM:
THE ARTS & ENVIRONMENT SALES TAX AMENDMENT:
Whats Happening to the State Constitution?
 plus
SECRETARY OF STATE MARK RITCHIE ON CROWDED POLLS
 with
MIKE DEAN, of COMMON CAUSE on CAMPAIGN MONEY

1) SHALL WE PLACE FUNDING MANDATES IN THE CONSTITUTION? Good friends are
separating over the issues involved in passing TTT's ANDY DRISCOLL and
LYNNELL MICKELSEN engage a debate on the pluses and minuses of a proposed
Constitutional amendment to raise the sales tax in favor of arts and
environmental programs. The question goes deeper than adequate arts and
environmental funding and thats the rub:  is the Constitution the proper
place for programmatic funding mandates?

GUESTS:
 KEN MARTIN  Campaign Manager, YES for MINNESOTA (proponents)
 PAUL GILJE - Coordinator, The CIVIC CAUCUS (opponents)
 FORMER STATE SENATOR JOHN MILTON  author, Time to Choose
 FORMER STATE SENATE MAJORITY LEADER JOHN HOTTINGER
 PATRICIA MITCHELL - Ordway Center for the Performing Arts
 DENNIS ANDERSON - StarTribune Outdoors Editor/Columnist
  Talk about the Arts/Environment Sales Tax Amendment to us at
612-341-0980.

MARK RITCHIE ON CROWDED POLLS and MIKE DEAN on CAMPAIGN MONEY

2) Registration, Turnout, Campaign Bucks will feature an update from
Minnesotas Secretary of State MARK RITCHIE on our record registration and,
perhaps, expected all-time high voter turnout in this important, nay,
critical, election year. JOINING Mark will be Common Cause Minnesota's
MIKE DEAN talking about the role of lobbyists and independent expenditures
(527s) in state and federal campaigns.

Are you voting? Are you not? If not why not? Talk to us at 612-341-0980.

[Sales taxes are regressive - they hit the poor harder. All sales taxes
should be revoked, none added. All taxes should be progressive - hit the
rich for most of it, the poor for almost nothing. Voting for a sales tax
is caving in to the selfish rich - time for all of us to zero in on them
as the source for much more of our tax revenue. TAX THE RICH! SPARE THE
POOR! -ed]


--------2 of 13--------

From: Meredith Aby <awcmere [at] gmail.com>
Subject: Economic crisis 10.29 3:30pm

Picket and Press Conference:  Anniversary of the 1929 Wall Street Crash,
Low Income and Working Families to Demand that Governor Pawlenty and
Legislature Respond to Economic Crisis!

WED, 10/29 @ 3:30pm at MN State Capitol, St. Paul

For many, October 29th, 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression.
On Wednesday, October 29th, the Welfare Rights Committee, along with
others, will hold a picket, bannering and press conference at the MN State
Capitol.  Protesters will demand that Governor Pawlenty and state
politicians call a state of emergency and address the economic crisis
going on for families in our state.

While Governor Pawlenty and others are narrowly focused on the upcoming
elections, thousands more have lost their homes to housing foreclosures,
thousands are losing unemployment, thousands are facing job layoffs, food
shelves are seeing massive increases of people in need, and homelessness
has increased over 20%.

The State of Minnesota is already facing nearly a billion dollar deficit
and this will likely increase greatly.  More families will face the
reality of no income and look to welfare--the program which legislators
stole over $80 million from in 2008 to balance the budget deficit!

The Welfare Rights Committee will also announce a state initiative to
respond to the economic crisis.  The WRC will call for others to join them
in forwarding a people's agenda which demands a moratorium on
foreclosures, extension of unemployment benefits, a moratorium on the
welfare time limit, a freeze on layoffs as well as other initiatives.
WRC will demand NO CUTS to poor and working people, and that politicians
make the RICH pay for the crisis!  Organized by the Welfare Rights
Committee.


--------3 of 13--------

From: Nicole Waxmonsky-Tu <Nickel542 [at] yahoo.com>
Subject: Corridor 10.29 6:30pm

The important details here:
http://www.cityofroseville.com/index.asp?NID=1383

The cities of Roseville, Falcon Heights and Lauderdale invite you to an
informational meeting on October 29 at 6:30 pm to discuss the development
of a non-motorized transportation corridor. The meeting will be at Falcon
Heights City Hall, 2077 Larpenteur Ave West.


