Oh as far as Ralph Nader goes, he single-handedly took down the U.S. auto
industry and at the same time the UAW. I worked along side some of his victims.
What the general public forgets is that he actually tried to sell the rights to
his "unsafe at any speed" book to the big three auto makers in Detroit. When
none would pay the price he published the book. He actually had versions of the
book written about Ford, GM, and Chrysler. He finally chose his "Corvair "
edition because at the time GM and the UAW were flourishing. As the saying at
the time went "as GM goes, so does the nation". He took down GM, the nation,
the family men who counted on those unionized jobs to feed the families and
opened the door for foreign auto industry intrusion with their non-union low
wages and constant out-sourcing that is now the rule as opposed to the
exception.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, March 6, 2020 12:26 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] RE:
[blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] RE:
[blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] ***UNCHECKED*** Re: Fight for
gov’t-funded, cradle-to-grave health care!
Frank,
I don't agree with you about the Green Party. What you are writing about it,
sounds like some very cleverly corporate Democratic anti Green Party
propaganda. I've personally known Green party members and neither their
lifestyles nor their politics fit that description. Some of them are Democratic
Socialists. Some of them are Marxists. Ralph Nader is a traditional New Deal
Democrat who achieved his reputation as a reformer, most likely, before you
were born or when you were very young. He is now an elderly, well meaning
optimist who still believes that people can change the system for the better.
But he isn't running the party at this point.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Frank Ventura
Sent: Friday, March 6, 2020 2:23 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] Re:
[blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] Re:
[blind-democracy] ***UNCHECKED*** Re: Fight for gov’t-funded, cradle-to-grave
health care!
Miriam, the Green party and the socialist parties could never co-exist. They
are essentially working for two different groups of people. On one hand the
socialist parties, while representing the working class, are trying to fit
their square peg of socialism into the round hole of capitalist society. On
the other hand you have the Green party which is just a globalist, corporatist
wing of the republican party. They represent the white, wealthy, intellectual
capitalists who don't want to be seen with the pickup truck driving confederate
flag waving, red-necks but still want to keep the republicans in power so they
can hold onto their off-shore tax shelters. In 2000 the republican party pumped
millions into Ralph Nader's Green party run in Florida. The result was that he
got enough votes where Bush was able to use that Chad guy to steal the state
and the election. Without Nader the margin for Gore would have been too great
for the hanging Chad to work effectively. Prior to 2016 members of Trumps
campaign met in Russia with Jill Stein. When congress subpoenaed the fiscal
records of contributions made to the Green party as a result of those high
level meetings between the Trump campaign, Russian assets, and Jill Stein, she
turned over the party's records but refused to turn over her own personal
records or the records of her PAC, which is actually incorporated in Russia.
But back to the election itself; the number of votes that the Green party got
was greater than the margin of victory for Trump in many swing states. Exit
polls suggested that if it were a two person race without Stein, HRC would have
won at least Michigan, Pennsylvania, Florida, and Wisconsin. HRC would have had
to win only two of those states to have beaten Trump. The Green party did not
campaign in any states where it was expected that Trump would win and thus
avoided taking away any votes from Trump. As with the 2000 election the Green
party played a small but crucial part in turning the election for the
republican candidate. So as you can see you have disenchanted working class
socialists versus wealthy, white, globalist capitalists. Those two groups
could never work together effectively. The former is a non-party because you
cannot have a real socialist party within a capitalist system'; and the latter
is the most corrupt, greedy, capitalistic party this nation has ever known.
Frank
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2020 9:16 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] RE:
[blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] ***UNCHECKED***
Re: Fight for gov’t-funded, cradle-to-grave health care!
No, certainly not. Organizing people around issues where their actions have a
chance of having an effect is not underhanded. Strikes aren't underhanded.
Passive resistance isn't underhanded. But running candidates when you know that
there's no chance in hell that they can win, that they can't even get on the
ballot in most states, taking up people's time and energy for what amounts to a
"show candidacy", seems underhanded to me. If all the various socialist parties
and the Green party would join together and try to form a real alternative
party, that would make sense to me.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran Bailey
(Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2020 9:06 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] RE:
[blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] ***UNCHECKED*** Re: Fight for
gov’t-funded, cradle-to-grave health care!
Then it must follow that any attempt to get out any kind of ideas is some
underhanded manipulative scam.
___
Neil deGrasse Tyson
“God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.”
― Neil DeGrasse Tyson
On 3/5/2020 8:41 PM, miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Roger,
Sorry, That was my interpretation of what the SWP is doing. I know you didn't
say that. You just said that the candidates running would be used as
propaganda to organize people. I wrote what that means to me.
