Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter #159
Enhancing Freedom, Opportunity and Cooperation in
Through informing and networking Liberals and Liberal Organizations.
Our vision is hundreds of thousands of well-informed
Our
Political Priorities ·
Fair Clean
Elections and Open Government ·
Fair Taxes and
Competent Spending ·
Investment for
Productivity ·
Quality
Health, Education, Jobs, Income ·
Environmental
Protection and Energy Independence ·
Security and
Equal Rights ·
Justice and
Peace Everywhere ·
International
Cooperation and Leadership Conservatives oppose all of these Let’s
End Our National Nightmare
Let’s
Restore Our American Dream More on Conservative opposition to our
American Dream Washington State’s 5 Major Needs ·
Federal
Funding for Health and Education · Substitute
a Progressive Income Tax · Replacing
Conservative Legislators Quote of the Week On this day, we come to proclaim an end to the
petty grievances and false promises, the recriminations and worn out
dogmas, that for far too long have strangled our politics. What the cynics fail to
understand is that the ground has shifted beneath them - that the stale
political arguments that have consumed us for so long no longer apply. Barack
Obama’s Inaugural Address
Communication with Our Members
Most
commentaries that I receive from our readers agree and extend my
commentaries. I am glad to publish Linda
Seltzer’s commentary which sharply disagrees.
I hope and invite you to submit similar commentaries, which question my
thoughts. Our readers deserve more than
the thoughts of one person, who can’t possibly get it all right.
Calendar of Events
There
is a reward for attending the Abolish the Death Penalty training on Saturday
1/31 at Seattle U from 9:30 am to Noon. There are a couple of great
concerts that evening that people might consider. Of course, each event is
independent, but that should not stop one for participating in a couple of
them. Bring your friends.
Saturday January
31 at 7:00 doors open, 7:30 concert starts at Carpenters Hall (209 Vine Street
off Second Avenue, Seattle) - Anne Feeney
and Rebel Voices Price
$10 -20 suggested. For reservations
or 206.524.7753
Saturday
January 31 at 9 PM at Wayward Coffee
House (8570 Greenwood Ave N, Seattle) - Acoustic Artists for Amnesty (Noah Gundersen, Jenni Potts and Daniel Adams. $6.00 suggested Donation. For more.
Wednesday,
February 4 at 7 PM at Kirkland Performance Center (350 Kirkland Avenue,
Kirkland) – Marijuana Screening and
Public Forum, with Rick Steves. RSVP required. 206-624-2184
February
4-8 – Seattle Human Rights Film Festival
Monday,
February 16 at Washington State Capital, Cherberg Building, Meeting Rooms ABC -
King County Democrats Legislative Action Day
9:30 to
10 AM – arrive, sign in and get coffee
10 AM to 10:30
– Overview of day, brief introductions, lobbying tips
10:30 to 11:00 AM – Marty Brown, Legislative Liaison for Governor
Gregoire
11:00 to 12
Noon – overview of Legislative Action Agenda and priority bills
12:00 to 1:15 PM – Lunch and Brief Presentations by King County
Legislators
1:15 to 4 PM – meet with individual Legislators to discuss Agenda
The Washington State Democrats Crab Feed starts at 5
PM at St Martins College. Admission is $50/person. This is a separate
event from The King County Democrats Legislative Action Day and supports the Democratic
State Party. Governor Gregoire and many other elected state officials will be
there.
Saturday, February 21 at University of Washington – NARAL Pro-Choice Washington’s Annual Youth Leadership Summit
Saturday, February 21 at 5:30 PM, 8 PM or 10:30 PM at
West Seattle Bowl (4505 – 39th Avenue SW, Seattle) – Human Rights Campaign’s 7th Annual Bowled and the
Beautiful benefit, follwed by a party from 10 PM to 2 AM For
more information and tickets.
Opportunities
and Petitions
Opportunities
Watch human
Rights First’s film about television portrayals of torture (video).
Useful
Websites: contacts, maps, community organizing tools, and more.
Access
to jillions of political cartoons.
Download
Sightline Institute’s climate policy primer ‘Cap and Trade 101’. About
Sightline.
Obtain Progressive
States Networks resources for improving many state government services.
Petitions and Donations
Thank
President Obama for signing orders to close Guantanamo and ban torture.
Thank
President Obama for supporting the Employee Free Choice Act.
Tell
President Obama to support Human Rights Campaign’s proposals to increase GLBT
rights.
Tell
your congress members to support the Unplanned Pregnancy Prevention Act.
Tell President
Obama to protect Alaska's Tongass rainforest.
Tell
our government to revoke Bush’s plan to drill in polar bear seas.
Tell
our Obama Administration to oppose Sara Palin’s attack on beleaguered beluga
whales.
Tell President
Obama to create a Whitehouse kitchen garden with Tacoma’s Carrie Little as
gardener.
Tell your
congress members to pass the economic stimulus and recovery proposals now.
Tell your congress
members to legislate a cap and trade system to reduce global warming.
Tell
your house member to support the
Omnibus Public Land Management Act without amendment.
Tell
the Nigerian government to stop wasteful flaring of natural gas.
Commentaries
From Our Members
Linda
Mitchell: Elect Sherril Huff to King County Elections
Director
What happens when you put a highly partisan and
unqualified person in charge of counting votes? Does Florida, the 2000
elections fraud, and 8 years of George W. Bush come to mind?
Ballots have been mailed out for a special election to elect the King County
Elections Director. There is a broad consensus among progressive and
Democratic organizations (see below) that Sherril
Huff is the candidate who deserves your vote. Not voting, or voting for
anyone else, could have very negative consequences. Please forward this information to your
friends. Voters have very little information about this important
election. And turnout will be low, making every vote more important.
