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This train of thought began with Briahna Joy Gray's observations (below) on the OH-11 special election about which I blogged earlier this week. The replies were full of Democratic loyalist trolling, which is typical for one of Briahna's Tweets. After all, she has actively campaigned to get Senator Not a Real Democrat (I-VT) nominated for the presidency. Normally I avoid wading into such an environment; however, the trolling included some abuse of the term "progressive" that I could not leave unanswered.
It chaps my whole nether region when I see centrist, incrementalist Democrats referred to as "progressive." It irks me even more deeply when that leads to McCarthyite tropes hurled at anyone to the left of Nancy Pelosi, as happened later in the thread. The question in my reply had a twofold purpose:
My reply made no reference to the Green Party itself. But of course my Twitter bio is quite candid regarding my partisan affiliation. So, relevant to nothing in particular, up came the "What Has the Green Party Ever Done?" line of argument. To that I replied (not shown below), "Far more than a single Tweet can encapsulate" and promised to put a complete answer on this site later. Well, more complete anyway, because I'm sure that my bulleted list below leaves out some important achievements.
Tuesday 7 April, 7 pm Central Daylight Time, live from Dallas and free of charge but registration required.
If you haven't heard David Swanson speak on the topic of outlawing war worldwide, or even if you have, treat yourself to this presentation. I almost never share these petition thingies, but I found this one from World Beyond War particularly timely.
As World Beyond War notes, during his 2016 presidential campaign, Vermont Senator Bernard Sanders was eerily silent on the subject of foreign & military policy. His website said very little on the topic, particularly about the Middle East. This was a canny calculation, betting that voters were mostly interested in bread & butter issues (see Bill "It's the Economy, Stupid!" Clinton, 1992). Bernie & friends also knew that any talk of Israel—especially criticism, no matter how politely phrased—is a third rail that sitting US Senators must avoid. He may be making some noise at the Capitol about ending US involvement in Yemen, but only under pressure from his constituents and supporters. It took Chris Murphy (D-CT) to bring it up in the Senate—and, even then, only when Barack Obama was no longer Commander-in-Chief. I have admired & respected Bernie since he was mayor of Burlington. However, this reticence on his part was one of several reasons I could not support his campaign. Way back in 1967, Dr. Martin Luther King identified militarism and military spending as a grand theft from the people. Several years before that, President Dwight D. Eisenhower said something similar on national television. Why have mainstream politicians, even the progressive ones, lost sight of that undeniable fact? It seems that I must offer Rep. Robert Francis O'Rourke a bit of praise. In his six years in the House of Representatives, he has amassed a Lifetime Peace Score of 84%, the 50th highest score in the chamber.
Peace Action and CODEPINK have announced the release of their Peace Voter Guide. It comes at a particularly auspicious time for me, both personally and blog-wise, after my recent post about not voting for warmongers. Here's the write-up that Nicholas Davies and Medea Benjamin published on Common Dreams. The guide rates O'Rourke higher than any other Texas Democrat and above the 72% composite average for all Democrats in Congress. Good on him for that. Lloyd Doggett (TX-35) comes in a close second with 80%. Houston-area Democrats Sheila Jackson Lee (18), Al Green (9), and the soon to be retired Gene Green (29) respectively rate 73%, 56%, and 52%. All four of those reps have logged a lot more time in the Washington bubble. Wow. My representative is just a hair above average among House Democrats. |
Blogging Sporadically since 2014Here 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. Categories
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