GREEN SOLUTIONS by Paul Stephens, CasCoGreens
November 3, 2008
Where is Montana's Bernie Sanders?
http://sanders.senate.gov/
I was reading an old Smithsonian Magazine the other day from 1999. There was a story about the "Good News Garage" in Burlington, VT (no relation to NPR's millionaire "car guys" who've made a fortune off of your pledges). Some of the recipients of this public interest co-op's generosity in providing low-income people with serviceable vehicles were Bernie Sanders' supporters when he was running for Congress.
I admit, I haven't followed Sanders' career as closely as I should have, but he is now a U.S. Senator, and always ran as an "Independent Socialist". In "conservative, rural" Vermont, he typically gets 70% or more of the vote. Why can't we have a senator like that? There's one good reason: Montana has always been dominated and controlled by the corrupt Democratic Machine. We've had our share of Bernie's in days gone by - many of whom were Republicans or Progressive Independents of either party. Jeanette Rankin (R) would certainly lead the list, as the first woman from anywhere elected to Congress, but Democrats Burton K. Wheeler and Lee Metcalf were in the same tradition. Rankin just happened to be there for the declarations of war in 1917 and 1941. In the latter case, she was the sole dissenter from the carefully-orchestrated reaction to the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, promoted and provoked by the Nationalist Chinese, War Democrats, Bolsheviks, and Zionist Lobby.
Bernie Sanders, instead of being more subdued or "dignified" by being elevated to the Senate, has redoubled his anti-corporate and pro-people activism.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-bernie-sanders/billions-for-bailouts-who_b_127882.html
Although John Driscoll has much in common with Sanders, he seems to think that he must "run to the right" in order to get elected, here. Just because the right wing is powerful and destructive in Montana, why do "liberals" think they have to pander to them? And what's the point? If you want to win, you've got to present a real alternative, and show no mercy to the Establishment which got us here. It's the stupidest thing: we all blame Bush, Cheney, Reagan, Burns, Racicot, and their ilk for the present malaise. Yet, the Democratic strategists refuse to point a finger, or if they do so, they do it in such a way that the Republicans look good - for opposing "tax and spend," for favoring "anti-terrorism," more military spending, "defending our national interests in the Middle East," supporting "de-regulation" and globalization, while opposing universal health care, gay marriage, environmental protection, etc. Democrats seem to take "the lesser of two evils" literally. They can't imagine being "the good guys" and winning because they have the best candidates and the best policies.
If the best the Democrats can do is to raise more money from the same corporate interests, and try to out-promise and out-attack the Republicans in their own stupid, failed rhetoric and policies, who will vote for them? No one would, except that the Democrats have managed to destroy, drive out, or disenfranchise everyone to the left of them. They always claim it is a "struggle" between the two corporate parties of Wall Street - not between citizens and working class people and the global corporate fascists. And that is why they have attacked and destroyed the Green Party instead of the Republicans. In league with them, Democrats are cheerfully "bi-partisan" - "reaching across the aisle" to consolidate what amounts to a one-party police-prison-garrison state.
The Greens (they thought) can't fight back. We can be easily silenced and discredited. But we're the only ones with a sound program or real solutions to the very real problems which the Republicans in league with the Democrats have caused. And that's why we need a Bernie Sanders - not necessarily a Green, but someone who will speak the truth independent of Democratic Party control. I'm sure that 70% of Montanans would vote for him - especially if he really were a Democrat. We're a "Red State" only by default - because the Democrats have historically been even worse than the Republicans. - Paul Stephens
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October 27, 2008
What do people think elections (and political parties) are for?
Each time, as an election draws near, I go into an acute depression. What could our political leaders possibly be thinking? Why do they insist on running meaningless, stupid, lying campaigns, hoping only to "win" regardless of the consequences to themselves, their communities, and the nation? I asked this when I was a Republican, a Libertarian, and closely allied with Progressive, environmentalist, peace and justice Democrats. It just didn't make any sense to me.
Finally, a political party comes into being which is supposed to represent "a different kind of politics" - one with peace, social justice, grass roots democracy, sustainability, and a government created and maintained to improve the human condition rather than make things worse - to be "the solution" rather than "the problem." Like millions of other Americans, and even greater numbers in other countries and parts of the world, I embraced the Green Party and its program enthusiastically. At last, I wouldn't be wasting my time and my votes on liars, cheats, war-mongers, and capitalistic exploiters. I would be defending individual freedom, constitutional government, a sound economy, and a clean and healthy environment. Surely, almost everyone I knew would agree with this and support the Green Party and our candidates.
