tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-30490410379770291722024-03-19T00:50:45.287-07:00Socialist Party USA Campaign Clearinghouse Press Room <big><big><big><strong><p><a href="http://vote-socialist.org"><img src="http://vote-socialist.org/images/Logo_color.jpeg" width="150" height="150" alt="SP Logo" align="left"></a> <a href="http://vote-socialist.org"><img src="http://vote-socialist.org/images/snc.png" alt="SNC" align="middle"></a></p><i>SOCIALIST PARTY USA CAMPAIGN CLEARINGHOUSE PRESS ROOM</i></strong></big></big></big>mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.comBlogger610125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-44429373420572455682019-10-22T19:47:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:48:17.329-07:00SP Kalamazoo City Commission Candidate Livestream Video on Racial Justice, Protecting Immigrants, and Criminal Justice Reform<b>22 October 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>A statement by Andy Argo, Socialist Party candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/1585938018204649/videos/472427603365428/" target="_blank">Click here</a></b> to view the livestream video.mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-73501925560465255302019-10-15T19:46:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:46:32.219-07:00SP Kalamazoo City Commission Candidate Livestream Video on A Just Cannabis Economy<b>15 October 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>A statement by Andy Argo, Socialist Party candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/1585938018204649/videos/392557971438621/" target="_blank">Click here</a></b> to view the livestream video.mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-11281157687728079292019-10-14T00:14:00.000-07:002019-10-22T00:14:31.247-07:00Kalamazoo candidates address climate change, economic issues at forum<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.5px; letter-spacing: 0.2015px;"><b>14 October 2019</b></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.5px; letter-spacing: 0.2015px;"><b><br /></b></span>
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.5px; letter-spacing: 0.2015px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Benton Sans, Arial, sans-serif;"><b>By Brad Devereaux</b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; font-size: 15.5px; letter-spacing: 0.2015px;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Benton Sans, Arial, sans-serif;"><b><i>Kalamazoo Gazette</i></b></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.5px; letter-spacing: 0.2015px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.5px; letter-spacing: 0.2015px;">"Argo said the city has to invest in small businesses and small business cooperatives that would be democratically run by their workers.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.5px; letter-spacing: 0.2015px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.5px; letter-spacing: 0.2015px;">'And we just need to facilitate unionization in the businesses we currently have,' said Argo, who chairs the Socialist Party of Kalamazoo...."</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "Benton Sans", Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15.5px; letter-spacing: 0.2015px;"><b><a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2019/10/kalamazoo-candidates-address-climate-change-economic-issues-at-forum.html" target="_blank">Read More</a></b></span>mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-88260864343582003662019-10-14T00:11:00.000-07:002019-10-22T00:11:59.911-07:00Eight candidates competing for three seats on Kalamazoo City Commission<b>14 October 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>By Brad Devereaux</b><br />
<b><i>Kalamazoo Gazette</i></b><br />
<br />
"Argo, 32, said he is chairman of the Socialist Party of Kalamazoo, a role that has included organizing community teach-ins, direct action, mutual aid and solidarity efforts with other anti-capitalist, anti-racist groups in the city. His occupation is personal support staff at Community Living Option, he said.<br />
<br />
“For all the issues I advocate for, I understand that transformative change is only possible through vigorous working class organizing and mass mobilization,” Argo said....<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2019/09/eight-candidates-competing-for-three-seats-on-kalamazoo-city-commission.html" target="_blank">Read More</a></b>mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-3919107489588607752019-09-26T19:04:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:06:09.919-07:00Statement Regarding Mayoral Candidate David Anderson<div class="_5pbx userContent _3ds9 _3576" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-testid="post_message" id="js_t">
<b>26 September 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<i><b>A Statement by <a href="https://www.kspcampaign.com/" target="_blank">Andy Argo</a>, Socialist Party Candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</b></i><br />
<br />
The
following statement is in response to Mayoral candidate David
Anderson's opposition to several of our campaign platform points, and
other concerns I have about him as a prospective Mayor.<br />
David
Anderson has accomplished some good works for the city during his tenure