The other serious candidates for this office
are Pam Roach - one of the most conservative (and craziest) members of the
Washington State Senate, and David Irons, a conservative former member of the
King County Council with no administrative election experience. Irons has
recently lent his campaign over $150,000 and has the endorsement of
Attorney General Rob McKenna. Despite
being unqualified for the position they could win simply on name
recognition.
Sherril Huff has been highly regarded for her work managing the county's 1.1
million voters since King County Executive Ron Sims appointed her in
2007. Of the five candidates vying for her office, Huff stands out for
her experience and non-partisanship. She has helped the county institute more
than 300 reforms in response to the 2004 county elections debacle and has
helped conduct 21 successful elections since then. A two-term county auditor,
she has been endorsed by just about every county auditor in the state.
Huff has been rated Outstanding by the
Municipal League of King County, and has been endorsed by Washington
Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, National Women's Political Caucus of
Washington, Fuse Washington, SEIU Healthcare 775 NW, UFCW Local 21, the WEA,
King County Democrats Chair Suzie Sheary and many Democratic LDs around the
county.
Christine Gregoire was
elected Governor by 133 votes in 2004. Al Franken is laughing all the way to
the U.S. Senate with a 225-vote spread this month. These examples are proof
positive that every vote does matter in an election. And, they are fine
examples of why making sure every vote is counted and counted correctly matters
to democracy - at the local, state and federal level.
You are being asked to vote for King County's
first elected Elections Director. The winner in this important special election
will be responsible for clean, fair elections and for ensuring the county's
transition to all mail-in balloting goes smoothly. As the 14th largest county in the nation many
elections very well may ride on a King County elections office that is
efficient, effective and non-partisan. Cast your vote for Sherril Huff, and please forward this message to your friends. To
learn more about Sherril or contribute to her campaign visit her website. Linda
Mitchell
Linda Seltzer Objects to this Newsletter’s anti-Israel Tone and Bias
Dear David, I signed up for this newsletter as a progressive and
humanitarian force. It is necessary for
me on moral grounds to object to the anti-Israel tone and bias present in this
newsletter. The following are things you
will not read in the US Press:
Jerusalem Post news this week:
·
Hamas had 300 tunnels it was using to
smuggle weapons through Egypt. The IDF
avoided bombing their fuel tunnels to avoid explosions that would harm
civilians and cause harm within Egypt.
·
The US Navy intercepted an Iranian ship
filled with weapons for Hamas.
·
Gaza citizens had protested to the Hamas
leaders to stop using them as human shields.
Hamas replied that they needed to be willing martyrs in the struggle
against Israel.
·
Hamas took over a mental hospital in
Hamas, kicked out all of the patients, and set up the facility as a prison for
Fatah sympathizers.
Hamas is a terrorist, thug organization.
Hamas is using its resources to smuggle weapons rather than provide food
and humanitarian aid to its people.
I am appalled that every news link concerning Israel is
anti-Israel. I do not see any news links
from the Israeli point of view, such as Jerusalem Post reports on Hamas, or the
Alan Dershowitz blog.
I am also appalled that your header blames Israeli
"colonization." There is no
"colonization." There is no
"occupation." Israel is a
peace-loving nation that agreed to Bill Clinton's entire proposal to create a
Palestinian state. It was Arafat who
said no. Because Arafat said no, there
are still refugee camps. Hamas is a
terrorist organization and not a nation-builder. Israel completely pulled out of Gaza and
instead of building health and education facilities for its people, Hamas spent
its resources on weapons smuggled through 300 tunnels.
I hope that you will publish this comment in my name and that your
newsletter and members refrain from using this forum to perpetuate traditional
European anti-Semitism and the lies and omissions in terrorist propaganda. Sincerely, Linda Seltzer
Another Commentary by
Linda Seltzer:
I am very concerned about what has become a growing wave of anti-
Semitism in recent weeks. I believe that
the Palestinians should have their own country, should not have to live in
refugee camps, and should have nice neighborhoods, jobs and schools. I opposed
the Iraq war from the start. I agree that many of the settlements were illegal.
No one should be subject to human rights violations. However, there is a point where valid
criticism of Israeli policies goes over the line into Anti-Semitism. Here are
some examples:
(1) When a group or person singles out Israel but does
not address "occupation" or human rights violations by other nations,
such as China in Tibet or Russia and Chechnya, or does not address violence by
Arabs. Rushing into denunciations of
Israel in conversations, but never rushing into similar denunciations of Hamas
terrorism.
(2) The statement that one is not against Jews, only
Zionists (i.e., a total misrepresentation of the definition of Zionism).
(3) The use of inflammatory terminology such as
"Israeli occupation" or "Israeli colonialization" or
"apartheid," attempting to assume that there is an "occupation,
when, in fact, Israel already agreed under Clinton's proposals to have the
Palestinians form their own state and to end all refugee camps. There is no "occupation" and there
is no "colonization." It is
the Palestinian "leaders" who are double crossing their own people.
(4) The use of the inflammatory term "Israeli
occupation" rather than a constructive discussion about how the Arabs will
guarantee Israeli security once the Palestinians have their own country. The
use of inflammatory rhetoric without questioning why there has been a military
buildup with rocket attacks on Israel from Gaza rather than independent nation
building and community development and why the Arabs are killing each other
rather than building a nation.
