David Bruce Collins—the Official Site
  • Index
  • Blog
  • Biography
  • Writing
    • Novels in Print
    • Eastern Daylight (1997) >
      • Eastern Daylight: April
      • Eastern Daylight: May
      • Eastern Daylight: June
      • Eastern Daylight: July
      • Eastern Daylight: August
      • Eastern Daylight: September
      • Eastern Daylight: October
    • Bite-Size Hungarian
  • Politics
    • Life As a Green
    • Ten Key Values of GPUS (English)
    • Issues for 2020
  • Web Links

Live-Blogging the People's Party Convention, Part 5

30/8/2020

 
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8

Maebe A. Girl, first drag queen elected to public office in the US (neighborhood council in Silver Lake CA) and challenger of Rep. Adam Schiff (!). Fascinating, just gonna watch and learn. She's saying, if you vote Blue (no matter who) this year, make it your last time.

Now Niko House is talking as if Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker don't exist. He's raising issues wherein neither corporate party or their candidates is taking the positions he advocates, but not mentioning that the Green Party scores almost 100% on those positions. Understandable, as (I believe) he's one of the YouTube opinionators claiming that Howie rigged the convention process and stiffed Dario Hunter. Major party choice offers "civility fascism and neo-fascism...the racist and the segregationist." MLK and Malcolm would say, screw both Trump and Biden. "You can have only one master in politics: It's the people or the money." Great leaders, in politics and elsewhere will side with the people.

Eighteen down, about a dozen to go.

Massey Branscomb, a Yang Gang activist with the Humanity First Movement who worked with MPP on the Occupy Congress program, is next. He's indulging in a multi-dimensional exercise to illustrate how Universal Basic Income benefits everybody, even the wealthy. Everybody gets a chance to grow. "Can you be a billionaire and still be good?" As an Andrew Yang supporter, he obviously thinks so, especially a billionaire who advocates fixing the rules to benefit the masses (and possibly even make him an ex-billionaire). He's even saluting @Jack (Twitter) Dorsey for giving away a substantial slice of his fortune for COVID relief in several less affluent countries.

Speaking of Basic Income, next up is Scott Santens, editor of Basic Income Today. "What has become Normal is not OK...It's time to draw a line." Let's start the "systemic, structural reforms." He's talking now about the fundamental human rights that the US has long essentially ignored. UBI is not just Universal, it's Unconditional Basic Income, "a foundational floor for everything else we need to do." I've never seen anyone speak so eloquently about the moral underpinnings of UBI. If I wasn't completely sold before, I certainly am now. "Duopoly is not democracy," so he's supporting the move to introduce Ranked Choice Voting making its way through the states, as well as multi-member districts and proportional representation, among other reforms.

Jesse Ventura​. Cool. I'm taking a little break.
SocraticGadfly
30/8/2020 21:52:34

IPR reports that Jesse Ventura himself spoke at the Movement for a People's Party convention. That half-Libertarian, full-on grifter spoke? Well fuck the MPP even more than I thought before.

And, I've long tackled Santens, and am not alone, in calling out problems with his libertarian version of basic income. He HATES it when people point that out. Tough shit. It's true. You want to steal part of Social Security and put it under BI? That's libertarian BI.

Otherwise? A bunch of butt-hurt Berners, many of them connected to Our Revolution and looking to continue the grifting, starting with Braña IMO. Be more skeptical, David.

https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2020/08/fuck-movement-for-peoples-party-and-its.html

dbc
30/8/2020 22:32:31

SG, you're right that I should be more skeptical. I'm not completely on their bandwagon, still Green, but their message is cogent and very much needed.

I was very skeptical at the beginning, especially since it seemed a no-brainer to hook up with the already-existing-if-somewhat-unstable infrastructure of the Green Party. But the more I've observed, the more I believe that Brana et al are sincere. Some of this bunch are on record as saying they'll vote Biden this year, but none of them has had anything good to say about the Democratic Party.

If Brana and his associates are grifters, that implies that all these luminaries who spoke at the convention are either grifters themselves or have been snookered. That's not impossible, but I find it hard to believe. I find it harder to believe that, having taken the trouble to map out a complete strategy for forming the party and getting nationwide ballot access, they're just playing a long con.

