Funny that you limit expropriation to those receiving or applying for bailouts. But we have apples and oranges here, i.e., you counterpose a program to an actual party. To be charitable, you might rephrase your comment to “real alternative, which is a PARTY with a revolutionary socialist program.” But that might entail discussing how such [...]

I’m putting out that we need to support the Greens as the best 3rd party out there, and in Dump Capitalism I go into how independents can work to either improve the Green Party or go beyond it. I don’t claim that the Greens are anything but what they are, a flawed but functioning alternative.

I’d be impressed if you were putting out anything other than bold abstractions. I don’t carp about the perfect being the enemy of the good, but for chrissake, you’re not putting out anything.

At this point, nothing much on the left is a threat to anybody, at least in the electoral arena. (Occupy is a different matter.) So what is your master plan to achieve working class solidarity and political power? No, I didn’t think so.

I reference the Green party that Jill Stein is seeking the nomination of. By the way, you seem to at least have that shit straight. The smaller so-called Greens are virtually unknown and are not a factor.

The point relative to this piece is that Hudson is talking about a 3rd party, an alternative, not a socialist (which word you lack the nerve to state) party. The merits of the Greens is open for vigorous debate (see my own Dump Capitalism 6: not easy being Green for more on that. Meanwhile, the party [...]

Hudson is gutless. There is a 3rd party, the Greens, however flawed. But he won’t say “vote Green!” He observes the problem, but does nothing to get people off the dime.

But how do they break out of the 3rd party ghetto?

Yes there is a difference. For that matter, there was a difference between Hitler and Mussolini. But so what? Fact is, those who tout the real difference are also working to short-circuit our building what needs to be built (independent 3rd party) to oppose the system. See, it’s the system, not the representatives of the [...]

So who are you going to vote for? What party will you actively support? What should we build?

Your anger is merely a cost of doing business to them. And it’s old.

How about YOUR ideas of what the new society would look like, how would it be attainable? Okay, that’s not a fair question. But get my point? Marxism had a marvelous integration of end goals and how it was to be achieved, and it inspired hundreds of millions. But history moved beyond it, beyond a [...]

Important piece. Now my usual plaint. Any ideas how we can take what happened here out to the rest of the country? These are the kind of things that give me hope.

You raise serious points. For starters, I’m obviously using my computer or you wouldn’t have read this. Perhaps not so much that I’m “in the middle of nowhere,” but that I don’t have the visibility or following to take on a project like that. In Dump Capitalism 3 and 4, I try to wrestle with [...]

There is always something to disagree with if what you want to do is to disagree.

Thank you!

Right on! My problem is that I can easily come up with ideas, but I am in the middle of nowhere and lack the means to make them happen. Sounds like you have an effective organized force doing what they can with what they have. At the risk of jumping the gun, how could you [...]

Since I lived for 20+ years in New York and New Jersey, I have some familiarity with the Working Families Party. New York allows cross-endorsement, and WFP, while to the left of the Democratic Party, functions as an adjunct to the Democrats more and more. As their website states, “In 2010, more than 1000 politicians [...]

Maybe what we need is some kind of unity statement signed by hundreds, if not thousands, of activists pushed in front of Rocky Anderson and Jill Stein?

Interesting idea. But certain questions immediately arise. Who is to draft this statement? And who is to organize the gathering of those hundreds if not thousands of signatures? The [...]

A valid question. Greens have: name recognition decent (though long) program ballot status in many states some level of organization

Why not use those new activist organizations and turn them loose on the Democrats?

If I was king, there’s all sorts of things I’d do. Alas (or to the great relief of many), I’m not king. [...]

Remember that the hammer & sickle folks did it with bread, land and peace. These days, the hammer would be “jobs program” and the sickle would be “peace”! Different tactics for different fronts. This as an electoral tactic would set the stage for Occupy, as I see the relationship developing. Problem is, I’m just one [...]