Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Have you had enough? New Party on the horizon

Rocky Anderson

418 Douglas Street

Salt Lake City, UTAH 84102

Press Release - October 21, 2011

Have you had enough?

New Party on the horizon

The former Mayor of Salt Lake City and Executive Director of High Road for Human Rights, Rocky Anderson, calls for the formation of a new political party and a sustained movement committed to the public interest.

Two months ago, Anderson “divorced himself” from what he referred to as “the spineless, gutless Democratic Party.” Responding to an email from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, which showed as the subject, “Standing strong,” Anderson wrote: “How dare you send an email with the subject line ‘Standing strong.’ You didn’t do it on Iraq, you didn’t do it on torture, you didn’t do it on signing statements, you haven’t done it onAfghanistan, you haven’t done it on defense spending, you haven’t done it on real health care reform, you haven’t done it on the debt ceiling fiasco.”

(Rolly: Rocky Anderson says adieu to the Democratic Party,” The Salt Lake Tribune, August 12, 2011.)

Anderson continued: “I’m done with the Democratic Party… I think the answer is a new political party that actually will advocate for and promote the interests of the public rather than the narrow interests of the wealthy who bought and paid for not only Congress but the White House… The Constitution has been eviscerated while Democrats have stood by with nary a whimper. It is a gutless, unprincipled party, bought and paid for by the same interests that buy and pay for the Republican Party.”

(Romboy, “Former S.L. mayor Rocky Anderson divorces himself from ‘gutless’ Democratic Party,” Deseret News, August 13, 2011.)

This country needs a new, powerful party that can win elections, according to Anderson. “The pensions and other savings accounts of the middle class in this country have been decimated. The only way out is another party. I would call it, frankly, a second party that actually represents the interests of the American people. There isn’t a real opposition force in Washington, D.C., any more, and we the people have the capacity to change that -- and we must if our republic is going to survive. I consider myself an Independent, but I would be very pleased to work with others to form not just a political party to run another campaign, but to launch a sustained movement for major change in this country.”

(“Rocky: Not a Democrat,” (Interview with Rocky Anderson by Lexie Levitt), City Weekly,September 26, 2011.)

Anderson said that people are fed up with the Democratic and Republican parties, Congress, and the Obama administration to the point of being ready to support a new party that rejects the corporatism and militarism of the two “Wall Street lap-dog” major parties.

The polls support Anderson’s view that the people of the United States are desirous of a new party, and bold, new leadership, like never before. Patrick Caddell and Douglas Shoen have written:

“The United States is in the midst of what we would both call a pre-Revolutionary moment, and there is widespread support for fundamental change in the system. An increasing number of Americans are now searching beyond the two parties for bold and effective leadership.”

(Caddell and Schoen, “Expect a Third-Party Candidate in 2012,” The Wall Street Journal, August 25, 2011.)

"Have you had enough?" asks Anderson. “Would you support the formation of a new party that will commit to:

affordable universal health care;
an end to the wars;
a significant reduction in the military budget and an end to the military-industrial-congressional complex;
investigation of illegal conduct, including war crimes, by executive officials during the current and prior administrations;
investigation of the events on 9/11 to answer significant questions that have been raised;
prosecution for illegal conduct leading to the economic melt-down;
disincentives for U.S. companies to send jobs overseas;
employee and environmental safeguards in trade agreements;
implementation of major domestic jobs and infrastructure programs;
an end to the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy;
campaign finance reform to end the corrupting influence of money in politics;
treat substance abuse within a public health framework rather than as a criminal matter;
repeal the PATRIOT Act;
compassionate and rational immigration reform;
marriage equality;
an end to subsidies for oil and gas companies;
a ban on a Canada-to-Mexico tar sands pipeline;
air quality protection, including stricter ozone limits; and
aggressive action and leadership on the climate crisis and the environment?”

