[Platform] Donate NOW - build the Green-Rainbow Party into a force for change!

Sat Jan 12 13:08:09 EST 2008

a few thoughts, Suel-

Did you see the article about the fact that many, many of the questions on 
the ground in NH were about global warming? - even the rich candidates had to 
respond.

Sceond, there is a great deal of resonance with the anti-corporate messages, 
not just the feel good ones.   And I think that the anger out there is also 
real.   Obama is being able to ride Edwards very gritty real message - and say 
yeah, that's all true and I will also bring everyone together.   We ened to put 
forward a candidate who can be real AND show a road forward that most people 
can & need to get on board with.   With the government of fear-mongering that 
we have had for eight years, people in reality do need REAL healing and coming 
together - absent something real they will settle for the rheotoric.   

Part of the power of my campaign was that my presnece showed up the 
spun-nature of Patrick - it was an important glimpse people are still reacting to & 
learning from-

Love, Grace
In a message dated 1/12/08 12:51:53 PM, john.walsh at umassmed.edu writes:

> Hi Suel,
> It is interesting to note that Barack gets more support from upscale, 
> college "educated" individuals.
> If you go to the PhD's, you find them voting much the same way that 
> the African American working class people.  To me that says it takes 
> a bit more work to overcome the silly indoctrination that is found in 
> our colleges.  Especially very subjective ways of looking at the 
> world.  A book was written many years ago called The Psychological 
> Society - ours.
> This subjective view has so washed over us that many people can only 
> decide things on the basis of something other than reality - how they 
> 'feel," what they are told to think and how a candidate looks.  (In 
> fact many peoples' personal lives are also destroyed by this poverty-
> stricken way of viewing the world.)
> But there is hope if I may use that word.  It lies in the GRP and 
> with people like Eli and Merelice and Nat and Mike etc who work hard 
> and are inching us forward to stop war, avoid nuclear winter and 
> create a healthier planet and way of life.
> Best,
> john walsh
> On Jan 12, 2008, at 12:41 PM, Eli Beckerman wrote:
> 
> > I agree with much of what you are saying, Suel,
> > but not with where you place blame, and not with your conclusion.
> >
> > We the people are, after all, bombarded with messages from the time
> > we get up to the time we go to bed, from before we are able to 
> > understand
> > language,
> > until after we are on a fixed income with little flexibility in our 
> > budgets,
> > to consume,
> > to fear, to care primarily about ourselves, to accept the ugliness 
> > of "human
> > nature",
> > to embrace "progress" even when it comes with millions of hidden 
> > harms, and
> > on
> > and on.
> >
> > It's hard to blame people for buying into the "audacity of hope", or
> > "together we can" -- messages that speak to deep human needs that 
> > are far
> > too neglected in this system. As we've seen with Deval Patrick, 
> > these types
> > of calculated promises are
> > the most cynical type of politics, and they steer people in the wrong
> > direction.
> >
> > But we'd be foolish to ignore the hopeful signs that abound, with a 
> > growing
> > number
> > of people doing important work outside of the failing political, 
> > social, and
> > economic frameworks. The challenge is that much harder when the 
> > mainstream
> > media and the mainstream politicians and the mainstream activists 
> > do not
> > articulate the extent of the problems we will face. If only we all 
> > knew what
> > was going on, then we could adapt _before_ the realities 
> > accumulate... and I
> > know you agree that our role is to both lay out the problems and 
> > point the
> > way and work on the solutions. Because of the abdication of this 
> > role by the
> > mainstream media, we need to find a way of crafting a different 
> > story and
> > getting that story out there.
> >
> > On Jan 12, 2008 5:57 AM, Suel Bartone <sbartone22 at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> >> Eli:
> >>
> >> The Obama phenom tells me once again that there is something deeply
> >> wrong with the electorate of this country, that is, something wrong
> >> with  the people who vote, not the people we vote for.
> >>
> >> Obama is running a campaign of vague notions about "hope", with few
> >> if any specifics about the problems we face or the policies we need
> >> to tackle them. HIs written policy statements show little difference
> >> between him and the other front-running corporate candidates.
> >>
> >> The people are voting for a feel-good message. They want to feel that
> >> there's "hope." that "everything's gonna be alright", like some
> >> nostalgic late-60s soul song from our long-lost adolescence.
> >>
> >> They don't want a candidate that publicly and courageously states the
