New York

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Economy, Green Party, New York, Public Campaign Finance Reform, State Politics March 31, 2014

The Green Alternative to Austerity Budgets

by Howie Hawkins March 25, 2014 Austerity budgets mean a whole generation of school children bear the burden of closing budget gaps with cuts in state funding for public schools. They mean scores of towns, school districts, counties, and most upstate cities bear the burden of fiscal distress and impending insolvency because state revenue sharing has been slashed. How long must we wait for meaningful steps on progressive goals like living-wage jobs for the unemployed in public works and services, fully-funded public schools, tuition-free public colleges, health care for all, affordable housing and mass transit, and climate-safe clean energy?  …

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Climate Change, Economy, Environment, Fracking, Green Party, International, Labor, National Politics, New York January 20, 2014

Secretive trade agreement would undermine democracy

Post-Standard by Ursula Rozum January 20, 2014 Any speck of democracy and sovereignty we the people have left in this country is under attack. The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is a new international trade pact crafted by multinational corporations and currently being negotiated in secret by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) along with 11 other foreign governments. Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.) describes the agreement as “an attack on democratic governance” and “a punch in the face to the middle class of America.” The TPP began as trade talks among a few Pacific Rim countries, but has been expanded…

Democracy, Green Party, New York, State Politics, Third Party November 17, 2013

From a Green perspective, another disappointing election

by Ursula Rozum syracuse.com November 17, 2013 Ursula Rozum is a guest columnist who writes monthly for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. She ran for Congress on the Green Party line in 2012, is an officer in the local Green Party organization and managed Howie Hawkins’ campaign for Syracuse Common Council this year. Another election has gone by and little has changed. The local power structure kept its people in office. The Democrats still hold every elected office in the city and the problems that have grown worse under their one-party rule remain the same – high poverty, high unemployment, low…

Democracy, Green Party, National Politics, New York, occupy, Third Party November 16, 2013

What It Will Take

A Response To John Halle’s Left Parties in 2013 by Peter A. Lavenia Counterpunch Weekend Edition November 15-17, 2013 Last week’s article by John Halle highlighted the growing strength of left-wing candidates for municipal office in the United States. As of writing, Socialist Alternative candidate Kshama Sawant has pulled ahead by a slim margin in Seattle, while Howie Hawkins, Green and Socialist, received 40% of the vote in his race for City Council in Syracuse, NY. My own campaign for city council in Albany, NY – I am a Green and ideological socialist – saw me come in second to…

Green Party, National Politics, New York, occupy, Third Party November 16, 2013

The Wave Begins?

Left Third Parties in 2013 by John Halle Counterpunch November 7, 2013 The 2013 municipal election contained mixed results for left third party advocates. The two most high profile and exciting candidacies, those of Socialist Alternative’s Kshama Sawant in Seattle and Ty Moore in Minneapolis, appear to have gone down to defeat. But the margins were small – a few percentage points – and both are young and have already committed to rematches in two years with a strong likelihood of success.Furthermore, even if these two candidates had won, they would have amounted to no more than two small points…