as commissioner but I believe any critical analysis of his record,
coupled with our city's urgent need for expedient systemic
transformation, would make his prospective tenure as Mayor a barrier and
hindrance towards the type of city we need to create. It is no secret
to people who follow city politics that Anderson has assumed the role of
a liberal, pro-capitalist politician on the board for many years. <br />
He was one of the architects of the Foundation For Excellence, which as
I have explained many times was and is a deeply problematic alternative
to a progressive income tax which funnels both tax cuts and de facto
financial control of the city to the very wealthiest. <br />
<br />
The final
question at our recent candidate forum cemented much of this for me, and
of particular note he came out in opposition to not only some of our
platform planks, but progressive platform planks shared amongst the
other mayoral and commission candidates. Popular transformative
proposals were all dismissed by Anderson in a quick and insubstantial
manner while they were mostly embraced by the other mayoral candidates
running. <br />
<br />
- On a citizen's land bank, which is one of our key
proposals to oppose gentrification and foster housing-for-all, he
dismissed it by pointing to the County Land Bank that currently exists-
and that if we do not like how it is currently run we should vote them
(Mary Balkema) out.<br />
<br />
While much is made of Balkema's history of
racist decision making, cozying with fascists, and use of the Land Bank
as a profit-making enterprise the fundamental problem with the County
Land Bank remains with or without her. Unless the entire County
government were replaced at once with working class radicals (a tall
order to say the least), the Land Bank will bend to development
strategies that curb towards profit and redevelopment that favor the
interests of the wealthy. Postive change can be made on the margins (a
fellow commission candidate has done great work in this regard), but
this structural reality and incentive remains the same. This is why a
democratically controlled Citizen's Land Bank is vitally necessary.<br />
<br />
- He came out against a ward system, that would provide greater
representation to the city by having commissioners directly elected from
their neighborhoods and districts. This system has existed in many
major American cities for decades upon decades. It would allow
low-income neighborhoods in Kalamazoo guaranteed representation, not
just those cherry picked by large donors or disproportionate
representation from higher income neighborhoods like Winchell and
Westnedge Hill. <br />
<br />
Save any actual argument against it, he vaguely
mentioned how "Battle Creek has had problems with their ward system."
Lacking any sort of analysis, it becomes clear that Anderson doesn't
want a ward system because the entrenched interests that want him as
Mayor don't want a ward system.<br />
- To publically financed
elections, he asked "who is going to pay for it?" Anderson's dismissal
is willful ignorance, there are funding models for such programs across
the country and the world we could look at and learn from. It allows for
better equity and representation, and doesn't make low-income as much
of a barrier to running for office. To oppose this out of hand means you
have no interest in equity in representation.<br />
<br />
- Anderson pointed
out that a progressive wealth tax cannot be enacted due to state law. I
will link to the full article below regarding the Foundation For
Excellence's dubious inception, but this was not always the case and a
progressive income tax was once on the table to deal with the city's
budget crisis. I found this particularly dishonest; he painted this as
being "out of his hands."<br />
It was Anderson in particular who
helped developed the Foundation For Excellence as a billionaire-friendly
alternative. It was he who helped defeat and bury the proposed
progressive income tax in this city when it was still legally possible
to enact it. It may be out of our hands at the moment, but Anderson was
directly involved in making sure this tax on the very wealthiest did not
come to pass in our city.<br />
<br />
I am running in this election, to put
it simply, because people asked me to. In this regard I think me and
David Anderson have something in common. However, the people making the
ask in our cases have competing economic interests, and Anderson's
candidacy fundamentally represents the continuity of the status quo. In
other words, a city that is socially "Bernie Sanders" and economically
"Ronald Reagan." <br />
<br />
Candidates like Anderson serve to actively
negotiate between the city's oligarchs and the city's middle and lower
classes. Positive changes are made around the margins, but always to
that outcome which is acceptable to the very rich- which in our case is
one that at the root adheres to conservative trickle down economics, a
few social welfare programs are funded (but not to the scale that is
necessary- just enough to maintain good "public relations" and sentiment
to Kalamazoo's philanthropists), but oppressive class relations remain
the same.<br />
<br />
We all need to be more critical on our politics. Some
of you know I used to be part of the Kalamazoo County Democratic Party,
and may wonder why I abandoned the tactic of "pushing them to the left."
