[Platform] DemoGreens
John Walsh
john.walsh at umassmed.edu
Tue Apr 8 07:37:25 EDT 2008
Hi Betty,
Nice to hear from you.
First of all, let us cut out the charge of McCarthyism. The hallmark
of McCarthyism was stifling dissent. And those who are trying to
prevent me from speaking by calling me a McCarthyite or a Stalinist
are the true heirs of McCarthy. And I do not need any lecturing on
this since I lost one job for my stand against racism and it nearly
cost me my present one. So DemoGreen I submit is not nearly as bad
as what you have implied by McCarthyism and I would ask you (and
others) to cease and desist. I too am averse to labels - like being
labelled a McCarthyite which is kind of nasty.
Almost a year ago in a debate on CounterPunch I defended the GPUS,
but my experiences with the national party have convinced me I was
wrong. I saw up close the incompetence, dysfunctionality and non-
functionality of the GPUS. It is now a corpse. BUT some state
parties - NY, MA, CA certainly have a lot going for them and I intend
to stick with the GRP. Hopefully these parties will find themselves
part of a new grouping as a result of the Nader/Gonzalez '08 run.
(Nader/Gonzalez already have 6% of the vote in a Zogby poll to
McCain's 44% and HRC (or Obama's) 39%. So the Dems better get
cracking and change their position if they want to pick up any of
that 6%.)
I am sorry but there are DemoGreens. I define them as supporting
Dems in the end and attacking serious Green candidates at the
national level - especially at the presidential level. Some are
genuine in their beliefs and some are Dem operatives. They show up
in the safe states strategy and/or in a nasty, mindless anti-Naderism.
Now about Obama. I am careful about the words I use here. He is a
mass murderer. Since being in the Senate he has voted for every
appropriation for the Iraq war - period. That was hundreds of
billions of dollars to kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis. Yes, he
SAYS he WAS against the war - but as soon as he had a vote, he voted
for it. I judge people by their actions, and by his actions he is as
prowar as Hillary or McCain. He also voted to re-authorize the
patriot act. And he is also calling for expanding the military by
100,000 - exactly the same as HRC and McCain! (There are other
things also, such as his hostility to single payer, matching
Hillary's but sharper than hers, closer to McCain in this regard.)
So I am sorry Betty, but a vote for Obama is a vote for a mass
murderer. And if you vote for a prowar candidate, then I am afraid
you are prowar by virtue of what you do, despite what you say. That
makes you complicit in the war in my opinion. So I will work for and
vote for Nader/Gonzalez. To do otherwise is not only bad politics,
it is highly immoral. Sorry but that is my opinion - it is very simple.
Best,
John Walsh
On Apr 7, 2008, at 9:29 PM, Betty H. Zisk wrote:
> John: I am growing increasingly concerned by your use of such terms
> as "DemoGreens" because honestly I dont know to which grp you are
> referring. I spent four days last weekend with a number of Green
> Party Activists on an oral history project that was long planned.
> This was convened by Mike Feinstein of CA; it included John
> Rensenbrink (Maine; founder of Maine Green Party in 1984); Dee
> Berry (maintainer of Green Clearinghouse that was vital to all of
> us); Howie Hawkins (organizer for many of us; leader of Left Greens
> and GPUSA during the battle over who would take charge; he lost; he
> was on receiving end of much recrimination this weekend); Charlene
> Spretrak and Danny Moses who participated via telephone and
> speakers. Others were invivted but cldnt come: Greg Gerritt and
> Tony Affigne for example. It was an invigorating and passionate
> long weekend. We didnt discuss current politics at all; we were so
> focussed on the first twenty years of our party history and didnt
> want to lose that history. My pt here however is that I havent
> heard of any plot to take over the Greens. I have talked with John
> R at length about the fact of his sending a letter to both Nader
> and Cynthia urging both of them to run for Green nomination. (John
> and I live only forty miles apart when we are in Maine coast. In
> addition I have invited him to my movements seminar at BU every
> year to talk about Green Party; that I think has been at least ten
> years.) If you are referring to the brief period when we nominated
> David Cobb and the idea of a stafe state strategy please say so. I
> didnt go along with Safe State strategy and frankly I dislike David
> Cobb for so many reasons most of which are unprintable. But again
> my point is that your use of that term Demogreens is misleading. I
> wish you could take the trouble to define it. I have been called a
> traitor in so many ways in this campaign. Mostly from Dem Friends
> who support Hillary. But also from my dear friends in GRP who dont
> want me supporting Obama (I do). We can save that argument for
> another day. Am I a demigreen. No. I have been active in Green
> Party for more years than you have I bet. I am adverse to labels.
