Month: October 2011

The People Before the Parties

Preliminary two pages from NYC General Assembly Working Group on Politics & Electoral Reform, date of information 27 October 2011.

The centralization of political power in the hands of two narrow factions at all levels of government is neither democratic nor republican. No party system whatsoever is mandated by the U.S. Constitution. Today, government of the people, by the people and
for the people has been transformed into government of the people, by the parties, for the corporations.

Faced with a forced choice between a Republican and a Democrat, when there is any choice, the majority of Americans no longer vote in the majority of elections. The current party system has brought about a crisis of democracy.

Continue reading “Electoral Reform Working Group Preliminary 2 Pages (Full Text Online for Google Translate)”

NEW PERSISTENT URL:  http://bigbatusa.org

Broken Link fixed 30 Apr 2012

From: Ralph Nader <info@nader.org>

Date: Thu, Oct 27, 2011 at 9:46 AM

Subject: Occupy Wall Street is On the Move

To: alerts@lists.nader.org

The question confronting the Occupy Wall Street encampments and their offshoots in scores of cities and towns around the country is quo vadis? Where is it going?

This decentralized, leaderless civic initiative has attracted the persistent attention of the mass media in the past five weeks. Television cameras from all over the world are parked down at Zuccotti Park in lower Manhattan, two blocks from Wall Street.

But the mass media is a hungry beast. It needs to be fed regularly. Apart from the daily pressures of making sure the encampments are clean, that food and shelter are available, that relations with the police are quiet, that provocateurs are identified; the campers must anticipate possible police crackdowns, such as that which has just occurred in Oakland, and find ways to rebound.

Continue reading “Ralph Nader: Quo Vadis OWS? Action Ideas!”

In combination, the brutality and obliviousness of the Chicago and Oakland police departments, no doubt egged on by nakedly amoral “leaders” such as Rahm Emmanuel and his Oakland counterpart, have moved portions of the Occupy movement toward contemplating a General Strike.

The Occupy Electoral Reform elements will do what they can to keep the General Strike in reserve for 16 February and thereafter – the only thing actually worth dying for at this point is Electoral Reform, everything else is a nit.

In our judgment, absent some extraordinary leadership from the sitting politicians in the Executive and Legislative branches, the USA will see a General Strike in February.