More on either or

In response to the Bernie bashers on Facebook, reacting to something he wrote back in 1969 in a Montpelier Vermont paper The quote goes thusly:  

"The revolution comes when two strangers smile at each other, when a father refuses to send his child to school because schools destroy children, when a commune is started and people begin to trust each other, when a young man refuses to go to war, and when a girl pushes aside all that her mother has 'taught' her and accepts her boyfriend's love."

These folks took exception to the language, especially girls leaving their mothers to follow their boyfriends, and the fathers taking their kids out of school.

Well, I don't know what the schools in Vermont were like in those days, but I do know about the girls following their boyfriends.

And the "Revolution" we were sure was right around the corner. So I wrote this little piece in response:

"I have to start by telling you I came of age in the sixties. In those days, the days of Vietnam and just post-Selma and the height of the Civil Rights movement. The mantra for those of us in what was known as “the Movement” was “Girls say yes to boys who say no.” Yeah, gross huh? Boys were burning their draft cards, and resisting the war, some going to Canada or to Federal prison. Soldiers with consciences took sanctuary in churches.
 
"That’s how I got involved, in the first sanctuary in 1968, in Arlington St. Church in Boston. I stayed involved with the New England Resistance. The men were in charge. We were the “resister sisters.”
 
"We were the “office chicks.” Then something remarkable happened. We heard about something called Women’s Liberation. We realized that we were just as exploited as factory workers or other women not getting paid for equal work or being harassed on the job. We weren’t housewives, but we got their oppression too. So we rebelled. We started consciousness raising groups. A large group, Bread and Roses, grew up around all those women taking charge of their lives. Men did not like it. They feared it, they didn’t know what to make of newly angry women. Many of the old organizations fell apart. New ones popped up.
Then came Stonewall and the “gay liberation” movement. This was just too much for some, even our enlightened brothers. I was working at a movement paper at the time, one that tried very hardtop be egalitarian with all, men and women alike, and even they were very uncomfortable when I insisted we cover gay rights. 
 
"Yes, identity politics. At the same time, we identified as anti-war, anti-imperialist, and anti-income inequality, although we didn’t call it that at the time; we just thought it was important to understand and to help the “working class.” (And yes, many of the movement people came from privilege; this was Cambridge, teeming with Harvard graduates. As one of the few who actually grew up in a working class family, who had experienced foreclosure, unemployment and a broken family, I often felt out of some of the more abstract discussions people would get into.). We actually believed the Revolution would happen before we all turned thirty. 
 
"So, should I be thrown under the bus for past beliefs and cringeworthy statements? Should all my colleagues from those days? I surely hope not. 
 
"And neither should Bernie. You may not think so, but I believe Bernie gets it, he gets the nexus between so called ”identity politics” and economic politics. That it’s not an either or situation; it’s a both-and. That’s how I see what he has brought to this discussion. And why I was proud to be a delegate for him in Philadelphia. We can all learn from each other; we can all learn from history. And we all, I believe, must stop talking past each other (I know I’m as guilty of it as anyone else), and work together, to defeat Trump and to build the kind of society that serves us all.
 
"Just fyi, context for myself, today, I run campaigns for progressive candidates, mostly Democratic women. We have an excellent win rate. I work with a Women’s Political Action Committee, serve on the California Democratic Party and its Executive Committee and Platform committee. I was a co-founder of our Progressive Caucus in 2005, a caucus which is still going strong. Thanks for listening."

What we ate in the sixties while working for the Revolution:

Dunkin' Donuts and black coffee. And you can still get them both.  (But I recommend better quality baked goods and coffee, unless you are feeling very nostalgic.) 

Going from Bernie to Trump, Really?

In the 60's we talked about "heightening the contradictions," that if things got so bad in America, that they would have to take a turn for the better, that people would wake up from their Cold War stuper and slap themselves upside the head, saying "I coulda had a revolution!"

Then we little radicals would run in and claim our rightful places in the new government, after the old one crumbled from it's own weight, and would be hailed as conquering heroes, while still being under thirty.

