Obama and Republican John McCain will be competing in the fall for the decisive independent voters.
We are individuals who are hungry for change. We believe the
government does not represent our interests. We believe our country is
headed for hard times. We are not all the scapegoat reactionaries or
gullible followers that so many media personalities think we are. We
do not want war. We want peace and prosperity for all.
We are pragmatic populist progressive libertarians. We are pragmatic
in our approach to political change, populist in that we believe the
government has an obligation to listen to the people even when it does
not want to hear the message, progressive in that we believe in the
working class, in equal rights and equal opportunity. We are
libertarian because we believe that no government should impose on the
private affairs of its citizens.
Our pragmatism dictates that we are tempered in our expectations. We
will not push for programs, reforms or legislation that has no
realistic chance of being enacted. For example, we recognize that
government sponsored health insurance (a single-payer system) is the
ultimate solution to our health and medical care crisis but we also
know that there is not a sufficient base of support to overcome the
inevitable charge of “socialized medicine” – no matter how specious the
accusation.
The politics of pragmatism means that in deference to other social,
political and economic interests, we do not expect any branch of
government to settle the questions of same sex marriage or a woman’s
right to choose abortion. We do not believe these issues should decide
the composition of our next government.
The politics of pragmatism, however, does not value and will not accept
pandering. We expect our leaders to state their positions, express
their values and explain their beliefs. We expect you to answer all
questions openly and honestly without regard to political expediency.
We demand that our government listen to the people. We expect you to
listen as intently as politicians traditionally listen to lobbyists and
special interests – as if your political lives depended on it. We
expect you to address all issues of great concern to the people. We
expect you to find solutions that you believe have the greatest
potential to alleviate today’s problems without creating new problems
in the future. We expect you to balance the common good against the
rights of individuals.
On the issue of national security, we expect a reasoned approach. We
will not sacrifice individual civil liberties. We do not deny the
relationship between American foreign policy and terrorism. We desire
a foreign policy that respects the rights and cultural differences of
other nations. We want an end to the policy of American exceptionalism
that claims the right to attack other nations without provocation, that
exempts America from the universal laws of all nations and that demands
of others what we would not submit to ourselves. We support diplomacy,
international law and international institutions that provide an
alternative to military intervention for the resolution of conflicts.
As we strengthen international institutions and lengthen their reach,
we would like to see unnecessary military bases shut down and the
resources channeled to other causes that enhance our chances of
survival on the planet.
On the issue of immigration, we recognize the concerns that an open
border brings but we do not agree that a wall separating us from our
neighbors is a reasonable solution. We cannot ignore the fundamental
truth that nearly all of us are the descendents of unwanted invaders.
A wall is the multi-billion dollar non-solution of pandering
politicians who do not want to see the problem go away. If there were
no immigration problem, how would they defend the policies they have
promoted for two decades? If they could not blame illegal immigrants
they would have to accept responsibility for the global trade policies
that have stolen our jobs and deflated our wages.
We understand that illegal immigration is a symptom of the disease†that
charades under the flag of Free Trade. We understand that neither a
wall nor mass deportation is a practical solution. The migrant workers
who came to this country were responding to the economic realities of
their own nations – realities that were created by the global economic
policy that our leaders in the White House and congress not only
supported but sponsored.
We want our government to fight for international labor laws, including
the right to living wages, and the means to enforce them. We want you
to fight against anti-labor laws in our own nation that falsely
proclaim the “right to work” as they set up barriers to union
organization.
In the case of China, a nation that parlays unfair trade, environmental
recklessness and exploited workers to economic dominance, that owns our
debt and possesses the means to control our currency, we recognize that
we cannot reverse the damage that has been done over decades in a day,
a year or even four or eight years but we must begin the reversal now.
In the cases of India, Malaysia, Indonesia, Latin American and African
nations, whose workers have been exploited to their ultimate detriment
as well as ours, we should form a Fair Trade alliance to effect more
immediate change, inviting the European Union and other nations to form
a united front against the Free Trade mandate of the World Trade
Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. We
expect our government to take lead this effort.
On the issue of climate change and environmental protection, we
recognize that time is short and will not wait for economic reform. In
the last few decades we have witnessed an acceleration of global
warming and natural catastrophes. We can no longer afford to debate
the relative responsibility of human causes; we must act now.
Recognizing that we have done more than any other nation and probably
more than all nations combined to fill the planet’s atmosphere with
toxic pollutants, we hold a disproportionate responsibility to lead a
green revolution.
