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11/7/06 Election Results & the 2 Peace Parties: P&F and Green
The California governor’s general election of 2006 was a low voter turnout election due to the deliberate lack of campaign by the pro-death penalty millionaire Democrat Phil Angelides against the pro-death penalty millionaire Republican incumbent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In spite of this mockery of democracy, the 2 anti-death penalty peace parties, Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party did as well as could be expected and both certainly remain on the ballot.
The California governor’s general election of 2006 was a low voter turnout election due to the deliberate lack of campaign by the pro-death penalty millionaire Democrat Phil Angelides against the pro-death penalty millionaire Republican incumbent Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. In spite of this mockery of democracy, the 2 anti-death penalty peace parties, Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party did as well as could be expected and both certainly remain on the ballot.
VOTER TURNOUT
In a state of 27 million adults, almost 7 million voted. In San Francisco, with 600,000 adults, 170,000 voted. Those totals may go up to 8 million and 200,000 respectively when the provisional ballots are counted within the next 30 days. This means that not only did the usual 50% of adults not vote as they are not registered, mostly the workingclass, but many registered voters did not vote. A high voter turnout is 13 million in California and 300,000 in San Francisco. With that in mind, the totals for the Green Party and Peace and Freedom Party demonstrate that their anti-death penalty, anti-corporate and pro-peace message is being heard. Only a mass movement can increase the totals for these two parties. Elections only confirm the class struggle that has preceded them and there is not much labor activity in this country. The peace movement gave the undeserving pro-war Democratic Party a majority in Congress, but it certainly cannot change the nature of the pro-war, pro-death penalty Democratic Party, which will not and cannot deliver peace. What we had was essentially a party regular, property owners election on November 7, 2006.
PARTY REGISTRATION
The two anti-death penalty peace parties’ registration as of 10/23/06 in California is as follows:
Peace & Freedom Party: 59,139 or .37%; Green Party: 141,451 or .89%
CALIFORNIA BALLOT
PEOPLE
Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party did well in the State Controller and Insurance Commissioner races. The totals, with 90.9% of the precincts reporting, are:
State Controller
Green: Laura Wells, 184,933 votes, 3.1% of the vote
P&F: Elizabeth Barron, 155,668 votes; 2.6% of the vote
Insurance Commissioner
Green: Larry Carfiero, 191,853 votes; 3.1% of the vote
P&F: Tom Condit, 134,478 votes, 2.2% of the vote
The Democrats now hold all of the Constitutional offices in California except the Governor’s and the Insurance Commissioner’s offices. The twin parties of capitalism are helping each other stay in office, and we certainly saw that in this year’s governor’s race.
As to the US Senate race, the power of incumbency and a low voter turnout gave the undeserving incumbent Dianne Feinstein 59.5% of the vote, which is actually low, considering she acts like she is royalty. She is, of course, a Democrat, and profoundly reactionary. With 96% of the precincts reporting, Todd Chretien of the Green Party won 106,046 votes or 1.7% and Marsha Feinland of the Peace & Freedom Party won 88,318 votes or 1.3%. They both deserve highest praise for putting up a good fight against a senator who is staunchly pro-death penalty, pro-Israel and pro-war. This is also the stance of most Democrats, and in the case of Israel, all Democratic and all Republican elected officials. Israel is a US military base that exists to protect US oil profits in the Middle East for which we pay the reactionary Israeli government $6 billion a year to murder and torture Palestinians and steal Palestinian land. These kind of results can only occur in a society that has a profoundly undemocratic electoral system.
PROPOSITIONS
All of the bonds put on the ballot by Gov. Schwarzenegger passed, putting this state into massive debt. A far better way to finance any project is to appropriate the money from the general fund which receives money from the progressive income tax, better known as tax the rich. If there is not enough money from the state progressive income tax, then the taxes on the rich should be raised, instead of cutting them, which both the Democrats and Republicans have been doing. The rich is the small minority who make over $200,000 a year from all sources. In a state with lots of millionaire and billionaires, that increase would not be much to pay for all these projects.