I still work with many people who are part of the KCDP but many in
their membership are affected, and not entirely but enough to endorse a
candidate like Anderson, by a sort of cognitive dissonance that happens
in most of the Democratic Party across the country. The membership is
progressive in policy- many of them are workers or retired workers
themselves- but they are unwilling to critically analyze how candidates
and local politicians actually push, represent, or misrepresent those
policies.<br />
I am not choosing to endorse any of the mayoral
candidates in this election, but from what I have seen the other 4
candidates have a lived experience of or from the working class, and are
offering significant progressive policy changes to the city. In the
next few years and decades, it will be important to have a Mayor that is
amenable and pushable in regards to radical changes (some of which will
be literally necessary for the survival of our city's working class). <br />
<br />
As I say time and time again, the power of the city is truly in the
labor of the working class. We could shape the city however we wanted
with enough direct action and solidarity- and eventually me and the
Kalamazoo Socialist Party would like to see a city that does not have a
role like "Mayor" and engages in direct democracy with its citizens. But
to use an analogy; there is a lot of difference and a lot more energy
needed when you are pushing a concrete wall versus a wooden barrier.<br />
<br />
On a personal note, I know it is not necessarily good political
strategy to critique people who I may, come November 5th, be serving
with. But as one of the people who recently endorsed me said so
eloquently, part of the reason I am running is to ask uncomfortable
questions. So here it is; do you want a Mayor who feels obligated to
provide continuity to the status quo, or one who actually seeks to bring
about substantial reform? Remember that on the 5th of November, and
every election after that.</div>
mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-34482961377014829932019-09-25T19:44:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:44:30.109-07:00SP Kalamazoo City Commission Candidate Livestream Video on Women's Rights and LBGTQIA Rights<b>25 September 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>A Statement by Andy Argo, Socialist Party candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/1585938018204649/videos/365362211010422/" target="_blank">Click here</a></b> to view the livestream video.mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-88219834836722674652019-09-24T00:09:00.000-07:002019-10-22T00:09:38.620-07:00Andrew Argo running for Kalamazoo City Commission<b>24 September 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>By Brad Devereaux</b><br />
<b><i>Kalamazoo Gazette</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
"Argo said he has organized and volunteered with many groups in the area focused on equity, justice and building political power for working people. He said he was a primary organizer for Kalamazoo For Revolution, a group formed out of the Bernie Sanders movement that served as a community watchdog and advocacy group involved in local city and county politics.<br />
<br />
More recently, Argo said, he has taken on the role of chairman of the Socialist Party of Kalamazoo, which has included organizing community teach-ins, direct action, mutual aid and solidarity efforts with other anti-capitalist, anti-racist groups in the city...."<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.mlive.com/news/kalamazoo/2019/09/andrew-argo-running-for-kalamazoo-city-commission.html" target="_blank"><b>Read More</b></a>mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-78503220457658686652019-09-18T19:56:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:57:10.454-07:00Candidate Questionnaire: Joshua Bradley, Raleigh City Council, District A<div class="lead" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; position: static;"><b>18 September 2019</b></span></div>
<div class="lead" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<span style="box-sizing: border-box; position: static;"><i><b>Indyweek</b></i></span></div>
<div class="lead" style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; position: static;">Name as it appears on the ballot:</strong> Joshua Bradley</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; position: static;">Age:</strong> 45</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; position: static;">Party affiliation:</strong> Socialist Party USA; Green Party</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; position: static;">Campaign website:</strong> jbradleyforraleighworkers.org</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; position: static;">Occupation & employer:</strong> Hotel Accountant, Summit Hospitality Group</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; position: static;">Years lived in Raleigh:</strong> 26</div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<strong style="box-sizing: border-box; font-style: inherit; position: static;">1) Given the direction of Raleigh government, would you say things are on the right course? If not, for what specific changes will you advocate if elected?</strong></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<em style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: inherit; position: static;">The Raleigh city government has certainly tried to listen to the concerns of city inhabitants, but attempts to address gentrification, affordable housing and mass transit are always made within the constraints imposed by capitalist development. For example, city councils past and present have talked about the need for better mass transit, but have made zoning decisions encouraging sprawl that place effective mass transit further and further from reality. Developers are allowed to continue the construction of housing for high-end markets while affordable housing is discussed and worried over, but actual construction of affordable housing lags far behind need. There is no attempt to restrict land speculation, which drives up prices and drives out less wealthy residents. A number of things need to change. First, stop approving luxury home construction. The land speculators and property owners can wait until the city can comprehensively address affordable housing. (The definition of ‘affordable’ itself needs to be revisited, as current assumptions leave out people who need housing but don’t meet the percentage of adjusted median income used to define what affordable housing will require in income.) Families living in hotels while developers build McMansions and expensive apartments is not justified if we aspire to a society that provides for all. Second, stop allowing developments to be designed for cars. If ever an incentive was to be given to developers (which in general I oppose), it should be the elimination of the personal automobile as a necessity. The reduction in pollution and the personal savings to homeowners and tenants would be enormous, as well as increased safety for pedestrians, especially children. Much of what we call acceptable development will become increasingly unsustainable as anthropogenic climate change advances, and, equally immediately, open space decreases . We can no longer assume unlimited expansion, and must begin to plan for denser populations and less sprawl. Finally, we have to make the city financially available, both in terms of housing and access to services, for people of all income levels. Increasing housing prices create even more commuter culture, where people who work in the city can only afford to live outside of it.</em></div>