Rocky Anderson has been in the process of contacting some of America’s leading social, environmental and political activists with the goal of creating a powerful, broad-based political alternative to the increasingly unpopular Republican and Democratic Parties. He intends that the new party will have candidates in local, state, and federal races throughout the nation.

Anderson plans on hosting a meeting soon between leaders in various sectors of the country in order to draft a new platform and a long-term strategy capable of attracting a majority of voters, including millions of dissatisfied Democrats and Republicans who, until now, had nowhere else to go.

Anderson has stated his intention to do what is possible to get on the ballots in all 50 states and to campaign for candidates aggressively in all states. "The Democratic and Republican Parties have acted as if voters have no other real options. The people of this country will demonstrate that we, indeed, have another option - a party that will work in the public interest, rather than for the defense contractors, the health insurance companies, and the rapacious financial institutions that have caused such economic havoc in our nation and the world."

Anderson anticipates a broad-based coalition, similar to the one built by the New Democratic Party of Canada (NDP), which won impressive political gains in the Canadian federal elections last May. The NDP is the political party that brought universal health care to the Canadian people.

Press info: Mackenzie Scott - Tel. 801-520-0491

Rocky Anderson - Tel. 801-557-9007

E-mail: rockyandersonrocky@yahoo.com

Monday, July 25, 2011

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Bill Hilty: The nation's wars are a heavy burden on the state

From the Minneapolis Star Tribune---

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Bill Hilty: The nation's wars are a heavy burden on the state

Article by: JACK NELSON-PALLMEYER and BILL HILTY
Updated: July 25, 2011 - 7:02 PM

http://www.startribune.com/opinion/otherviews/126142923.html

Budget gap could have been easily closed with the money we send away.

Citizens in Minnesota are being encouraged to see scarcity as the new normal. If you are an elected official at any level of government, your job has been reduced to managing austerity.

It doesn't have to be this way -- if we address the elephant lurking in the budget deficit hall. That would be the high costs of militarization and war.

Technically, the military budget is a federal issue, distinct from state, county and city budgets. However, we can no longer maintain the fiction that distorted federal spending that prioritizes war and militarism is disconnected from state and local budget crises and is eroding living standards.

According to the nonpartisan National Priorities Project, Congress devotes 58 cents of every dollar of federal discretionary spending to war-related purposes. To better understand the impact on Minnesota of privileging military spending priorities, consider this: We have just experienced a painful government shutdown over how to deal with a two-year $5 billion shortfall. Yet Minnesota taxpayers over the same two-year period will spend $8.4 billion just for our share of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

This will bring Minnesotans' total contribution to those wars to about $36 billion. Additionally over the next two years, Minnesotans will pay $26 billion for our share of the nation's base military budget, a budget that has doubled since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Every Minnesota citizen and every layer of government is impacted negatively by current war-related priorities. Faced with pressing local needs, taxpayers in Fergus Falls will pay $17 million for their share of counterproductive Iraq/Afghan wars over the next two years; Minneapolis taxpayers will contribute $255 million.

We believe it is time for Minnesotans to communicate clearly to our members of Congress and to President Obama that federal funding priorities must shift from unnecessary wars to meeting essential needs. A new citizen-driven effort, the Minnesota Arms Spending Alternatives Project (MNasap), is a vehicle for doing so.

We have crafted a simple resolution that can be adapted and enacted by individuals, community groups, library boards, city councils and other elected bodies throughout the state. It reads in part: "Whereas our nation desperately needs to better balance its approach to security to go beyond military defense and include the economic, social, and environmental needs of our communities, state, and nation ... Therefore [we] call on Senators Klobuchar and Franken, and Representatives Walz, Kline, Paulsen, McCollum, Ellison, Bachmann, Peterson and Cravaack as well as President Barack Obama, to shift federal funding priorities from war and the interests of the few, to meeting the essential needs of us all."