> You should understand that as well since I have a huhch you were
> prseent in McCarthy era as well. Please foregive typos. Betts Zisk
> -----Original Message-----
> From: John Walsh [mailto:john.walsh at umassmed.edu]
> Sent: Monday, April 07, 2008 8:23 PM
> To: Mike Heichman
> Cc: Merelice; Cdlc; Betty H. Zisk; Platform Committee;
> NeedToKnow at green-rainbow.org; State Com
> Subject: Re: [Platform] BALLOT INITIATIVES UPDATE. Consider putting
> them to workin your community! Join the ABWG.
>
> Mike,
> There is a candidate running in Worcester for STATE Senate as you
> should know.
> Unfortunately he seems to be willing to pull his punches when it
> comes to the Dems. He may be taking his signal from our
> gubernatorial candidate last time who pulled her punches with Deval
> Patrick and ended up with a minuscule portion of the vote. Without
> the GRP platform her fate would have been even worse. Thank
> goodness we had a good candidate for secretary of state who got
> enough votes to preserve our ballot status.
> That is what I was referencing.
> If you want to see how to give to the Dems (by telling the
> unvarnished truth), go to VoteNader.org. You might want to sit down
> since resorting to the truth is shocking in some quarters/
> Nader will of course have the majority of the MA votes on the first
> ballot at the convention. As you know, he did splendidly here
> despite not campaigning and despite the brilliant campaign run by
> our last gubernatorial candidate on behalf of Cynthia McKinney.
> john walsh
> p.s. I have heard some whispers that Cynthia is growing concerned
> that she is being used by the DemoGreens in the GPUSA. Just gossip
> of course. But if she concludes this, watch out. She is a woman who
> does not mince her words or hold back the truth - unlike some folks
> we know.
>
>
>
> On Apr 7, 2008, at 8:01 PM, Mike Heichman wrote:
>> Hi John,
>>
>> What candidates are you referring?
>>
>> If there were a significant number of GRP members running this
>> year for the US Senate, Congress or the state legislature, I would
>> not have submitted this proposal.
>>
>> If we had enough time and strength, putting a question on the
>> statewide ballot might be a good idea. However, we don't have the
>> time nor the strength.
>>
>> Given the above, I believe that the advisory questions can be a
>> significant electoral campaign for our party this year in
>> conjunction with our support for the Green Party's presidential
>> ticket.
>>
>> Mike Heichman
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> John Walsh wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Merelice,
>>> I am with Betts on this one.
>>> These non-binding ballot questions elicit a collective yawn from
>>> the general populace and disdain on the part of the Dems. The
>>> only folks who might pay even a smidgen of attention to them are
>>> already well informed of what the GRP stands for.
>>> So I submit it is really a giant waste of time in an election
>>> year when there will be much to do - like exposing Obama for the
>>> fake he is and working for our own candidates.
>>> john walsh
>>>
>>> On Apr 7, 2008, at 12:51 PM, Merelice wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>> Hello Betts and all,
>>>>
>>>> We are too late for "serious" statewide (massive-signature-
>>>> gathering)
>>>> ballot questions. We would need to plan much farther ahead (and we
>>>> should).
>>>>
>>>> There's still a slight possibility there will be local candidates
>>>> running for office (apart from president) and that would be an
>>>> organizing opportunity. In the absence of such, however, some folks
>>>> feel that selecting local advisory questions is another way to get
>>>> Party members being visible on real issues that matter. It's also
>>>> something that a presidential candidate can tie into when
>>>> campaigning
>>>> in the state.
>>>>
>>>> At the moment, ask the usual voter what the Green/Green-Rainbow
>>>> Party
>>>> stands for and it is largely personality politics. Working in
>>>> concert
>>>> on defined issues -- with ballot questions being just one
>>>> element of
>>>> the work -- could begin to make it clear what the GRP stands for.
