Our
biggest 2 parties could have adopted many of the advances in democracy
over the past 200 years, but they haven't. We're far behind even the
constitutions our government imposes on other countries. The Democrats
and Republicans have a duopoly and they're not going to
change that system without a lot of pressure from other parties, groups, and individuals.
Some of the evidence that we are not
free and independent:
1. The USA Constitution has never been approved by referendum. We've never had a national referendum on anything!
2.
Proportional representation is almost unheard of in this country. One
of the few exceptions is the city elections in Cambridge, MA. (Iraq's
new constitution does have "pro-rep", I've heard, like most of the
world's countries with elections.)
3. There is no ranked balloting (such as instant run-off), either federally or state-wide.
4. The initiative, referenda, and recall are lacking federally and in many states.
5.
Only a few small New England towns still hold legislative "town
meetings", in which all adult citizens can speak and vote.
6. The 2000 presidential election was stolen by the Supreme Court, similarly to in 1876.
7. All presidential
elections are rigged by the Electoral College.
8. Almost all elections at all levels are bought by rich interests (to effect their plutocracy).
9. Our old psuedo-democratic 2-party system persists. No nations writing constitutions nowadays copy it.
10. Systemic voter alienation, apathy, and ignorance result in voter turn-outs which are embarrassingly low.
11. About 9/10 of our mass media is controlled by a handful of plutocrats. Exceptions include this e-newsletter, Green Pages newspaper, parts of the Internet, Air America Radio, "Now" show on PBS-TV, etc.).
12. The Fairness Doctrine in broadcasts was abolished.
13. We have no fair presidential debates.
14.
We have no Question Period (as in Canada and Great Britain) when the
elected opposition in Congress would shower the president and cabinet
with their toughest questions.
15. We have insufficient "freedom of information".
16. Massive sectors of government are unnecessarily secret.
17.
Most voting machines are controlled by Republican private
contractors--and the Democrats complain little about the cheating.
18.
Most states have highly restrictive "ballot access" which
keeps most candidates off the ballot if they are not Democrats or
Republicans.
19. Federal voting rights and enforcement are very poor.
20. Voting rights (and other citizenship rights) of non-Whites, especially, are constantly violated.
21. Males candidates are still given great advantage by the rules of elections.
22. The federal Senate has no representation on the basis of population.
23.
Gerrymanding of voting district boundaries has persisted for centuries.
24.
Far too much power is concentrated constitutionally in the office of
President. That has resulted in, for one thing, many assassinations.
25. Workplace democracy is almost always prevented by the plutocracy.
26.
The USA's admitted colonies have no voting representation in Congress.
(DC, Puerto Rico, Northern Mariana Islands, etc.)
27. People
around the world in the USA empire are subject to indirect rule by the
USA by occupying military, puppet governments, secret "free trade"
hearings, etc. They have no voting representatives in the USA
government.
28. The USA military is now in 155 or more countries.*
29. The USA government has invaded and similarly interfered with other countries hundreds of times.*
30. The USA has
no fairly acquired territory. It has not dealt fairly with any of the displaced, defeated, or controlled indigenous nations.
* www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/03/21/MNGJ65OS4J1.DTL&type=printable
says "According to the Pentagon's Manpower Report, before Sept. 11,
2001, there were 255,000 U.S. military personnel in 153 countries."by Korky Day.
I have been enjoying the local radio station of the Air America Radio
network, KXXT 1010 AM; on-air telephone 602-230-8255. I highly
recommend it, though its overt Green Party content is scant--mainly
just when one of our members phones in.
The announcers said
December 25 that their frequency, 1010 AM, had been sold, but that they
were expecting to find another one by their moving date, 2006 January
31. I don't see a mention of that at their Web site, www.1010kxxt.com, but you could find out later at
www.AirAmericaRadio.com/stations.
There's not much other political talk broadcast locally for free that's
any good. Most programmes on KJZZ-NPR (91.5 FM; www.kjzz.org)
and
KAET-PBS (Channel 8 TV; www.azpbs.org) are not about politics. Most of
their few political programmes are either pro-war or question the war
in a wishy-washy way, like a typical Democrat.
Even the All Comedy Network (KPHX 1480 AM; www.allcomedyradio.com) has a noticeable redneck male slant.
The Air America Radio network started just over a year ago, headlining
with Al Franken. It's thoroughly anti-Republican, often pro-Democrat,
but anti-war and impatient with pro-war and masochistic Democrats.
They have no Green Party hosts, as far as I know. They have one former
Green, now a Democrat in the AZ House of Representatives, Kyrsten
Sinema, hosting the Truth to Power Hour on Saturday afternoons, 2 to 4 p.m.
They have Eco Talk on Sundays from 8 to 9 a.m. Twice that length of time is given to talk programmes about cars (favourable to them).
They have a libertarian, Charles Goyette, who's great criticising the
Republicans and sometimes the Democrats. He's on 7 to 10 a.m., Monday
through Friday.
I believe the several other local talk-radio
stations are all quite pro-Republican. Take heart, though, because it
takes only a pinch of truth to scatter a horde of liars.
End of Article # 3.
Article # 4.
Humour cartoon about immigration. (Imagine it!)
by Korky Day.
We don't have an article yet about immigration, so in the meantime,
here is an idea of mine for a cartoon. I'm not a great artist and we
don't have graphics yet for this e-newsletter anyway, so just imagine
this scene:
Bush II and Dick Cheney are watching people slip across an unguarded part of the border from Mexico into Arizona.