Remember "Never trust anyone over thirty"? Now we are all over thirty, way over and we can look back on that time with a little it of reality and historical perspective

As a Bernie Sanders delegate who proudly case my vote for the most progressive, the only true progressive in the running this year, at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, I am living in a kind of deja vu. Shades of the 60's and Eugene McCarthy (although i was not "clean for Gene" back then, because I thought that was a rather condescending and demeaning phrase, assuming all young people were dirty and had to be cleaned up before they could go on the stump). We did not get the progressive candidate of our choice, but we did get a lot accomplished. Instead of taking credit for a job well done, instead of listening to Bernie Sanders when he urges us to vote for Hillary, when he even nominated her, some of his delegates are pushing Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate, who doesn't have a chance. Or worse, openly rooting for a Trump victory, because that will pave the way for a truly progressive president to emerge and win, next time.

Now, before you jump all over me and say I sold out, then or now, look at the parallels. In 1968, we had a choice between Richard "I am not a crook" Nixon and Hubert Humphrey. Humphrey had been a civil rights leader in his day. But these days he was looking just liberal, maybe a warmonger, certainly the establishment. Tricky Dick was a liar and a thief and sleazeball paranoiac, but we decided in our youthful wisdom that they were just the same, Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.
 

We marched in rallies when Humphrey came to town and chanted "Dump the Hump!" We didn't vote. (To be fair to my young self, I couldn't vote, as the voting age was 21 and I had just turned 20 that year). We got Nixon and the rest, as they say, is History. Ok, it would have been history one way or the other. But my point is we thought let them vote for Nixon; things will surely change. I bet some people even said what some Bernie Sanders supporters now say, If Nixon (Trump) is elected, we'll be setting the stage for a really progressive president next time." Fast forward past Cambodia, Kent State, Watergate, impeachment, resignation. Gerald Ford. 1975. The Vietnam War finally ends.

Then we do get Jimmy Carter, the earnest peanut farmer, one of the best I think, but weak as a president and vulnerable to an October surprise, paving the way to Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush. Finally Clinton, not the most progressive, but a Democrat; then George W. Bush, warmonger extreme and village idiot. Which brings us to Obama. And now, you say Trump will lead to a truly progressive era. The best we've been able to do is fight like crazy to clean up the mess left behind.

Been there, tried that. Bernie Sanders himself, who was also there and so is a part of living history some of his own supporters who now spout off on Facebook, should pay attention to. Am i in love with Hillary Clinton? I am not. Is she the lesser of two evils? She may well be. But do you really want to take a chance with racism, mysogeny, anti-immigration policies, anti-labor, and all that goes with Trump's vision of "Making America great again," as a social experiment you hope will turn out ok in the end.

If you won't listen to Bernie, pick up a damn book. Go on the History Channel. Google the last nearly fifty years and tell yourself how great it is to live in this post-Nixon time, when all is peace and love. Because, wait for it, the contradictions were heightened.

Magical thinking my friends. Accept reality, accept the very real victories we have earned with more than 1800 Bernie Sanders delegates in Philadelphia, with the most progressive and forward -looking platform the democratic Party has had in years, if ever, with Hillary invoking Bernie's name and policies. Don't see it as co-optation; see it as a chance. Don't squander it. That is the way to a truly progressive future, maybe even in your lifetimes.

Vote!

Open Letter to Jill Stein and the Green Party

I have given up trying to talk Bernie delegates out of voting for a third party candidate or not voting at all for that matter. I understand the bit about voting your conscience; I understand the deep visceral dislike and distrust of Hillary and all things Clinton. I'm not in love with her myself. But she is the nominee. There are only two candidates in this race, so far as I can see, viability wise. and Jill Stein is not one of them.

The Green Party, for the most part, has not done the hard work of building the base, for building up a reservoir of local State and Federal officials. Yes, where I am fortunate to live, the San Francisco Bay Area, there are Green City Council members, even a water board member in Marin County. But how common is that? Arcata has Greens on the Council. I'm sure others do too. But there is a deep gulf between the City Council of a small progressive town and the President of the United States.