--------4 of 13--------

From: Charles Underwood <charleyunderwood [at] hotmail.com>
Subject: Ban torture 10.29 7pm Rochester MN

Wednesday, 10/29, 7 pm, campaign to ban torture "Do No Harm: Can We
Reconcile Torture with American Values," with 2 generals, the director of
Center for the Victims of Torture and the president of the MN Evangelical
Association, Rochester Community and Technical College, Heintz Center,
1926 Colllegeview Rd SD, Rochester.


--------5 of 13--------

From: volunteer [at] farheenhakeem.org
Subject: Farheen/61B 10.29

GreenParty candidate for Mn House 61B
This is it - the final week.
In 7 days, we will know if all of our hard work will make history.
If you have not volunteered for the campaign before, this is the time to
do so.

Here are the list of activities:
- WEDNESDAY 10/29:  We are starting phone banking.  Please contact
volunteer [at] farheenhakeem.org for lists.
- THURSDAY 10/30: We are continuing phone banking.  Please contact
volunteer [at] farheenhakeem.org for lists
- FRIDAY 10/31: Sticker Party at Dan's house - 3317 Elliot Ave. S.  We
will be labeling our door hangers. Contact dan [at] dandittmann.org for more
details.
- SATURDAY 11/1: Walking around the district dropping literature.  Please
show up to 3315 Elliot Ave. S. for map, instructions, and packet of
literature.
- SUNDAY 11/2: Continuing dropping literature. Please show up to 3315
Elliot Ave. S. for map, instructions, and packet of literature.
- MONDAY 11/3: Last call for dropping literature. Please show up to 3315
Elliot Ave. S. for map, instructions, and packet of literature.
- ELECTION DAY 11/4: Last minute knocking on doors to get people to go and
vote.

We really need your help to beat the old guard machine politics.
Farheen Hakeem is running with out the help of candidates from higher
office.  Running on her own merits and knowledge, Farheen Hakeem knows
that she will serve the District using her skills and energy.
Come out and be the change you want to see in this world!
The Hakeem Campaign Team.


--------6 of 13--------

From: alforgreens [at] comcast.net
Subject: Hancock/46B 10.30 4pm

Hancock Campaign
Mn House/46B/Green Party

October
Thur 30 Lit Drop  4PM-6:30 PM

November
Sun 2 Lit Drop 1PM-6PM come at 12:15 for lunch
Mon 3 Lit Drop 1PM-6PM come at 12:15 for lunch

Come anytime between the times noted.  Appreciate an RSVP so we know
the number for lunch or dinner.
763-561-9758
-Allan Hancock


--------7 of 13--------

From: Greg and Sue Skog <family4peace [at] msn.com>
Subject: Eagan peace vigil 10.30 4:30pm

CANDLELIGHT PEACE VIGIL EVERY THURSDAY from 4:30-5:30pm on the Northwest
corner of Pilot Knob Road and Yankee Doodle Road in Eagan. We have signs
and candles. Say "NO to war!" The weekly vigil is sponsored by: Friends
south of the river speaking out against war.


--------8 of 13--------

From: Carole Rydberg <carydberg [at] comcast.net>
Subject: New Hope demo 10.30 4:45pm

NWN4P-New Hope demonstration every Thursday 4:45 to 5:45pm at the corner
of Winnetka and 42nd.  You may park near Walgreens or in the larger lot
near McDonalds; we will be on all four corners.  Bring your own or use our
signs.


--------9 of 13--------

From: EKalamboki [at] aol.com
Subject: Northtown vigil 10.30 5pm

NORTHTOWN Peace Vigil every Thursday 5-6pm, at the intersection of Co. Hwy
10 and University Ave NE (SE corner across from Denny's), in Blaine.

Communities situated near the Northtown Mall include: Blaine, Mounds View,
New Brighton, Roseville, Shoreview, Arden Hills, Spring Lake Park,
Fridley, and Coon Rapids.  We'll have extra signs.

For more information people can contact Evangelos Kalambokidis by phone or
email: (763)574-9615, ekalamboki [at] aol.com.


--------10 of 13--------

From: Socialist Appeal <new [at] socialistappeal.org>
Subject: Marxism/$$crisis 10.30 6:30pm

Has the Capitalist System Failed? Marxism & the Economic Crisis.

