From AlterNet
Imagine walking into the ballot booth and casting your vote without having to hold your nose. Imagine being able to vote for what you really believe, instead of telling yourself (yet again) that the best you can do is pick the lesser of two evils, including voting for someone who is a supporter of the war in Iraq. I can imagine having a real choice -- and it's the reason I'm challenging Hillary Clinton for the Democratic nomination for Senator from New York.My campaign will give New York voters a voice and a choice, for the differences between the incumbent and myself are stark and wide. She supported the war in Iraq from the beginning, and even now, after the deaths of 2,100 Americans and countless thousands of Iraqis, and the waste of hundreds of billions of dollars, still holds a position not very different from that of George Bush (find a "winning" strategy, then withdraw troops ... sometime.)
She still says NAFTA was a good thing. You remember NAFTA: it cost thousands of Americans their jobs, threatened the environment and encouraged big corporations to move jobs to countries with dismal labor rights. She has never advocated for real health care reform, like universal health care, because that would have meant taking on the powerful drug and insurance company lobbies. And she receives campaign cash from big corporate donors, including Wal-Mart.
My background, my positions and my beliefs are a mirror opposite. I am a long-time labor leader, organizer and activist, who will draw financial support in small amounts from many thousands. I am a patriot who has firmly and vocally opposed the war -- who thinks that real homeland security means bringing the troops home now -- and who believes that our economic future should not be determined by an ideology of corporate protection that moves good-paying jobs to countries that desecrate the environment and abuse their workers, and which leaves hardworking American men and women to face a dead-end future. I support providing Medicare to all Americans, so good health becomes a right, not a luxury for those who can afford it.
I also stand in challenge to the politics of business-as-usual -- and to the Democratic Party which has a chance to regain power, if it has the courage to put forth a message and agenda that is something more than Republican-lite. I have talked to people throughout New York State and the country, and they are hungry for that vision. My campaign offers progressives a chance to say their votes cannot be taken for granted, simply because a Democratic Party candidate is the "less bad" option. It gives us a chance to pursue our conception of what America should be.
Can I win this race? It's always tough to take on an incumbent. But whatever happens, I hope to leave behind a network of activists committed to taking back the country and electing leaders who have the nerve to stand against corporate abusive of power and those who would impose an American empire on the rest of the world. And I do not believe victory is impossible. The late Paul Wellstone's slogan was "vote for what you believe in," a slogan that is the clarion call for If the people of New York do that, we can win. The time has come to stop accepting second best. I've worked for a better world my entire adult life, and I still believe it's within reach.
Jonathan Tasini is the president of the Economic Future Group and the author of two books, including They Get Cake, We Eat Crumbs.
COMMENTPosted by: jolo on Dec 5, 2005 3:55 AM
PLEASE run and dump Hillary
1. First I have to address anyone who is a bigot or a "reverse" bigot. The fac t that Hillary Clinton is a woman, HAS NOTHING WHATSOEVER about her character, ethics, record, etc. Look at what a person is about, not their sex, race, religion, etc.
2. Hillary is nothing but a prostitute to Corporate America. She cares only about her individual power and money. She has dumped the supporters that she manipulated, mostly women, who thought she was someone that she isn't.
3. Her lack of integrity, courage, values and ideals are doing a number on the Democrats.
4. She is Bush light. When I have heard her disgusting stance on exploiting the soldiers and keeping the occupation of Iraq going because "we can't leave until something positive happens of it", say it all.
5. Where is she about the destruction of student loans, Where is she about the 100,000 paxpayer paid mercenaries fighting for U.S. Corporate interests in Iraq. Where is she about the lies that the administration dumped on the American people and congress for the reason for going into Iraq.
6. Where is she to stand up and let people know that "insurgents" are Iraqi citizens who are fighting against the takeover of a their oil resources by another country. THEY ARE NOT TERRORISTS. There WAS NO terrorism until the U.S. illegally blew up their soverign nation, took away their media, gave contracts to fix the destroyed infustructure to Halliburon without any bids. They destroyed their schools, hospitals, infustructure, ways to get food and electricity.
7. Where is she to support the troops, meaning, getting them the heck out of there and home where they belong. Is she active in getting protective vests, boots, food, equipment, arms to the soldiers. Is she helping to stop the closing of military hospitals?
8. As a "women", where was she when a women general who exposed and refused to order torture in Iraq was FIRED by by the army.
9. Hillary has been very instrumental in wrecking the lives of so many middle class people with her clandestine meetings with Indian Businessmen, against the interests of American workers and their famalies.
Thanks,
Jon
