|
Issue No. 161 | 15 November 2002 |
From New Labor to True Labor
Interview: Life After Keating Industrial: That Friday Feeling Bad Boss: Begging to Work Organising: Project Pilbara Unions: Off the Rails International: Brazil Turns Left Environment: Brown Wash History Special: Learning from the Past Corporate: Will the Bullying Backfire? Technology: Danger Lurks For The Passive History: In Labour�s Image Politics: Without Power Or Glory History Special: A 'Cosy Relationship' Culture: Blood Stains the Wattle Satire: Iraq Pre-empts Pre-emptive Strike Poetry: The Executive Pay Cut Review: Time Out
Worker Rights Battle Goes Local Suncorp Feels Heat Over Candid Camera African Chefs Claim Visa Abuse Bushfire Volunteers Pay Heavy Price Win in Battle For Tea Break Rights Reith Adviser Plots New Era of Lawlessness Kinko�s Workers Win Copybook Campaign Sparks Fly as Build A Life Rolls On Win For Aboriginal Health Workers Safety Crisis in Detention Centres Miners Take Up Westfund Cudgels Wine Workers Go the Full Bottle Performers Close to National Deal Blair Caught in Industrial Fire Storm Nurses Call Public Into The Pink On Aged Care Environmental Research Washed Away P&O�s Shame as Inspector Banned WTO Must Incorporate Labor Rights
Month In Review The Soapbox The Locker Room Indigenous Postcard Bosswatch
Bravo Costa! Deck Chairs on the Titanic
Labor Council of NSW |
Letters to the Editor Deck Chairs on the Titanic
The Republicans did not "win" this election 2002- the Democrats "gave it away"! When you have 2 parties so close in "core" philosophies, all else becomes window dressing to the voters. For years, progressive Democrats like Kuchinich of Ohio (he should be our next President) and McDermott of Washington and but a handful of others, have been tugging at the sleeves of the current DLC and national Democratic leaders. They have been literally pleading for a party platform of "substance" over hype. A platform of real positions and plans for a fairer America: Federal and Statewide Clean Election laws, finally ending the corrupting process of "money talks or you don't walk"; real healthcare reform, not the sell-out offer of prescription drug plans for seniors. What the Democrats should have been trumpeting for years was Universal Medicare for all Americans. Goodness, even the majority of physicians are willing to accept it! Meanwhile the DLC should have hounded the Bushes on the criminal corporate rip-offs of average American investors. Chaney's "closed door" national energy policy meetings with Enron, the lead culprit in the scandal, should have brought this administration to face an impeachment order. (Alas, too many skeletons in the Democratic corporate donation closet, so that idea was squashed before it even gained momentum.) Remember the recent Patriot Act and the soon to be preemptive war with Iraq (the most perilous international action this nation will take since Vietnam, mark my words)? Most mainstream Democrats walked lockstep with Bush on it. I recall the Missouri Senate debate last week. I saw, to my disgust, Sen. Carnahan "reciting" proudly, how she "stood behind my President on the resolution regarding Iraq". How she "voted many times with this administration". Yet, it was the Green candidate who spoke of a "war about oil, nothing more" and the need for Nat'l Healthcare for all, not just the very wealthy and very poor. He was the only candidate to call for a halt to this obscene overflow of money in campaigns; the only candidate calling for public funding of all elections. By the way, when Democrats and Republicans protest vehemently how "I am against using hard earned taxpayer dollars to pay for my campaign'; remember that public funding of State elections would cost each taxpayer approximately 3 bucks per election year. Federal public funding about 5 bucks per election year- that's not even every year!! The only hope for this nation is the following scenario to play out: - Millions of Americans must bombard the DLC demanding that the above stated ideas be supported or the Democrats lose their vote. We need millions of such calls and letters-now! - Once the party leadership agrees to become more progressive, they can use their money, usually spent foolishly on hot button phony issues, to " educate' the American public on what is really going on. To explain how 1% of the population controls 85% of our wealth. To explain the many trillions the "war economy" corporations receive in taxpayer dollars. Finally, the DLC, made up (hopefully) of true progressives (and not the hacks), should pinpoint 2 or 3 key concerns and focus entirely on them, rather than being all over the place. Imagine if there was a concerted effort by the mainstream Democratic party to educate the public while demanding universal Medicare for all Americans? Once the general public realizes that national health care is not a free ride - rather everyone contributes according to ones income (like FICA), many would see the merit vs. this current failed "privatized" system. Imagine if the same were done for Clean Election laws? How many of you reading this actually know how the nation's model, the Maine Clean Election Law, actually works? My point: we Americans are not "stupid", just purposely misinformed (or not at all) by the media in cahoots with this "One Party" system. If they do not want something, then you and I do not hear about it properly, over airwaves that we the people actually own! Finally, as Pogo said: "we have met the enemy and he is us". The "nine to five" working folk, who by the way make up the MAJORITY of the voting pool, are foolish, to say the least. Few out there investigate, or question, or seek out options. They watch the corporate owned media and accept the garbage passed as news. The same media determines (what arrogance!) what "issues" voters are concerned about. I guess they do not have problems paying their health care costs. I guess they do not see how difficult it is to run for office while working full time and earning less than a million or two a year. In the recent Statehouse race in my district (Florida), the winner spent over two million dollars and her opponent $600,000 - for a job that pays less than $100,000 per year. Would any sane businessperson invest two million (or $600K) on a business that earns less than $100K a year? Finally, if we still had a military draft, how many parents of 17 and 18 and 21 year old young men would "line up behind my President"? Isn't it time for the working stiffs, and retired working stiffs, and poor working stiffs, to demand a better life? When the ship of state is "going down" don't rearrange the deck chairs- get a bloody life preserver!! Philip A Farruggio Brooklyn
|
Search All Issues | Latest Issue | Previous Issues | Print Latest Issue |
© 1999-2002 Workers Online |
|