Good Left Hook

In this election cycle, Iowa is all about the Republican Party. Barack Obama has got the Democratic Party nomination all sewn up. Liberal presidential candidate Jill Stein doesn’t have caucuses in her political party. The Justice Party is too new for its presidential candidate, Rocky Anderson, to face any challengers.

So, the Iowa caucuses are focusing on the Republican Party in 2012.

What if you’re not Republican, but live in Iowa, then? What can you do?

You can wear this Iowa Against the Republican Party tshirt, for starters. Put this shirt on to show that, for all the fuss about the choice of Mitt Romney versus Newt Gingrich versus Ron Paul, there are a huge number of Iowans who think that voting for any Republican presidential candidate is a huge mistake.

Eight days ago in New Hampshire, Mitt Romney was asked by a voter to comment on the indefinite detention provision in the National Defense Authorization Act. The NDAA grants the federal government the power to grab American citizens and throw them into prison for as long as it wants, without putting the citizens on trial or even charging them with a crime. A mere unsubstantiated accusation is all it will take under this bill for an American to be locked up.

The legislation was passed by both houses of Congress last week and is unopposed by President Barack Obama and so will become law. In spite of its dramatic nature, Mitt Romney didn’t seem to know what the legislation was at all. When asked about the National Defense Authorization Act, Romney stammered and delayed, saying, “Let me look at the particular authorization, ah, and, and, and I’ll make sure on our website we’ll describe our reaction to that particular amendment. I can tell you this, which is that there is an effort on the part of violent, radical jihadis to destroy America.”

The voter offered plenty of information for Mitt Romney and his aides to use to find out about the National Defense Authorization Act. The voter described “an amendment to a defense authorization bill last week that would allow the detention of Americans arrested in the United States and to allow the military to hold them indefinitely without charging them or trying them”.

That’s pretty clear. Yet, over a week later, Mitt Romney has taken no action to keep his promise. The Romney campaign has not made a single statement about the National Defense Authorization Act, and its extraordinary, unconstitutional imprisonment powers.

If I were a voter in New Hampshire, I’d take a look at Mitt Romney’s promise to a New Hampshire resident, and then I’d consider the way that Romney broke that promise, and then… there’s no way in hell I’d cast a ballot for Romney.

I love freedom. That’s why I can’t vote for Mitt Romney

A couple of days ago, we took note of a new t-shirt design over at Skreened, a dramatic design for Democrats against Kirsten Gillibrand.

Gillibrand, a United States senator from New York state, has infuriated progressive citizens by casting a vote in favor of the National Defense Authorization Act, which included the creation of extraordinary unconstitutional government powers – the ability of the federal government to throw American citizens into prison without trial, without charge, and without a time limit, on the mere accusation of association with terrorists. Kirsten Gillibrand ought to be ashamed of herself for this vote.

Now, we’re happy to report that the same basic design has showed up online, but this time as a political campaign button.

There’s Democrats against Gillibrand, as with the tshirt. There’s also, however, a similar liberals against Gillibrand design thrown in as a bonus.

A newcomer to New York state politics might ask why there is a Democrats Against Kirsten Gillibrand Tshirt here on this page. Kirsten Gillibrand, after all, is a Democratic U.S. Senator. Why would Democrats be against Gillibrand?

The answer is that there are two kinds of Democrats. There are people who are Democrats because they believe in the core American ideals of equality, justice, liberty, community responsibility and peace. Then there are people who are Democrats so that they can use the machinery of the political party to gain power for themselves.

Kirsten Gillibrand is a machine Democrat. She’ll promote the Democratic Party’s institutional power, but she won’t promote the values that the Democratic Party purports to stand for.

That leaves idealistic Democrats cold.

Support for Senator Gillibrand among the liberal base of the Democratic Party grew downright frigid this week, when Kirsten Gillibrand voted in favor of a version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that establishes the power of the federal government to seize Americans and throw them into prison, and keep them there without ever charging them with a crime or putting them on trial. It’s a blatantly unconstitutional and unAmerican piece of legislation, but Kirsten Gillibrand was all too happy to vote it through the Senate.

Kirsten Gillibrand is running for re-election in 2012. She may be running under the Democratic Party banner, but the way she has shown such profound disrespect for Americans’ constitutional rights, there’s no way that an honest, idealistic New York Democrat can give her support.

If you happen to be in Washington D.C., and have some free time this afternoon, make your way over to the O’Bryne Gallery at Memorial Continental Hall (1776 D Street, NW). You’ll have the chance to watch history in the making.

Rocky Anderson will be giving a speech there, at 2:00 PM, to announce the formation of the Justice Party – the newest political party in the United States. Anderson will be running as the Justice Party’s presidential candidate for 2012.

If you like what you hear from this speech, then get yourself a Rocky Anderson for President campaign button, or if you think more generally, choose a Justice Party political button.