October 30, 2008 @ 6:30pm
Walker Library 2880 Hennepin Ave. Minneapolis

Why is the economy in trouble?  What does the bailout mean for working
people?  Does the crisis prove that Marx was right?  These and other
questions will be discussed in detail.  This event is free and open to the
public and is sponsored by the Workers International League.

John Peterson, editor of Socialist Appeal, will introduce the discussion.
There will be plenty of time for questions and debate.

Contacts:  John Peterson (651) 373-7609
           Josh Lucker (618) 691-8277
wil [at] socialistappeal.org


--------11 of 13--------

The End of the American Road
The New Neo-Con Reality
By PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS
CounterPunch
October 28, 2008

"We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And
while you're  studying that reality - judiciously, as you will - we'll
act again, creating other new  realities, which you can study too, and
that's how things will sort out. We're history's  actors . . . and you,
all of you, will be left to just study what we do."

--Bush White House aide explaining the New Reality

The New American Century lasted a decade.  Financial crisis and defeated
objectives in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Georgia brought the neoconservative
project for American world hegemony crashing to a close in the autumn of
2008.

The neocons used September 11, 2001, as a "new Pearl Harbor" to give power
precedence over law domestically and internationally.  The executive
branch no longer had to obey federal statutes, such as the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act or honor international treaties, such as the
Geneva Conventions.  An asserted "terrorist threat" to national security
became the cloak which hid US imperial interests as the Bush Regime set
about dismantling US civil liberties and the existing order of
international law constructed by previous governments during the post-war
era.

Perhaps the neoconservative project for world hegemony would have lasted a
bit longer had the neocons possessed intellectual competence.

On the war front, the incompetent neocons predicted that the Iraq war
would be a six-week cakewalk, whose $70 billion cost would be paid out of
Iraqi oil revenues.  President Bush fired White House economist Larry
Lindsey for estimating that the war would cost $200 billion.   The current
estimate by experts is that the Iraq war has cost American taxpayers
between two and three trillion dollars. And the six-week war is now the
six-year war.

On the economic front, the incompetent neocons overlooked the fact that a
country that relocates its industry and best jobs abroad in order to
maximize short-run profits becomes progressively economically weaker.
Propagandistic talk about a "New Economy" built around financial dominance
covered up the fact that the US was the world's greatest debtor country,
dependent on foreigners to finance the daily operation of its government,
the home mortgages of its citizens, and its military operations abroad.

In Iraq the neocons gave up their hegemonic military pretensions when they
put 80,000 Sunni insurgents on the US Army's payroll in order to scale
down the fighting and reduce US casualties.

In Afghanistan the neocons gave up more military pretensions when they had
to rely on NATO troops to fight the Taliban.

US military pretensions came to an end in Georgia when the Bush Regime
sent Georgian troops to ethnically cleanse South Ossetia of Russian
residents in order to end the secessionist movement in the province,
thereby clearing the path for Georgia's NATO membership. It took Russian
soldiers only a few hours to destroy the US and Israeli trained and
equipped Georgian Army.

The ongoing financial crisis has put an end to the pretensions of American
financial hegemony and free-market illusions that deregulation and
offshoring had brought prosperity to America.

In a long article, "The End of Arrogance," on September 30, the German
news magazine Der Spiegel  observed:

This is no longer the muscular and arrogant United States the world knows,
the superpower that sets the rules for everyone else and that considers
its way of thinking and doing business to be the only road to success.

"Also on display is the end of arrogance. The Americans are now paying the
price for their pride.

"Gone are the days when the US could go into debt with abandon, without
considering who would end up footing the bill. And gone are the days when
it could impose its economic rules of engagement on the rest of the world,
rules that emphasized profit above all else - without ever considering
that such returns cannot be achieved by doing business in a respectable
way.

"A new chapter in economic history has begun, one in which the United
States will no longer play its former dominant role. A process of
redistributing money and power around the world - away from America and
toward the resource-rich countries and rising industrialized nations in
Asia -- has been underway for years. The financial crisis will only
accelerate the process."

Looking at his defeated adversary, George W. Bush, brought down by
military and economic failure, Iranian President Ahmadinejad observed:
"The American empire in the world is reaching the end of its road, and its
next rulers must limit their interference to their own borders".

Truer words were never spoken.

