National Politics

Green Party, National Politics December 31, 2012

The Lack of Progress on Gun Control

  by Mark Dunlea Pointing out in 1982 that John Lennon probably would still be alive if he had lived in his home country of England or his wife’s nation of Japan generated the most media coverage I received in my race for Congress. The NRA repeated the normal mantra that people, not guns, kill people. So we have spent thirty years not getting guns off the street but enacting tougher laws to punish people after they do bad things with guns. The end result – more guns are used to kill more people. There was some brief flurry around…

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Democracy, Economy, National Politics November 19, 2012

People have the power to make necessary changes

Move To Amend by Andy Douglas November 12, 2012 A few weeks ago I attended a conference on Economic Democracy in Madison. It’s a subject I consider intensely important — everyday people’s control over their own economic destiny. The conference inspired, informed and provoked, and I wanted to share some highlights. Keynote speaker John Nichols, correspondent for The Nation and CNBC commentator, called economic democracy the great moral struggle of America. It goes back to the founding stages of our country (when only 4 percent of the population could vote). The founders knew slavery was a sin, he said, but…

2012 Election, Environment, Green Party, National Politics, Third Party October 27, 2012

Voting Green in a Swing State

Counterpunch by B. SIDNEY SMITH WEEKEND EDITION OCTOBER 26-28, 2012 “You’re Doing WHAT???” I live in a purple part of the country (Virginia) and move in academic circles, so of course I know many, many people who will be voting for Obama. It is impossible to know, but if I sodomized the Easter Bunny in front of their children the look on my Obama-voter friends’ faces could scarcely be much different than the look they get when I say I am voting for Jill Stein. “But this is a swing state…you have to vote for Obama…what if Romney wins?!?” The…

Green Party, National Politics, State Politics, Third Party January 27, 2012

AB1413 “Gut and Amend” Abuse Would Gut Voter Voice

by Michael Feinstein Fox and Hounds Monday, January 23rd, 2012 A bill about to be passed by the Legislature – AB 1413 – would rob us of our right to vote for write-in candidates, a right we’ve enjoyed and exercised since California statehood in 1850. With such a major change, one would assume it’s imminent passage is the culmination of a long public process, where the proposed change has been publicly vetted, with broad participation by civic and good government groups in debates, public forums, op/eds and talk shows. But AB1413 hasn’t gone through such a process. Instead it’s come…

Economy, National Politics, occupy January 21, 2012

Extreme Inequality or Democracy?

by Ron Forthofer Dissident Voice January 18, 2012 Last autumn, likely due to the Occupy movement, there was a shift of media attention from debt reduction and the cutting of vital public programs (for example, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) to the issue of extreme wealth and income inequality in America. Extreme inequality is of concern for many reasons, but Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis provided perhaps the most crucial reason when he said: “We can have democracy in this country or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” Many…