The state government shutdown has ended, but the pain will be ongoing for many Minnesotans. As a recent Star Tribune editorial ("New budget rests on shaky structure," July 20) states, borrowing against future state revenues and delaying school payments will have serious consequences, and the budget "inflicts too much pain. The hurt will be felt most keenly on college campuses and among those who serve low-income disabled and elderly people."

Imagine what we can accomplish if we stop squandering wealth and talents on militarization and counterproductive wars. Schools could reduce class sizes and have adequate supplies. Bridges could be repaired. Food shelves could be adequately stocked but rarely needed. We could take steps to make homelessness rare and temporary. Cities and states could adequately provide essential services, including meeting their authentic security needs. Critical investments could be made in infrastructure and green technologies. Public libraries could expand hours and programming. Urban and national rail systems could be built. The country could address climate change and end child poverty. All Americans could have access to quality, affordable health care.

This sounds like a fantasy only because current choices keep us on the dead-end road of militarization. It is a realistic possibility once we demilitarize priorities, realistically assess security needs and refocus governing on serving the common good.

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer is associate professor of justice and peace studies at the University of St. Thomas. Bill Hilty, DFL-Finlayson, is a member of the Minnesota House. For information on the resolution campaign, contact MinnesotaASAP@gmail.com

Previously Pallmeyer and Hilty authored this resolution:

Resolution Calling for Re-ordering Priorities

Resolution Calling for Re-ordering PrioritiesResolution Calling for Re-ordering of Priorities:

Whereas Minnesota is faced with a $5.028 billion budget shortfall; and,

Whereas past budget cuts have resulted in painful reductions in essential services and future cuts would further erode the quality of life for and, in fact, endanger the lives of many citizens; and,

Whereas many cities and communities in Minnesota are laying off police, firefighters, teachers and other essential employees; and,

Whereas past budgets have been balanced by cutting social services, under investment in essential infrastructure, and other measures that push the crisis onto local governments and the poor; and,

Whereas Minnesota taxpayers even during these times of economic crisis and fiscal austerity are poised to pay the equivalent of the entire state biennial budget, more than $35 billion over the next two years, for their share of the Defense Budget of the Federal government; and,

Whereas Minnesota taxpayers alone have already spent more than $27.5 billion, and will spend $8.4 billion more over the next two years for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; and,

Whereas 58 cents of every dollar of federal discretionary spending is devoted to military purposes; and,

Whereas military spending priorities at the national level negatively impact budgets and quality of life at all levels of government and society; and,

Whereas our nation desperately needs to better balance its approach to security to go beyond military defense and include the economic, social, and environmental needs of our communities, state, and nation;

Therefore be it resolved that we, the Legislature of the State of Minnesota call on Senators Klobuchar and Franken, and Representatives Walz, Kline, Paulsen, McCollum, Ellison, Bachmann, Peterson and Cravaack as well as Congressional leadership and President Barack Obama, to shift federal funding priorities from war and the interests of the few, to meeting the essential needs of us all.

Approved [date]

Drafted by Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party State Representative Bill Hilty.

A more comprehensive alternative I put together based on talks with people across the Great Lakes Region:

A program for real change...

* Peace--- end the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and shutdown the 800 U.S. military bases on foreign soil.

* A National Public Health Care System - ten million new jobs.

* A National Public Child Care System - three to five million new jobs.

* Works Progress Administration - three million new jobs.

* Civilian Conservation Corps - two million new jobs.

* Tax the hell out of the rich and cut the military budget by ending the wars to pay for it all which will create full employment.

* Enforce Affirmative Action; end discrimination.

* Raise the minimum wage to a real living wage

* What tax-payers subsidize in the way of businesses, tax-payers should own and reap the profits from.

* Moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions.

* Defend democracy by defending workers' rights including the right to collective bargaining for improving the lives and livelihoods of working people.

* Roll-back and freeze the price of food, electricity, gas and heating fuels; not wages, benefits or pensions.

* Wall Street is our enemy.

How is Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy working for you?

Let's talk about the politics and economics of livelihood for a real change.

