Letters to the Editor

Vol. 1, No. 5--December 4, 2004

Dear PDA,

Thank you to Tom Hayden who visited Minnesota before the election. I had an opportunity to hear him at Maria's in Minneapolis. It was an energizing presentation. Also to all the others from PDA who did so much here in Minnesota, you deserve some credit both for Kerry's substantial victory and for the Progressive turn in the Minnesota Legislature.

One of the great legislative initiatives is the Department of Peace. I understand the bill will be reintroduced in January 2005. I'd love to see some coverage of this campaign.

--Mary Jane LaVigne

Dear PDA,

I am going to a local democratic meet up for my community, Euless, TX. I shall hand out "A Progressive Plan to Change America." I have been disturbed by the publication of "Confessions of an Economic Hitman" by John Perkins. This is not new information, the Anti-WTO movement has been telling us for years that the U.S. has been loaning $ to the developing countries and when they cannot possibly pay it back that our banking institutions take over their economy and that this corruption is destroying the environment in these countries. My feeling is that the Progressive Democrats will be able to correct this corruption; although, it does sound like too slow of a process and perhaps a movement supporting the Anti-WTO Movement may need to act immediately and independently of the Progressive Democratic Organization or as a off-shoot of the PD organization. I'm thinking of ways to overcome this corrupt government as I'm writing this and my thought is that the above information can be used to mobilize the American people to action. It's hard not to be impatient to clean up this mess as so many peoples are suffering.

--Nel LaBar

Dear PDA,

Thought this might be of interest to you. Myself and a fellow progressive democrat exchanged a phone call after the election and said to each other that we simply have got to get a progressive caucus going in Genesee County, and get it recognized by the county party. We called an initial meeting that left us about 3 days to get the word out. We expected maybe 20 people in our wildest dreams...and 79 showed up.

This past Saturday at our county party convention, our new progressive caucus was recognized and allotted 2 executive board seats. I also called our local paper's political beat writer who was interested in our story...and we got a nice sized article on the second page of the front section. We are currently working on setting up our December meeting, and beginning to think about where we are going to go from here. The information on the PDA website has been very helpful to me, and my hope is that our caucus will end up deciding to affiliate with PDA.

Peace,
--Rusty Ward
Grand Blanc, MI
Interim Co-Chair, Progressive Democrats of Genesee County
Recording Secretary Genesee County Democratic Party

Dear PDA,

We no sooner have seen the last election completed only to see the Republicans have resurrected their favorite prescription for mindless leadership. As of yesterday the newest California billionaire actor airhead politician has announced his intentions for the presidency. It appears the Republican political theory is "if it ain't broke don't fix it!!" Pun intended.

Sadly and Sincerely -

--Sue Sherman
Waddell AZ

Dear PDA,

Suggested Readings:

Culture War? The Myth of a Polarized America by Morris P. Fiorina, 2005, Pearson Education Inc., (paperback)
"Any serious scholar, journalist, or observer of American politics needs to read this book." Kenneth M. Goldstein, U of Wisconsin-Madison

What's the Matter in Kansas? by Thomas Frank

Don't Think of an Elephant: Know Your Values and Frame the Debate--The Essential Guide for Progressives by George Lakoff

Others?? We need ways to learn how to communicate with non-progressives.

Thanks for all that you're doing. You're looking good.

--G. E. Thomson

Dear Editor:

I would like to see PDA call on the Democratic Party leadership to stand up and oppose the forty-three year old embargo against Cuba. It is an outdated policy that every administration in the past, Democrats and Republicans alike, has either glazed over or side-stepped altogether. In addition, the current Bush administration has tightened travel restrictions all the more, causing undue suffering for families on both sides, and further crippling the Cuban economy. These measures are unjust, unfair, downright cruel, and hamper any possibilities of working towards a peaceful and prosperous world.

There are many worthwhile issues where PDA will undoubtedly be having an influence on the Party's leadership, and that of the Cuban embargo is also crucial in that people's lives are directly affected. Now that we, as progressives, are exercising our right to speak up and be heard, the policy regarding the Cuban embargo is one which should be brought up to the Committee as a matter of progressive vision.

Sincerely,
--Elaine Cruz

Dear Editor,

If the Progressives' objective is reforming the Democratic Party into a vehicle to achieve all of the worthwhile objectives enumerated in the Nov. 15 statement, why is "give greater voice to third party campaigns" included? A third party campaign was key to Gore's loss in 2000 and ate up energy that could have helped elect Kerry in 2004. Why, as Democrats, do we want a greater voice for third parties? to me, is seems self-defeating and counter-productive. Let third parties do what they like, of course, but with no help from the Democratic organizations.

--Ivan Swift

Dear PDA,

I was quite impressed with Tom Hayden when he spoke at various forums in Boston during the week of the Democratic National Convention. Despite my expectations, Hayden was calm, rational, and clearly analytical. I think he knows what he's talking about, as you can see in this article.

Certainly it's good to see progressive groups like Dean's DFA and the PDA uniting with each other. It's even nice to see MoveOn rallying its supporters. But so far, all the agendas I've seen remain scattered, media- and election-oriented, and powerless to unite a strong progressive movement capable of defeating Bushism anytime soon. I'm fully in support of a recount as well, but let's face it: in all probability the election is over. No popularity contest remains. Considerations of how to "win over" FOX-fuddled moderate conservatives and cautious fundamentalists are too late. We don't even know when fair elections will be held again in this country.

If we want to win our democracy back as well as the next election, we progressives must come together now with a powerful, action-oriented, and unifying strategy, not just an impotent, lowest-common-denominator ideology. Like Hayden, the only unifying and winning strategy I see is the one we started with a year and a half ago: the movement to end the occupation and devastation of Iraq. This movement encompasses all the others, from global warming to the malignant national debt to ingrained racism to trashed civil liberties to our languishing social priorities. If we succeed in uniting ourselves against the war, our movement will grow and spread and win larger and larger struggles. As Hayden points out, this has worked here before. If, instead, we just go on re-fighting the last election, we'll doom ourselves to go on being defeated, month after month, year after year.

There's not a lot of time left: the democratic sphere of action is shrinking in this country. Now's the time to bring ourselves together and focus our power on Bush's greatest weak point. It's time our actions said to both Bush and his war, "Out now!"

--Bill Sloan

Dear PDA,

There was a picture of an anti-gay marriage protester burning the Massachusetts Constitution on the first anniversary of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court's decision (Front Page Section B Friday November 19th) that really says it all. While they're at it, I guess the US Constitution will be the next one they want to burn. After all, it also has an Equal Protection clause in it.

I, for one, am fond of both Constitutions and hope they survive the current "morality." Who really has moral values in America? Someone who tells others they are sinners and works to deny them equal rights?

Those who only see the splinter in the others' eye aren't the Religious Right, they're the Religious Wrong!

--Ed Yeats
Newton, MA

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