With the exception of Prop 83, calling for punishment instead of rehabilitation for sex offenders, which passed in all counties except San Francisco(53% said no), all the other non-bond propositions failed, including Prop 85, the anti-abortion measure, and Prop 90, the anti-rent control “eminent domain” measure, and both deserved to fail. Prop 89, a campaign finance reform also failed so we will continue to see million dollar campaigns from the wealthy candidates and difficulty in electing workingclass candidates due to lack of financing. Essentially, the majority of voters voted No to maintain the status quo on most of the non-bond measures, a common position of party regulars. It is also common among party regulars who are Democrats and Republicans to support prisons and the death penalty as they are mostly the law and order punishment instead of rehabilitation bastion of reaction, hence the reactionary vote for the costly Prop 83.
SAN FRANCISCO BALLOT
PEOPLE
The incumbents were re-elected to the Board of Supervisors, where incumbents ran. This means we retain the pro-tenant majority on the Board. In the Board of Education races, Jane Kim and Kim-Shree Maufas were elected, as was John Rizzo to the Community College Board, all people supported by various workingclass organizations.
Krissy Keefer, the Green Party candidate for Congress, on a respectable 9,611 votes or 7.64% against Democratic pro-war, anti-impeachment incumbent Nancy Pelosi, who won 101,002 votes or 80.33% of the vote.
PROPOSITIONS
San Franciscans voted for impeaching Pres Bush and VP Cheney with their 59.41% (91,606 votes) vote for Prop J, showing they did not connect the propositions with the candidates as Nancy Pelosi is anti-impeachment. This is a sign of habit voting with no political thinking when it comes to voting for candidates.
All other San Francisco County propositions passed except Prop E, the parking tax. Apparently global warming machines prevail among the voters, even in a City where many residents do not have cars. As to the other propositions, notably Prop F, the paid sick leave ordinance for all workers in San Francisco, received 61.27% of the vote (94,609 votes) and Prop H, the tenant relocation assistance ordinance, received 54.34% of the vote (84,047 votes). In San Francisco, the California propositions 83, 85 and 90 failed; all others passed.
ALAMEDA COUNTY
One race that was being watched was the Green Party challenger Aimee Allison’s campaign for Oakland City Council District 2 against incumbent Patricia Kernighan. While Allison did not prevail, she won an impressive 45.02% of the vote, and that should make her a front runner when that position has no incumbent. With a high voter turnout, she could have won, and that is why voting does matter and why it is important to vote your conscience at all times.
VOTER TURNOUT
In a state of 27 million adults, almost 7 million voted. In San Francisco, with 600,000 adults, 170,000 voted. Those totals may go up to 8 million and 200,000 respectively when the provisional ballots are counted within the next 30 days. This means that not only did the usual 50% of adults not vote as they are not registered, mostly the workingclass, but many registered voters did not vote. A high voter turnout is 13 million in California and 300,000 in San Francisco. With that in mind, the totals for the Green Party and Peace and Freedom Party demonstrate that their anti-death penalty, anti-corporate and pro-peace message is being heard. Only a mass movement can increase the totals for these two parties. Elections only confirm the class struggle that has preceded them and there is not much labor activity in this country. The peace movement gave the undeserving pro-war Democratic Party a majority in Congress, but it certainly cannot change the nature of the pro-war, pro-death penalty Democratic Party, which will not and cannot deliver peace. What we had was essentially a party regular, property owners election on November 7, 2006.
PARTY REGISTRATION
The two anti-death penalty peace parties’ registration as of 10/23/06 in California is as follows:
Peace & Freedom Party: 59,139 or .37%; Green Party: 141,451 or .89%
CALIFORNIA BALLOT
PEOPLE
Peace & Freedom Party and the Green Party did well in the State Controller and Insurance Commissioner races. The totals, with 90.9% of the precincts reporting, are:
State Controller
Green: Laura Wells, 184,933 votes, 3.1% of the vote
P&F: Elizabeth Barron, 155,668 votes; 2.6% of the vote
Insurance Commissioner
Green: Larry Carfiero, 191,853 votes; 3.1% of the vote
P&F: Tom Condit, 134,478 votes, 2.2% of the vote
The Democrats now hold all of the Constitutional offices in California except the Governor’s and the Insurance Commissioner’s offices. The twin parties of capitalism are helping each other stay in office, and we certainly saw that in this year’s governor’s race.
