Washblog || Priorities for Nov. 06: What are they?

Priorities for Nov. 06: What are they?

By noemie maxwell
Sun Apr 02, 2006 at 03:02:56 PM PST
Section: Washington State Topic: Election news/info

I've got my election year priorities for 06 and I'm trying to make sense of how they fit them into my schedule in upcoming months. I'm interested to hear about what people think I'm missing here -- and what others are focusing on.

Undoing decades of work citizens and public officials, trashing our environment, and betraying the public good: The single most urgent threat I see this election season is the Developer's Loophole Initiative, which proposes to moot out most environmental and zoning laws on private property in Washington State. It's based on a philosophy that depicts the public good as a threat to private property. But aren't environmental and civic health the very foundation of private property's value?
Compare with this approach The Cascade Agenda, an "100-year program that conserves more than 1.26 million acres of land from Puget Sound to the Columbia River, encourages wise development of homes and business in the growing four-county area and fosters a non-regulatory, market-based approach to cooperation between business and conservationists." Which one makes more sense?
Too many Johnsons on our State Supreme Court: Steve Johnson, my current state Senator in the 47th Legislative District is running for WA's Supreme Court -- with enthusiastic backing by the developer's lobby. I see Steve Johnson as a reactionary and a rubber stamp for the greedy plutocrats. Johnson is a name is one we see often in relation to WA's Supreme Court. Jim Johnson, another reactionary, won a seat on our state's highest court in 2004. I suspect Steve's been picked to run because of his name -- it makes him more likely to win. I've posted on this race -- and on the developer connection here .

More below...

The flow of anti-democratic money into our elections: This is a factor in every race and ballot initiative this year. One of the worst examples involves money that workers pay into the worker's compensation fund. Millions of dollars of that money in WA gets refunded to the employers who collect it through Labor and Industries Retrospective Rebate program. Some of those employers, Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW) and Washington Farm Bureau (WSFB), among them, then pour that money into our electoral system. BIAW is likely to put lots of money into Steve Johnson's race for Supreme Court. WSFB is directing worker's compensation money into supporting their Developer's Loophole Initiative.

This problem can't be solved this election season. But anti-democratic funding is a factor in every race and ballot initiative coming up. The more we remind people about it, the better all our electoral outcomes are going to be.

Go Darcy Burner: Here in the 8th Congressional District, we have a race of critical national importance. A win by Darcy Burner is critically important.

Hands off Washington: The State House and Senate races in my Legislative Districe -- and the national legislative races -- are of equal importance to me this year. Washington State politics are a target of anti-democratic national organizations that have set their sights on making us red. I believe that Washingtonians should have the say on what happens here in our state. Progressive Legislative Action Network makes the case here for the crucial importance of state politics.

I'm focusing on the legislative district where I live, the 47th. The Senate race here, with Democrats Claudia Kauffman and Ed Crawford in the primary, is likely to be the most hotly contested. Steve Reichert, AKA "baby Reichert" will be running on the Republican ticket.

An ethical dilemma: Finally, Cantwell. As DWE, Dlaw, and others have pointed out here on Washblog, her support of the Iraq war and silence on the threats to our democracy are -- are problemmatic indeed -- as are her votes in support of CAFTA and the bankruptcy law and the Patriot Act. They bolster a morally bankrupt administration, further beleaguer the middle class, and weaken our democratic institutions. But Maria Cantwell is an environmental champion. With McGavick in there, we will see pro-climate-change votes. We'll be likely to see drilling in ANWR . Maria, I beg of you, please wake up.

Strategic tolerance v doctrinal politics: A first concern I'm putting last because it's not so much an action as a plea. And that's for a greater valuing of strategic political tolerance. Glaciers are melting, soldiers are coming home broken in body and spirit, our Bill of Rights -- and science and reason themselves -- are under siege. Seems a waste to use valuable time and energy to criticize each other over style or relatively minor ideological differences. Politics should be practical, not doctrinal. Some of the comments on Washblog prove my point, I believe.

More strategic tolerance across all the social and political divides -- not just among progressives -- would do us good. As Jim Hightower says, the real political divide in this country is not left to right, but top to bottom. The plutocrats have been extremely successful at their crazymaking: getting regular people who should be allies to hate each other. We have handed much power to the plunderers.
Sam Harris in The End of Faith, which looks at the pitiless assaults of religious faith on our democracy, compares the seriousness of the challenges we face with the utter irrelevance of the obsession with sin that our religion has caused to be enshrined in our laws. Imagine adding the word, political, in front of the word "sin" in this passage:
"Given the magnitude of the real problems that confront us -- terrorism, nuclear proliferation, the spread of infectious disease, failing infrastructure, lack of adequate funds for education and health care, etc. -- our war on sin is so unwise as to almost defy rational comment. How have we grown so blind to our deeper interests?"

< Habitat restoration, unlimited ducks and flood-damaged homeowners. Part II | Reichert's pal DeLay resigns & blames the judge >

Priorities for Nov. 06: What are they? | 6 comments (6 topical)

A Permanent Diary of Campaigns to Work

on with links to the various diaries where people debated the particular campaign?

From a party centric perspective this is a crappy idea - those in favor of party / insider centric "organization" want potential recruits going to the central office / database and being doled out according to what the insiders and central people think is important.

Since people don't work too hard or too long if they aren't interested / jazzed / psyched, this kind of top down organization has proven its ineffectiveness time and time again.

The easier it is for people to find a campaign to work on that interests them equals

more people involved equals

more chance of success for all campaigns.

here in the 36th, I'd like a URL to point to that has LOTS of ideas for my neighbors - they are gonna vote, they know what the candidates stand for and what is going on.

rmm.

http://www.liemail.com/BambooGrassroots.html

by rmdSeaBos on Sun Apr 02, 2006 at 04:03:42 PM PST

* 1 none 0 *

36th to 47th Dem help out

http://www.washblog.com/story/2006/4/2/212356/2790

is something that seems useful for me to advertise in my area -

we'll be bombarded this summer and fall by the same barrage of lefty groups looking for money ...

so that can "fight" the good fight like they've been doing for 2+ decades,

which they've been getting creamed on for 2+ decades.

rmm.

http://www.liemail.com/BambooGrassroots.html

by rmdSeaBos on Sun Apr 02, 2006 at 06:30:24 PM PST

* 2 none 0 *

Yes, this is happening by noemie maxwell, 04/02/2006 06:57:38 PM PST (none / 0)

I posted an update on the 36th by rmdSeaBos, 04/04/2006 07:32:05 PM PST (none / 0)

"Lefty groups" by Richard Champlin, 04/03/2006 01:02:12 PM PST (none / 0)

try to take a breath by rmdSeaBos, 04/03/2006 04:35:36 PM PST (2.00 / 1)

Priorities for Nov. 06: What are they? | 6 comments (6 topical)

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