-----Original Message-----
From: Roger Loran Bailey <rogerbailey81@xxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2020 8:30 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx; miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: [blind-democracy] RE: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy]
***UNCHECKED*** Re: Fight for gov’t-funded, cradle-to-grave health care!
Miriam, you misrepresent everything I said. The best way I can refute this is
to just refer you back to my last message. Reading that message shows that I
said nothing like you are claiming I said.
___
Neil deGrasse Tyson
“God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.”
― Neil DeGrasse Tyson
On 3/5/2020 4:24 PM, miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:
Isn't using the election as solely an opportunity for agitation and
propaganda a rather cynical way to treat the working people who might be
attracted by that candidate's campaign? It sounds like all those poor
unsuspecting people who might be tricked into getting involved, are being
used as pawns to further the SWP's objectdives of which they are unaware.
"We're offering these pretend candidates so we can use their campaign to
seduce you into believing a philosophy which, we believe, is in your best
interests in the end. But we aren't going to tell you that we don't believe
in this election, that we're actually planning a revolution to overthrow
this rotten system, and you might become embroiled in this revolution,
whether or not you originally planned to, and it might become violent".
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
<blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> On Behalf Of Roger Loran
Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC)
Sent: Thursday, March 5, 2020 3:32 PM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: [blind-democracy] ***UNCHECKED*** Re: Fight
for gov’t-funded, cradle-to-grave health care!
You are completely missing the point that Alyson Kennedy has absolutely no
expectation or intention of becoming president. The ruling class would
cancel the election before they would let that happen.
Furthermore, if there was a realistic prospect for her being elected then
the class struggle would have had to sharpened to the point that we would
either be in the middle of a civil war or else we would be on the brink of
it. Alyson's candidacy is simply a move to take advantage of the bourgeois
electoral system to spread agitation and propaganda. But suppose that she
did get elected and suppose she survived the violent attacks that would be
launched against her and her supporters if she did get elected and then she
took office. If she then went ahead and merrily administered the bourgeois
state she would have upon that instant transformed into a social democrat.
That would be a complete betrayal.
Her job would be to give the bourgeois state its final kicks to ensure its
collapse. Then she would participate in building a new workers and farmers
state, possibly being a delegate to a new constitutional convention.
___
Neil deGrasse Tyson
“God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.”
― Neil DeGrasse Tyson
On 3/5/2020 11:56 AM, Carl Jarvis wrote:
The article states: "The Socialist Workers Party campaign is
grounded in the conviction that it is possible to emulate that
example(the Cuban Revolution). We can mobilize in our millions to
overthrow the dictatorship of the capitalist class here, take power
into our own hands and open the door to working people running society."
And then the article concludes, "Join us in campaigning for Alyson
Kennedy and Malcolm Jarrett, the working-class alternative in 2020!"
My problem with this article is that we can't take both approaches.
Either we advocate for Revolution and the replacement of our current
Ruling Class with a government which represents All the People, or
we send Alyson Kennedy and Malcolm Jarrett to be our sacrificial
offerings. That approach appears hopeless. Let's suppose, and it
is a real long shot, that Alyson Kennedy and Malcolm Jarrett squeak
out a victory, and find themselves in the White House. Then what?
I mean what do we Revolutionaries do? We have just won the top two
offices in the nation, and the most influential top dogs in all the World.
Are they prepared to lead a Revolution from within the
Establishment's System? Do they attempt to swim upstream and make
what social changes they can make? To me it is a lose lose
situation. The fact is that we live in, and have lived in from the
beginning, in a Class System.
This nation of the people never set out to be the government of All
the People.
Although I have no dog in this presidential fight, I plan to vote
for Bernie Sanders. Not because I think that he will win, or even
if the Heavens opened up and God smote all his opponents and Bernie,
like David with his sling, did win, but because I believe it is my
only way of spitting in the Establishment's eye. Bernie will be as
unable to return America to the New Deal Days, as would Alyson
Kennedy and Malcolm Jarrett.
But on the other hand, if we are truly serious about a People's
Revolution, then we need to stop pretending that we can "make a
difference" through tucking a few Progressives into the System.
It's like tossing red meat to a pack of wild dogs.
As a defender of the American People and their Rights and Dignity, I
am faced with deciding whose laws I must obey. Do I take the safer
path and obey the laws that have been bought and paid for to protect
the properties and positions of the long established Ruling Class?
Or do I obey those basic laws that defend the dignity and security
and health, and all the Rights that belong to First Class Citizens?
This is no easy decision. But it is one that every Citizen must
make, because we cannot serve two Masters. Either we support the
right of a few to own us, or we defend the Right to Human Dignity by
All the People. This constitution we live under was created back
when we were a collection of 13 Colonies and an Agrarian Society.