(5) Demonstrations against Israel in the name of
"Peace" when the Iranian leader is calling for war on Israel and
Hamas policy is the destruction of Israel. Failure to acknowledge all of those
rallies at which masses or Arabs shout hateful slogans against Israel, when we
do not see similar mass hatred by Jews against Arabs. Failure to acknowledge that it was Hamas who
broke the cease fire and that Hamas was smuggling weapons through 300 tunnels.
(6) Allegation that Israel and pro-Israel groups in
the US have great power and control policy. Failure to recognize that the
notion that Jews have great power is one of the traditional forms of European
anti-Semitism. In fact, Israel is a small country that doesn't have very much
influence over anything and for every member of rightist Jewish groups there
are members of leftist Jewish groups, so their contributions balance each
other.
(7) Adhering to the false notion that Israel controls
US policy or that there is a powerful pro-Israel "lobby," rather than
acknowledging the facts: Very few Jews belong
to AIPAC or even know very much about it. Jews belong to many other organizations. Israel follows the powerful US and not the
other way around (as described in Madeleine Albright's book).
(8) The statement that America would have fewer
problems abroad if it stopped supporting Israel. (What is the US supposed to do
- let the anti-Semites drive the Jews into the ocean?)
(9) Displays of venomous hatred emotionally towards
Israel and Zionism rather than the same logical thinking and intellectual
criticism one applies to other policy issues.
(10) The idea of a 1-state solution, abolishing the
humanitarian ideal of the Jewish state.
Failure to recognize that the Palestinians started to institute Islamic
law in a one-state solution, Jewish women would be the targets and
scapegoats. Failure to acknowledge the
need for Jewish women to have self-determination and be free of any legal
system that does not accord women full equal rights.
(11) Claiming that the Israelis are really Europeans
and should return to Europe, ignoring the fact that neither America nor the
European countries would accept the Holocaust refugees and that the Israel
homeland was their only possible alternative to death aboard ship.
I hope that everyone will be vigilant in working for a foreign policy
that offers innocent Palestinian people the independence they deserve, while
also acknowledging Israel's need not to be attacked and threatened. Linda
Seltzer
I
don’t understand how Linda Seltzer accepts that Palestine should be a
state. But she doesn’t think that Israel
is occupying or colonizing Palestine. I
believe Linda Seltzer fails to answer one very important question? Does Israel’s treatment of Palestinians merit
a violent Palestinian response? Note
that various Jews in Israel and the United States oppose Israel’s foreign
policy, including Rabbi Michael Lerner of the Network of Spiritual
Progressives. I hope others who disagree
with any of my commentaries will send us their objections for publication. Dave Thomas
Network of
Spiritual Progressives leader Rabbi Michael Lerner reflect on Obama’s
inauguration.
Rich Austin: On Progressive Policy Institute’s
Memos to the New President
Before touting the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI)
“Memos To the New President”, it would be wise to read between the lines. As the old saying goes, “liars figure and
figures lie”. Although the PPI has the
word “progressive” in its title, it is anything but progressive. The PPI is an alter-ego of the centrist-right
Democratic Leadership Council.
Throughout the “Memos”
an extremely troubling pattern emerges:
More privatization. More
privatization of our infrastructure, transportation, military, and health care!
What’s more, the “Memos” hold up WTO as some kind of a
success story. Can’t argue with
that. It has been extremely successful
for the richest 5 – 10%, while undermining the economic security of millions
upon millions of working class people.
The same is true of other horribly-flawed “free trade agreements”. NAFTA has been absolutely devastating to
workers and family farmers in Mexico.
The “Memos” reflect the neoliberal ideology of global economics that
have made the rich richer, while picking our pockets.
Unfettered “free trade”, greatly reducing or
eliminating tariffs, and worldwide deregulation of protective assurances for
working families are part of the neoliberal agenda. Tariffs and regulations are supposed to
protect workers from having products they produce undercut by foreign-made
goods manufactured by criminally-exploited workers. Trade between countries is good providing
the workers who produced goods offshore
are treated humanely. Such a moral imperative is called “fair trade”.
Another example of neoliberalism is the debt forced on
South Africa by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, with the
blessings of the US and the EU. Prior to
the fall of the apartheid National Party of South Africa, that Party ran up a
huge debt. Once the African National Congress came to power via free elections,
worldwide financiers threatened to withhold credit from the new government
unless it agreed to pay off the debts that were run up by the apartheid
government. In other words, South Africans
are now being forced to pay the debt incurred by their oppressors! Today, many plans for rebuilding the nation’s
decaying infrastructure and funding essential services are being delayed
because the new government hasn’t got the money to fund domestic programs and
at the same time pay off the debt of their former persecutors.
Time and space limit an in-depth analysis of all of
the PPI’s “Memos”. There is one “Memo”,
however, that needs to be mentioned. It
is the health care “Memo”. It
incorrectly asserts that a national, single-payer health care program would
cost an additional trillion dollars!
That claim is misleading at best, and in my opinion nothing short of an
outright lie. Over $2.4 trillion will be
spent on health care in the US in 2009.
That staggering figure will only climb unless real reform is
implemented. HR 676 (the United States
National Health Insurance Act) is a bill
pending in Congress. When enacted it
will actually reduce health care spending in the US while at the same time covering
every resident for all medically-necessary care.
Part of the PPI’s “solution” is to build on state
initiatives. That bogus proposal
completely ignores the fact that there hasn’t been one state health care plan –
not one - that has succeeded. We have
several decades of proof. Hawaii was
once held up as the model for state plans.
In actuality, it never achieved universal coverage, and now it is so
strapped for cash that benefits are being reduced and people are losing
coverage. Incremental tinkering will
only delay the inevitable. The PPI plan
is like adding a quart of oil to an eight cylinder auto chugging down the
freeway with three cylinders burned out.