No such luck. I remember Birdie Dundee (great-great grand-daughter of Ralph Waldo Emerson) saying, in 2000, that supporting Ralph Nader's bid for the presidency was "a no-brainer." She was the first person here in Great Falls to sign up for the campaign. We began circulating petitions, which were co-ordinated from Billings and Missoula. In Missoula, there was an office with several hundred volunteers and party members. They sent us boxes of campaign literature, bumper stickers, and the like. Richard Wachs and others came over several times and helped us during the campaign. Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke got more than 1200 votes in Cascade County, and nearly 20% of the vote in Missoula. Yet, within two years, the Green Party was effectively dead in Montana. How could this be?
In 2002, I ran for public office as a Green, since we still had ballot status as a result of the success of the Nader campaign in 2000. I ran for Cascade County Commissioner, and although I raised more than $1000 and campaigned hard, I still got the same 1200 votes. I scheduled many meetings and presentations. Not more than 15 people ever attended, and it was mostly the same 5 or 6 - none of whom ever joined the GPUS or became a Green Party activist. I still knew hundreds of people, state-wide, who had supported the Green Party in their role as environmental or peace activists, labor union members, etc. When I first began publishing the Montana Green Bulletin in April, 2002, I sent it to all of them. Very soon, most of them asked me to stop sending it to their work addresses, or to quit communicating with them entirely. It became clear that it was the Democratic Party, and particularly the Baucus campaign staff, who were behind this. There was much discussion about how anything having to do with political campaigns could not be sent to public employees or officials. I refuted this false information over and over, again, and continued sending the Bulletin to those public officials who were involved in Green issues. The attempts to suppress the Green Party are endemic, well-organized, and far-reaching.
I had always assumed that Montanans, at least, would defend their rights to free speech, following their conscience and best judgment in carrying out public policy and in being advocates for the public good. I thought they supported free elections, and political freedom, generally. I thought they would strenuously resist any attempts by political "authorities" to enslave them, and make them serve corporate or special interest agendas. This proved to be almost entirely mistaken. The competition for government jobs is probably the most vicious of any competition in Montana. Public employees, whether teachers, environmental administrators, public health employees, police, prison system employees, etc., have very strong unions, and an almost pathological obedience to and fear of those "in authority."
As a life-long libertarian and "free thinker," I simply couldn't believe that all of these people working for the government, universities, the public schools, etc. would have absolutely no concept of free inquiry, political dissent, or indeed, any sort of "divergent thinking" or desire to find the truth, live it, and establish a "truth-based" government with the best understandings of the issues in order to implement sound public policy. In some sense, I still can't believe it, and this is one of the issues I always discuss with my long-time friends and colleagues.
What do they think this is? A Stalinst dictatorship? What are they afraid of? Why are they afraid to write or speak what they know to be the truth? And why do they end up, in every election cycle, mindlessly supporting, working for, and contributing their own hard-earned money and other resources to what is basically nothing more than a criminal conspiracy? Of course, each major party blames the other, and claims that "they did it first." But that is something we teach our children at a very young age to avoid. No teacher or responsible parent is going to let some children bully others, or lie about who is responsible for doing wrong. Wrong is wrong. If we support the bullies and criminals rather than those opposing them, public order rapidly dissolves, we lose our freedom and other rights, and live in a condition of perpetual fear and oppression. Welcome to Brave New World, 1984, the Thought Police, and all the devastating consequences we are experiencing, today.
I suppose that psychologists and sociologists have theories and explanations for all of it. During the 1950's and '60's, there were many writers and social critics who became famous for dissecting "the consumer economy," "planned obsolescence", "the men in the gray flannel suits," "the waste-makers," "the status-seekers," "the True Believers," and all sorts of other social pathologies. Soon, the "cultural revolution" with psychedelics, "tune in, turn on, drop out" ideas of Timothy Leary and other social gurus would make a huge impact on the social fabric. The senseless and tragic Viet-Nam War became a focus for this "new thinking," and by the time it was over, we thought we were living in an entirely different country - dedicated to individual freedom, peace, justice, racial and cultural diversity, community enrichment and development, and protection of the environment. Again, no such luck.
Montana held a Constitutional Convention in 1972, producing what would become the most progressive and far-sighted state constitution in the country. People like Bob Kelleher, Arlyne Reichert, my Highwood neighbor and long-time teacher and counselor Bob Woodmansey were all elected delegates to this Convention. Leo Graybill, a leading attorney and Democrat from Great Falls, chaired the Convention - serving in the same role as Benjamin Franklin in the U.S. Constitutional Convention in 1787. Historian K. Ross Toole was a leading influence, and it was Bob Campbell who doggedly insisted that we include "a right to a clean and healthful environment" as one of our basic rights.