So while I support the Green Party's progressive policy statements and platform points, I cannot support the decision to run Presidential candidates at such a critical juncture in our history. And I am and have always been a strong supporter of some form of a multiple party system; of coalition governments like they have in Europe. However, we do not have such a viable system now. And running losing Presidential candidates every year, with no back up in the form of legislators in State and Federal government, doesn't make the job easier.

Especially in crucial years, such as this one, where the stakes are so high. Where a Donald Trump Presidency, however remote that seems to all of us, cannot be counted out.

Call Hillary and the Dems corrupt all you want. They are all that stands between us and world annihilation, deep alienation at the least, a country where guns may outnumber classrooms, where hate is encouraged, suspicion of one's neighbors is encouraged, and how long do you think it will be before they start asking us to "name names?" Trump has been called the new McCarthy, Hitler, Mussolini.  Yes, he is a dangerous man, and his invective against anyone not white, male and sycophantic horrifying.

So, I have decided not to address the earnest Bernie supporters who have left the Party (Democratic Party that is), who do not think its worth trying to appeal to Hillary, to stay and fight and hold her feet to the fire, as Bernie has asked us to do. It's your right to ignore the candidate you supported all those months, years, because he is disappointing you by supporting his rival in the Primaries. I get that.

And so I turn to the Green Party itself and to its candidate, Jill Stein. At one point she offered her position to Bernie Sanders. He declined to take it. He does not want to run as a third party candidate. He gets that the stakes are too high to take the risk.

Now it is time for the Green Party to step up, or stand down, as the case may be. To give the Bernie delegates and supporters false hopes that their candidate has a chance, that their message, at the least coming from the outside, will make a difference, is just plain cruel and wrong headed. (Of course, I hasten to say this is my opinion only., but it seems to be the logical conclusion); and the Green Party does not and should not indulge in cruelty. They call for peace, for humane treatment of all, for justice.

Love her or not, Hillary is the only nominee we have capable of beating Trump at this point. Bernie is gone. Jill Stein, no matter how saintly, is marginal. Do the right thing, and drop out of the race; throw your support to Hillary for the good of the Country and the future, for the children.
'
And I am talking quite literally here. With Donald Trump and his petty vendettas, there may be no future, nothing for the children, no clean air, or water, possibly no livable planet at all if he gets his finger on "the button."

No chance to build a viable third party movement that can make the changes we all want to see.  

Day Three in Philly

Woke up groggy after it a bad sleep but after a very emotional day on the convention floor, one that left me wired at 1 AM.

Like herding cats, only more so, the Bernie delegation was all over the proverbial map. Some smuggled in NO TPP signs, referring to the Trans Pacific Partnership that both candidates disavow at least in the this form, but the Hillary delegates allowed to go through in the platform, because the did not want to disrespect Obama who is on a fast track with it.  It would allow rules pushed by international corporate interests to override environmental rules and workers rights here and elsewhere.

It has become Bernie's rallying cry to keep it from coming up in the lame duck session. Hillary has said she would reform it at least.

We heard Bernie in the afternoon in a private (sort of, nothing. Is private when announced on the inter webs, folks) gathering. He gave mostly his stump speech, ending that we must support Hillary now, for the sake the of the future. Donald Trump is too dangerous.

He was booed by some of his own people, even. On the floor, where he was the last speaker, just after Paul Simon singing Bridge over Troubled Waters, which gave me chills like nothing else, who felt he was "selling them out."  Not all I hasten to add. Disappointed as many were, they accepted it. We have to stop Trump. That is job one.

The rest will never be involved in Party politics. Many feel he should have talked to us differently. Someone on Facebook said words to the effect he talked down to us.

But of course. It wasn't just us, it was the press, and anyone else listening in. Was he pressured by the DNC to fall in line? What could they threaten him with?  No, I believe him sincerely. It was a bittersweet moment when he took the stage, to rousing applause and cheers.  Extended applause and cheers,that continued throughout.

And tears. The sadness of saying goodbye to a years long endeavor.  He did do a lot to energize youth, brought up issues no one else was, made the a platform the best it's ever even.  We did that.  He did that.