> >> issues and proposes workable solutions. That's way more reality than
> >> they can handle.
> >>
> >> They want to "feel good," feel that their candidate's gonna "make
> >> everything alright". It's "morning in America" once again. The
> >> American electorate has done this over and over again, dozens of
> >> times in the last 20 years of national politics. They practically beg
> >> for candidates that give them an excuse to exit from reality. They
> >> fall for someone who is not the most competent leader and policy
> >> expert, but the one who speaks the magical words of comfort and
> >> optimism, the one who creates the aura of magical redemption from our
> >> anxieties and problems.
> >>
> >> Americans don't want to deal with reality. It's a product of their
> >> faith in the American Myth of Manifest Destiny. If you believe
> >> "everything's gonna be alright," then it will be. The stock market
> >> will go up; you will magically have a job that makes all your car
> >> payments; you will be a success some day.
> >>
> >> Cynthia McKinney is no less female, no less Black, yet she is a
> >> candidate who clearly and courageously elucidates the real crises we
> >> face, and the solutions that will deal with them. Which is precisely
> >> why she, and others like her, like Ralph Nader and just about anybody
> >> who runs for the Green Party, will always lose. Because its not the
> >> platform of the American Myth; it's not the magical feeling of
> >> optimism and success.
> >>
> >> Years ago, after I ran for State Representative, I finally understood
> >> what was wrong with this country. After that, I no longer blamed the
> >> politicians. I blame the electorate. Politics is merely the outcome
> >> of a deep cultural process that generates within the electorate and
> >> ripens into a candidate of their own fabrication.
> >>
> >> That's why things aren't really going to change until those crises,
> >> like peak oil, become very real and very deep, and people are forced
> >> to wake up and deal with reality.
> >>
> >> Suel Bartone
> >>
> >> On Jan 11, 2008, at 10:13 AM, Eli Beckerman wrote:
> >>
> >>> As the corporate candidates talk about change, take a second to
> >>> think about
> >>> what it will take to truly bring about the changes our society
> >>> desperately
> >>> needs to make.
> >>>
> >>> As the economic, social, and environmental crises that face us
> >>> continue to
> >>> grow,
> >>> it is essential that we build a political force that can confront 
> >>> them
> >>> directly.
> >>>
> >>> It is clear that the two corporate parties are unable to even
> >>> articulate,
> >>> let alone solve, these crises.
> >>>
> >>> In Massachusetts the Democrats -- with a supermajority in the
> >>> legislature
> >>> and a self-styled "progressive" governor -- are still unable to
> >>> address the
> >>> real issues facing the Commonwealth.
> >>>
> >>> It is past time that the Green-Rainbow Party become the voice of
> >>> the people
> >>> of this state, and that we build an alternative political party
> >>> that can
> >>> guide our communities through the converging crises we face.
> >>>
> >>> 2007 has been a year of false hopes. Please contribute today, and
> >>> make 2008
> >>> a year of new beginnings. Contribute today at
> >>> http://green-rainbow.org/contrib.html
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> The Green-Rainbow Party does not accept corporate donations.  All
> >>> our work
> >>> is done
> >>> by volunteers.  Every dollar you contribute goes directly to
> >>> helping all of
> >>> us focus
> >>> our organizing power to become the just, fair, and sustainable
> >>> society we
> >>> want to be
> >>> and have the political voice we need to bring about the necessary
> >>> changes.
> >>>
> >>> With an exciting Green-Rainbow primary nearing on February 5th, 
> >>> and an
> >>> important
> >>> Green Party nominating convention in July in Chicago, your
> >>> donations will
> >>> help get
> >>> the word out about our presidential candidates. But even more
> >>> importantly,
> >>> donating
> >>> now will help build the Green-Rainbow Party into a force at the
> >>> local level
> >>> where we
> >>> have the most leverage.
> >>>
> >>> Please visit http://green-rainbow.org/contrib.html and make your
> >>> contribution today!
> >>>
> >>> Thanks for your support -- and vote Green-Rainbow February 5th!
> >>> Don't forget -- January 16th is the last day to register (Green-
> >>> Rainbow or
> >>> unenrolled)
> >>> to be eligible to take a Green-Rainbow ballot in the primary.
> >>> _______________________________________________
> >>> Platform mailing list
> >>> Platform at green-rainbow.org
> >>> http://www.green-rainbow.org/mailman/listinfo/platform
> >>
> >>
> > _______________________________________________
> > 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
> 
> 
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> 

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