<div style="background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; color: #111111; font-family: Merriweather, serif; font-size: 16px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.25rem; padding: 0px; position: static;">
<b><a href="https://indyweek.com/news/elections/candidate-questionnaire-joshua-bradley-raleigh-city-council/" target="_blank">Read More</a></b></div>
mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-77350554694074151572019-09-17T19:11:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:13:17.464-07:00SP Kalamazoo City Commission Candidate Livestream Video on Access to Mental Health Services<b>17 September 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>A Statement by Andy Argo, Socialist Party Candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</i></b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/1585938018204649/videos/809888676194999/" target="_blank">Click here</a> </b>to view the livestream video.mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-15815721946676244722019-09-11T19:15:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:15:38.912-07:00SP Kalamazoo City Commission Candidate Livestream Video on Raising the Minimum Wage and Full Employment<b>11 September 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>A Statement by Andy Argo, Socialist Party Candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/1585938018204649/videos/506205843491280/" target="_blank">Click here</a></b> to view the livestream video.mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-15899122186626676642019-09-03T19:27:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:27:31.994-07:00Kalamazoo City Commission Candidate Livestream Video on Housing for All and Opposing Gentrification<b>3 September 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<i><b>A Statement by Andy Argo, Socialist Party Candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/1585938018204649/videos/496681291128172/" target="_blank">Click here</a> to view the livestream video.<br />
<br />
<br />mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-47202936270535334422019-09-01T19:34:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:35:20.120-07:00SP Candidate Andy Argo Featured on MichiganLeft Podcast<b>1st September 2019</b><br />
<br />
Andy Argo, Socialist Party candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission, was a featured guest on the MichiganLeft podcast.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/michiganleft-episode-4-organizing-labor-class-andy/id1469752332?i=1000448328774&l=es" target="_blank"><b>Click here</b></a> to listed to the episode.mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-31302172301032447492019-08-27T19:37:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:37:41.154-07:00SP City Commission Candidate Livestream Video on Preparing Kalamazoo for the Climate Crisis<b>27 August 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>A Statement by Andy Argo, Socialist Party candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/1585938018204649/videos/381750722487063/" target="_blank">Click here</a></b><b style="font-style: italic;"> </b>to view the livestream video.mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-71122941331892739482019-08-20T19:39:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:39:36.563-07:00SP Kalamazoo City Commission Candidate Livestream Video on International Solidarity<b>20 August 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>A Statement by Andy Argo, Socialist Party candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/1585938018204649/videos/1325271954292057/" target="_blank">Click here</a></b> to view the livestream video.mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-50435731534310293372019-08-13T19:41:00.000-07:002019-10-23T19:41:20.719-07:00SP Kalamazoo City Commission Candidate Livestream Video on Building a Working Class Movement<b>13 August 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b><i>A Statement by Andy Argo, Socialist Party candidate for Kalamazoo City Commission</i></b><br />
<b><i><br /></i></b>
<b><a href="https://www.facebook.com/1585938018204649/videos/334553274091639/" target="_blank">Click here</a> </b>to view the livestream video.mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-18549235339725451582019-03-20T00:47:00.000-07:002019-06-25T00:48:30.497-07:00What the heck is socialism anyway? Opinions in Wisconsin shaped by a growing generational divide<div class="p-text">
<b> 20 March 2019</b></div>
<div class="p-text">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="p-text">
<b>By Mica Soellner </b></div>
<div class="p-text">
<i><b>Appleton Post-Crescent</b></i></div>
<div class="p-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="p-text">
"Milwaukee was the birthplace of "sewer socialism," a
movement that sought to clean up neighborhoods and factories with new
sanitation systems, municipal water and power systems, local parks and
better public education systems.</div>
<div class="p-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="p-text">
The city has also
elected three socialist mayors in its history — Emil Seidel, Daniel Hoan
and Frank Zeidler— as well as Victor Berger to the House of
Representatives, making him the first socialist to serve in Congress in
1910. Zeidler ran for president in 1976 as the candidate for the
Socialist Party USA...."</div>
<div class="p-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="p-text">
<a href="https://www.postcrescent.com/story/news/2019/03/20/socialism-what-does-mean-people-wisconsin/2994957002/" target="_blank"><b>Read More</b> </a></div>
mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-83449524546284163062019-03-08T00:53:00.000-08:002019-06-25T00:53:30.257-07:00Trump’s Road to Re-Election Paved with Anti-Socialism<b>8 March 2019</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>By <span>Patsy Widakuswara</span></b><br />
<span><b><i>VOA News </i></b></span><br />
<br />
"Experts say American views on socialism have evolved, particularly those
of millennials who came of age during the 2008 recession. Many became
disillusioned by an economy that is delivering fewer opportunities than
their parents enjoyed at the same time that the wealthiest Americans got
far richer.<br />
<br />
'We’ve had increased interest and membership since the Trump election,”
said Gregory Pason, national secretary of the Socialist Party, U.S.A.