Now we must go forward, elect 100 progressive new legislators. The Political Revolution continues!

More to come of course.

On the Road to Philly

Dear readers,

For the next few weeks I will be writing about becoming a Bernie Sanders delegate and my trip to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia at the end of July. As you may know from my previous blog, I was chosen as an elected delegate in the election held locally on May 1st, but as the third woman in the line, which per Party rules, alternates between male and female candidates, I was out in the cold on Election Day when Bernie and Hillary were neck and neck in my Congressional District, California's CD 2, stretching from the Golden Gate Bridge to the Oregon border. I even had a nice handout made up which explained why you should vote for me.

Me campaigning on May 1st

So then I applied for the other two delegate types, Party Leader and Elected Officials (or PLEO) and At-Large. When our State Executive Board met and the names of who had been chosen for those slots, my name was on that list either. I was hugely disappointed. My good friends, Mayme and Ruth, the first two women were going and I was not. I decided to just hang on to the money I had set aside for the Convention (not inconsiderable, since the hotels jack up the room rates more than three times the regular prices for these events), and plan a fun trip somewhere later.

Then this happened: Two days ago, I get an email from Party asking if I was registering at the Convention hotel. I replied, "I wish, but I am not a delegate, unless you know something I don't."  Well, guess what. She did. "Yes," came the reply back. You are on the list."

Still not believing this, I checked with the Democratic National Committee (DNC) liaison to our State Party and the answer was the same. "You are on the list." Later I found out that at least one person on the original list is no longer on it. Why I don't know. I still keep hoping it's not all a big mistake.

I have now registered at the Very Expensive Hotel (VEH) and purchased the Very Expensive Airplane Tickets (VEAT) and have signed up on every list-serve for Bernie delegates, and some for all Califonria delegates. In the end, we are all Democrats and committed to beating He-Who_Shall_Not-Be-Named (HWSNBN) in November. At least most of us are, and that's a story for another installment.

MWPAC members and speakers from NARAL and PP

For now, good news from the Supreme Court, which just struck down the odious Texas laws that had shuttered most abortion providers in the state because they did not meet some arbitrary and irrelevant standards set up to thwart a women's right to choose. An unexpected 5-3 decision. Three local delegates joined the Marin Women's Political Action Committee (MWPAC) last evening to celebrate.

We ate very unremarkable food, but the mood was hopeful, and gave us that warm united feeling.

Next time: What to eat on the road to Philly!

Me with one Hillary and one Bernie delegate

Election's Over for now

Yay, the election is over, and with it comes a mixed bag of emotions. Hooray, our candidate for Supervisor in Nevada County, Heidi Hall, won her seat easily and with a large margin. Way to go Heidi. Our judicial candidate in Marin County is in a virtual tie for first place with another candidate in what was a hard fought nine way race. Now we start over without missing a beat (or not too many), for a November runoff. Fourth of July parade is the first stop on this trip.

Sad that Bernie Sanders did not carry California and is just hanging on by the skin of his teeth in my Congressional district. That's means I do not get to go to Philadelphia as an elected delegate. As third woman in a man/woman alternating scheme, I'm in sixth place overall.

I also put my name in for an at-large delegate and Party Leader or Elected Official (known as a PLEO; I am a local Party leader and I do hold positions within the State Party too). However, I did not get one of the coveted spots. Many good people who have been working within the Party for years and a number of energetic newcomers did make the cut and a hearty congratulations to them. This will be an exciting Convention and Presidential election.

I would love to be a fly on the wall inside the committee rooms, instead of a passive viewer at home.

We do have the Republican Convention first to entertain us all. (Putting the best spin on the presumption that He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named is the nominee; but anything could happen there too, so stand by for news at 11!)

Election night found us at a local watering hole with our victorious judicial candidate Mike Coffino and his friends. We ate salads and drank wine.

Details elude me. Invent your own. In the meantime, here is a delicious Beach Martini and Ocean Cobb salad to tempt you. I call it what to eat on your way to the airport from a Democratic Executive Board meeting in Long Beach California. It's what I did this weekend. No recipes, but you can figure them out. Enjoy!

