[Sosfbay-discuss] Lorna Salzman on Chris Hedges

[JamBoi]

Mark, I have to ask where you are writing from.  I'm feeling
uncomfortable with someone from outside our County and outside our
State giving so much input to the discussion group for the Santa Clara
County, CA. Please respect our autonomy and please don't continue
overdo it with what might be considered outsider spam by some.  
Grassroots Democracy, Decentralization and all that.  Maybe once we
find out where you're from we could find or create a more appropriate
forum that is inclusive of only those interested in this topic. 
Thanks!

Drew Johnson
County Council of Santa Clara County

--- Tian Harter <tnharter at ispwest.com> wrote:

> Mark Lause wrote:
> 
> >One more is all I have time for right now....  Saying that things
> improved
> >after 2006 doesn't make what I said about the impact of 2004
> outdated.  The
> >impact of 2004 was what it was regardless of what happened
> afterwards.  And,
> >if vote totals measured the state of the party rather than voter
> discontent,
> >we'd have been in great shape in 2001.  But we weren't.
> >
> >A lot of these state organizations consist of local groups that
> don't
> >actually meet or do anything.  2004 left my entire state with only
> one or
> >two local groups functioning.  Despite the fact that this situation
> really
> >hadn't improved in 2006, we did run some good state campaigns.  Yet,
> those
> >tens of thousands of votes did not leave us an organization with
> appreciably
> >more people.  It never made us better at involving and integrating
> new
> >people into the party.
> >  
> >
> What state is your local state? Here in Santa Clara County there
> might only be one or two active Green groups, but in California
> there are A LOT more than that.
> 
> >These are the things that measure the strength of the party.
> >  
> >
> If I went into a room and saw half a dozen or so normal looking
> peace activists and somebody told me they were responsible
> for somebody with no name recognition getting "tens of thousands
> of votes" I would be impressed. I would think "these people are
> shaking the power tree." Wow!
> 
> >Whoever is nominated--and whoever's doing the nominating--MUST focus
> on
> >building an alternative to the corporate two-parties.  Historically,
> not a
> >single third party tried to play footsies with the Democrats without
> ending
> >up amputees bleeding to death.....  Every would-be power-broker
> thinks that
> >this rule won't apply to them, but it will.
> >  
> >
> Part of building an alternative is realizing the power of bragging
> rights.
> If you can say "I got ten thousand votes" and you have the ability
> to prove it, that amounts to bulletproof bragging rights that nobody
> can take away. It's not much by itself, but it's a bite out of the
> incubents
> hide. Keep taking a bit more here and a bit more there, and soon
> we're talking about real change!
> 
> >WHY we run...and HOW we run...is much more important to me than WHO
> we run,
> >though we can clearly pick someone who's not going to give us what
> we need.
> >
> >I'm just a rank-and-filer and I have no illusions that I will have
> real
> >voice in who the party nominates in 2008, and I am open to
> supporting any
> >candidate in 2008.
> >
> >But I joined the Green Party because I have faced the simple reality
> that
> >the two corporate parties exist to wage war on our interests and our
> values
> >and to garner public support for doing these things.  And, when
> all's said
> >and done, I will NOT support a meaningless going-through-the-motions
> >fig-leaf of a campaign aimed at giving backhanded support to the
> Democrats.
> >  
> >
> In 2004 I put hundreds of hours into Stephanie Schaaf's campaign
> for city council because I couldn't get enthused about helping Cobb
> much. However, we did arrange two speaking oportunities for him
> here in Santa Clara County, and he did do a good job both times.
> It was also nice of him that he didn't complain that we only drummed
> up a hundred folks or so to hear his message. That seems like as
> much as we could have asked from a no name Candidate. On election
> day I had no trouble voting for the guy, and I'm still okay with it.
> 
> Yeah, Nader was much better for us in many ways when he wanted
> to be a Green Candidate, but that was then and this is now...
> 
> -- 
> Tian
> http://tian.greens.org
> We had an earthquake during this evening's Green Party meeting.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> sosfbay-discuss mailing list
> sosfbay-discuss at cagreens.org
> http://lists.cagreens.org/mailman/listinfo/sosfbay-discuss
> 


___________________

JamBoi
Jammy The Sacred Cow Slayer

"Live humbly, laugh often and love unconditionally" (anon)
http://dailyJam.blogspot.com


 
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