“Our feeling is that people are looking for an alternative to Trump
policies and understand the Democratic Party is not providing a real
alternative....'"<br />
<br />
<b><a href="https://www.voanews.com/usa/us-politics/trumps-road-re-election-paved-anti-socialism" target="_blank">Read More </a></b>mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-60329269195173625242018-12-03T00:44:00.000-08:002019-06-25T00:44:38.491-07:00Socialist Party candidate for Assembly can sue over ballot designation<b>3 December 2018</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>By Bob Egelko</b><br />
<b>San Francisco Chronicle</b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div data-words="37">
A
federal appeals court reinstated a free-speech lawsuit Monday by an
Assembly candidate who belongs to the Socialist Party USA but had to
list his party affiliation on the primary election ballot as “none”
under California law.</div>
<div data-words="37">
<br /></div>
<div data-words="27">
That
designation, required for candidates from every party except the six
largest, could mislead the voters, said the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals in San Francisco.</div>
<div data-words="27">
<br /></div>
<div data-words="58">
Requiring
then-Assembly candidate Emidio Soltysik to list his party as “none” on
the 2014 ballot “suggests that Soltysik, an avowed socialist, has no
political preferences, affiliations, or beliefs, which is simply
untrue,” Judge John Owens said in the 2-1 ruling.
He said the designation also suggests, perhaps wrongly, that Soltysik
has no preference among the six ballot-qualified parties.</div>
<div data-words="54">
<br /></div>
<div data-words="54">
The
court overturned a federal judge’s ruling that dismissed Soltysik’s
suit on the grounds that the ballot label was a minor burden justified
by the state’s need to prevent voter confusion and “frivolous or
fraudulent candidacies.” Monday’s ruling, if it stands, will require
further proceedings to determine whether the law violates freedom of
speech.</div>
<div data-words="54">
<br /></div>
<div data-words="50">
“We
want voters to know who they’re voting for,” said Brendan Hamme, an
American Civil Liberties Union lawyer representing Soltysik.
Particularly for down-ballot offices such as legislative seats, he said,
voters are “looking for candidates whose views align with their own”
and would be aided by learning their party affiliation....</div>
<div data-words="50">
<br /></div>
<div data-words="50">
<b><a href="https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/Socialist-Party-candidate-for-Assembly-can-sue-13440632.php" target="_blank">Read More </a></b></div>
mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-22641600299619486522018-09-02T22:17:00.001-07:002018-09-02T22:24:54.734-07:00Why challenge America's most popular progressive politician?<div class="intro" id="intro">
<div class="content">
<b>2 September 2018</b><br />
<b> </b><i><b> </b></i><br />
<i><b>A Statement by Reid Kane Kotlas, 2018 Socialist Party Candidate for U.S. Senate (Vermont)</b></i><br />
<br />
I was recently asked, "At a time when progressive ideas are
just now breaking into mainstream political discourse, why challenge
America's most popular politician from his left?<br />
<br />
I am challenging
Sanders because progress cannot come from the politicians, however noble
their intentions. It can only come from the people organizing
themselves.<br />
<br />
For Sanders, progress means the state playing a more active role in
mitigating the dysfunctions of capitalism. That is not a new idea.<br />
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
The state already plays a massive role in organizing capitalist
society. The important question is not what policies the state will
adopt in doing so, but who controls the state, and to what ultimate end?<br />
Socialists differ from progressives in that we seek to organize the
working people to take state power into their own hands, in order to
overcome the division of society into owners and workers, and to
establish a society based upon universal ownership and self-employment.<br />
<br />
Sanders, and all progressives, seek to use the state to preserve the
social order in which working people are dependent and subservient upon
owners of capital.<br />
<br />
The conservative desire to preserve social order is natural and
understandable. But we have outgrown the capitalist social order, and
suffer for not having progressed beyond it.<br />
<br />
True progress would be progress beyond capitalism to socialism. That
would require working people organizing themselves to take
responsibility for their society, to take ownership of the world on
which they depend, including the power of the state.<br />
<br />
