National Politics

The Tar Sands Pipeline

by Scott McLarty Z Magazine June 2013 Bill McKibben says we don’t have time to challenge two-party rule and build an alternative like the Green Party. In reality, we don’t have time not to. Those of us who participated in the #ForwardOnClimate Rally against the tar-sands pipelines in Washington, DC on February 17, witnessed the environmental movement at its best and worst. Tens of thousands turned out in freezing weather to demand that President Obama kill the proposal for the Keystone XL and Enbridge pipelines that, if approved, will route highly polluting crude oil from the Alberta tar sands through…


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On Statism, Socialism, Libertarianism, and the Greens

by Steve Welzer Green Party of New Jersey Undoubtedly, Greens, Libertarians, and socialists should cooperate in regard to our common effort to open up the electoral system to “more voices and more choices.” Beyond that, it is sometimes proposed that we jointly run candidates under the banner of “big tent” third party coalitions. Or we might hear entreaties from progressives who feel that it’s sectarian to have left-oriented electoralism split between socialists, social democrats, and Greens. The problem with these types of ideas is the fact that the ideological distinctions among the movements are more significant than is often acknowledged….


Cut the Military Budget – Now

by Mark A. Dunlea It is time to cut the military budget. It has been time to cut the military budget for many years. Like right after WWII. Otherwise known as a peace dividend. Free up funds to pay for school, job training, health care, clear water and air, mass transit, housing, hunger, jobs. Under sequestration as part of the federal budget deficit deal, half the budget cuts would come from the military, around $45 billion a year – perhaps 6% of existing spending. That is way too little. Lawrence Korb, defense advisor for former President Reagan. estimates $150 billion…


Julius Hobson, founder of the DC Statehood Party

by Michele Tingling-Clemmons (DC Statehood Green Party) (Note: The DC Statehood Party merged with the DC Green Party in 1999 to become the DC  Statehood Green Party, which is the affiliate of the Green Party of the United States in the District of Columbia.) JULIUS W. HOBSON, SR., along with Josephine Butler, founded the D.C. Statehood Party in 1969 “to redress the inequity that Washington residents were not able (and still are unable) to exercise their full rights as citizens because they live in the federal district controlled by the U.S. Congress that does not have voting representation in Congress. The…


Rachel Corrie, American Hero and American Conscience

by Carl Romanelli Originally published by the Wilkes-Barre Independent Gazette As the Republicans were wending through their convention, and the Democrats were preparing for theirs, yet another horrid court decision was handed down. No, it was not the US Supreme Court appointing a president, as was the case in December of 2000. It was not a Pennsylvania court jailing kids for cash, but just as reprehensible. Instead, this decision came from an Israeli court in Jerusalem, but it has wrenching implications here in the US. The decision was a denial in the civil suit filed for the wrongful murder of 23-year…