Paul Craig Roberts was Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the Reagan
administration. He was Associate Editor of the Wall Street Journal
editorial page and Contributing Editor of National Review. He is coauthor
of The Tyranny of Good Intentions. He can be reached at:
PaulCraigRoberts [at] yahoo.com


--------12 of 13--------

Two Bills That Would Change America
Share the Sacrifices, Share the Benefits
By RALPH NADER
CounterPunch
October 28, 2008

I wish to declare the principle of political equivalence as grounds for
the moral authority to govern through shared benefits and sacrifices
between these in Washington, D.C. who rule and the citizens who are ruled.

Two simple, short bills in Congress will illustrate this major way to
improve the quality of public deliberation, enhance the well-being of the
populace and provide equity, now sorely lacking as the gap between
Congress, the White House and the people widens recklessly.

The first legislation would state that anytime the Congress and the White
House plunge our country, either constitutionally or unconstitutionally,
into a war or significant armed conflict beyond our borders, all
age-qualified and able-bodied children and grandchildren of all members of
Congress and the President and Vice President will be conscripted
immediately into the armed forces.

President George W. Bush, who took our country into an illegal, continuing
war of aggression against Iraq in 2003 on a platform of lies, deceptions
and cover-ups, has caused the loss of 4,200 American lives, 100,000
injuries and over one million civilian Iraqi lives.

At $14 million per hour, plus the long term expenses, this war will cost
taxpayers three trillion dollars according to Nobel Laureate economist,
Joseph Stieglitz. Imagine how many public facilities throughout America
such a sum could repair, expand and modernize. Imagine the well-paying
jobs in every community.

Mr. Bush has stated often that the Iraq war and occupation has been "worth
the sacrifice". By whom? Certainly not the Bush and Cheney families. Their
children, starting with Jenna and Barbara, are enjoying their comfortable
lives far from the horrors inflicted on that distant country and its
people.

The clear anticipation that the politician's offspring be at risk or, at
the least, be very inconvenienced by commencing their military career,
would induce much more careful public deliberations on Capitol Hill and in
the White House.

As long as the political rulers, with the savoring corporate profiteers by
their side, can send other young Americans to die and kill - mostly poor
whites, African Americans and Latinos - they will be more susceptible to
be swept by emotions of giving over their constitutional responsibilities
to presidential warmongers who bully and stampede them toward funding
violent follies.

Equivalence would provide members of Congress with incentives to avoid the
triad of being gutless, spineless, and deliberately clueless so as to
acquire deniability.

The second bill would stipulate that no member of Congress, and no
President, Vice President or Cabinet member would have any health
insurance, pension or other benefits until all Americans are provided
these long overdue essential benefits of a giant, modern economy.

With such equivalence, members of Congress would not be so cavalier about
indexing their salaries to inflation but denying such to the federal
minimum wage now wallowing at $6.55 per hour. Inflation-adjusted since
1968, when labor productivity was half of what it is today, the minimum
wage would now be $10 per hour. Even at that level, it would still be far
less than the $100 per hour, including benefits that Senators and
Representatives now receive.

In the nineteen thirties, John Maynard Keynes thought it would not be long
before high-productivity economies would solve what he called "the
economic problem".

After World War II, Western European peoples, rising from the ruins of
that conflagration, secured for themselves universal health insurance,
decent wages, decent pensions, four-week paid vacation, paid maternity and
family sick leave. Most of these nations abolished the chronic poverty
such as that which exists and is growing in our country.

Who will introduce these two legislative bills? Congressman Dennis
Kucinich? Senator Russ Feingold? Will readers of this column communicate
with their members of Congress about the wondrous effects of political
equivalence on a much needed sense of community between the rulers and the
ruled?

Ralph Nader is running for president as an independent.


--------13 of 13--------

High Time to Boycott Elections
by Reza Fiyouzat
October 28th, 2008
Dissident Voice

How long shall we allow the system to kick us in the head, take our money,
insult us after taking our money, and still expect us to participate in
its frauds? With every passing year, the differences between the two
ruling political parties in the U.S. diminish further, and their outlook,
conduct and even advertising campaigns merge so much so that their members
can be mistaken one for the other.

By now it must be clear that the "two-party" system is not only no such
thing; it is corrupt to the bone.

