Updated 11 Jan 00 * Copyright 1999 by Andrew Homer.
Webmeister -StarHeart Web Designs
"The New Party -
the most successful third party since the 1930's."
- Nation Magazine
Progressives should unite ASAP
Rather than conceding American politics to
the anti-democracy consortium; the progressives, greens, populists, socialists, and labor should put their bickering
aside
and unite to produce effective campaigns by using the New Party strategy and exploit the media coverage that will
be provided the 2000 General Election.
We should offer our humble efforts to keep
the press from being bored to tears by the
vacuous likes of George W. Bush, Al Gore,
and Bill Bradley.
If not you, who?
If not now, when?
Why Bring the NEW PARTY into New Mexico?
by Andrew Homer
Since 1990, of the three new progressive or populist political parties in America,
the New Party, founded in Wisconsin in 1992, seems to be superior and is clearly the winner. I see a day when the
Green Party and the Labor Party will fold into the New Party.
In New Mexico, the Green Party is doing good if it wins 1 out of 10 of the elections where they've placed a candidate.
While in the states where the New Party runs a candidate in a local race, over 200 out of 300 candidates have won.
Pundits Say the Darndest Things
The police chief of Mexico City got rid of corruption among his 3,000 traffic
cops by replacing them with women. In other words, men are basically dishonest. And as long as the Green Party
of New Mexico is dominated by men, the dishonesty we detest in the major parties will continue within the Green
Party.
Within the Green Party of Bernalillo County, I've been on the receiving end of rentless lies, slander, and character
assasination by men within the Green Party ever since I joined in 1994, shortly after I moved to Albuquerque. So,
I have no choice but to move on to find a more wholesome politically (and spiritually) aware setting.
Reading the material on the New Party website leads be to believe that I've found a more mature group employing
a wiser gameplan to promote progressive values.
Organizing Strategy
On your website, on circulated flyers, and in club notices in the media: announce
that your monthly meetings of your local chapter of the New Party are scheduled at 7PM on the 10th of each month
at your favorite restaurant.
This way the meetings fall on a different day of the week each month, so folk taking a night
class won't miss out. "Breaking bread" is an ancient bonding technique employed by our ancestors.
Below are my favorite excerpts from the New Party website -
New Party "Full employment, a shorter work week, and a guaranteed minimum income for all adults;
a universal "social wage" to include such basic benefits as health care, child care, vacation time, and
lifelong access to education and training; a systematic phase-in of comparable worth and like programs to ensure
gender equity."
Family-Supporting Jobs
"The low road on industrial production must be closed off, to stop the downward trend in the
quality of life for American workers. We would block the low road and pave the high road by raising standards and
helping firms to meet them. We would significantly increase the minimum wage, end "subsidy abuse" by
removing tax and other incentives to low-wage employers, and shorten the workweek to bring us closer to full employment,
thus redistributing the benefits of increased productivity."
Educate Forever
"We believe in a genuine learning society - characterized by continuous innovation and lifetime
educational opportunity. We would redesign American elementary and secondary schooling - for equal funding, accountability
in achievement, and universal opportunities for further learning. We support reform of student loan payments to
be a proportion of future earnings, and for the non-college-educated, we would provide, on the same terms, individualized
training accounts available throughout their working lives."
Trading Up
"Trade policy should promote higher living standards, reduced cross-national inequalities,
and sustainable development. We support international worker rights, environmental regulations, and social tariffs
to raise the standards of trade - "leveling up" rather than "leveling down" as under the current
GATT (General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade)."
CEDS uses generic tax abatements and other fiscal giveaways as drivers for development.
"We would propose putting performance conditions on any assistance, and linking all subsidies to the achievement
of desired ends."
"People of color and women continued to be disproportionately represented in low-wage or so-called
"secondary labor markets" with inferior wages, benefits, job security and job conditions. Nevertheless,
aspects of the "golden age" system did work their way down to the secondary labor market. The point is
perhaps made by contrast with what is happening today: the breakdown of the previous regime has left workers at
all levels with fewer and fewer protections, less of a share in productivity gains, and with a deteriorating job
situation. It's the "scramble to survive" system. And it's no surprise it is creating fear, insecurity,
and anger. The destructuring of the employment system (i.e., scramble to survive) lies at the heart of the failure
of economic recovery to improve the lives of many Americans, and the inability of the Clinton Administration to
garner credit for what it sees as positive economic news. A majority
of Americans are working longer and harder, earning less, and living with more uncertainty. It's a recipe for political
disaster."
"The Clinton Administration argues that the market knows best, which is to say that corporations
know best. Clinton's team sees the government's proper role as aiding the aims of commercial enterprises, rather
than helping to set priorities. As a result, they balk when it comes time to intervening in markets in ways that
business dislikes; in the public or environmental interest. But will entrusting even more control and power to
our large corporations serve the interests of the public or benefit the environment? Increased attention to international
competitiveness may well further undermine our quality of life - by creating even more pressure to increase working
hours, lower wages, and weaken environmental standards. The passage of GATT, with its undemocratic World Trade
Organization, suggests as much. Maybe what we want most from our jobs are satisfying work and employment security,
not the anxiety produced by an ever 'freer' market."
"Might we not be better served by upgrading the quality of public goods, such as schools, parks,
and culture? Perhaps what we want is more time to be with our children, safer streets, better schools, and environmental
preservation. The resumption of high levels of industrial growth will intensify ecological contamination, imbalance,
and decay.
The debate between Republicans and Democrats on economics has narrowed to a marginal one. Both sides now worship
at the alter of the market, differing mainly on whether it should be marginally regulated in the public interest
or not regulated at all. Both defend the sanctity of the existing distribution of income, wealth and power. And
both Republicans and Democrats turn their back on democracy to genuflect to the twin Gods of 'growth' and 'free
trade.'
Compared to the late nineteen sixties, the average worker is working about an extra month of work per year.
Giving more power to business is not the way to cure the nation's ills. If the economy is to serve the people,
it needs to be controlled by the people."
"Since the real purpose of socialism is precisely to overcome and advance beyond the predatory phase
of human development, economic science in its present state can throw little light on the socialist society of
the future." - Albert Einstein
"This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism. Our whole educational system
suffers from this evil. An exaggerated competitive attitude is inculcated into the student, who is trained to worship
acquisitive success as a preparation for his future career.
I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist
economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals." - Albert Einstein
