Re: Thomas Frank op-ed piece

[Yoshie Furuhashi <furuhashi.1@xxxxxxx>]

At 4:31 PM -0400 7/21/04, Michael Pollak wrote:
> > self-selected candidates often don't care whether they get local
> > party support or not (and sometimes prefer not), surely
> > progressive/left folks can do better than this with whatever shell
> > of an organization exists...
>
> I think there is now a much more effective model available for
> affecting the nomination than taking over the party: the MoveOn
> model. MoveOn almost nominated Dean.

I don't think that it was worth leftists' time to fight to have
Howard Dean nominated, as Dean's agenda in some crucial respects
(especially on Iraq) went against leftists', but, supposing that
there were left-of-center liberal folks who really, really, wanted to
nominate him as the Democratic presidential candidate, it's now clear
that it takes much more than internet communication to win in the
caucuses and primaries.

Besides, the MoveOn model is strictly one-way communication from the
center to the margins (unlike the Dean model), far more centralized
and undemocratic than any other organization on the left side of the
political spectrum.

At 4:10 PM -0400 7/22/04, Michael Hoover wrote:
> partial example of what i've been trying to get at: harold
> washington's brief time as chicago mayor in the mid-1980s remains
> important because what emerged was a potentially powerful
> dialectical relationship between politicians and movement, politicos
> in downtown 'suites' were emboldened by activsts in neighorhood
> 'streets', political mobilization and organization operated 'outside
> of government' yet were linked 'organically'' to it worked to
> embolden policymakers. Results were, admittedly, limited (but
> achieved in face of white-dominated city council and under scrutiny
> of white local media), but included some shifting power and
> resources to neighborhoods (including creating neighborhood coops),
> fostering further mobilization of previously inactive folks
> (neighborhood orgs could review all city economic development
> programs and submit economic assistance proposals), and attempting
> some redistribution towards lower-income individuals/groups
> (considere no-no for municipal gov't because spending on the poor
> requires higher local taxes that are unattractive to potential
> investors), things imploded in aftermath of washington's (not
> necessarily my idea of appealing politician but that's not point)
> untimely death...

And there is a reason why reforms and mobilizations did not last
beyond Washington's death.

At 4:10 PM -0400 7/22/04, Michael Hoover wrote:
> was underwhelmed by list of elected green party members, most had no
> links to them, number of links to some who did were apparently
> broken, and most sites i was able to access made no mention that
> folks were green party members, most offices held are probably
> nonpartisan with respect to ballot but i'd have thought these people
> would want to highlight/promote green party and their membership in
> it at their websites, no indication of concerted party efforts but
> rather individual candidates running conventional campaigns that
> have little real connection to one another (nothing wrong with this
> but not indication of party growth/strength)...

The US-style electoral system strongly acts against party-building,
but it's better to have a political party like the Green Party than a
Washington-style campaign, which is doomed to remain in one location
and destined to die with the person with whom mobilization is
inseparably associated.
--
Yoshie

* Critical Montages: <http://montages.blogspot.com/>
* Greens for Nader: <http://greensfornader.net/>
* Bring Them Home Now! <http://www.bringthemhomenow.org/>
* Calendars of Events in Columbus:
<http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/calendar.html>,
<http://www.freepress.org/calendar.php>, & <http://www.cpanews.org/>
* Student International Forum: <http://sif.org.ohio-state.edu/>
* Committee for Justice in Palestine: <http://www.osudivest.org/>
* Al-Awda-Ohio: <http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-Ohio>
* Solidarity: <http://www.solidarity-us.org/>