Steve Hochstadt: The message from the proponents of at-large voting, at all the forums I have attended, is that the School Board has failed, but let’s do nothing. Let’s not change the voting system. And let’s not talk about anything else.

Anthony Samad: When Republicans win, they expect the Democrats to cooperate and do the people’s business. When they lose, they don’t cooperate and blame the Democrats for not doing they people’s business. It’s insane.

2012 California Proposition Forum – The ACLU So. California Westside Chapter invites you to a 2012 Initiatives Forum Saturday, October 6 in Santa Monica

Joseph Palermo: The thoughtful stand against rigid hierarchy and ideological purity might have inoculated OWS against the maladies that afflicted the earlier Left movements, which is a good thing.

On June 19th at 7:00 pm, Marianne Williamson will speaking on Women and Politics at the home of: Jan Good Man and Jerry Manpearl in Santa Monica. Tto rsvp contact Ilene PRoctor [email protected]

Brent Budowsky: It is time for the true champions of the 99 percent to launch the largest voter-registration, -mobilization and -turnout campaign in the history of freedom.

Friday Feedback: This week, Rosalio Munoz comments on Dr. Rodolfo Acuña’s article that states, “Chicanas/os and Latinos remain political pochos because once they are out of college most do not remain politically active.”

This week, Joe Weinstein, one of our most prolific and thoughtful commentators, addresses Robert Reich’s “What’s the Economy for Anyway?”

Charles Hayes: The progressive political agenda for 2012 has never been clearer: Empty the Tea Pot. Remove the Tea Party ideologues from office and those who cater to their whims.

Steve Ybarra: New citizens and Latinos may have to again face the Orange County fascists with their voter intimidation methods because of a lack of spine in the Governor’s office. In addition, we lost $200 million of real money.

Lucia Brawley: Polls showed a majority of Americans wanted Obama to compromise more. He did. In the election, no one can say he is the unreasonable one.

Tom Degan: The Republican party is at this very moment mounting a campaign that, if successful, will disenfranchise the voting rights of African Americans – and everyone else who tends to vote left-of-center – all across America. Isn’t that sweet?

Julie Gutman: One of the most profound contributions we can make to the cause of freedom, democracy and human dignity is to rebuild the lives of those who have sacrificed so much in the defense of these ideals — the very principles upon which our country was founded.

Peter Dreier: The 2012 elections will be a big test for Obama and for all of us. If we as progressives can make our pole of the political debate compelling to him – powerful and articulate – then he will move to incorporate more of our vision.

Paul Hogarth: I look forward to this Conference as a way of re-engaging in the national struggle, and harnessing the energy everyone with a Wi-Fi connection can take to fight for progressive change.

How Will the Open Primary Change Things for California Voters? Can a teacher win an election when career politicians oppose her? Will progressive voters show up and the power of big money?

Joseph Palermo: We elected a Democratic governor and Democratic majorities in the State Assembly and the Senate. Yet five members of the Republican minority once again are in the driver’s seat and they’re determined to run the state right over the cliff.

Anthony Samad: Election night in the 8th District served as an opportunity to send a message to a politician who has lost his respect for constituents and of his constituents.

Bob Letcher: In the face of last year’s healthcare reform efforts, opponents screamed the inherently violent and hardly constructive “Kill the bill”; now, it’s opponents of reducing collective bargaining rights for public employees who are screaming the still inherently violent and hardly constructive “Kill the bill”.

Steve Hochstadt: Little depends on what we in the U.S. do. Our best bet is to offer support to democratic institutions, no matter who the likely winner of a free vote might be.

Sikivu Hutchinson: Sadly, there is still a fair amount of ignorance and bigotry toward black non-believers in African American communities due to the stereotype that atheists are immoral, rudderless, and not authentically black.

Gautam Dutta: Although SB 6 is sitting on a wall, its Humpty-Dumpty election rules do not have to fall. In fact, the Legislature could have fixed SB 6′s defects last year – and it still has one last chance to do so before the courts decide SB 6′s fate.

Steven Hill: While democracy can be noisy and messy, and can sometimes result in confusion and inefficiency, if implemented fairly with the right institutions the human experience shows that it is capable of fostering remarkable things.

Tom Hayden: The peace bloc – activist groups, anti-war Congress members, writers and artists, here and across the NATO – can exercise a massive drag against the war-making machine through 2012 as long as the wars remain deeply unpopular.

Robert Reich: In other words, the political center isn’t about what we decide It’s about how we decide. The center American democracy is a commitment vigorous debate, done honestly and civilly.

John Peeler: Republicans stand to win an election even though more voters oppose their ideas than support them. What’s going on?

Diane Lefer: Why does it matter? This year, once again, California not only failed to pass a budget by the deadline but delayed it longer than at any other time in our history, causing chaos and hardship for vendors, employees, and municipalities while harming our credit with rating agencies and raising the interest we pay.

Seth Hoy: While Governor Brewer’s opening remarks meltdown is at least understandable, her inability/refusal to defend controversial anti-immigrant statements—which has become the centerpiece of her re-election platform—is not.

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.

Seth Hoy: Can the Republican Party (once the ‘Party of No,” then the “Party of Hell No” and now the “Party of Papers Please?”) really afford to further alienate the fastest-growing U.S. voting bloc—Latinos?