SocraticGadfly
30/8/2020 23:32:56

Also, on the updated version of my blog post? I don't know who his parents are, but Brana looks closer to the 1 percent than the 99 percent if he interned for John Kerry and went to the London School of Economics, among other things.

SocraticGadfly
30/8/2020 23:31:11

Agreed that the GP needs reforming. Agreed that many of those outside Our Revolution aren't grifters. That said? Brana started this idea back in 2017. Chose not to work inside the GP.

Cornel West? Was a sucker for Obama in 2008. Not high in his credibility.

Jimmy Dore? Per my link? Conspiracy theorist of multiple types, starting with Seth Rich. I have less than zero sympathy, sympaticoness etc., with Seth Rich conspiracy theorists, going beyond general conspiracy theories to this one in particular.

AND? Inviting Ventura? Sorry, but that sealed my impression on the "celebrity" angle. Again, the man's half Libertarian and was a Trump whisperer in 2016. Too many Greens were suckers for him as a celebrity, and now, these folks.

As for at least some of the Our Revolution folks playing a long con, though not all of them? See "Project Lincoln."


Comments are closed.

    DBC Sez...

    Here you will find political campaign-related entries, as well as some about my literature, Houston underground arts, peace & justice, urban cycling, soccer, alt-religion, and other topics.