How could this have all gone down the tubes in only 30 years? Well, it has, and the Democrats and Republicans are entirely to blame. They have put their own political and economic interests far ahead of the common good. They have voted for ever more prisons, more environmental degradation, more centralized control of our public institutions, every sort of corporate boon-doggle, subsidies, and bailouts, and fought dissenters and critics with a fierceness which is beyond comprehension.
We Greens are not giving up. We are not going to let these demagogues and politicians destroy what has taken a lifetime to create. We're not going to allow the petty cliques and in-fighting prevent us from cleaning up the public sector, establishing locally-owned and controlled public media, schools, and universities which have some sense of what it means to serve the public interest instead of the political bosses. Stay tuned!
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The election
I've heard nothing back from Jonathan Motl, the author of I-155 - the state-funded SCHIP insurance scam for "low income" children (for families making up to $60,000/year, and costing taxpayers some $3000 for each child "covered.") This money doesn't go to health care providers, local clinics, school districts, or whatever. It goes to private insurance companies, and my contention that half or more of it will probably be spent on the "drugs in the schools" programs to force low-income students to take Ritalin or other amphetamines or anti-depressants hasn't been refuted, either. I suspect that Motl, apparently a very sound public interest activist, was paid to write this legislation by the Secretary of State (and insurance industry clone) John Morrison, who is its strongest advocate. So, I'm voting NO on I-155. "Hell, no!" would be more like it.
HEALTH CARE DOLLARS FOR HEALTH CARE PROVIDERS -- NOT INSURANCE COMPANIES AND CORPORATE PROFITS http://www.pnhp.org
- Paul Stephens
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Missoula
LIGHT Productions presents a NEW show with Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips, author of Witness to a Crime: A Citizens' Audit of an American Election upcoming on MCAT ...
WHO: Richard Hayes Phillips
WHEN: Airs Wednesday, October 29, 2008 from 4:00pm to 6:00pm and Rebroadcast Sat, November 1, 2008 from 9:30 pm to 11:30pm
WHERE: MCAT Cable 7
Shows produced and directed by Rick Gold/Nan Cohen c2001 - 2008
For copies or other information please contact Rick and Nan at lightproductions(at)gmail.com 541-0016
On Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at University of Montana, Dr. Richard Hayes Phillips, author of Witness to a Crime: A Citizens' Audit of an American Election, spoke about the rigged election process in Ohio 2004. Dr. Phillips presented evidence of ballot tampering, ballot substitution, ballot box stuffing, ballot destruction, and shifting of votes from one candidate to another, in addition to old-fashioned techniques of voter suppression. He presented this evidence, and described how it was obtained. He also described how citizens audits can help insure election integrity in the future. For more informationabout his book, go to http://www.witnesstoacrime.com/
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The Baucus Problem
If you want to blame someone for the current Wall Street collapse and world financial crisis, I have an excellent candidate. Senator Max Baucus, D-MT, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and one of "the hundred most powerful men in America" - and by extension, the world. He is a personal friend of Robert Rubin, now an advisor to Barack Obama, and we in Montana blame him and Goldman, Sachs for destroying the Montana Power Company and confiscating our clean, cheap, renewable hydropower in order to force us to build more coal-fired power plants.
But it looks like Mad Max is finally losing his grip. In a recent poll, the results were so bad that it was pulled, with the claim that there was some sort of "mistake" or flaw in the collection and tabulation of the polling data. Max might actually lose to one of the worst-prepared and least - supported opponents in living memory. And for good reason.
If you can't bring yourself to vote for Bob Kelleher, you can always write in your dog's name, your favorite comedian, superhero, movie star, football player, or whomever. JUST DON'T VOTE FOR BAUCUS. Do not waste your precious vote on this corporate criminal. If Kelleher wins, he might have to resign for health reasons or whatever, but Gov. Schweitzer can appoint a suitable Republican replacement - say, John Bollinger or Sam Kitzenberg. It will be a great gift to Montana and the nation. - PHS
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WHY BILLIONAIRES SUPPORT BAUCUS (AND NO ONE ELSE SHOULD )
[I reprinted the following story from The Nation in February, 2007. Here it is, again - or the most relevant excerpts from it. If you are a loyal Democrat, this account should convince you that Max isn't one, and has nothing in common with the Democratic Party tradition. In fact, he has almost single-handedly destroyed the Montana Democratic Party. If you are a Republican or Independent, you probably already know how rotten and evil Max Baucus is, and has become. Please vote for Bob Kelleher, who ran as a Green against Baucus in 2002, and actually won the primary this time as a Republican. Whatever it takes to get Baucus out of the Senate is time and effort well-spent. - PHS]
K Street's Favorite Democrat by Ari Berman http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070319/berman
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