The oil may buy you a few more miles, but it won’t prevent the engine’s
eventual destruction.
We have a national health care crisis, and the
solution is national health care. Here
again, the PPI is touting its
“public/private for-profit solution”.
Hold it! Hold it! The “public/private for-profit solution” is
what got us into this mess. HR 676 is
the solution. It is expanded and
improved Medicare for all.
In closing, I‘ll be the first to admit that components
of some of the “Memos” deserve consideration.
But aren’t you a little concerned that some of the policy makers who
wrote the “Memos” have been policy makers for eons? Look where their “best thinking” has gotten
us. Does it make sense to continue to allow the foxes to guard the chickens? The solutions lie within each of us. When we voted for change last November we had
expectations. Let’s not allow
faux-progressives to slime our humane and ethical hopes and dreams. Rich
Austin For more. Dave Thomas
Donald A. Smith: On Reagan Democrats
Concerning
your last week’s commentary: Enticing
White Male Reagan Democratic Voters. I'm
reading David Paul Kuhn’s book The
Neglected Voter: White Men and the Democratic Dilemma. The book says that
white males fled the Democratic Party in huge numbers not just because of
racial conflict but also because of cultural issues like guns, religion, and
perceived hostility from elite liberals to their lifestyles and values.
Starting
with Nixon, the Republicans have brilliantly exploited white male's
insecurities by making them think that liberals are against them. Conservatives were able to convince white
males that liberals want white males to give up their guns, their V8 engines,
their steaks (to be replaced with tofu?), and to embrace gay rights, women's
rights, and minority rights.
The book's author strikes me as unreliable. He has many conservative
sympathies. Donald A. Smith
Dave Miller: On Local Christians Misusing Our
Schools
I’m writing to alert you to the fact that the
volunteers of
Many of our members no longer have school-age
children, but many do. As well, some of our members have grandchildren of
school age. Please let me know of any such activity as above occurring in
Eastside school districts, and please warn those you know with school-age
children to keep their eyes open for any sign that their children have received
such a solicitation at school. Thanks, Dave Miller, President of Eastside Chapter
of Americans United.
Ethan Schaffer: Include Weatherization
in Stimulus Package
Published
by Seattle PI on 1/28/2009
I
have been reading with interest your coverage of the big stimulus package in
Congress. There are some important details in the package, and in Washington,
D.C., home to those well-heeled lobbyists, we need to make sure we are watching
lawmakers and making sure they look out for us.
There
are some key things I want to see in the economic legislation. One example of a
program that if funding is increased will give us a big bang for our taxpayer
buck is Low-Income Weatherization under the Weatherization Assistance Program.
This existing energy-efficiency program has proved to be highly effective in
serving the neediest Americans while building local businesses. Like icing on
the cake, weatherization assistance saves consumers money on energy bills.
Low-income
weatherization produces $3.71 in energy and non-energy related benefits for
every $1 in federal funds invested. Weatherization assistance reduces
low-income energy bills by an average of 21 percent and creates 52 direct jobs
for every $1 million in funding. Now that is smart spending. Ethan Schaffer
Liberals
and Democrats
President
Obama’s Inaugural Speech (video and text)
The Development of Liberal Democracy
Paul Starr’s 2007 book Freedom’s Power, the True Force of Liberalism
is a must read for Liberals who want to know our understanding of Liberal
Democracy with limited powers, as distinguished from Communist and Fascist
understanding of government with unlimited power and Conservative understanding
of government with too little power.
Paul Start demonstrates that a
country’s power depends upon the trust, cooperation and creativity of its
people. When people can trust their
government not to restrict their freedoms, they create, compete and cooperate. Communist and Fascist governments fail to
earn the trust of their people. Thus
America was able to mobilize to win over Fascist governments in World War II
and over Communist Soviet Union during the Cold War.
When a government is rendered
too weak, it cannot mobilize its people to collectively maintain an effective
economy, prevent corporate abuse, or protect them for foreign threats. Our recent Bush administration was both too
strong (in abusing our rights) and too weak (to prevent corporate abuse and
maintain our economy.
We
Americans have maintained a strong nation through limiting the strength of our
various governmental and non-governmental institutions. Well known are our Constitutional checks and
balances between our executive, legislative and judicial branches, and between
our federal and state governments.
Through our bill of rights and other means, we also separately empower
our religious, our media, our education, our science, our private
enterprise. Protected from domination,
we experience much innovation and competition within each arena. Compared to other countries, the people and
organizations in each of these thrive, making our nation stronger.
Unfortunately,
competition among private enterprises in many industries and among our media
has been replaced by the dominance of a few firms. Some corporations are even described as “too
big to fail”. Monopolistic industrial
and media companies should be broken up and their expansion limited to maintain
appropriate competition.
I
strongly recommend this book, which also details the historical development of
our Liberal Democracy and its many checks and balances, during the experience
of many differing challenges. See also
our other books
concerning our Liberal Values and Institutions.
President Obama’s Priorities
President
Obama is doing many things at once and in appropriate sequence, due to his
strong sense of priorities. During the
transition, he first selected his close Whitehouse advisors, before selecting
his cabinet members. His research teams
visited government departments to learn what needed to be maintained and what
changed. He extended his support base
through his Change.gov website.
President
Obama’s inaugural address repeated his campaign commitments to our
constitutional rights and to cooperating with other nations. He reminded us that our struggles are many
and will not be easy or quickly resolved.
He informed us that resolving these struggles would require not only
government action, but action by all of us collectively and individually. He called for an ethic of service. His message was one that both Liberals and
Conservatives could approve. For more. More.