Obviously the resolutions by Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer and Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party State Representative Bill Hilty will never be realized as government policy while we are stuck in this "two-party trap" because militarism and wars are an integral and primary component of Wall Street's imperialist agenda.

Sunday, June 12, 2011

The question we need to keep asking...

As liberal, progressive and left working class activists we should strive to make sure the entire politics of this country begins to revolve around how the American people answer this one basic and fundamental question:

How is Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy working for you?

- Ask this question in letters to the editor.

- Post it on your refrigerator, on bulletin boards at work, in churches and community centers.

- Use it on protest signs at vigils and demonstrations.

Most people will tell you that this economy is not working very well for them. After finding out why it isn't working very well for them we can begin to put together a program to turn this country around in creating the kind of country we really want.

This is such a basic and fundamental question as we approach the 2012 Elections that it is dishonest to be engaged in politics not asking this question of the American people.

--

Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell: 651-587-5541

Primary E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net

E-mail: alan.maki1951mn@gmail.com

Blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Greetings from Walkerville

Greetings from Walkerville

Phil Neuenfeldt, Wisconsin State AFL-CIOpresident, < http://www.wisaflcio.org/ > sends an update on the actions around Wisconsin’s Walkerville.

Day six of the Walkerville tent city protest has seen overwhelming support from Wisconsin workers, students and community members. Over the course of the week, thousands of Wisconsinites have gathered on the cement blocks lining the Capitol Square in order to call attention to Gov. Walker and his legislative allies’ destructive budget proposals—proposals which will cripple Wisconsin’s schools, health care system and communities.

Many have said that they are surrounding the Capitol to bear witness to their elected officials’ decisions and to let their Representatives know that the people of Wisconsin are preparing to take back their government back this summer.

“Walkerville is a way to focus the spotlight on Gov. Walker and Sen. Alberta Darling’s budget that will devastate higher education, public education and Wisconsin as we know it,” explained Michael Rosen, President of AFT Local 212, and professor at the Milwaukee Area Technical College. Rosen traveled to Walkerville on Wednesday to spend the night.

About 150 tents have sprung up around the Capitol since Saturday June 4, when the Walkerville tent city was erected.

Stephanie Bloomingdale, Secretary-Treasurer of the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO, brought her son, Nicholas to Walkerville. “We are here to tell Scott Walker that his attack on Wisconsin’s unions, middle class, and communities will not stand.

The people are coming together here in Walkerville to fight for a just budget and for an economy that works for all.”

Each day in Walkerville has had a theme, complete with educational programs to inform citizens on the budget and how it will impact their everyday life. Public services, health care, education and higher education have all been a theme of the day. Many local musicians have taken to the stage on State Street to show their support for the protestors and entertain the family-friendly crowd.

“As Wisconsinites, we cannot standby in silence while our friends, family and neighbors suffer at the hand of Governor Walker’s bad choices for our state,” explained Dian Palmer, President of SEIU Health Care Wisconsin and a public health nurse from Milwaukee who has been spending multiple nights in Walkerville. “I am here because what I have heard from Governor Walker does not represent the Wisconsin that I believe in or that my fellow Wisconsinites believe in. And I am here to bear witness and ensure that our leaders do right by education, healthcare and programs for senior citizens.”

Walkerville Events

On Health Care Day, nurses and home care patients took on a mock Scott Walker in the fight for quality health care in a play boxing match. Candice Owley, President of the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals, took to the ring in order to ensure quality care for all of Wisconsin.

On Public Services day, state and county employees held a mock town-hall listening session

< http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/06/walkerville-mock-listening-session-.htmlwith > characters of Gov. Walker, David Koch, Sen. Glen Grothman and Sarah Palin. On Sunday, Wisconsin teachers held a citizen speak-out:

< http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/06/teachers-rally-walkerville.html >

Last Monday, fire fighters, farmers and cops lead a march of thousands to call for a fair and just budget. Read more about it here:

< http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/wisconsin-state-afl-cio-blog/2011/06/fair-budget-march-walkerville.html >

As the winds blew in last night Walkerville residence took refuge by patronizing local businesses as they waited out the storm. After the storm, Walkerville citizens returned to their tents, tucked-in for the night and continued to raise awareness of Gov. Walker’s bad budget choices.