As to the US Senate race, the power of incumbency and a low voter turnout gave the undeserving incumbent Dianne Feinstein 59.5% of the vote, which is actually low, considering she acts like she is royalty. She is, of course, a Democrat, and profoundly reactionary. With 96% of the precincts reporting, Todd Chretien of the Green Party won 106,046 votes or 1.7% and Marsha Feinland of the Peace & Freedom Party won 88,318 votes or 1.3%. They both deserve highest praise for putting up a good fight against a senator who is staunchly pro-death penalty, pro-Israel and pro-war. This is also the stance of most Democrats, and in the case of Israel, all Democratic and all Republican elected officials. Israel is a US military base that exists to protect US oil profits in the Middle East for which we pay the reactionary Israeli government $6 billion a year to murder and torture Palestinians and steal Palestinian land. These kind of results can only occur in a society that has a profoundly undemocratic electoral system.
PROPOSITIONS
All of the bonds put on the ballot by Gov. Schwarzenegger passed, putting this state into massive debt. A far better way to finance any project is to appropriate the money from the general fund which receives money from the progressive income tax, better known as tax the rich. If there is not enough money from the state progressive income tax, then the taxes on the rich should be raised, instead of cutting them, which both the Democrats and Republicans have been doing. The rich is the small minority who make over $200,000 a year from all sources. In a state with lots of millionaire and billionaires, that increase would not be much to pay for all these projects.
With the exception of Prop 83, calling for punishment instead of rehabilitation for sex offenders, which passed in all counties except San Francisco(53% said no), all the other non-bond propositions failed, including Prop 85, the anti-abortion measure, and Prop 90, the anti-rent control “eminent domain” measure, and both deserved to fail. Prop 89, a campaign finance reform also failed so we will continue to see million dollar campaigns from the wealthy candidates and difficulty in electing workingclass candidates due to lack of financing. Essentially, the majority of voters voted No to maintain the status quo on most of the non-bond measures, a common position of party regulars. It is also common among party regulars who are Democrats and Republicans to support prisons and the death penalty as they are mostly the law and order punishment instead of rehabilitation bastion of reaction, hence the reactionary vote for the costly Prop 83.
SAN FRANCISCO BALLOT
PEOPLE
The incumbents were re-elected to the Board of Supervisors, where incumbents ran. This means we retain the pro-tenant majority on the Board. In the Board of Education races, Jane Kim and Kim-Shree Maufas were elected, as was John Rizzo to the Community College Board, all people supported by various workingclass organizations.
Krissy Keefer, the Green Party candidate for Congress, on a respectable 9,611 votes or 7.64% against Democratic pro-war, anti-impeachment incumbent Nancy Pelosi, who won 101,002 votes or 80.33% of the vote.
PROPOSITIONS
San Franciscans voted for impeaching Pres Bush and VP Cheney with their 59.41% (91,606 votes) vote for Prop J, showing they did not connect the propositions with the candidates as Nancy Pelosi is anti-impeachment. This is a sign of habit voting with no political thinking when it comes to voting for candidates.
All other San Francisco County propositions passed except Prop E, the parking tax. Apparently global warming machines prevail among the voters, even in a City where many residents do not have cars. As to the other propositions, notably Prop F, the paid sick leave ordinance for all workers in San Francisco, received 61.27% of the vote (94,609 votes) and Prop H, the tenant relocation assistance ordinance, received 54.34% of the vote (84,047 votes). In San Francisco, the California propositions 83, 85 and 90 failed; all others passed.