I
believe Obama’s inaugural address was very appropriate and will be long
remembered, contrary to the views of cynical pundits, who place emphasis upon
memorable quotes. I believe that Obama
usually avoids memorable quotes, to avoid detracting from the details of his lesson.
In his
first week in office, Obama has efficiently attended to a variety of
issues. He proclaimed a new transparency
and accountability in government, established rules to separate his staff from
lobbyists (for
more), and placed a lid on their salaries, all oriented to gaining our
trust. He blocked further implementation
of Bush’s final regulations to assist his cronies. He reversed Bush’s ban on aid to family
planning agencies. For more. For more. He prohibited torture, stopped military
trials of accused terrorists and promised to close our
Guantanamo prison within a year. His
administration will move quickly to allow
states to set strict automobile emissions and fuel-efficiency standards. For
more. For more. And
to limit global warming. He signed the Equal
Pay Bill. Obama reached out to
foreign leaders, both Democratic and Republican congressional leaders and to
both Liberal and Conservative commentators. Conservatives are nevertheless
lying about our stimulus and recovery proposals. Can
bi-partisan support be obtained for health care reform? His transition website, change.gov has been
closed. Two new websites have been
created: whitehouse.gov
to promote transparency and america.gov to tell America’s story to people
abroad. Another website has been created
to allow our grassnet people to continue their support for Liberal reforms: Organizing for America. For more. For
more. Another website: Recovery.gov has been created to provide
transparency for the spending of our Stimulus and Recovery funds.
Obama’s major concern has been reviving our American
economy. He has insisted that congress
must quickly pass a stimulus and recovery bill, working flexibly with them to
shape its contents. For more. Some ways
to limit our deficits – read all 3 pages.
Office
of Management and Budget Director Peter Orszag will be in charge of identifying
how to limit government programs to what works. If Obama is able to assist economic recovery,
he will amass great political influence, which he can use to reduce the
influence of wealthy and powerful public interests and their lobbyists and return
influence and financial equality to our people. Reforms
necessary to return influence to our voters.
He
has encouraged Republican participation, but clearly indicated that they can
not obstruct public investment in favor of tax cuts directed to their cronies. House Minority Leader John Boehner and other
Republicans complained about increasing our government deficit and debt,
something they never did during the enormous increases during the Bush administration. Republicans still regard public investment as
only legitimate when it consists of tax cuts and subsidies for their cronies,
which were largely responsible for our government deficits and debt and failing
economy. For more. For more. For more. For more. For more. Our commercial media
is spreading Conservative lies concerning the Stimulus package.
Obama’s
other major concern is foreign policy.
Following his inaugural speech which reassured the world that we will no
longer take a unilateral approach, he and Hillary Clinton have asserted that
our foreign policy will rest on three legs: diplomacy, development and
military. I assume that diplomacy will
be the primary approach to immediate problems, development oriented to creating
long run conditions which reduce future problems, and military only when the
others fail. Development
will be revamped. Obama gave his
national security team the mission to end our war in Iraq. For more.
George Mitchell was
named to address Israel-Palestine justice and peace issues. Richard Holbrook was
named to address Afghanistan-Pakistan issues.
Perhaps another envoy will be named to address Iran issues. Together with Secretary of State Hillary
Clinton and Vice President Joe Biden, a strong foreign policy team is in place
to strongly address foreign issues.
As
he has done with other issues, Obama has reframed the settlement of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In an
interview on Arab television, he said, “I think it is possible for us to see a
Palestinian state -- I'm not going to put a time frame on it -- that is
contiguous, that allows freedom of movement for its people, that allows for
trade with other countries, that allows the creation of businesses and commerce
so that people have a better life.
And, look, I think anybody who has studied the region recognizes that the
situation for the ordinary Palestinian in many cases has not improved. And the bottom line in all these talks and
all these conversations is, is a child in the Palestinian Territories going to
be better off? Do they have a future for themselves? And is the child in Israel
going to feel confident about his or her safety and security? [Bold added]
And if we can keep our focus on making their lives better and look forward, and
not simply think about all the conflicts and tragedies of the past, then I
think that we have an opportunity to make real progress.” For more. For more.
Notice
that President Obama is focusing upon improving our future. Not on the past. There is no thermometer of the extent to
which the damage done by President Bush is being undone. There are many issues which have not been addressed
from ‘Don’t ask, don’t tell’ to promoting unionization, to regulation of
corporate abuse, to Darfur and other foreign conflicts. But a tremendous start has been made during
President Obama’s first week. We can
expect him to continue to address basic issues of governing, major economic and
foreign policy issues, and a continuing series of other lesser issues.
I
can imagine that someone in the Whitehouse is maintaining a database of
interest groups and their agendas. For
example, young people, seniors, women, GLBT, men, various ethnic groups,
unions, small businesses, farmers, other industrial and commercial groups and
many more. Also groups concerned with particular
issues such as environment, civil rights, immigration, peace, nuclear
proliferation, land mines, and other issues.
He will continually adopt agenda items of various groups, often quietly,
so that only the interested groups will notice, while minimizing public
controversy. Progress by a million small
steps is the opposite of death by a million cuts.
Preparing Public Opinion and Legislating
Legislating
reforms is much easier when the public supports these reforms. The quickest route to reform may often be to
change public opinion before legislating.
But sometimes reform is so urgently needed that we can’t wait for
supportive public opinion.
An
example is the 1965 passage of President Johnson of the Voting Rights
bill. Abuses were so grave, that the
bill was passed before public support was obtained. More typically, varying amounts of public
persuasion can precede actual legislation.
