SPUSA at One Nation Together March 10-2-2010

My partner Glenn and I joined the Socialist Party USA and the Socialist Contingency at the One Nation Together March Oct. 2. It was great to finally meed the national SPUSA officers and socialist comrades from across the country.
And I finally got to meet David McReynolds!

Some of my highlights:
Driving up to the march I got into a discussion with an older white man (in his 50s) who worked in a TN rest stop. When I told him I was going to the march, he said he thought everyone should have healthcare and that he worked two jobs and had no health insurance. He even agreed that we should expand Medicare to cover everyone. This from a working class man who I was afraid to discuss my politics with because I assumed he was a right-wing conservative.

I also ran into Lt. Dan Choi, who was kicked out of the military for being gay, and he was marching with a group of young LGBT people holding signs with the pictures of the 5 young gay males who have committed suicide in the past weeek.

I got into an argument with a couple of African-American women who objected to referring to gay rights as "civil rights." They support equal rights for gays but not gay marriage and they started throwing the Bible ad religion at us. They walked off, but we had a better interaction with an older black man and his younger daughter (I think). They admitted their was a lot of homophobia (they used that word) in the black community, but the man said he told his daughter he would rather she was with a woman that loved her than a man that abused her.

The crowd was incredibly diverse, unlike the Beck-Palin neo-Nazi rally last month. Lots of discussions about issues and the upcoming elections....

We marched with the Socialists and carried signs and chanted slogans critical of Obama and the Democrats, like "Obama is No Socialist, But We Are, But We Are!"

I admit I was wrong about the Socialist Contingency and now think it was a good idea, even though I didn't agree with everything some of the other groups believe or advocate. We agree on most things, and the big things that matter--the need to replace capitalism with democratic socialism! (We just don't all agree on how to get there.)

Here are some pics I took at the March/Rally

Here are more SPUSA Pics from One Nation Together

Red State Podcast!

The Socialist Party of Kansas has started recording podcasts discussing social issues, economics, current events, socialist history, etc.

Listen to their first podcast on the Socialist Webzine, featuring interviews with SP Co-Chair Billy Wharton and long-time peace advocate and former SP presidential candidate David McReynolds...

Check the SP Kansas blog for future podcasts...

Visit the SP Kansas on facebook...


Billy speaks at David's 80th birthday last year:

Cindy Sheehan at the SP National Organizing Conference

Anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan will be speaking at the Socialist Party National Organizing Conference August 14-15 in Madison, Wisconsin, along with Paul Buhle (co-author of A People's History of American Empire) and Dan LaBotz (SP candidate for US Senate, Ohio).

From Billy Wharton's interview with Cindy in this week's Socialist Webzine:

"I would think that we could move, especially in these trying times, towards socialism and away from capitalism, corporate-fascism, whatever you want to call it. I always say I’m against capitalism and all the free market people attack me and say, 'This isn’t capitalism, this is crony capitalism, this is corporatism.' I say, if you have a system that degenerates so quickly and seamlessly into fascism, then it’s not healthy. There’s no such thing as a free market. All capitalism is crony. All capitalism is profit over people."

read the full interview...

Workshop Preview

At this Saturday's meeting I'll be previewing my workshop proposal for this year's SPUSA National Organizing Conference.The workshop is titled "Disaster Socialism:Combating Disaster Capitalism Locally and Globally". It focuses on disaster capitalism in the South and then works out to the global situation. It also asks the question "Is Disaster Capitalism set to become the primary impetus for capital accumulation in the 21st century?" Come join us Saturday at 4PM at Caritas Village.

Niall

Nix and La Botz Offer Alternatives to Financial "Reform" Bill

In The Nation's The Beat blog, Socialist Party USA candidates Nicholas Nix (U.S. House of Representatives, Texas) and Dan La Botz (U.S. Senate, Ohio) describe their alternatives to the limited reforms contained in the current version of the financial regulatory reform bill, which is likely to be voted on by the Senate and possibly signed into law in the next couple weeks.

read "Is the Financial Regulation Bill 'Socialist'? Don't Make the Socialists Laugh" in The Nation...

Merton & Princeton Garden

In 2009, the Memphis SP helped to establish and fund a garden at the corner of Merton & Princeton, which has become an open community garden, with planting space and food available to anyone interested fresh produce and organic gardening methods.






We can always use help from anyone interested in weeding, mowing, mulching, or otherwise tending to the plants. Feel free to stop by anytime to pull a few weeds, and be sure to take some cucumbers, butternut squash and basil! If you would like more information on what you can do to help, please email us at memphissocialist@yahoo.com.

Help out our Virginia Comrades!

Help out our comrades from the Socialist Party of Central Virginia; please sign their petition protesting the order to hire and pay off-duty officers to police their May Day parade.

Below is their letter:

Hi friends,
The Richmond Police Department has decided that the May Day parade planned for this Saturday must hire and pay for police presence in order to parade in the streets.
We are doing our best to resist this on a number of grounds. This creates a terrible precedent for other groups in Richmond to have to follow. This is an assault on our rights to peaceably assemble, and the RPD has already violated numerous ordinances in an effort to deny granting any permit at all.