Bush: "How kin we build a wall rill cheap to keep all them @#$%&* Mexicans out?"
Cheney: "I'll get Halliburton to hire a lot of undocumented workers."
Steve Benson (Arizona Republic newspaper) politely declined to draw that idea.
End of Article # 4.
Article # 5. Croatian women seize power from "lazy" men!
From a report 2005 December 21.
In Lozisca, Brac Island, Croatia, seven women candidates won all the seats on the village council, ousting the men.
Merica Bogdan, one of the seven, said, "The time has come for women to
rule. We were not satisfied with the work the men did for the
community and we launched a campaign to take political power and do
something good for Lozisca. Men will never have power here again. We
have agreed to let our men be in our beds, but never in politics again."
Despite few civic funds, they said that they have already arranged for
municipal cleaning, put up a Christmas tree, and begun to repair the
church.
Tonko Valerijev, husband of the council chief, said:
"They are a lot more persistent in their work than their predecessors.
Frankly, they're doing a great job."
Article # 6. New editor describes self, seeks co-editor.
by Korky Day.
Thank you for electing me editor 2005 November 19. No one else wanted
the job, but thanks, anyway! However, I'm still going to bug you to
submit announcements, articles, etc.
Also, in the Green Party tradition, I would like a male-female balance in leadership for the newsletter. So if
you are female, why not consider volunteering?
You're not required to write if you don't want to, but try to help us to include women's perspectives.
I grew up mostly in California until 1968, when I fled to BC, Canada,
as a war resister. In 2001, I started coming to Arizona part time for
personal reasons. Even when I'm home in Canada, though, I can still
edit this e-newletter on the Internet.
For 3 decades in Canada, I have been a journalist, broadcaster, and political-social activist.
I joined the Green Party in Vancouver, BC (the first place it existed
in the Western Hemisphere), around 1996. Because of my good political
reputation, I was elected chair of the Vancouver Greens soon
thereafter. Also, no one else wanted the job.
I registered Green in Arizona in 2001 and have been active here ever since--whenever I'm in Arizona.
If you notice some odd spelling, it might not be wrong, but might
simply be British spelling I learned in Canada. I also use Metric, which has been legal in the USA for over a century.
End of last article, # 6.
Articles for future issues.
Please volunteer to write!
Please volunteer to
write about one of these topics or a topic not listed.
* Indicates a writer is interested.
Green Party of Maricopa County, internal subjects.
1. How to register Green in AZ and/or get involved.
2. Party fundraising.
3. Name the newsletter contest.
4. What days of the week should we meet? Shall we poll people?
5. Task List and Talent List. Help your Green Party!
*6. Speaker's Bureau.
*7. Interning for the Green Party.
8. E-links to other Green Parties, including international, national, and within AZ.
9. Green Campaigns in Maricopa County.
10. Green Candidates in Maricopa County.
*11. Kinds of candidate campaigns.
12. Developing policy in the Maricopa County and the AZ Green Parties.
13. Developing endorsements and voter recommendations.
14. Getting Green statements into the official voter booklets.
15. Relating to other political parties.
State and local subjects.
1. Ballot status: history and strategy.
*2. School board funding solutions.
*3. Official "citizens' assemblies" in AZ, BC, and CA.
4. Electoral reform bills in AZ.
*5. Sustainable transportation in Maricopa County.
*6. Proposal for a Proportional Party.
7. First Friday Art Walk.
8. Co-ops, unions, and workplace democracy.
9. Adopting siesta in Arizona.
10. Full bilingualism for Arizona.
11. Women's parity in voting and government.
12. Arizona Institute for Peace Education Research (AIPER).
13. The League of Women Voters in
Arizona.
International and national subjects.
*1. Green solutions to immigration.
*2. Spoiler Voting; letters to Nader in 2004.
*3. United Nations reform.
*4. Peace Olympics.
End of Articles for future issues.
Masthead
(identity of publication, owners, address, etc.).
This is the E-Newsletter of the Green Party of Maricopa County, Arizona, USA.
Issue # 1, published 2006 January 2.
(c) Copyright by the authors and the Green Party of Maricopa County, Arizona, United States
of America.
This is our monthly e-newsletter. See also our Web publications www.maricopagreens.org and www.azgp.org.
Anyone, Green or not, may subscribe for free. Merely ask us, as
below. Your information will not be sold or given to others without
your permission.
This publication is rated G (for everyone).
Address:
Please submit letters, articles, announcements, tips, etc. by regular
e-mail (avoid attachments) or telephone. Please submit simultaneously
to the party info@azgp.org and to the editor (below).
All volunteer labour.
Editor and writer: Korky Day, telephone 480-966-9243; korkyday@yahoo.com. Co-chair of the county party: Angel Torres.
State party voice-mail and hot-line: (602) 417-0213.
Unless otherwise stated, all articles are the opinions of the authors and do not necessarily coincide with party policy.
If we accept advertising, it likely will be only ads compatible with Green Party principles.
We hope to have this issue and future issues of this newsletter at our Web site soon, www.maricopagreens.org.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Floaters Community Technology Center (www.floaters.org; 234 W. University Dr., Tempe); ASU
computers; Richard Scott; Angel Torres; and Celeste Castorena.
End of newsletter # 1.