In various circumstances, Liberals may legitimately disagree concerning
how much public support is needed before attempting legislative action.
I
suspect that most of us thought change would come during Obama’s presidency
through legislation. We often worried
whether he would legislate this or that, whether the legislation would come
soon enough or reach far enough. Now we
find that careful preparation of public opinion and of grassnet support will often
occur before legislation. This may
increase or decrease the time before the legislation can be passed. It will surely make the legislation more
effective and enforceable.
Already
during his first week as president (beginning with his inaugural address), we
observe that besides legislating, Obama will do much to reform public
opinion. He has signaled his support for
civil rights, including GLBT rights and for women’s rights including free
choice; for scientific integrity and research; as well as preparing support for
economic stimulus and recovery proposals and a foreign policy which emphasizes
diplomacy and includes more development.
We
can expect him to continually use his bully pulpit, through weekly addresses,
public announcement, photo op visits, webcasts, and press conferences. He may even have to limit his public
exposure, if we become tired of him as our first teacher. Notice that much of his teaching will be directly
to us, instead of mediated through our drama-seeking, controversy-promoting,
nit-picking, and cynical commercial media.
I would be glad to see our commercial media decline in importance along
with the Republican Party.
Liberal Democrats versus Moderate Democrats
I
believe the Republican Party has become a southern regional Religious
Conservative party which is unlikely to become nationally competitive. Since our democratic system generally
promotes two major parties, our Democrats may over time separate into two
parties. If they do, what will separate
them?
Perhaps
the differences between the Liberal Democrats and the more moderate Democratic Leadership Council (DLC) are
indicative. Liberal Democrats focus upon
promoting and protecting equal freedoms and opportunities of all Americans from
both government and corporate abuse. Our
DLC are more tolerant of corporate power, including our military-industrial
complex and less tolerant of government programs. Liberal Democrats emphasize raising the
incomes of our less fortunate, while our DLC is eager to avoid antagonizing
corporate interests. Our DLC is more
willing to limit our freedoms in order to protect us from terrorism.
As a
corollary, I believe that our Liberal Democrats are motivated to return us to
an Earn, Conserve and Invest mindset
and practice. By contrast, our DLC is
likely to accept more Borrowing,
Consumption and Speculation. While
our Liberal Democrats are avidly supporting a strong economic stimulus and
recovery plan, our DLC has not emphasized it, due to concern about increasing
our government’s activities and budget.
Liberal
Democrats often express themselves on Daily
Kos, the Huffington Post, Alternet and Common Dreams. MoveOn
and Democracy for America generally
express Liberal Democratic ideals. Basic
issues are addressed in The American
Prospect. Our Puget Sound Liberals newsletter
and website also comment on international, national, state and local political,
economic and spiritual issues from a Liberal Democratic perspective.
Here’s the Beef
Only
5 red states remain: Utah, Wyoming, Idaho, Alaska and Nebraska.
Barack
Obama is Irish (video).
Rosa
Walked – Song for Barack Obama (video).
Obama
announces that our grassroots organization will continue as Organizing for
America.
President
Obama offers leadership lessons.
See the ten
proposals which received the most votes from 650,000 respondents to Ideas for
Change.
Ten actions
President Obama should take, but maybe won’t.
President
Obama should create panel to investigate claims of abuse by the Bush
administration.
In
every government department, Bush undermined rational government actions.
Reforms
necessary to return influence to our voters.
Will President Obama
change our failed ‘war on drugs’ policy?
LGBT federal legislative
agenda.
What
will President Obama do about climate change and when?
How far will
President Obama go to promote unionization?
President
Obama is dealing with many of Keynes’ government-economy concerns.
For
President Obama’s economic team, competence isn’t enough. Also need Sheila
Blair & Joe Stiglitz.
House Democrats
vote 233 to 11 for stimulus package. All
177 Republicans voted against it. More.
President
Obama should promote a stimulus package for the whole world, especially poorest
countries. For more (video).
What if President
Obama’s stimulus package isn’t enough?
Some
Republicans cooperate with President Obama.
Others seek his failure.
Rush Limbaugh wants
President Obama to fail. Obama fights
back.
Let’s
hope Sarah Palin becomes the Republican Party’s 2012 presidential nominee.
Senator
Russ Feingold introduces constitutional amendment for elections to replace
senators.
State
and Local
Washington State Government’s Budget Crisis
Due
to lack of understanding of the many aspects of our state budget, I have
scarcely commented upon the difficult choices we face. It is clear that we do not have the revenue
to provide the services that our people require. Contrary to Conservative claims, it is also
clear that our government contains very little fat. Like a starving person, to increase muscle in
one area it is necessary to reduce muscle in another. The only effective solution is to increase
revenue.
Our
regressive tax system makes it unethical and politically difficult, if not
impossible, to increase taxes. We can
hope for some assistance from our federal economic stimulus and development
package. But these funds will be
primarily directed to creating jobs, many in new areas of conservation,
non-carbon based fuels and other economic development. Many of the funds will be directed to
stimulating investment by private companies.
So the funds that will be available to apply to our state government’s
priorities will be limited. The amounts
of and requirements for these funds will likely be unknown in time for our
legislators to consider them in making our state budget. For more.
We
need some courageous legislators and civic leaders to mount an effort for tax
reform, much as Jim Ellis did over thirty years ago with Forward Thrust. We need a Washington State Barack Obama. I have several people in mind, but don’t know
our legislators and civic leaders well enough to suggest them. What suggestions do you have?