It should be instructive to recount some major points of Obama's record:

Barack Obama has voted for all the war funding bills that have gone
through the Congress; Obama has voted for USA PATRIOT ACT that effectively
suspended the habeas corpus, and he voted for the FISA bill that gave free
reign to government to spy on all Americans; his Democratic Party has gone
along with policies allowing torture, and we have not heard a single word
out of candidate Obama regarding the evils of torturing people; had it not
been for the Supreme Court rulings, the Democrats would not have been the
ones to come to the defense of habeas corpus, this oldest of legal
protections granted to human beings against arbitrary government
harassment, and neither have we heard anything from Obama, although he is
reported to be a constitutional lawyer; it was with the energetic pushing
and shoving of the Democratic presidential nominee, Barak Obama, that the
theft of people's money was given legal cover in the recent $700 billion
bailout of the banking industry (the actual figures are much higher).

Moreover, as pertains to how the American imperial machinations work
beyond the American borders, Obama, or at least his rhetoric, is every bit
as dangerous and bloodthirsty as McCain's. He was one of the first people
to advocate publicly (and on campaign trail, which is even more telling)
that Pakistani sovereignty be disregarded and indeed violated completely
if, with regards to the "war on terror", the Pakistani government "can't
do the job". He is a strong advocate of increasing the number of troops in
Afghanistan and to intensify the bloodletting in that country, in a war of
occupation every bit as barbaric and immoral as that in Iraq. As regards
the war of occupation in Iraq, Obama has never said he will end the
occupation; in his stated policy, he will leave a substantial number of
troops in Iraq to "fight the terrorists" and protect the embassy, "aid
workers", etc., which is to say he too will leave substantial troops in
Iraq, into an indefinite future. Finally, as regards the ongoing, brutal
subjugation of the Palestinian people, the theft of their lands, water and
resources under one of the most barbaric contemporary colonial ventures,
he is every bit a slave to the Israeli lobby and government.

If all these were not enough, we are now witnessing the defection of
"moderate" (the lesser of the bigger evil) Republicans onto the bandwagon
of this able champion of empire; not just any Republican (for example, Ron
Paul), but the likes of the war criminal Colin Powell, whose UN speech in
February 2003 - while holding up some supposedly evidential glass vial,
with the CIA chief, Tenet, and the hated Negroponte right behind him - is
now remembered only too painfully by the world that continues to pay in
blood, tears and humiliation for the crimes of the American empire.

His running mate's resume is even darker, but we need not go there.

Despite all this, a good section of the American left is still agonizing
over whether or not to vote for this "lesser" evil! Luminaries as large as
Chomsky and Zinn, The Nation magazine, and even the Communist Party USA,
as they did in the 2004 presidential elections, are again raising the
specter of the "necessity" of voting, albeit with noses well held, for
Obama. Some qualify this support with: "But, don't have any illusions!"
Anybody who supports, even qualified twenty-fold, the notion of voting for
an imperial (hence criminal) Democratic Party candidate, is already filled
with illusions.

What on earth is the point of voting at all, when the two evils under
consideration do not present much noticeable degree of difference in their
dispositions? Such recommendations coming from the "left" are stunningly
amusing if it weren't so infuriating to hear such talk always certified
with tons of qualifications, which in turn make the recommendations not
just absurd, but insane.

A nice sample of such was posted on MRZine ("Taking Politics Seriously").
The authors, Robert Jensen and Pat Youngblood, after stating that they
would be voting for Obama, proceed to acknowledge all the horrible
qualities of Obama the candidate, leaving the reader to wonder why then
they are voting for him! And the answer is simple: it is a vote against
McCain. Basically, they argue that Obama-Biden ticket is less scary than
McCain-Palin. Obama's own qualities do not make him a very desirable
candidate to be supported by the left, but since the left must by all
means necessary defeat the crazy far right, then by simplistic syllogism
they conclude that the left must vote for Obama.

The other point they make is that a vote for Obama is a slap in the face
of racism. To think that one is fighting racism while voting for a
candidate that upholds every racist element of the structures of
imperialism is to venture into political oblivion.

Such arguments can only come from people who do nothing whatsoever to
change the really existing political life of the U.S. in between
presidential elections. But, of course, every four years they must express
some political recommendation of sorts, and out of desperate frustration,
due to seeing the political field as only what the system presents (i.e.,
due to the fact that they do not act as subjective agencies), they can
only decide which system-provided choice is less harmful. This is the gist
of their dilemma.