<div class="_1dwg _1w_m _q7o">
<div>
<div class="_5pbx userContent _3ds9 _3576" id="js_6dm">
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_5b8bea1d375ee3a57658130">
Progressivism as a political ideology
does not simply mean the desire for social betterment. Conservatives
also want society to improve, but they have a different conception of
what that would mean. Likewise with socialists.<br />
<br />
Progressivism is the belief that for capitalism to progress, the
state must take a more active role in managing the affairs of society
and supplementing or correcting the limitations of commerce and private
enterprise.<br />
<br />
Progressivism first emerged in respo<span class="text_exposed_show">nse
to and as an explicit rejection of the socialist position. The
socialists believed that capitalism could no longer progress, but had
already progressed as far as it could, and had, since the mid-19th
century, become a fetter on social progress.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="text_exposed_show">
Socialists did not seek more state control over the economy, but to
change who controlled both the state and the accumulated capital of
society, to use both to fundamentally different ends.<br />
<br />
Rather than preserving a social order defined by the division of
society into workers and owners by making it "better", socialists sought
to overcome that division, and to thereby inaugurate a new social order
and a new epoch of human history.<br />
<br />
The socialists, in that sense, sought not progress in capitalism, but
progress beyond capitalism, and they sought this not by way of
demanding improvements to capitalism, but by organizing and rendering
explicit the conflict within capitalism that made further progress
impossible.<br />
<br />
It's not that it is impossible for people's lives to get better in
capitalism. Of course that is possible. But such improvement is never
unambiguous, never secure, never adequate, and never universal.
Improvement is always tainted by its opposite.<br />
<br />
Progressivism means seeking betterment in and through the status quo.
Socialists must also work within the status quo, but do not do so in
order to improve upon it. They seek, rather, to overcome the status quo,
to overcome the tainted character of progress in capitalism.<br />
<br />
Overcoming the status quo means, above all, organizing the masses who
are currently dependent upon and subservient to those with political
and social power to take that power into their own hands. Not seeking
aid from our present rulers, but overthrowing and replacing them.<br />
<br />
Socialism would mean overcoming a social order in which the masses
are subservient and dependent, and replacing it with a society in which
all are responsible for their destiny, and take that destiny into their
own hands.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.reidkane.net/why_challenge_america_s_most_popular_progressive_politician" target="_blank"><b>Read More </b></a></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-8172780101167751042018-08-28T22:23:00.000-07:002018-09-03T02:35:03.242-07:00Would Eugene Debs support socialists running as Democrats?<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure" id="443b">
<b>28 August, 2018</b></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure" id="443b">
<b><br /></b></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure" id="443b">
<i><b>A Statement by Reid Kane Kotlas, 2018 Socialist Party Candidate for U.S. Senate (Vermont)</b></i><b><br /></b></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure" id="443b">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--figure" id="443b">
<i>Bernie Sanders has long claimed Eugene Debs as his hero. Yet Sanders’s <span class="markup--quote markup--p-quote is-me">political</span> trajectory could not be more starkly opposed to that of Debs.</i></div>
<h4 class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--p" id="5788">
</h4>
<div class="graf graf--h4 graf-after--p" id="5788">
<b>Debs the Democrat</b></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--h4" id="64fc">
<br />
After rising up the
ranks of the labor movement in the 1870s and ’80s, Debs was courted by
the Democratic Party of Indiana to run for state legislature in 1884,
and handily won the election. Yet his career as a Democratic Party
politician was short-lived. As Ray Ginger, in his biography of Debs, <i class="markup--em markup--p-em">The Bending Cross</i>, recounts,</div>
<blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote graf-after--p" id="ddf5">
When
Debs was sworn into the state House of Representatives on January 8,
1885, he had already drafted a bill which would require railroad
companies to compensate their employees for injuries suffered on duty.