Until
we get tax reform, our legislators are doomed to be stuck in a swamp of
competing public interests. As our
economic and state budget problems continue, our Democrats will receive much of
the blame, enabling our Republicans to hang on and perhaps regain some power. Yuk.
Dave Thomas
The
following are questions I asked of John Burbank (Executive Director of our Economic Opportunity
Institute) and his responses.
Can Washington State pass increased sales taxes on
expensive cars (maybe costing over $40,000), expensive boats and other luxury
items; increased taxes on purchases of expensive homes (maybe over $500,000);
and increased property taxes on expensive homes and vacation homes? Can
Washington State impose taxes on large purchases of stocks, bonds and other
financial instruments? Dave Thomas
Luxury car
taxes are a good possibility – we played with this several years ago.
Property taxes are more problematic. Transaction taxes on stocks, etc.
would result in the transactions happening outside of state boundaries, so it
would not be a help at all. I don’t think increased taxes on the
sales of luxury homes would fly in today’s environment, but maybe. Keep shooting us your ideas. John
Burbank
Bring Washington State Democrats into 21st
Century
Our
state Democratic organization has an email list containing 100,000 people. Yet this list is only used sporadically by
our chair (and a few other state officials) to send messages which are usually
about events coming up, endorsements and/or requests for contributions. Our state organization’s website offers
little information, even when the links are operational. Compare our website and emails with those of the
Obama campaign, transition team and administration, which are oriented to
supporters.
Our
new national Democratic Party chair Tim Kane should assist our state and
legislative district Democratic organizations to create the same up-down and
crossways communication capability that exists nationally. Our Washington State and legislative district
organizations should quickly develop and use these capabilities. Washington Democratic supporters and
potential supporters should find it easy to know what we stand for, what our
issues are, what arguments exist for alternative proposals, what is being done
and how we can participate. We should
have much better action oriented communication from and to our party and state
officials. Dave Thomas
Dan Cantrell & Rachel Myers: Affordable Housing Helps Environment
Affordable
housing near jobs limits urban sprawl, commuting, congestion, pollution and
global warming. Read Futurewise Executive Director Dan
Contrell’s and Washington Low Income
Housing Alliance Executive Director Rachel Myers’ commentary
(published by Seattle PI on 1/27/2009).
Here’s the Beef
What’s what and who’s who in our 2009 legislative
session.
Washington Public
Campaigns: 2009 Priorities
Supreme Court Public
Campaign Financing Bill has 32 sponsors.
You can help its passage.
Public
officials can’t do their job, due to time spent raising funds for re-election
(video).
Washington
State Senators unveil green jobs legislation.
State
lawmakers introduce bills giving gay couples all rights of heterosexual
couples.
Cheapest
state health care reform isn’t cheapest and disregards human rights.
Statewide
Poverty Action Network’s 2009 Legislative Agenda
Mudslides
from logged areas. Who is responsible?
Climate
change is already weakening and killing our forests.
Our
Olympic Peninsula is suffering from lack of wolves.
Our
Columbia Basin is suffering from toxic pollutants.
Monroe
and non-profit Qualco Energy Corp are converting wastewater treatment residue
into compost.
Port
of Chelan seeks stimulus money to fund conversion of standard Prius hybrids to
plug-in hybrids.
Local officials
are lobbying for federal stimulus funds.
There are
many obstacles to small intensive organic farming.
Recession
increases payday lending concerns.
Nation
and World
Our Major Regulation Battles
Business
Week has identified ten difficult struggles which Liberal reformers must
win:
1.
Facilitating
unionization
2.
Modifying
mortgages
3.
Limiting
greenhouse emissions
4.
Achieving health
care and coverage reform
5.
Eliminating
corporate tax loopholes
6.
Increasing access
to faster inclusive broadband
7.
Reforming education,
including ‘No Child Left Behind’
8.
Immigration
reform for our economy and immigrant rights
9.
Limiting
Executive Pay
10. Producing fair trade, which protects consumers,
workers, and environment
Ban Prescription Drug Advertising
A
house bill has been introduced to ban access to drug prescription
information by pharmaceutical companies.
Like European countries, we should go beyond that to ban pharmaceutical
companies from advertising drugs to consumers.
Good and Bad Bailouts
In
last week’s newsletter, I distinguished good and bad infrastructure
projects. Good infrastructure projects
promote energy conservation, shifting to non-carbon based energy, reducing
pollution and reducing consumption. To
be avoided are roads which encourage urban sprawl.
Similarly,
we can distinguish Good and bad bailouts.
Due to our government’s ability to provide patient capital, it can
bailout companies which are suffering from insufficient capitalization in the
short run, but are sustainable in the long run.
But our government should not bailing out zombie
financial companies that will simply continue to require bailouts. If Japan had allowed such zombies to fail, it
would have avoided a decade long waste of its government resources and
stagnation. Citigroup appears to be a
zombie, which should be dismantled, with only sustainable parts allowed to
survive.
Three or Four Mid-East Challenges
President
Obama has appointed two other foreign policy experts besides Vice President Joe
Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: George Mitchell to deal with
Israel/Palestine conflict and Richard Holbrook to deal with
Afghanistan/Pakistan conflict. Another
may be appointed to deal with Iraq/Iran or perhaps two to deal with them
separately.
Although
these conflicts have been of long duration, I am optimistic that much progress
can be made. Israel is clearly not
becoming any more secure. The
Palestinians are suffering more than ever before. A solution with small steps along a well
defined path may succeed, with the result two countries with each people
becoming more concerned with their own development than with continuing the present
conflict. Just as a United Nations group
monitored Iraq’s possible weapons of mass destruction, a United Nations group
might monitor Israel’s and Palestine’s control of terrorists.
