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PRN’s A Better World Discussion: Our Way Forward with Rocky Anderson, Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, & Barbara Marx Hubbard
Last night Rocky joined host Mitchell Rabin in a discussion with Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich, and Barbara Marx Hubbard. It was a rich program full of straight-forward discussion about the current state of America and, conversely, the prospect we have to come together to ensure a better future.
In other news, Rocky will be a recurring guest on The Norman Goldman Show, a progressive talk show. Goldman has invited Rocky Anderson to be a regular guest on his interactive talk radio show every Wednesday. Check him out this Wednesday on July 4th!
On to some quick updates, it’s been awhile:
In CA, the campaign & the ACLU sued the state in order to get on the ballot because of onerous signature requirements. However for now that problem looks to be resolved. The Peace and Freedom Party, associated in the past with Ralph Nader, nominated Anderson to their ticket. He beat out the two prominent socialist candidates (Stewart Alexander-Socialist Party USA & Stephen Durham-Freedom Socialist Party) in the primary. Anderson should qualify for the ballot under the Peace and Freedom Party ticket.
In New Mexico, a similar strategy was taken, and Anderson will be on the ballot under the New Mexico Independent Party, which again has ties to Nader’s previous campaign for the presidency.
In VT, the campaign submitted the required amount of petition signatures, but the state rejected them because of onerous, unnecessary requirements. FWIW, the Stein campaign is also struggling to overcome similar issues in VT, as well as IL and MD. The Anderson campaign is suing to overturn this decision, and a hearing is set in a few weeks. I believe another suit may occur in Hawaii to get on the ballot there as well.
Already on the ballot in Mississippi! Utah also, which is his home state, as you know.
Needless to say, there are efforts all across the country for ballot access. In case he does not make it on the ballot in your state, remember there is always the write-in option.
Remember to please donate if you are able. It’s critical for small campaigns and upstart parties!
10 Comments
Thank you, jest.
Recommended to the denizens of FDL …
DW
Thanks for the update on Rocky. Many of us here at the Lake have expressed interest in him.
I think he started too late this cycle. It was kind of my hope that he’d work with Stein to improve her chances. That being said a vote for someone other than the Uniparty is a step in the right direction.
Perhaps, but it was always going to be an uphill climb. He’s taken on a major undertaking almost single handedly.
I’m either missing something here or everything in this world is going, if not swimmingly, then well enough.
The way I see it, neoliberalism is sinking the world economies and austerity, that is generational rent/debt-indenture, privatization of the commons and a toll booth economy put together will still not make the capitalists whole, yet that is precisely what Washington is promising (cat food commission and all that…)
So in view of this promise of crushing austerity, and in view of Nader’s own accolades regarding the Left-Right Alliance, in his own words ‘the most exciting new political dynamic’ I’m looking at this marginal effort which clearly cannot muster the numbers to have a snowball’s chance of wining, and all I can think of is VANITY.
Why not a Third Parties series of Summits? Why not turn the politics of old on their head and instead of running campaigns based on one upmanship and division, run a campaign based on shared planks of accord?
What am I missing here? If they do not see what I and many others see (Michael Hudson, Richard, Wolff, the whole RT network, etc.) then are they really leadership material?
Just asking.
You have very valid points.
Regarding the “Summits,” Greens and Socialists are just now starting to coalesce in very small ways. It’s not enough by any means, but there is the beginning of an acknowledgement that both parties want to enact the same policies. Libertarians and Greens have also teamed up many times in ballot access lawsuits across the country. The Justice Party also has ties to Americans Elect (I’m not defending AE, just stating a fact), so there is that also.
The bigger problem is as follows: If a bunch of third parties have a summit in the forest, and no one is there to hear it, will anyone give a shit?
I would, but that’s just me.
Then there’s the money issue (or lack thereof), which is a whole other obstacle for them to overcome. It’s a bit more complicated than you make it out to be.
I’m not suggesting that it is simple. As for the forest; here we are. So you are correct that outside it’s parameter, and it’s a tight one indeed, no one here you/us.
But if Jill Stein, Stewart Alexander(got beaten by Rocky-whoppee?!) Rocky Anderson, Gary Johnson, Ron Paul’s now bewildered cohort etc, were to start pushing their respective candidates to publish open letters calling for such a series of summits—attended by RT, AlJazzeera, You Tube as a vehicle, a bunch of smaller independent sites, etc,…you get the drift, this would not go over quietly. Furthermore the MSM’s silence on this development would be deafening – CNN, because of its hackery is becoming a secondary network. This is, after all the age of the internet, and if no one tries, if we don’t make demands on those we gravitate towards, then we will have failed to enact what we are striving for: a horizontal, or at least diagonal, democracy.
Thanks for replying.
There is little doubt, aprescoup, that what you suggest will, eventually, need to be tried … perhaps “next time”?
Beyond vanity, as you have suggested, there seems little reason why a coalition should not be formed.
My sense is that the old “model”, exemplified by the legacy parties, of staking out a specific “terrain” (like planting the flag on the moon or claiming America for the queen or the Pope) yet holds sway.
You are just ahead (how “far” is hard to determine)of the “curve”.
DW
They actually did have a summit. Stein, Anderson, Alexander, Durham, and Johnson were all invited to a debate, which was supposed to be covered by C-Span, and is on youtube. I think it was even on a section of Current TV’s website, too.
They even had a second smaller meeting, which was livestreamed. I actually did a post about it a few months ago; incidentally this is exactly what I meant with the forest metaphor. No one gives a shit, and the ones who do frequently can’t access it.
My point is that these guys aren’t dumb, and most of the things you have thought of, they probably have thought of also. I can assure you they have been trying to get airtime with big media, but they get turned down. I know for a fact the Stein campaign has been trying to do an interview with DemocracyNow for months, but they only seem to be interested in interviewing Nader & Barr.
The silence is already deafening, particularly on the shows that are supposed to be progressive. That’s why I was pleased to hear that Goldman is letting Anderson come on the show regularly.
DWBartoo, jest, thanks both for the replies.
jest,
So what happened to Nader’s most exciting new political dynamic? He’s been mumm since both he and Kucinich seem to have been rather boldly gravitating in that direction last time around? It’s a rhetorical question, of course.
I saw a political compass graph, unfortunately Jill’s was not plotted on it though it’s probably safe to assume that she would fall somewhat to the right of Stew. Alexander, and it is rather telling in that it suggests that our politicians are largely to the public’s right, with the legacy parties’ candidates occupying some rather scary environs. – http://wp.me/p1hyep-2ii
I have also noticed that many of us plant our own flags within one or two internet addresses and effectively check ourselves into forrest glades. For some it’s a perfect fit, for others, the dissenters from the status quo, it’s something else…
While the dissenters come in various flavors, when disappeared—as a I have witnessed lately on various sites(their presence tends to be barely tolerated)—not having some more friendly base to call their own their disappearance, purging if you will, finds them, all of the sudden, alone in the wilderness without a place to turn to and lost to the rest of us…
Well, sorry for digressing, thanks again for responding.