Unlike labor standards and living wages, we cannot take a gradual
approach to this crisis. We cannot allow China, India or any other
developing nations to pursue the same industrial path that we followed
in the last century. We must therefore enable all nations to follow a
new path, a path of clean energy, a path that utilizes all the planet’s
resources in solar, geothermal, wind and other renewable sources, a
path that maximizes fuel efficiency, localized production and global
mass transit.
America can lead this monumental effort by redirecting the resources we
have devoted to weapons of mass destruction and war or watch other
nations lead while our economy continues to struggle against the tide
of planetary evolution. We can lead by moving the world away from the
growing threat and inevitable catastrophe of nuclear energy. As recent
history has instructed us, nuclear energy begets nuclear weapons. We
can afford neither and we must take the lead in disarming and
dismantling both with dedicated and sincere resolve.
While we lead the world in this critical transformation, we cannot
ignore the degradation of human values that has eroded our standing
abroad even as it has weakened us at home. Liberty and justice can no
longer be slogans for military invasion even as the rights of citizens
are sacrificed at home to the false gods of patriotism and security.
On this there can be no compromise. The right to privacy in one’s
property, communications and personal affairs must be guarded
religiously. The right to dissent in words and actions must be
upheld. Freedom of religion, freedom of thought, freedom of speech and
the right to assemble in protest must be defended. The Patriot Act
must be exposed for what it is: A pretext for enabling the most
abusive government intrusion into the private lives of its citizens in
all of human history.
We believe in a press that cannot be bought and will not be used as a
government propaganda agent. We believe that every media outlet has a
solemn responsibility to investigate and report the facts without fear
of consequence. We believe that media reform ensuring the independence
and diversity of the press is essential to a functioning democracy.
We believe in the right of individuals to be free from government
invasion and interference in all cases except where a clear and
compelling cause can be demonstrated to an impartial judicial
authority.
We have not thrived as a nation by backtracking on the fundamental
rights of our founding. Instead, we have always struggled to expand
our rights and liberties and to defend them against the inevitable
assault of our enemies.
At this critical time in our history, we must recognize that once again
our most dangerous enemies are not those who would strike us from afar
but those who live within our borders. These enemies wear the masks of
our defenders. They have won positions of power and influence and they
have launched a determined attack at the core of our greatness.
These enemies are not new to the American story. They were the
profiteers and British loyalist during the revolution. They were the
authors of the Alien and Sedition Acts. They were the traders and
plantation masters who went to war rather than yield a way of life
built on the exploitation of slaves. They were the corporate
monopolists that suppressed labor with hired thugs. They were the
McCarthy era fear mongers forcing citizens of every stripe to sign
loyalty oaths and blacklisting those who resisted. They were the white
supremacists preaching a gospel of intolerance, spreading terror with
lynching and imposing their will with laws of segregation and
disenfranchisement. They were the traditionalists who fought back
women’s suffrage and continue to fight women’s rights and civil rights
and opportunity for the least privileged among us.
The enemies of American freedom have always lived within our borders,
disguised as friends and neighbors, waiting for the opportunity to
press their cause of oppression. They always claim the moral high
ground, always wear the badge of patriotism and always proclaim
themselves defenders of the American way.
The enemies of America have come out of the shadows once again and it
is the duty of every loyal citizen to oppose them with all the resolve
and unity that we would summon to oppose a foreign invader.
We are at a crossroads. Perhaps all generations believe that theirs is
the greatest challenge and all are largely correct. For as long as
more and greater weapons are being developed without a reciprocal
development of diplomacy and humanitarian values, the world of the
future will always be more dangerous until at last the die is cast and
we have crossed the threshold of no return.
I fear as we should all fear that we are approaching that threshold.
That is the challenge we must embrace. That is the reason we will
overcome all barriers to achieve a world that other generations have
only dreamed: because we must, we will.
Jazz.
JACK RANDOM IS THE AUTHOR OF THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES (CROW DOG PRESS)
AND GHOST DANCE INSURRECTION (DRY BONES PRESS). THE CHRONICLES HAVE
BEEN POSTED ON NUMEROUS CITES OF THE WORLDWIDE WEB, INCLUDING THE
ALBION MONITOR, BELLACIAO, BUZZLE, COUNTERPUNCH, DISSIDENT VOICE, THE
DAILY SCARE, THE NATIONAL FREE PRESS AND PACIFIC FREE PRESS. SEE
WWW.JAZZMANCHRONICLES.BLOGSPOT.COM.
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