Bringing
peace to Afghanistan and Pakistan requires eliminating government corruption
and warlord power. Afghanistan people
now have little motivation to defend a corrupt government, when faced with
threats of violence by the Taliban. It
is necessary to curtail corruption and institute much more local
development. Where possible,
constructive deals with warlords should be made as have been made with Sunni
tribal groups in Iraq. As support grows for
Afghanistan’s government, the Taliban will be marginalized as a military threat. Until this happens, foreign military forces
will be necessary.
A
similar solution is necessary for Pakistan: reduction of corruption, increased
local development and making constructive deals with tribal groups. Until these occur, cross border attacks will
be necessary to protect Afghanistan from attackers from Pakistan.
Note
that most Iranians admire our United States.
Iran has been attacked, but not attacked any other country in
centuries. The United States assisted
the overthrow of their elected in 1953 and the installation of a vicious
dictator. The worst they have done to us
is holding our diplomats hostage.
I
believe that Iranians are much more concerned with their own development than
with conflicting with us. There is no
clear evidence that Iran wants to develop nuclear weapons. There would be little motivation to do so, if
Iran is not threatened by the United States, as occurred during the Bush
Administration.
We
have much to offer Iran, including guarantees that we won’t attack, assistance
with rejuvenating the Iranian oil industry, assistance with creating nuclear
power, including letting Iran develop its own power under international
monitoring. Even though Iran is now
theocratically controlled, her secular leaders change. The next president will likely be less
bellicose in tone than President Ahmadinejad, especially is the Israeli
oppression of Palestinians is reduced. I
can imagine Iran becoming a much better American partner than such countries as
regressive Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Egypt and other Arab states.
I
also imagine that with the end of our American military presence in Iraq and
with non-corrupt development assistance, Iraq may gradually improve politically
and economically. Close relations
between Iraq and Iran could be beneficial to both and to others concerned with
their stability and peace.
For
other more regressive Arab countries, it may be that the best we can do is to
hope that developments in Palestine, Iraq and Iran become role models for
political and economic development. If
we decide that we need these countries less, they may decide that they need us
more. And that becoming more democratic
is not only good for them, but also a way to gain our favor.
Wow, talk about rose-colored glasses. We may soon learn how crazy my thoughts
are. Dave Thomas
Here’s the Beef
Our economic crisis offers us
the opportunity to change our economic mindset.
Creative
ideas for improving tomorrow.
Bernard
Madoff had many enablers.
Should we nationalize
large banks before bailing them out?
Bailed
out banks act to oppose unionization bills, including Employee Free Choice Act.
Don’t trust businesses
which pretend to be concerned with worker’s freedoms. For more.
Federal
Reserve will renegotiate mortgages they obtained from bailed out financial
companies.
George
Soros discusses alternative ways to bail out banks.
Is the stimulus
package too small?
$90
billion infrastructure stimulus fund is only 4% of $2.2 trillion that may be
needed.
American Indians
will receive $3 billion of stimulus funds.
Investing
in trains will reduce global warming.
Environmental Protection
Agency blocks South Dakota coal-fired power plant. A shift in policy.
Bye bye excessive
consumption. Bye bye excessive
borrowing.
Can we moral
approach to immigration lead to a humane solution?
Some needed health care
reforms.
China executes corrupt
company heads. Would American
Pharmaceutical heads qualify?
Will democracy or private
oil interests determine President Obama’s policy toward Bolivia?
Will more U.S. troops in
Afghanistan achieve anything good, or get us bogged down there?
Our
Liberal Spirit
Ideological
Biases: Liberal and Conservative
We all have ideologies. We have values, beliefs concerning how the
world is (facts) and understandings concerning how the world works
(explanations). Based on these, we
create agendas, priorities, proposals and strategies.
Science is a rationalization of the ways in which we
seek knowledge and act on it. They
create theories and then attempt to generalize the theories, find
discrepancies, and modify them. As
individuals, we may act similarly, but often we err in protecting our
ideologies instead of testing them with reality. For many years, I assumed that the way to
gain people’s respect was to impress them with my superior intelligence. It often didn’t work. Only belatedly did I discover that people
respected me more when I respected their intelligence and sought to learn from
their knowledge. That I gained more by a
cooperative attitude than a competitive one.
I am still amazed that it took me so long to discover such a now obvious
truth.
Liberals and Conservatives both have ideologies. Both think the other’s ideologies are
unrealistic. I share the belief that
Liberal ideologies are much more realistic than conservative ones. And based on values which lead to a better
society.
Recently, my wife’s physician said he wasn’t a
Liberal, because Liberals too often give assistance to people who will not
benefit. I believe that Liberals should
believe in tough love, intervening to change people’s harmful habits, instead
of enabling them. But I recognize that
some Liberals are not tough enough.
Liberals are subject to other unrealistic assumptions. We must always be on the lookout for
them. We must update our Liberal
thinking to keep abreast of changes in our natural, economic, political and
social environment. We must create and
weigh competing proposals. We must
experiment and learn from our experiments.
As a candidate, Barack Obama said we must change our
mindset. In his inaugural address, President
Obama told us that we must put “an end to the petty grievances and false
promises, the recriminations and worn out dogmas, that for far too long have
strangled our politics.” He said “the
time has come to set aside childish things.”
I believe that one of our gifts is that President Obama is the most
spiritual president we have had (followed perhaps by President Carter). We need a leader who will address spiritual
issues. Now we have one that is easy to
listen to, reflect upon and learn from.
Recommended Books – See our list of books for liberals
Paul Starr, 2007, Freedom’s Power, the True Force of Liberalism For more.
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