The veteran liberal political web site Irregular Times just put up a new collection of Jill Stein for President buttons and magnets. This collection includes the locally specific campaign button for Illinois voters supporting Jill Stein.

Why Illinois for Jill Stein? Isn’t Illinois the home base for the Barack Obama re-election campaign?

Yes, Obama is a strong presence in Illinois, but Obama’s presence has become defined as much by broken promises as by any positive association.

Besides that, the Jill Stein for President campaign also has a strong presence in Illinois in the form of Ben Manski, a well-known political organizer in Illinois and Wisconsin. Manski has been working to strengthen the Illinois Green Party for years, and now that work is paying off – for the Jill Stein campaign.

Third Party Politics notes that Jill Stein recently commanded 27 percent of the vote at a straw poll of students at Western Illinois University. That’s just 12 points behind Barack Obama and 6 points behind Mitt Romney.

Join Ben Manski, Jill Stein, and other Illinois liberals in demanding real change, not just vague, broken promises of hope. Wear a button to show that you’re one voter in Illinois who is voting for Jill Stein for President.

Iowa Against Gingrich describes the situation building with the 2012 Iowa caucuses in stark, but accurate, language:

“The Gingrich campaign in Iowa seems more like psychological therapy for Gingrich than anything, a way for him to get out all the negative feelings. The trouble is that the crazy, angry, flying off the handle approach seems to be getting Gingrich a lot of attention, and some strong support. Some voters seem to be drawn to Gingrich in some creepy way, attracted in spite of themselves to the insulting, abusive approach Gingrich takes to dealing with the American people.”

The fact is that there isn’t enough on-the-ground opposition to Newt Gingrich in Iowa right now. That’s what’s allowed Gingrich to surge to a double digit lead, in spite of his unstable personality and wildly vacillating political positions. A certain sort of Iowa voter senses energy in the Gingrich camp, and isn’t paying enough attention to figure out that it’s a very negative, dangerous sort of energy.

There isn’t time left to wait for someone else to step forward and organize everything for a grassroots anti-Gingrich effort in Iowa. It’s up to you. Speak out against Gingrich to your friends and neighbors, and wear this Iowa Against Gingrich campaign button wherever you go, to spread the word.

Republicans have done their best for two generations now to try to make the word “environmentalist” an insult.

“They’re just a bunch of environmentalists,” they’ll say.

“She’s just on an environmentalist kick again,” they sniff.

“He’s got some kind of environmentalist agenda,” they accuse.

Well, so what?

Have these Republicans ever stopped to say exactly what is so crazy about environmentalism? No, of course they haven’t. They can’t actually point out anything nutty about environmentalists, because caring for the environment simply makes a lot of sense.

Environmentalism is not very complicated or strange. It’s based upon a principle that’s easy to understand: Don’t dump filth and toxins into the world we live in.

I admire the design of this particular environmentalist tshirt because of the directness of its message. It delivers a powerful and witty retort to the Republican pro-pollution propaganda machine. Environmentalists, it says, are those crazy people who believe that Planet Earth matters.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich accuses liberal of provoking a “moral collapse” in the United States. However, it was Newt Gingrich himself who was caught in a moral collapse the last time he was involved in the U.S. federal government.

Gingrich brought shame to the position of Speaker of the House. After his activities were discovered, Gingrich himself admitted that he violated ethics rules, and thus Gingrich became the first and only Speaker of the House to be subjected to an official reprimand.

Now, Gingrich is campaigning on moral values?

In Massachusetts, voters see through the smokescreen of “traditional values” that Newt Gingrich uses to try to distract people from his own terrible record of abuse of government power. That’s why people in Massachusetts are wearing this anti-Gingrich button for 2012. We just can’t afford to have such an unethical leader in office on Pennsylvania Avenue.

Here’s some of what people are saying about why to support the emerging campaign of Rocky Anderson for President:

“Anderson was against the War in Iraq, has campaigned against the War on Drugs, and is a supporter of GLBT rights.”

“One of Utah’s most liberal politicians, Anderson renounced his affiliation with the Democratic Party in August, saying he was fed up with it along with Congress, the Obama administration and Republicans.”

“Anderson refuses to take corporate support of the kind that Barack Obama and the Republican presidential candidates have come to rely upon. Anderson has been a human rights leader, seeking a return in the United States to the simple principles of the United States Constitution.”

“Anderson makes a good case for a 3rd party. Much of what he said echoes what Ralph Nader has been saying for years. Maybe people are ready to hear it now.”

“I’m tired of wasting my vote on the old tired and worn out Parties that are so corrupted. I’d rather give someone else a chance and so I will learn more about this man. I at least wanted to bring this to others attention.”

“He’s campaigning against war. He’s campaigning for equality for all, regardless of sexual orientation. He’s campaigning against torture.”

“If Rocky Anderson gets serious and organized, and the Eurozone continues to unwind, the 2012 election may yet become an interesting contest where pressing problems are debated, not ignored.”