Good Left Hook

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.”

American liberals and Barack Obama have a growing problem. The values American liberals support are not being supported by Barack Obama. It’s also increasingly clear that Barack Obama doesn’t want to be associated with liberal values or liberal voters.

That’s not the way it was in 2008, but Obama has already made his decision to walk away from his liberal base. His latest move to have the FBI and Department of Homeland Security help orchestrate the violent police crackdowns against occupation protests across the country is a sign of that. Obama has even refused to condemn the UC Davis pepper spray attacks against peaceful protesters by police.

As a result, American liberals have finally had it. After years of betrayal and disappointment, they’re finally turning away from Obama. But where can they turn to?

One choice is Jill Stein, the presidential candidate for the Green Party. Another, newer choice is Rocky Anderson.

Rocky Anderson is forming a new political party, the Justice Party, to represent the bedrock American values of liberty, progress, equality, tolerance, constitutional law and peace. Anderson is a former mayor of Salt Lake City who left the Democratic Party this summer in disgust at the party’s embrace of Republicans’ corporate, economic elitist, anti-constitution politics.

Anderson is the director of a human rights organization, High Road for Human Rights, which campaigns against the death penalty, genocide and slavery, and encourages strong action on climate change and the restoration of constitutional law in the wake of George W. Bush and Barack Obama’s regimes of Homeland Security.

Unlike Obama, Rocky Anderson is in favor of GLBT marriage equality. Unlike Obama, Anderson was a supporter of the impeachment and criminal prosecution of George W. Bush for his war crimes. Unlike Obama, Anderson supports Occupy Wall Street and other occupation protests.

Rocky Anderson has made his intentions clear. He will be running for President. However, his campaign has not yet officially begun. You can take action right now to help the Rocky Anderson for President campaign, however, by wearing this made in the USA Rocky Anderson for President tshirt. It’s an easy way to spread the word of Anderson 2012.

What do the occupation protests stand for? That’s simple. They stand for economic justice. They stand against corporate greed. They stand against inequality. They stand for the 99 percent of Americans who do most of the work to create wealth in the USA.

Mitt Romney is not part of the 99 percent. He was born into the 1 percent, a trust fund baby who has spent his entire adult life using the power he inherited to take advantage of working Americans.

People engaged in street demonstrations inspired by Occupy Wall Street may not agree on everything. They may support different presidential candidates, but this much is for sure: Occupation protesters do not support Mitt Romney for President. The 99 Percent stands against Mitt Romney.

It’s a sad thing to say, but Barack Obama just doesn’t support our values. Call them progressive values, or liberal values, you know what I mean. On issues of peace, the environment, civil liberties or economic justice, President Obama has continued the rotten old policies of George W. Bush rather than giving us the change we were promised.

Why would we vote for 4 more years of that?

Jill Stein is the responsible presidential candidate on the Left in 2012. As a Green Party candidate, Stein has the steadfast dedication to a real liberal agenda. However, Stein is also an accomplished professional and a capable politician, with a demonstrated ability to run a strong campaign.

Get involved, and show your support wherever you walk by wearing this Jill Stein for President campaign button. Spread the word about this new, genuine hope.