So long as the left in the U.S. does not create its own independent
institutions, so long as there is no institutional alternative that can
channel people's grievances, and so long as there is no political party
representing the working classes along a socialist outlook, the current
balance of forces will continue to work increasingly against the working
people and those interested in a more just society, and no matter how
learned we might be, we will end up supporting the "lesser" of the two
evil parties dominating the people; in other words, supporting the
imperial system.

What to do then? For starters, a good half of the eligible voters have
been conducting a de facto boycott of the presidential elections, since
they instinctively and correctly realize that the two ruling parties do
not represent them. So, why not join them?

The only thing that can transform "apathy" into an actual political force
is to recognize that a boycott of the elections must be done loudly and
with the purpose of announcing to the non-voting public that another way
must be sought and created to bring about political change. This other way
must engage them, the non-voting population, in a serious effort to build
a real party of opposition.

This, in turn, requires a genuine opposition party-building effort. The
Populists in the 19th century did not agonize over whether or not to vote
for the lesser evils of their days. They built their own party. Granted,
by the end of the 19th century, the Democrats had pretty much swallowed
them whole, by adopting key elements of their platform reflecting their
social demands, while watering them down, and blunting their force. But,
the organizing spirit of the Populists is something to learn from. The
lesson: Build your own party! Oppose both ruling parties consistently.

Within the context of building a real opposition party, then, a boycott as
a tactical move makes good political sense. It would bring coherence and
political direction to energies not wasted in the electoral fraud (yet
sitting still), not burned in the electoral game presented by the system
as an opiate (to paraphrase Max Kantar).

In my opinion, at this point, the tiny benefits of getting the independent
candidates, such as McKinney or Nader, enough votes to bring them Federal
dollars and a place on the presidential debates in the next election, is
simply not worth the participation in the fraud created by this machinery
of deception called "voting", which in turn only helps feed the illusion
that there is strong democracy in America.

The American people are fed this lie every four years that their voices
can make a difference. Really? It didn't make a jot of difference in 2006,
when people, out of pure illusion, voted into the Congress a majority of
Democrats with the hope that they would bring the war of occupation in
Iraq to a speedy end. As George Carlin would have said, people might as
well have wished on a rabbit's foot!

It didn't make any difference when a huge majority of the American people
kept yelling down the jammed Congressional telephone lines, and
over-stuffed Congressional email inboxes with, "Don't give my money away
to those scum sucking swine!" The people's "representatives" stole
people's money anyway and handed it over to the banksters in broad
daylight!

So, to repeat, what's the point of voting for these people? Except getting
demoralized, such behavior has no other effect.

If people such as Chomsky and Zinn had spent the last thirty years of
their lives, using their immense authority and influence, building truly
oppositional parties, maybe for the past two presidential elections they
wouldn't have to recommend voting for such a corrupt bunch of people, and
instead could recommend voting for a truly oppositional party that really
channeled people's grievances, with some (even if symbolic) presence in
the legislature.

The irony of it all is that Mr. Chomsky has built himself a reputation (at
least he used to talk about this in his lectures and interviews) for not
telling people what they should do, since, according to him, such is not
desirable in his anarchist belief system. Yet, in the last two
presidential elections, he has chosen to recommend supporting one of the
major (and arguably the most successful) pillars of American imperialism!

Whence the contradictions? These contradictions come from the material
conditions of lack of political alternatives, which, fret not, can be
built starting now.

So, instead of wringing our hands over whether or not to vote for an evil,
which is only a tiny bit less so, let us recognize the necessity of
building a truly oppositional party. The first step in that direction is a
loud boycott of these elections with an even louder declaration that
voting is bunk until real political alternatives representing people's
needs are built. Don't waste your vote, and don't encourage the bastards.
Invest your time vociferously boycotting the voting farce, and build an
oppositional socialist party.

Reza Fiyouzat can be reached at: rfiyouzat [at] yahoo.com. Read other articles
by Reza.

This article was posted on Tuesday, October 28th, 2008 at 8:01am and is
filed under "Third" Party, Activism, Capitalism, Democracy, Democrats,
Elections, Right Wing Jerks. ShareThis

[If you're progressive: Boycott the major parties for prez & congress.
Vote for Nader or McKinney or other third party; if not them, then Mickey
Mouse. If not for third, better to not vote at all. -ed]


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   rhymes with clove         Progressive Calendar
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