Appointed to the Railway Committee, he maneuvered the bill through the
lower chamber, and rejoiced when it was sent to the Senate. But his
exultation was short-lived. When the bill reached the State Senate, the
members of that body toyed with it for a few days, finally cut the guts
out of it. Debs, convinced that he had failed the railroad workers,
promptly withdrew the bill from consideration. Other measures in which
Debs was deeply interested also went down to defeat. He bolted his party
to vote with the Republicans on a bill to abolish all distinctions of
race and color in the laws of Indiana, but the bill lost by three votes.
He voted for a bill to extend suffrage to women; again he was on the
losing side.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="graf graf--blockquote graf-after--blockquote" id="d954">
By
the time for adjournment, Debs had decided not to stand for
re-election. He was ill-suited for the compromise and favoritism of
political life, but his reaction was much too extreme. By the standards
of the times, that legislative session in Indiana was a good one; it
passed a resolution supporting a Federal eight-hour law for all trades
but agriculture, and wrote into law an equal rights act for all places
of “public accommodation or amusements,” a township tax of 1 per cent
for the support of the libraries, a mechanics’ lien law, coal-mine
safety provisions, a prohibition on the importation of foreign
contract-labor. But Eugene Debs felt that he had failed his electorate;
when he reached home in March, he told Theodore that he would never
again run for public office. [p. 42–43]</blockquote>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--blockquote" id="8b59">
Over the
following decade, Debs remained generally supportive of the Democratic
Party, which nominally defended the cause of workers and farmers against
the increasingly despotic owners of capital, whose interests were
represented by the Republican Party. This was seemingly confirmed when
the Republican Harrison administration aided the suppression of strikes
at Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and Homestead, Pennsylvania in 1892, and when
Harrison’s Democratic opponent, Grover Cleveland, voiced support for the
workers against the collusion of their employers and the state,
contributing to his victory later that year.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--blockquote" id="8b59">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="cc27">
Debs campaigned for
Cleveland in ’92 out of support for the working class against the
collusion of capital and the state. Yet Debs knew the Democrats were
anything but consistent, and was more or less skeptical of the political
establishment as a whole, siding with the Populist insurgency of
workers and farmers in the early 1890s, which began organizing a new
party. This skepticism was brutally validated when, in 1894, President
Cleveland’s administration sent Federal troops to crush the Pullman
Strike led by Debs’s recently formed American Railway Union.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="cc27">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="a443">
This confirmed for Debs
the necessity of independent political action on the part of the working
class. The Democrats and Republicans alike supported the rule of
capital against the struggle of the working class to improve their
position in society. Only by representing themselves in the political
sphere could the working class hope to break the collusion between
capital and the state.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="a443">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="65c5">
Yet the Populist
movement was by no means uniform in its conviction to build an
independent political party of workers and farmers, with many seeking
instead to influence and transform one or both of the major parties. In
the 1896 election, the Democratic Party sought to overcome the damage to
its reputation that resulted from Cleveland’s suppression of the
Pullman Strike, and to capitalize on the Populist insurgency, by
nominating William Jennings Bryan — a Democrat popular within the
Populist movement — as its Presidential candidate. The incipient
People’s Party, rather than maintaining itself as an independent
political force, also nominated Bryan, and much of the Populist movement
was, as a result, folded into the Democratic Party base.</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="65c5">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="d3c7">
While Debs expressed
support for the People’s Party, he had lost whatever remaining faith he
had in the Democratic Party. He was won over to socialism in 1895 while
serving his prison sentence for leading the Pullman strike, and while he
maintained hopes in the People’s Party despite its endorsement of
Bryan, and campaigned for it in 1896, <span class="markup--quote markup--p-quote is-other">he would ultimately recognize that the Populist movement failed because it was unable to preserve its independence.</span></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="d3c7">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="472e">
Socialism, unlike
Populism, reflected the necessity of independent political organization
of the working class: rather than simply seeking reforms to ameliorate
the condition of working people, the socialists proposed that the
working class should organize itself to take power, as only the working
people could realize the potential for freedom capital represented.