The local goes national

Yesterday I got to be on the Ed Schultz show on RT TV. Talking about the California Primary on June 7th, Jerry Brown's endorsement of Hillary. And then a Republican commentator going on about "Bernie Bros" harassing poor Trump supporters on their way to and from rallies, forcing them to carry pepper spray. As if. Probably some of the people he's been insulting right and left, the media, women, Mexicans, Muslims, his Republican opponents. I like to think of everyone lying in wait outside Trump rallies, but that's just a fantasy. Lots of people don't feel the hate, Mr. Trump. Not just Bernie supporters.

One week to Primary Day in California. As an elected Bernie delegate who will only get to go to the Philadelphia Convention if Bernie racks up 75% of the vote in Congressional District 2, I'm doing all I can.

But maybe I can always be a TV pundit? What do you think?

Of Campaign Bros and Women who Go to Hell

There's a meme about these Bernie Bros, who insult Clinton supporters. Then there's the one about Bernie Girls (do we call them the Bernie Bras?) who only support the Bernster because they want to meet boys, presumably the Bros.

And of course the one about a special place in Hell for women who don't support women. That one rankles the most to me, as a second wave feminist, who actually marched and attended endless meetings, and struggled with building a sisterhood, and struggled with men who were either dismissive, rageful or scared of strong women.

We were definitely women who supported women, and we still are. But that does not mean we knee-jerk support any woman who comes along. It's easy when its a Sarah Palin or a Carly Fioina or a Michelle Bachman. But harder when it's a Hillary, who we know has had her own struggles with that horn-dog husband of hers and building her own career in his shadow, and a right successful one at that.

But she just isn't the progressive feminist we want. She is friends with Henry Kissinger fer Heaven's sakes! She is chummy with Wall Street banksters. And she still opposes the Glass Steagall Act which would keep the banks out of the investment business that led to all this greed and corruption and monetary crisis that rained down on the middle and working classes of this country in the first place.

So yes, I am a proud Woman for Bernie. I have yet to meet a "Bro" but I have met several thoughtful young men and women who remind me of me in my younger days. Idealistic, smart, and ready for a "political revolution."

They do not insult people, and they should not be insulted either. As for us old broads? I'm sure someone will start the meme that we just think Bernie's hot! So there.

Spoiler Alert! Green Party running Jill Stein for President

Some people never learn. Some political parties too. This time, the Green Party is running Jill Stein, I'm sure a perfectly lovely person with good politics, who cares about all the right things, except one.  That one is helping move this country forward, by not running another spoiler. Of course, Jill does not have the gravitas or following of Ralph Nader, but seriously, do they think they can influence the conversation? Move the agenda in a more progressive direction? If so, they picked another boneheaded way to do it, in my humble opinion.

Why not support Bernie Sanders, a serious Democratic Socialist, with a track record in the U.S. Senate, who at the very least would never throw the race to the Republicans. And yes, I do blame Ralph Nader. Hanging chads, bad campaigning by Al Gore and bad decision making on the Democrats part in Florida 2000 notwithstanding.

A progressive Democrat-Green Party coalition around Bernie could be powerful. Could even be a game changer. But the Green Party is just playing tired old party politics like all the other parties before them, like the parties they rail against, only without the clout.

How do you get the clout? By running serious campaigns on the local level, school boards, City Councils, sewer boards, building up the farm team and then, and only then, going after the big offices.

Without numbers and a measure of success on the local level, no amount of political holier-than-thouism will advance the cause.

Bernie Sanders at anti-TPP rally

OK, in my NOT so humble opinion.

Independents gaining in numbers except not in elected office --- yet.

From the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, this article on the rise of the independent voter, but the lack of corresponding independent elected officials. With a few exceptions, most notably Senator Bernie Sanders, of Vermont. 

What does this trend mean to the future of the parties? Harder to know who to target in campaigns for one thing.

Lack of party affiliation a popular idea, except in California’s election results

By GUY KOVNER
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Shedding political party labels is increasingly popular among California registered voters, but in casting ballots they are reluctant to pick candidates who do the same.