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    2018
    Abby Martin
    Abortion Laws
    ACORN
    Affordable Care Act
    Ahmad Hassan
    Air Alliance Houston
    Ajamu Baraka
    Alabama
    Alexandria Ocasio Cortez
    Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
    Al Gore
    Amanda Palmer
    Amazon
    Angela Walker
    Angie Schmitt
    ANM 2020
    Annual Meeting
    Approval Voting
    Art Car Parade
    Astroworld
    Ballot Access
    Bernie Sanders
    Beto O'Rourke
    BikeHouston
    Binary Thinking
    Black Agenda Report
    #BlackLivesMatter
    Bloomsday
    B&N
    Book Review
    Borders
    Brains And Eggs
    Breast Cancer
    Brody Mulligan
    Burning Man
    Bylaws
    Caitlin Johnstone
    Caleb Alexander
    Campaign
    Campaign 2018
    Candidates' Forum
    Candidate Workshop
    Captcha
    Catastrophic Theatre
    Cenk Uygur
    Censorship
    Chelsea Manning
    Cheri Honkala
    Chicago
    Choir
    Chris Hedges
    Chris Tomlinson
    Chuck Kuffner
    City Council
    Climate Change
    Climate March
    Climate Strike
    CODEPINK
    Colin Kaepernick
    Convention
    Corporatocracy
    County Clerk
    County Convention
    County Judge
    Cover Design
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Cycling
    Dallas Morning News
    Dan Monahan
    Dario Hunter
    Darryl Cherney
    David Cobb
    David Rovics
    Death By Cop
    Death Penalty
    Debates
    Deep State
    Delilah For Texas
    #DemEnter
    Demexit
    #DemExit
    Democrat Primary
    Depression
    Detroit 2020
    Dichotomism
    Dick Dowling
    Disaffiliation
    District Conventions
    Donald Trump
    #DownticketGreens
    DSA
    Duopoly
    Dwight Boykins
    Early Voting
    Earth Day
    Earthworm
    Eastern Daylight
    Ecological Wisdom
    Economic Justice
    Ed Emmett
    Edie
    Egberto WIllies
    Eleanor Goldfield
    Election 2015
    Election 2016
    Election 2017
    Election 2018
    Election 2019
    Election 2020
    Election 2022
    Electoral College
    Elvis Costello
    Emancipation Park
    Emily Sanchez
    Emily Sanchez
    Endorsements
    Energy
    Environment
    Erika Martinez
    Extinction Rebellion
    Fascism
    Fauxcialism
    Fiction
    Film Review
    For The People Act
    Fourth Turning
    Francesca Fiorentini
    Fremont Solstice Parade
    Full Frontal
    Fundraising
    Gary Johnson
    Gary Stuard
    George Floyd
    George HW Bush
    George Lakoff
    George Reiter
    Georgia
    Gerrymandering
    Glenn Greenwald
    GPTX
    Gray Matters
    Green Convention
    #GreenEnter
    Green Maps
    Green New Deal
    Green Party
    Green Party Houston
    Greenwatch TV
    Gun Violence
    Hallucinogens
    Hal Ridley Jr.
    Harris County
    Harry Hamid
    HAUS
    HAUS Project
    HB 2504
    HCGP
    Higher Education
    Hillary Clinton
    HMS
    Homelessness
    Houston
    Houston Area Progressives
    Houston Astros
    Houston Chronicle
    Houston Dash
    Houston Dynamo
    Houston Fringe Festival
    Houston Press
    Howie Hawkins
    Hurricane Harvey
    Identity Politics
    Immigration
    Instant Runoff Voting
    Insurrection At The Capitol
    International Affairs
    Inverted Totalitarianism
    Iran
    Ireland
    IRV
    IUniverse
    James Joyce
    Janis RIchards
    Jennifer Mathieu
    Jesse Ventura
    Jill Stein
    Jimmy Dore
    Jonathan Franzen
    Jordan Chariton
    JosH Darr
    Julian Assange
    Juneteenth
    Justice
    Kenneth Kendrick
    Kenneth Mejia
    Kent Mesplay
    Keystone XL
    Key Values
    KPFT
    Krystal Ball
    Laredo
    Last Week Tonight
    Late Stage Capitalism
    Late-Stage Capitalism
    League Of Women Voters
    Lee Camp
    Legal Challenge
    Libertarian Party
    Lina Hidalgo
    Lisa Savage
    Local Democracy
    Mail-In Ballots
    Maine
    Maps Project
    #MarchForOurLives
    March For Science
    March On The Pentagon
    Marc Lamont Hill
    Margaret Flowers
    Marijuana
    Martina Salinas
    Mass Shootings
    Matching Funds
    Mayor
    MD Anderson Cancer Center
    Media
    Medicare For All
    Mental Health
    Metro
    Michael Moore
    Michael Pollan
    MJ Hegar
    Movement For A People's Party
    Mudslinging
    Music
    Naomi Klein
    NationBuilder
    Net Neutrality
    New Orleans
    New Zealand
    Nick Cooper
    NORML
    North Carolina
    Our Revolution
    Outlander
    Outreach
    Overdevelopment
    Pacifica
    Parkland FL
    Partisan Realignment
    Paul Ingmundson
    PDiddie
    Peace
    Pennsylvania
    People's Party Convention
    Platform
    Plutocracy
    PNC
    Police
    Police Brutality
    Politics Done Right
    Polls
    Poor People's Campaign
    Poverty
    Progressivism
    Proofreading
    ProPublica
    Puerto Rico
    Radicalism
    Ranked Choice Voting
    Ray Hill
    Recount 2016
    Remington Alessi
    #Resistance
    Rev. Barber
    Revolution
    Right-wing Terrorism
    Rosa Clemente
    Russiagate
    Samantha Bee
    San Antonio
    SB 2093
    School Shootings
    Scotland
    Scottish National Party
    Scott McLarty
    Sema Hernandez
    Sheila Jackson Lee
    Single Payer
    SKCM Curry
    Smart Growth
    Socialism
    Socialist Alternative
    Spoiler Effect
    Straight Party Voting
    Strauss & Howe
    Sunrise Movement
    Sylvester Turner
    Syria
    Tax Policy
    Ted Cruz
    Texas House
    Texas Leftist
    Texas Legislature
    Texas Progressive
    Texas Public Radio
    Texas Supreme Court
    Texoblogosphere
    Texpatriate
    The Intercept
    The North Star
    Third Parties
    Thom Hartmann
    Traffic
    Transit
    Transportation
    Trans Rights
    Travel
    Treason
    Trump Derangement Syndrome
    Tulsi Gabbard
    Turnout
    Ulysses
    Unitarian Universalism
    Urbanism
    US Senate
    UU
    Valarie Kaur
    Van Cliburn
    Vanessa Edwards Foster
    Vanessa Guillén
    Venezuela
    Vish
    Vision Zero
    War On Drugs
    Website
    Women's March On Pentagon
    World Beyond War
    World Cup
    World Naked Bike Ride
    Zeitgeist Movement
    Zendik

    Archives

    December 2021
    November 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014

Proudly powered by Weebly