The Washington State Democrats have sent out a fund-raising appeal so that it can place an ad critical of Rob McKenna in the Seattle Times. (See http://www.wa-democrats.org/content/our-newspaper-ad.) This ad calling out Rob McKenna for his attacks on public employee unions is running in today’s issue of The Olympian. GOAL: We need to raise $6,935 to…
Democrats fear that voter turnout will be low in 2012 due to dissatisfaction with President Obama’s policies and due to a feeling that change is hopeless. If Democrats want progressives’ votes and help, they should stand up to the corrupt, corporatist Democrats by openly criticizing centrists such as President Obama and Governor Gregoire, and by…
Sunday afternoon I attended the King County Dems’ Legislative Action Committee meeting in Renton, where Rep. Bob Hasegawa was the guest speaker. He is awesome: a strong progressive and an unpretentious, nice guy. The meeting was riveting, for political junkies like me anyway, and well attended. I guess the attendees all felt like fellow comrades…
Our leaders don’t lead. Governor Gregoire and the legislators have punted on the issue of raising revenue. If you ask legislators, they say “the people” have to demand fair taxation and an end to corporate tax giveaways. Though the Democrats control the governor’s mansion and both houses in Olympia, they don’t use their positions of…
Millions of progressive activists give time, money, and energy to advocacy groups, because they don’t trust the Democratic Party. Shouldn’t progressives take over the Democratic Party the way religious conservatives and Teabaggers took over the GOP? The Republican Party is united behind a hard right agenda that keeps becoming more extreme. Often GOP lawmakers vote…
At the 41st LD Dems’ meeting, Goldy (David Goldstein) spoke about the REAL Rob McKenna and about how progressives can win. State Attorney General Rob McKenna is a personable guy who presents himself as a moderate and who attends civic events everywhere. But his speeches and actions show that McKenna is deeply anti-union and anti-choice….
There’s a discussion on the Washington Liberals yahoo group about the heartlessness of libertarian philosophy. The question came up: are libertarians sociopaths? Or are they just confused? I too have called libertarianism “sociopathic.” Some of them probably have a deficit of empathy. But I’m sure most of them are pretty regular people, loving parents, more…
Twenty years ago, smoking was permitted in most restaurants and public buildings. Nowadays, smokers have accepted that they have no right to force nonsmokers to put up with secondhand smoke. In a similar way, society needs to make the transition to a mindset in which driving a single-occupancy, non-electric passenger car is viewed as selfish,…
Saturday afternoon I attended the 41st Legislative District Town Hall meeting at Mercer Island High School. State Sen. Steve Litzow (R), Rep. Judy Clibborn (D), and Rep. Marcie Maxwell (D) spoke. There was a huge turnout, despite the rain. Most of the time was sent on questions and answers. Almost all the questions concerned the…
People often complain that politics is depressing. Politicians are often dishonest and power-grabbing. Meetings are boring. Political activists are annoying. The media barely covers rallies. It’s all so frustrating and exhausting. They say all politics is local. That’s not quite true, but it is true that getting involved makes a big difference. Even though it’s…