[R-G] FW: On Democracy and the Democratic Party (Behalf of Tom Siblo)

[usman majeed]

On the Peace Movement the Struggle to Restore Our Democracy and the
Democratic Party

By Tom Siblo

Keep the Pressure Up Mobilize the Peace Movement!

How does supporting Democrats who are set up to lose the 2004 Presidential
Election help the peace movement?  Whether you are a Green or a Democrat
this is the current discussion raging within the progressive movement.
When are we ever going learn from history?

Can another election be stolen in 2004? Why do we continue to believe in
fair and open elections when we know already  Bush is setting up a special
computerized system to  make sure the military casts it ballots with the
rest of the nation.  There are other manipulations already happening all
over the country in the local election systems designed to make sure the
current regime will be re-elected.

This is why I am not for the peace movement placing all its eggs in one
basket or for that matter even two.  We need to build a massive movement
demanding the immediate withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan or any other
military intervention such as Liberia. Between now and the lections how many
more countries are we going to be invading between now and the 2004
Presidential election.

Why is it the public is losing confidence in the Bush regime based on the
ever growing administration creditability gap?
Still none of the Democratic candiates are climbing up in the polls!

I believe we need to organize more demonstrations and publicly get back into
the streets now and this Fall, Spring and those who wish to embrace the
electoral process need to do both.

Without any public outcry against these wars how are we going to mobilize
the people for the elections  and organize a massive antiwar sentiment.
Take some lessons of the past! Di Lincoln get elected because those who
oppossed slavery went out and worked for his election.  This is just a pure
pragmatic solution to a complex political problem. It is logical to do both!

I am keeping my political choices separate from peace activities because it
makes sense. There is no problem as far as I am concerned. I think its
correct to hand out leaflets at peace activities for specific candidates of
your choice but to retreat to the sidelines and not mobilize the peace
movement during this period is a serious mistake and it will lead to a
defeat of the movment and its goal to end the U.S. drive towards global
domination.

By remaining independent as a peace movement we can reach others who have
not had the opportunity to learn the truth about the war with Iraq.  The
truth is there are no weapons of mass destruction or chemical or biological
weapons. Just like the Gulf of Tonkin another big lie which all of us have
known all along. The war was fought to gain the upper hand in the oil
markets just like the new invasion of 2500 Marines is designed to protect
the West African oil fields. Bush is allegely doing this on his own against
his advisors. Do not believe this at all.  It is just another lie designed
to give the American more "dope in the dope game which has nothing to do
with drugs.

Restore Our Democracy Now!

Those of us who believe the Patriot  and Homeland Security Acts are designed
to destroy our democratic system by setting aside our constitutional rights
must begin to build a mass Pro Democracy Movement which I view as separate
from the Peace movement. Pro Democracy can address all matters of social,
political and economic justice.

It requires us to be active in election reform and we need to set up a
national watchdog network to monitor how the 2003 and 2004 election system
are being setup. This is not really happening now and it is designed to keep
Bush in power.
Were is the party calling for real election reform now?

The Pro Democracy movement is different when it comes for raising issues
that are related to the rights of parties to run in the elections. This
includes how the ballots are set up and the manner which the votes are
counted.  This is the only way to make sure this upcoming election is not
stolen again from us.

Also we need to defend the right of any and all third parties to freely run
and organized their elections.  Being a true Democrat requires that you
believe in a multi-party system.  The old two party system does not allow
for different views and solutions.

The right to run independent parties must be defended and the people cannot
allow the two party system to continue.  It is a serious mistake that only
the Republicans and Democrats are offered to the American people as
alternatives.  If you do not agree with this principle then you need to take
a step back and question whether or not you really believe in rule by the
people rather than rule by group of elites or another. Those days are gone.
This is the new American future where multi-pluralism makes more sense then
a Democracy for a Few. This is why we are in trouble today in this nation.
So many other countries have opened up the door to muliti-party systems and
it has made their Democracy stronger.