More information on Walkerville

For pictures of Walkerville click here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/wisaflcio/

For Walkerville stories click here: http://wisaflcio.typepad.com/

To donate to help the Walkerville, tent city run click here:

http://wi.aflcio.org/statefed/index.cfm?action=article&articleID=8853d778-e839-4967-982e-c4ca49b2d26c

For live updates from Walkerville visit the Wisconsin State AFL-CIO Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wisaflcio

Twitterpages: http://twitter.com/#!/wisaflcio

Press Clips From Walkerville

Wisconsin Protesters Erect ‘Walkerville’ Tent City To Protest Scott Walker’s Budget Cuts, Hufftington Post.

In Wisconsin, Legislative Urgency as Recall Threat Looms, New York Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/08/us/politics/08wisconsin.html?_r=3

Friendly Spirit Prevails in Walkerville, Wisconsin State Journal:

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt-and-politics/article_75c648fa-8f6e-11e0-a928-001cc4c03286.html

CNN in Walkerville:

http://www.criticalmention.com/ctv3-1/landing_email.php?type=email&video=true&random_string=67b2d92dedfb1f74df9b4c7a1e8950f9

Check out my blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Speech by Alan L. Maki of Minnesotans for Peace and Social Justice...

... at the Sunday, August 29, 2004

"Detroit Lakes, Minnesota Peace March and Rally"

Greetings sisters and brothers!

This March and rally are great. Thanks to the organizers for making this event such a huge success.

The music, the poetry, it’s all fantastic!

It is good to see so many people I have been working with who have traveled from many parts of northern Minnesota to be here today and to meet so many new people.

This is our chance to demonstrate our solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of people who are now marching through the streets of New York City in opposition to this administration that lied about this war and has lied to us about just about everything regarding the state of our nation.

Before I begin I would like to call to your attention that I have placed dozens of these blue books scattered around the Pavilion on numerous tables. These books are free, your tax dollars paid for them. They are “Legislative Manuals” that include the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of Minnesota legislators and other pertinent information much of which will be useful should you decide to run for public office. Please take a copy and make good use of it. Legislators tell me they appreciate hearing from you and they like hearing from you often.

Also, I hope everyone has a copy of this leaflet that speaks to the unemployment appeals case I will make reference to. Please take it home and share it with your family, relatives, neighbors, and fellow workers. You could find yourself in a similar situation… especially if we end up with four more years of Bush.

Mark Twain once observed that the first casualty when a nation goes to war is democracy.

Because of my outspoken views for peace and social justice I am now the target of the most vicious restraining order ever issued in Minnesota since the days of Joe McCarthy’s anti-communist witch-hunts that robbed the working people of Minnesota of its strongest voices and best fighters for peace and social justice. This witch-hunt now involves Homeland Security Forces who not only viciously attacked me as they ran roughshod over my Constitutional Rights… but also attacked my dog and made my dog suffer.

I hope you will read this leaflet I am passing out here today. Minnesota’s unemployment compensation legislation is skewed and rigged against working people in favor of the corporations just like this two-party system is rigged to deny working people a voice in the Minnesota legislature and in the US congress.

What we need to understand is that poverty, joblessness, and war are universal features of this rotten capitalist system that puts profits before peoples’ needs. What we need is a system that puts people before profits. Take a look at reality… this dirty war is about oil company profits.

Floyd Olson, Minnesota’s Farmer-Labor Party governor once observed, “The capitalist system is failing as sure as the sun will rise tomorrow.” This was a prophetic observation.

Floyd Olson was the most popular politician in Minnesota ever. Yet his name has been virtually erased from the history books.