A lawsuit is being planned, with the help of the ACLU, in the event that the parade will have to be on the sidewalks instead of the streets, but we hope that with enough public pressure we will be able to have our parade on our terms.

PLEASE follow this link and sign our letter, http://www.change.org/petitions/view/free_speech_for_richmonds_may_day

A press conference and picket will be held tomorrow (Thurday 4/29) at 5:00 pm in Richmond in front of the Police Head Quarters on Chamberlayne Avenue where Captain Shamus and Sgt. Selander's Special Events Division is located.

This is how the petition reads-
Free Speech for Richmond's May Day!

Dear Mayor Dwight C. Jones and Police Chief Bryan T. Norwood:

I am writing to protest the fact that the Richmond Police Department is attempting to deny a parade permit to organizers of a Richmond May Day Parade planned for this coming Saturday, first by failing to respond to the organizers' permit application within the time limit imposed by city law, and second by demanding that the organizers first agree to hire two off-duty police officers, a requirement not included in the relevant city ordinance. I urge the City of Richmond to do the right thing, respect the First Amendment right to peacefully assemble and immediately grant the parade permit.

Cc:
The New York Times, Washington Post, Associated Press, Richmond Free Press, Richmond Voice The Virginia Defender, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Style Weekly, WRIR, Richmond-area Clear Channel radio stations, WTVR Channel 6, WRIC Channel 8, NBC Channel 12, May Day 2010 Richmond Organizing Committee

Sincerely,

[Your name]


For more info on Richmond May Day go to www.maydayrva.org

and please pass this on to your friends!

Obama is not a Socialist! Tea Party vs. Socialists

CNN Asks Card Carrying Socialists: Is Obama One of Them?

Featuring SPUSA co-chair Billy Wharton

Democratic Party Net Unfavorable Rating for First Time in Two Decades

Democratic Party has Significant Net Unfavorability Rating for First Time in Two Decades

Some serious bad news for Democrats from Gallup. For the first time in nearly two decades, the Democratic party now polls a net unfavorability–54% of registered voters have an unfavorable view of the Democratic Party, while only 41% of voters have a favorable view. This is a huge–and potentially devastating–swing for Democrats over the last few months.

In the past twenty years, Democrats have not had a statistically significant net unfavorable rating. Only back in 2006 did more voters briefly hold an unfavorable view of the party, but that was well within the margin of error. Clearly, the American people have soured on the Democratic Party in a big way. The people meant to be directing the political operations and outreach to maintain popular support for the party have been failing miserably.

The Republican party’s favorability ratings have increased somewhat during the last few months, but registered voters still have a net negative view of the party that is probably lingering from the George W. Bush years. Only 42% of voters view the Republican Party favorably, while 51% view the party unfavorably. This means both parties favorable numbers are well below their recent long-term norms.

It is impressive that in our two-party system, we currently have both major parties with a majority of registered voters having an unfavorable view of them. Assuming a prefect split, only 83% of voters have a favorable opinion of either major top party they are expecting to vote for.

TIME TO END THE TWO-PARTY SYSTEM--JOIN THE SOCIALIST PARTY USA!

Socialists Oppose Democratic Health Insurance Bill

Socialist Party USA Co-Chair Opposes Obama Healthcare Bill

March 22, 2009- Co-chair of the Socialist Party USA, Billy Wharton, opposes the healthcare bill passed yesterday by the House of Representatives and scheduled to be signed into law by President Barack Obama on Tuesday. Wharton’s opposition is based on the belief that this bill is not a reform. Instead, it is a corporate restructuring of the health insurance industry created to protect the profit margins of private insurance companies.

The bill passed by the House yesterday would mandate all Americans to purchase health insurance coverage or face a fine. It would also create health insurance exchanges, an idea crafted by the right-wing Heritage Foundation, where people would purchase insurance from private companies. Those not eligible for Medicaid but who still could not afford to purchase insurance would receive public funds from the federal government to purchase bare bones coverage insurance plans from private insurers.

Wharton opposes this restructuring on the grounds that the mandates allow private insurers to use the coercive power of the state to enhance their private profits. Insurance credits will serve as a public subsidy to private companies. It is yet another case of public money that could be used for necessary social programs being funneled towards companies that engage in practices that are abusive and detrimental to the overall society. He believes the bill is also a demonstration of how deeply corporate lobbyists and campaign contributions have infected the country’s political system.

“This is not a healthcare reform bill,” says Wharton, “It is instead a corporate restructuring of the American healthcare system designed to enhance the profits of private health insurance companies disguised with the language of reform”

Instead, Wharton believes that public funds would be better spent in creating a national single-payer system. Democratic socialists see such a system of open access to care as one part of a larger transition toward making healthcare a guaranteed human right for all. Wharton calls for people to take power into their own hands by supporting the demand for single-payer health insurance and by conducting a red and green rebellion at the voting booth and in the streets to claim our human rights.

Wharton encourages people to visit the website of the Socialist Party USA to gain more information about the struggle for healthcare and the organization’s broader vision of a democratic socialist society.

Salon: Actual Socialist Weights in on "Socialist" Health Bill

SPUSA Healthcare Campaign Website

Capitalism: A Love Story

Michael Moore's excellent CAPITALISM: A LOVE STORY is out on DVD. Get it and then join the Socialist Party USA!