The Document was truly revolutionary in its day. It declared that
the Colonists were no longer the economic slaves of the King of
England. In the situation the Colonists found themselves, there was
no misunderstanding over whether they could somehow take over the
government and make changes to existing laws. There was only one of
two roads, compliance or revolution.
The ensuing struggle was costly for many Landholders. Many chose to
duck and cover, hoping the King would reward them once the uprising
was quashed.
While Times are very different today, we live in an Urban Society
and number 50 states and over 300 million People, we are still faced
by the same two roads. We can duck and cover and accept what is "given"
us by our Ruling Class, hoping they make wise choices that somehow
include us, or we can set them aside, thanking them for their long
years at the helm of our Ship of State, but recognizing that they
have outlived their day, and that they have become far too self serving.
But if we do the latter, we must realize that once declared, the New
Revolution must follow. Are we ready for it?
Carl Jarvis
On 3/5/20, Roger Loran Bailey <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
https://themilitant.com/2020/02/29/fight-for-govt-funded-cradle-to-
g r ave-health-care/ Fight for gov’t-funded, cradle-to-grave health
care!
article
Vol. 84/No. 9
March 9, 2020
The U.S. government, the most powerful imperialist power on the
planet, like every other capitalist power around the world, is far
from prepared for the spread of coronavirus. The virus is new, no
one is immune, and it will take time to develop an antidote.
The rulers in China and Iran tried to pretend things weren’t so bad
and working people are paying for it. The administration in
Washington tells us they’ve got everything in hand and complain the
media is trying to make coronavirus “look as bad as possible.”
The deadly impact of the virus will fall overwhelmingly on working
people in the U.S., as it does elsewhere, exacerbating the broader
social, economic and moral crisis of capitalism bearing down on us.
Millions of workers already confront the declining availability of
health care. Hospitals have been closing in rural areas and
working-class neighborhoods, where the owners decide they aren’t
making enough profit. The system of health insurance in the U.S. —
whether it’s “Obamacare,” private health insurance or the
Medicare-for-all insurance schemes promoted by a wing of the
Democrats — is designed to guarantee a profit for hospital bosses
and drug and insurance companies, not to provide the health care
working people need and deserve.
If we can’t afford to pay the rising costs they charge for
premiums, deductibles or copays, we have to go without something
that should be a basic human right.
The capitalist rulers consider the provision of health care to
workers a nonproductive expense. Hospital bosses are notorious for
transporting homeless people seeking care out of the city and
dumping them. The capitalist rulers seek to impose the
responsibility for medical care onto individual workers and our
families. And if you don’t change your lifestyle — quit smoking,
lose weight, etc. — they want to make you pay more. You’re on your own.
Health care is social right
Health care is a social question. The working class and our unions
need to fight for government-funded cradle-to-grave health care for
all. Our labor produces all the wealth, more than enough to provide
care for all, for a lifetime. The problem is the employers
expropriate that wealth for themselves. So they don’t have to worry
about the costs of getting treatment.
Health care as a social right can only be won by class struggle,
including breaking from all the capitalists’ parties, which insist
that the health insurance racket is untouchable. It will take
massive struggles by workers and our allies to take the hospitals
and drug companies out of the hands of the capitalists who run them
for profit and organize to run them under workers control in the
interest of all. But it can be done.
Revolutionary Cuba is the one country in the world where health
care is not a commodity, where the surplus workers and farmers
produce is used to provide lifelong, preventative health care for every
person.
And where thousands of volunteer medical workers provide much
needed care throughout the world, treating all they look after with
dignity and respect. A vivid account is provided in the recently
published Red Zone: Cuba and the Battle Against Ebola in West Africa.
The volunteers’ internationalism, author Enrique Ubieta
writes, “is an expression of their revolutionary humanism.”
As Che Guevara said, to be a revolutionary doctor you have to make
a revolution.
Revolution transformed working people in Cuba This is only possible
because Cuban workers and farmers made a revolution and the
government today is in their hands. Making that revolution
transformed working people. They simply look at the problems they
confront — from the U.S. rulers’ economic war against them to the
threat of coronavirus — as the responsibility of the whole people.
Whatever they face — a hurricane, a threat of disease, or anything
else — they prepare, mobilize the whole people and resources of
their government, and take it on.
The Socialist Workers Party campaign is grounded in the conviction
that it is possible to emulate that example. We can mobilize in our
millions to overthrow the dictatorship of the capitalist class
here, take power into our own hands and open the door to working
people running society. Join us in campaigning for Alyson Kennedy
and Malcolm Jarrett, the working-class alternative in 2020!
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___
Neil deGrasse Tyson
“God is an ever-receding pocket of scientific ignorance.”
― Neil DeGrasse Tyson