How long will working people endure an economic system that breeds war and poverty?

What working people in Minnesota need is real living wages not these poverty wages.

We need to build affordable homes here… not bomb homes in Iraq. Isn’t it better to pay working people thirty dollars an hour to build homes right here in Minnesota than waste money bombing the homes of others? Think about this: the same people who say, ‘oh no, you can’t pay working people thirty dollars an hour for building homes’ are the very same people who think nothing of spending tens of thousands of dollars to drop one bomb on homes in Iraq! I hope you will think about that little fact. It’s about priorities.

Our children and grandchildren need quality educations… instead Bush and Rumsfeld bomb schools in Iraq.

It is rather ironic that the same oil companies out to steal the oil from Iraq are the same ones robbing us at the pump. They say gas prices have been hiked to catch up with inflation. Why don’t they have the same mode of thinking when it comes to our wages? Have you ever heard one single politician in the State of Minnesota say that the minimum wage should be raised to a level sufficient to compensate for inflation? Why not? Let the poverty wage paying employers cry like we do when we go to the gas station to fill our tanks… these poverty wage-paying employers won’t die from shedding a few tears.

Listen to what Mark Twain had to say over one-hundred years ago and see if it doesn’t ring true today as we discuss this war in Iraq:

The loud little handful--- as usual--- will shout for the war. The pulpit will--- warily and cautiously--- object--- at first; the great, big dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, “It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.

Then the handful will shout louder. A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audience will thin out and lose popularity.

Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers--- as earlier--- but do not dare to say so. And now the whole nation--- pulpit and all--- will take up the war cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open.

Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself that the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.

This is from, “The Mysterious Stranger” by Mark Twain.

How true all this rings today… from Bush right down to that one lone warmonger waving his little American flag shouting obscenities at us as we marched through downtown Detroit Lakes.

Apparently there is no room for freedom of the press and freedom of expression alongside the “free market” system that puts profits and wars before people.

The price of democracy and justice, like that of healthcare, is beyond the reach of working people in Minnesota.

What is the price of war?

Every bomb dropped on a school in Iraq robs our children of an education here at home.

Every home Bush bombs in Iraq is a home we can’t build here.

The price we pay for this war means there is not enough money for Universal healthcare like they have in Canada. The Canadians aren’t stupid… their excellent healthcare system is paid for with peace. Their government didn’t go to war in Iraq.
American working people are paying dearly for Bush’s dirty war… it is working class youth fighting and dying and it is workers who foot the bill. Do you raise your sons and daughters to be cannon fodder in some oilman’s war?

The oil barons even profit from the body-bags our sons and daughters are brought home in--- sadly and ironically, these body-bags are made from an oil byproduct. Our sons and daughters fight and die… the oilmen profit, even from their deaths.

The home healthcare industry in Minnesota is a racket in the fullest sense of the word. An examination of the way Provide Care, Incorporated has been feeding at the public trough like a pig and evading public scrutiny while trampling on the rights of its “customers” and employees alike as they fatten their corporate profits is no different than the way the merchants of death and destruction hawk their wares of bombs and bullets.

Then they have judges and the police in their hip pocket to silence workers with restraining orders like this, which have been placed upon me.

Think about this: If these judges can silence me for defending the right of one worker to unemployment benefits… do you think they can’t silence you for speaking out for peace and for social justice in the same way?

Al Capone would have been envious of such rackets!

A nation cannot squander its resources on wars unless it robs its own people of the right to decent livelihoods and the things they need like universal healthcare, housing, and education.

When a nation squanders it resources on wars it is like taking the wealth of the nation and throwing it into the ocean. Would you take money from your pocket and throw it into the waters of Detroit Lake?

Look at this… this is what your tax dollars are buying in Iraq! People like this little boy here, his arms and legs blown off while his entire family lay dead. Not even his mother left to try to comfort him through this agony. Is this the way to win friends and influence people? (picture displayed)

Is there any wonder the peoples of the world said no to this war before it started and continue to be opposed to it?

