Kshama Sawant is running for Congress as an Independent
As someone who has worked with her on a union campaign, I am willing to overlook my pessimism about electoral politics and get enthused about her campaign.
The Right Wing is FREAKING OUT About Kshama’s Independent Socialist Campaign Against Warmongering Democrat Adam Smith!
They’re Afraid Because We’re Building the Strongest, Anti-Genocide, Pro-Worker Campaign in the Nation.
https://mailchi.mp/kshamasawant/right-wing-freaking-out-kshama-sawant?e=...
More text from her campaign email blast:
Dear David,
Kshama’s independent, anti-genocide, pro-worker campaign for Congress has already rallied support from thousands of working people around the country.
It’s also scaring the hell out of the right wing.
Trump-supporting commentators Laura Loomer and Brandi Kruse have taken to YouTube to WARN Republicans about the threat that Kshama’s socialist campaign poses to the billionaires and the right wing.
Laura Loomer, a self-described “Proud Islamophobe” who speaks to Donald Trump “several times a month” according to The New York Times, said on her show:
“There’s barely any coverage on Kshama Sawant, but I predict that she’s going to be the next democrat socialist communist star that ends up unseating a career politician Democrat….They’re gonna be knocking on doors, and they’re going to be hustling, and they’re gonna be raising money, and they’re gonna be doing the work to reach out to voters…and then people are gonna wonder how, ‘oh, open communist wins a Congressional seat’...it’s very dangerous. And it’s happening because the Republican Party is not doing enough to combat these candidates.”
This effort cannot by itself do anything of significance even if she goes to Congress. But we need a cause to rally around.
Comments
Quite a few political leftie activist warhorses like
me and others are already paying attention to the Mamdani race across the country. We know who Sawant is. She and others are being added to the list. The young people can not give up!!! Rec'd!!
Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.
Of course she’s only one person, but sometimes
moving the Overton Window only takes one person who can inspire others.
Trump is in a great hurry
to outdo James Buchanan and make it into the history books as the worst President ever. And everyone can see, now, how desperately everyone in the Establishment all the way down to the most marginal city council members wanted this outcome.
Oh but don't ask the rank-and-file Democrats. "There will be no revolution," they will tell you.
Here's one of the signs I waved at the crowd in the local 4th of July parade:
Most of the parade crowd liked this notion. There were a few, however, who didn't.
"the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters" -- Antonio Gramsci
Cass -- emphasis on "party"
We are in profound agreement about the need for massive change in our political system. We may disagree on how to make it happen. I do not oppose your advocacy of forming a new political party. I just do not understand what the new party will do. Not be a Dem or a GOP cultist? I'm with you that far.
Your citing of the example of Mexico does not persuade me of anything -- mainly because I am ignorant about recent Mexican history. And I am very skeptical of news accounts in general and political news in particular.
I would appreciate a description of how the new party could function both before and after elections.
What if anything holds successful candidates to the Party's program?
How do we avoid the Meet the New Boss Same as the Old Boss dilemma in the new party?
I cried when I wrote this song. Sue me if I play too long.
What the new party will do
I do understand that "parties" as they stand in the US are mere cesspools of donor money. and that forming another such party would be of no use. What I have in mind would be something like if everyone were to merely secede from the two-party system, form their own parties, and then resolve the question of what to do in a series of merger events.
Another way forward would be if, instead of having campaign events, we hold mutual aid gatherings. I think this is what Butch Ware is doing in running for Governor of California. Running for Congress seems more attainable, though. Certainly there is a district somewhere in CA that would elect Ware?
The Mexican example I cited was MORENA, and MORENA started out as a nonprofit organization. The hitch is that Mexico's situation was that it had three extremely corrupt political parties (PRI, PAN, PRD) dominating the electoral sphere, and the country itself was dominated by drug gangs. Also, MORENA was founded by Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, and the US doesn't really have a figure of that sort in its political scene. Though I wouldn't be surprised if, after Trump is finished making America smaller, we wind up where Mexico is now.
"the old world is dying, and the new world struggles to be born; now is the time of monsters" -- Antonio Gramsci