Brent Budowsky: If Elizabeth Warren runs, she would bring the serious, honest, baloney-free and respectful debate that is long overdue in American politics.
Why Am I A Peace Activist? Why Aren’t You?
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David Swanson: The obvious question is probably how I became a peace activist. To my mind, however, the question has always been why anybody is not. I understand there are not a lot of job openings for professional peace activists, but there are unlimited part-time volunteer positions.
Phoenix Police Exaggerate Kidnapping Stats
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Andrea Nill: One city councilwoman claims that police officials have known the figures were wrong since August 2010, but continued to deny allegations that they weren’t for months.
D-Day For Public Employees
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Joseph Palermo: With the aggressive onslaught aimed at public employees and their unions that Republican governors have unleashed in recent weeks, it’s long past time for politicians calling themselves “Democrats” to push aside the anti-labor elements inside their party and stand up for basic worker protections.
Racism in Review, A Look Back and a Look Ahead
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Jessie Daniels: Amid all the racist flame throwing of 2010, politicians managed to achieve a bipartisan consensus when it came to one boogeyman. China-bashing profilerated on both sides of the aisle as candidates blamed the ascendant superpower for America’s economic woes
Out of Ideas? Call for a ‘Simple Solution’
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Tina Dupuy: It’s condescension when politicians can’t have a reasonable discussion about real issues without bleating out some melba toast bromides.
Needed: A Competency Test for Elected Officials
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David Love: Where do they find these people? I’m talking about those crazy-talking Tea Party types, ultra-conservative Republicans posing as legitimate lawmakers and politicians, some of them even passing themselves off as senators, members of Congress and governors.
Attention Congress: Fix the Potholes
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Tina Dupuy: A politician who is against government is like an actor who is against entertainment. It’s ridiculous. Because we hate politicians so much, the only way we can stand inking a bubble next to their name is to pretend they really don’t want to do their job.
States Pushing Anti-Immigration Legislation Forced to Run Costly Damage Control
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Seth Hoy: As politicians continue to take a “get tough on immigration” stance in the run up to midterm elections, voters may decide that their pocketbooks trump their politics when it comes to immigration.
Why People Hate Politics
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Gautam Dutta: Rather than engage in discussion and debate, many politicians find it easier to demonize their opponents, rather than debate the issues.
Cowards vs. Hypocrites: Why Democratic Politicians Despise the “Professional Left”
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Randy Shaw: But progressives believe the public supports more progressive stands (e.g. polls showed strong support for the public option that Obama abandoned), leaving Democrats to fend off charges that they talk about serving the public good but instead serve corporate interests inimical to the public welfare.
Where to Go from Here on Voter-Owned Elections
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Wayne Williams: With Voter Owned, Auditable, Transparent and Verifiable Elections, voters will come out in larger numbers as they have more confidence in their government. More viable candidates of all races and genders will run for office, and most likely the cost of elections will go down because the public will be more educated, involved and aware.
Political Wrangling Aside, We’re In This Together
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Steve Hochstadt: I believe that as a society we are moving away from a desire to solve problems cooperatively toward a single-minded motivation to defeat opponents. Political conflict has spread into “culture wars,” in which other people’s choice of newspaper or dinner beverage, or their attitude toward recycling or marriage makes them our enemy.
Pistol-Packing Politicians and the Prince of Peace
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Berry Craig: Now one office seeker from the Wild West is appearing in a TV commercial, shooting guns and invoking the Almighty. She’s Machine Gun Gorman, an uber-conservative candidate for Congress in the Arizona Republican primary.
Support the Yes on Prop 15 Los Angeles Kickoff
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Proposition 15 changes the way we finance election campaigns so that politicians will focus on California’s serious problems rather than fundraising. It imposes strict reporting requirements, penalties for violators and bans the raising of money from lobbyists, their clients and anyone else for participating candidates.
A Conversation Between We The People and a Corporation
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Jerry Drucker: Okay Corporation. This time you’ve gone too far! We the People will take on you huge Corporations and the Republican Party, as well as the Blue Dog Dems and finally fight back. That’s what real democracies do. Damn your torturous nation changing lies and full steam ahead. We’ll fight you in the Congress until we see the waves of their AYES!
SEIU Throws Eggs at NUHW Supporters in Los Angeles
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One night after withdrawing its support for the California Democratic Party and picketing progressive politicians and labor leaders in San Francisco, SEIU threw eggs at those attending an event honoring NUHW in Los Angeles.
Think First About the Unemployed, Not the Politicians … and Act
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What’s happening to the lives of the legions out of work – particularly the young men and women – has to take second place to the fortune of the President and his party. The human crisis would be real regardless of who is in the Oval Office and is what should move the President and the Congress to do the right thing.
Peaceful Revolution: What Are Moms Rising Against?
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One of the lessons of identity politics is that success requires knowing not just what you’re for, but also what you’re against. Blacks are for racial justice and against racism. Women are for gender equity and against sexism. Moms are for ending discrimination against mothers (fair pay, flexible work, paid sick days, maternity and paternity [...]
Community Organizer Obama Asks Activists: “Where’s Your Base”?
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Some activists excited about Barack Obama’s community organizing background forget what this fully means – namely, that he expects groups seeking progressive measures to mobilize their base. Community organizers do not expect politicians to challenge entrenched interests absent grassroots pressure, and President Obama is not about to spend political capital on issues like Afghanistan, the [...]
Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds
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“Men…think in herds; …go mad in herds, while they only recover their senses…one by one.” — Charles MackayRepublican Assemblyman Roger Niello‘s recent editorial “Performance Based Budgeting Deserves a Look,” is his bid to appear as a man who has recovered his senses. In it, he reminds us that California’s state budget process is imperfect. The [...]
The Case For Mental Health Screening Of Candidates And Electeds
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In 1972, after graduating from New York’s Queens College, I took the New York State teaching exam. My degrees were in Theater and Speech Communications so I took the exam to teach speech. It was a particularly difficult test since it combined both art and science. The surprisingly good news – after five years of [...]
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Time to Say Goodbye to Bernard Parks
Anthony Samad: Time to say, “Forescee can do better than this.” Time to say “Farewell Parks.” Enough is enough.