I believe the current leadership of the Democratic party remains in
conservative hands and this why there is no real difference between the two
parties. Being conservative means simply wanting to keep things as they are.
I personally and many other Americans want a real progressive change. We
want to put an end to the military-industrial-complex and promote a peace
economy rather than a war.  When the rest of the world was disarming the
U.S. kept its military intake and expanded it.  The Democrats as well as the
Republicans did this and it is making our nation into a global instrument of
war and destruction.  Promoting domination of corporate profits over the
needs of the masses of American people.
Right now over 489 Billion dollars in the hole not because we spent money on
the masses of American people. It was used primarily for war after cutting
all the federal budgets down to an average of 7 to 5% of the national
budget. The military spending is now almost sixty cents on every dollar
spent.

Over 60% of Americans live today under the Federal living standards and are
in poverty. Some 12 million children are being denied any kind of tax relief
under the Earned Income Tax Credit because their parents are poor and did
not earn enough.

Only a Pro Democracy movement can address this issue.  The fact that 9.4
million Americans are unemployed and 60% of all the corporations pay zero in
taxes should tell us who is making all the money and why?

All the programs designed to put unemployed people back to work are slated
to be cut in 2004.  There is talk of economic recovery but for who?  Only
the rich are in recovery free to spend their tax credits while the rest of
us face cuts and and cuts in wages, overtime and benefits.
The so called Medicare bill is not the same as Bush promised as he
Congressmen or Fedral Employees meaning the elderly and disabled will
continue to not gain access to appropriate medical care-promoting a planned
underfunding of both Medicare and Medicaid.

Restoring our democracy means creating an economic democracy as outlined by
Tom Hayden in his book "The American Future." Mr. Hayden may have forgotten
what he wrote but does not mean we should. Truly providing equal opportunity
to all whether you are a Woman, Black, Hispanic, Islamic or any of the other
hundreds of minority people who live in the U.S. today. Defending women's
right to choose and equal pay for equal work remains to be an important
issue that no one is truly addressing.


The Democratic Party

I politically do not believe the Democrats have what it takes to win the
election in 2004. They have no will to power or the ability to expose the
Republicans for things they themselves indulge in. It just makes sense and
this is reasonable.

Neither do I believe the Green Party knows how to organize a mass election
campaign that would unseat Bush. Just like the Democrats the Green Party
runs from the top down and decisions are not made by the rank and file
members.  Those who run are dictated to and nominated the same way the
Democrats and Republicans elect representatives.

A true election reform would enable the grass roots member determine who are
the candidates rather than a small elite group of men and women.

There are those who blame the Greens for the 2000 defeat and they are wrong.
The election was fixed from the start.

In certain political circles in 1997 there was a clear shift to the right
and this group of leaders made up of the powerful corporations such as
Enron, Microsoft, IBM and most of the national banking system, as well as
Wall Street ( known as the Power Elite) all picked George Bush Jr to be the
next President. Gore never had chance and whatever the Greens took made no
difference other than a visible positive protest vote.

Until the Democratic Party reforms itself and creates a real coalition it
will continue to flounder on the banks of centrism. It is the centrism and
the conservatives in the Democratic Party that are destroying any
possibilities of really building a national mass movement to get rid of the
Bush regime.  If it looks like such a movement is going to actually happen
then I think all progressive forces need to join the Democrats but only they
have clearly defeated the centrists and Conservatives. If we believe in
mobilizing the people in the streets and demand the restoration of our
Democracy and the complete repeal of the Patriot and Homeland Security Act
then we might be able to defeat the Bush regime.  When that time nears I
believe the elections will be called off under the current laws it would be
legal to do so.

I firmly believe it is going to take more than elections to take back our
nation's democracy. It is going to take the mass mobilization of the
citizens in defense of our democracy and if we do not combine now to bring
this about then any effort to defeat Bush only by elections will end in a
serious setback.

Those who still think we live under the same system as we did in the year
2000 are affording themselves an illusion that none of us can afford. So I
encourage all activists to join together and strike a blow for freedom by
working together and mobilizing thousands and millions into the streets. The
war in Vietnam did not end due to an election.  It took a constant massive
peace movement consistently tearing away at the spin doctors of Washington
D.C. who did everything they could to lie to the people of this nation and
keep a war going long enough to kill millions of Vietnamese and over 55,000
Americans.

It is happened again and so are the illusions of 30 years ago. The only
thing is we no longer have the Democracy we had then.