In my opinion this election shouldn’t even be a contest the way working people hate Bush and his bunch of corporate profiteers and warmongers.

Why then are so many people considering not even voting in this important election?

Because the Democrats, for the most part, have been docile and cowardly in standing up to these warmongers and the corporate thieves.

With Democrats like Collin Peterson who support this dirty war and those who have remained silent is it any wonder people are fed up with politics and don’t want to vote?

Look around you, how many DFL legislators do you see here today? Do you see your DFL Congressman?

Why should I remain silent about their absence if they are not here?

And it is not only on the issue of this war that they have remained docile. It is on minimum wage legislation, the right to organize, and universal healthcare… even the right to fair hearings.

Leaders of the Minnesota DFL in justifying either their support for this dirty war or their silence on the issue pointed out to me that the polls show that a significant number of people support this war. You know what I told them? Well, because it is Sunday and there is a clergyman or two here… I won’t tell you exactly what I told them, but I will tell you that I told them this: “Polls don’t die and suffer in wars… people do.”

It made me sick to see people, even union leaders, stand and applaud Collin Peterson here in Detroit Lakes at the 7th Congressional District DFL convention a few months back. It was just sickening. You know, I was the one and only DFL delegate that did not stand and clap after Collin Peterson got done with his speech supporting Bush’s dirty little war in Iraq.

In my opinion John Kerry’s one and only strong point is that he is an opportunist politician who sticks his finger in his mouth when he gets up in the morning to see from which direction the political winds are blowing. “Waffling” is his strong point because what this means to us as labor, peace, and social justice activists is that with a powerful and large movement demanding peace and universal healthcare we might be able to influence him. Provided we generate enough wind for him to feel on his wet finger when he pulls it out of his mouth.

I was a Kerry delegate… I am firmly convinced that the only way we can get rid of Bush is to elect Kerry. This is the reality of the present political moment.

Is there anyone amongst us today that believes we can influence George Bush? If you are a billionaire with pockets lined with cash… yes, you might be able to influence George Bush or Tim Pawlenty… I don’t know about you but I have had… p-a-w-l-e-n-t-y of Bush.

We must insist that John Kerry set a date for the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq! Then vote for Kerry so we can get rid of Bush. Getting rid of Bush is the next step we need to take towards ending this dirty war.

I was glad to see John Kerry take a stand against predatory lenders. This is a serious problem in this state.

By the way… I am voting for Kerry, but no way will I vote for that warmonger Collin Peterson. I certainly won’t vote for his Republican opponent. I hope my non-vote sends a message to someone, someplace.

I think that as we go out to defeat Bush by electing John Kerry we need to begin a serious discussion of putting an end to this two-party fiasco. The moneyed interests in the DFL continue to resist Farmer-Labor voices in the Party. Maybe it is time to go back to what we had in Minnesota: A real farmer-labor party. The time has come to consider the option of rebuilding the old Farmer-Labor Party in Minnesota on the legacies of Floyd Olson, Elmer Benson, and John Bernard. I don’t care what the Party is called. From the red-roots of the farmer-labor movement have grown many new green shoots that need to be nurtured to maturity.

Peace! Sisters and Brothers… Let this word peace ring out throughout every household, union hall, church, and community in Minnesota!

Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today on behalf of Minnesotans for Peace and Social Justice.

Peace & Social Justice

For a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity."

A program for real change...

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Have you had enough? New Party on the horizon

Monday, July 25, 2011

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Bill Hilty: The nation's wars are a heavy burden on the state

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, Bill Hilty: The nation's wars are a heavy burden on the state

Sunday, June 12, 2011

The question we need to keep asking...

Thursday, June 9, 2011

Greetings from Walkerville

Speech by Alan L. Maki of Minnesotans for Peace and Social Justice...

... at the Sunday, August 29, 2004

"Detroit Lakes, Minnesota Peace March and Rally"

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