Capital was the means of production through universal cooperation, and
as such, it could not be effectively and responsibly managed by
individual owners. It could only be administered through the conscious
cooperative management of the workers themselves, who had to organize to
take political power in order to wield it to that end....</div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="472e">
<br /></div>
<div class="graf graf--p graf-after--p" id="472e">
<a href="https://www.reidkane.net/would_eugene_debs_support_socialists_running_as_democrats" target="_blank"><b>Read More </b></a></div>
mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-22884307520862221932018-08-20T00:50:00.000-07:002019-06-25T00:50:50.153-07:00David McReynolds, Socialist Activist Who Ran for President, Dies at 88<b>20 August 2018</b><br />
<br />
<b>By Jacey Fortin</b><br />
<b><i>New York Times </i></b><br />
<br />
<br />
<div class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0">
David E. McReynolds, a pacifist,
socialist and sometime political candidate whose activism spanned many
decades, died on Friday in Manhattan. He was 88.</div>
<div class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0">
<br /></div>
<div class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0">
The War Resisters League,
where Mr. McReynolds had been a staff member, confirmed his death. He
was taken to Mount Sinai Beth Israel hospital after falling in his
Manhattan apartment, a friend, Bruce Cronin, said.</div>
<div class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0">
<br /></div>
<div class="css-exrw3m evys1bk0">
Mr.
McReynolds was best known for his demonstrations against the draft
during the Vietnam War, his advocacy of pacifism and denuclearization,
and his two bids for president in 1980 and 2000 as an openly gay man
running on the Socialist Party USA ticket.</div>
mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-19595988337783271102018-07-14T03:05:00.000-07:002018-07-24T03:11:52.195-07:00Deninger for State Senate Video Statement on Food Insecurity<b>14 July 2018</b><i><b> </b></i><br />
<br />
<i><b>A Statement by </b><b>Maia Dendinger, Socialist Party Candidate for Maine State Senate (District 5)</b></i><br />
<i><b><br /></b></i>
<br />
Despite our strong agricultural sector, Maine is one of the worst states
in the union for food security. We need to think beyond the limits of
capital and profit when organizing our food system. Regardless of
income, no one should be without access to a full and healthy food
supply...<br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/MaiaforMaine/videos/1020606901454178/" target="_blank"><b>Click here to view the complete video statement </b></a><br />
<br />
<br />mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-72803146041636535602017-09-27T11:53:00.000-07:002017-10-02T11:54:12.581-07:00Socialist Party State House Candidate David "Elliott" Pritt Participates in Online Town Hall<b>27 September 2017 </b><br />
<br />
David Pritt, Socialist Party candidate for West Virginia House of Delegates (32nd District) participated in an online town hall hosted by Redneckonomics. View the embedded video below:<br />
<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<b> </b>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="135" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LT2B-p1TIJ8" width="240"></iframe>mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-40775125281875626132017-09-14T11:37:00.000-07:002017-10-02T11:38:18.059-07:00Equal Rights Washington Endorses Socialist Party City Council Candidate Chelsea Rustad<b>14 September 2017</b><br />
<br />
<b>Chelsea Rustad for Tumwater City Council</b><br />
<b>http://chelsearustad.eventfulhorizon.com/</b><br />
<b> </b> <br />
Friends, I am excited to announce that my campaign for Tumwater City Council position 5 has been endorsed by Equal Rights Washington!<br />
<br />
From their <a href="http://www.equalrightswashington.org/" target="_blank">website</a>: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Equal Rights Washington (ERW) is Washington's statewide lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) advocacy and community outreach organization. ERW's mission is to ensure and promote dignity, safety, and equality for all lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer Washingtonians." </blockquote>
<br />
From the <a href="http://www.equalrightswashington.org/endorsements/" target="_blank">ERW endorsement page</a>:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Equal Rights Washington (c4) plays a role in elevating LGBTQ-related issues to the forefront during an election cycle. ERW’s non-partisan endorsement committee uses a specific set of carefully developed criteria in making our endorsements. We back candidates who have a track record of support for LGBTQ equality in a number of areas, and who advocate on behalf of the issues we support, such as trans justice, gender and racial equity, anti-bullying and banning conversion therapy for minors." </blockquote>
I am so proud and honored to have earned the endorsement of this incredible organization. Together, we will fight to protect the rights of every LGBTQ individual in Washington state, and I will ensure that LGBTQ voices in the city of Tumwater are centered and represented always. Thank you for the important work you do! mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3049041037977029172.post-59987454107737501672017-07-28T11:25:00.000-07:002017-10-02T11:27:38.026-07:00Chelsea Rustad, Socialist Party Candidate for Tumwater City Council (WA), Speaks at Candidates Forum<b>28 July 2017</b><br />
<br />
<i>Rustad Begins at 41:18 in Video Below</i><br />
<br />
<i> </i><b> </b>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="135" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vSA_IJUz13M" width="240"></iframe>mserardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07619121255096912515noreply@blogger.com0