The trend played out in Tuesday’s election, with 32 candidates designated as “no party preference” competing in partisan state and federal races where the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advanced to a November runoff.

Only three — all in congressional races — finished second, and all face a heavily favored Democrat incumbent in the fall.



 
One of the three is James Hinton of Napa, a 39-year-old former poker player and political novice who beat another no party preference candidate for the runoff spot against Rep. Mike Thompson, D-St. Helena. Thompson swept up 81 percent of the vote in the 5th Congressional District, which includes Santa Rosa.

There was no Republican candidate in any of the three races, opening the door for the unaffiliated candidates who were, in most other races, shunned by voters.

One of the few exceptions was Marianne Williamson, a 61-year-old best-selling New Age author with Hollywood connections, who finished fourth, with 13 percent of the vote, in an 18-person race for the Santa Monica House seat vacated by Rep. Henry Waxman.

There was pre-election chatter that Williamson, who raised $1.3 million, might crack the top two, said Jack Pitney, a professor of government at Claremont McKenna College and former Republican Party policy analyst.

But the winners were Republican Elan Carr, a deputy district attorney, and Ted Lieu, a Democratic state senator, both high-profile candidates with major party affiliations.

The moral of this L.A. political story is that voter disdain for the Democrat and Republican brands doesn’t hobble candidates from the two parties, Pitney said.

“You need parties to bring people together,” he said. “Every major democracy is based on political parties.”

No party preference candidates “need to get money and attention,” Pitney said, “but without a political party that’s hard to do.”

California voters are flocking to the NPP fold. In the May 19 report on party registration, 21 percent of voters were no party preference, up from 12 percent in 1998.

Over the same span, Democratic registration dropped from 47 percent to 43 percent and GOP numbers dropped more sharply from 36 percent to 28 percent.

Lake County has the third highest percentage of no-party-preference voters in the state; Mendocino the 10th highest. Sonoma has the fifth-highest percentage of Democratic voters.

In an era of bitter political infighting and legislative gridlock, it’s become “fashionable” among voters to forego party affiliation, said David McCuan, a Sonoma State University political scientist.
Voters lose nothing, since California in 2011 adopted a top-two, open primary system, allowing all voters to cast ballots for all the candidates in partisan races. The open primary system does not apply to candidates running for U.S. president, county central committee or local offices.

But no-party candidates are isolated, McCuan said, because there is no organized movement to match their brand.

“It’s like trying to sell your home without a Realtor,” McCuan said. “When you hold an open house, no one comes.”

Should an no-party-preference candidate gain traction, opponents from both major parties and special interest groups will “team up against him,” McCuan said.

Hinton, a newcomer, said he spent about $500 on his campaign against Thompson, a 16-year House veteran with a $1.5 million warchest and for the first time in his career no Republican opponent.
Hinton got 11 percent of the vote, edging out another no-party and first-time candidate, Douglas Van Raam, 44, of Martinez, who had 8 percent.

“Number one, I don’t have a party to run with,” Hinton said, when asked why he ran in the NPP column. “I got this far by myself.”

Lack of press coverage hampers candidates unaffiliated with a party, he said, noting that it “makes it hard for people to believe in them.”

No-party candidates were scarce in this week’s primary.

More than half of them —18 — were in 13 of the state’s 53 congressional races, and 12 got from 1 percent to 3 percent of the vote.

Three such candidates competed in the 20 state Senate races, four were in the 80 Assembly contests and seven were in the seven statewide office races, including five in the governor’s race.

There’s a contradiction, McCuan said, between voters’ personal affinity for the no-party-preference brand and their reluctance to back those candidates when it counts.

But the presumed independence of the no-party voter is somewhat misleading, he said.
Surveys and focus groups that ask those California voters about controversial issues, such as the Bible, guns, homosexuality and abortion, reveal that about one-third lean left and one-third lean right, lining up with the two major parties.

That leaves one-third who are ideological hybrids, a faction located between red and blue and known as “true purple,” McCuan said.