>>>>
>>>> Merelice
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> On 4/6/08, Betty H. Zisk <zisk at bu.edu> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I support all four of these ballot proposals. My only question
>>>>> is whether
>>>>> they are strictly advisory questions or whhether they are
>>>>> serious ballot
>>>>> proposals for which we would need to gather signatures. If they
>>>>> are just
>>>>> advis questions I am not really interested. I am happy to work
>>>>> hard on
>>>>> health care including signature gathering. Or any other serious
>>>>> proposal.
>>>>> Not happy to work on advis question. Betts Zisk (For yr info I
>>>>> wrote a whole
>>>>> book on ballot questions in four states including MA. I have
>>>>> never taken
>>>>> advisory questions seriously. But I am not clear on language
>>>>> here. I
>>>>> volunteer wholeheartedly if they are binding questions.) B
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: platform-bounces at green-rainbow.org
>>>>> [mailto:platform-bounces at green-rainbow.org]On Behalf Of Jill Stein
>>>>> Sent: Monday, March 31, 2008 1:53 PM
>>>>> To: platform at green-rainbow.org; State Com; Cdlc
>>>>> Subject: [Platform] BALLOT INITIATIVES UPDATE. Consider putting
>>>>> them to
>>>>> workin your community! Join the ABWG.
>>>>> Importance: High
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> Dear Platform, CDLC, Locals, GRPers et al,
>>>>>
>>>>> This is to update folks on the status of the local ballot question
>>>>> initiatives, which State Com voted to explore at the last
>>>>> meeting. The
>>>>> proposal suggested considering what ballot questions would have
>>>>> a base
>>>>> of support that would make them successful and enhance our
>>>>> presence in
>>>>> existing issue-oriented networks. Several volunteers, partly
>>>>> based in
>>>>> subcommittees of Platform, have been exploring this and have
>>>>> reported
>>>>> exciting progress on four possible initiatives, some of which is
>>>>> described below. The proposed initiatives thus far (that I'm
>>>>> aware of)
>>>>> are: Secure Green Future (Green Jobs and Fossil Fuel Phase-
>>>>> Out), Health
>>>>> Care, Housing Foreclosures, IRV. (Note, you'll have to scroll
>>>>> to the
>>>>> bottom of the discussion below to get to the health care
>>>>> proposal.)
>>>>>
>>>>> Platform is also asked in the State Com ballot initiative
>>>>> proposal to
>>>>> establish an Advisory Ballot Working Group, (ABWG). We
>>>>> encourage anyone
>>>>> who is, or would like to commit to working on ballot
>>>>> initiatives, to
>>>>> consider volunteering for the ABWG. Members of locals who are
>>>>> interested
>>>>> in using one or more initiatives to do issue-based organizing
>>>>> in their
>>>>> communities are especially encouraged to join. One of ABWG's
>>>>> tasks is to
>>>>> consider how many such initiatives can be supported by the
>>>>> Party, what
>>>>> resources are available to do so, and what districts would be most
>>>>> productive to target.
>>>>>
>>>>> We'll consider where the various initiatives stand at our next
>>>>> full
>>>>> platform phone meeting, (TBA). If you are interested in
>>>>> participating in
>>>>> the ABWG, please let me know and we'll keep you posted on upcoming
>>>>> meetings.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thx.
>>>>> jill
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> Platform mailing list
>>>> Platform at green-rainbow.org
>>>> http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/platform
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> John V. Walsh, MD
>>> Professor of Physiology
>>> University of Massachusetts Medical School
>>> 55 Lake Avenue, N.
>>> Worcester, MA, 01655-0127
>>> Phone (work): 508-856-3360
>>> Phone (cell): 508-868-1653
>>> email: john.walsh at umassmed.edu
>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Platform mailing list
>>> Platform at green-rainbow.org
>>> http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/platform
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>
> John V. Walsh, MD
> Professor of Physiology
> University of Massachusetts Medical School
> 508-856-3360 (Office)
> 508-868-1653 (Cell)
> john.walsh at umassmed.edu
>
>
>
John V. Walsh, MD
Professor of Physiology
University of Massachusetts Medical School
508-856-3360 (Office)
508-868-1653 (Cell)
john.walsh at umassmed.edu
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