ALAMEDA COUNTY
One race that was being watched was the Green Party challenger Aimee Allison’s campaign for Oakland City Council District 2 against incumbent Patricia Kernighan. While Allison did not prevail, she won an impressive 45.02% of the vote, and that should make her a front runner when that position has no incumbent. With a high voter turnout, she could have won, and that is why voting does matter and why it is important to vote your conscience at all times.
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You are so angry. Why don't you stop blaming all your problems on the conspiring powers and do something positive for the world. If the government is a negative influence on society your not helping by just being a negative influence on the government. It's just as bad as the war in Iraq, even though your not killing anyone your are getting those who do have open eyes to the reality of our government caught up in useless circles of anger. Get out and do something and stop bitching.
For more information:
http://www.snerious.com
The author of this article IS doing something. I wanted to check out the poll results and ended up realizing some things about the way I voted.
Personally, I did a lot of research on the props and didn't spend any time looking into the people. I was one of those who gleefully check-marked the Impeach Bush/Cheney box and then went on to vote for Polesi because some local paper said it was the right choice. That's not the only thing I was made to think about... Sometimes you have to face the truth about things. When it gets this outa hand --- we really are just voting for one bad apple over another. It's sad.
Personally, I did a lot of research on the props and didn't spend any time looking into the people. I was one of those who gleefully check-marked the Impeach Bush/Cheney box and then went on to vote for Polesi because some local paper said it was the right choice. That's not the only thing I was made to think about... Sometimes you have to face the truth about things. When it gets this outa hand --- we really are just voting for one bad apple over another. It's sad.
It seems so strange to me that California seems to be such a progressive state, and yet we had such a low voter turn out, and had such conservative voting results. I was very active in this election, working with moveon.org to make phone calls to remind people to vote, and to ask them to vote for progressive candidates. I did think it was curious that I was calling people in other states, and not in my home state of California, and wish now that I had been more active locally. I also found that when researching the candidates, Democrats tended to be just a shade less conservative than Republicans, and not progressive at all.
What's needed in this country is real change. The Peace and Freedom party had some great platforms, as did the Green Party. I wanted to vote primarily for the Peace and Freedom Party, and some for the Green Party, but ended up voting for the Democrats out of fear that my vote "wouldn't count", or would count against me.
I wonder how many other people vote against candidates rather than for them, or don't bother to vote at all because they don't feel represented.
We need a wave of change in this country. A two party system is not adequate to represent the diversity of such a large nation, and a system in which those with the biggest pockets win can only serve to further the interests of the rich. What is needed is a new system.
Our media, our government, our daily lives are entirely governed by money. Money is just a system of representation, a way of keeping track of the worth of an object, and yet somehow, money has replaced the value of the objects that it is meant to represent. People are spending their whole lives in the pursuit of money, and yet the things that are truly important, like happiness and health, can't be purchased.
This may seem obvious, but we are continually led to believe that it is not. We are told that we need to buy things to be happy, that we need to buy things to be healthy, that we can't afford to pay for the things that we need without working at least 40 hours a week. So we keep working, looking forward to that blissful time called retirement, when we can spend the time doing the things that we really want to do. A life of virtual slavery, yet we swallow it whole, never believing that there could be another way.
Our government uses the same excuses to not improve our lives, we don't have enough money to provide public health care, we don't have enough money to improve our education system, we don't have enough money to protect the environment.
So we have people in our country who can't afford medical care, and we have children growing up learning on the streets or in overcrowded classrooms, so we have people and animals dying every day because they are drinking polluted water, breathing polluted air and eating deadly chemicals, but we can't afford to do anything about it because the people in charge of deciding where the money should go are acting in the interests of big money politics and not what's truly good for the country.
So we spend the majority of our lives working in jobs that we hate so that we can afford things that we don't have time to use, and at the end of it all, what do we have?
A nation of people living on the edge, unable to sleep at night, unable to function without anti-depressants, and stimulants. We have something to help us to sleep, something to help us wake up, something to help us stomach our slavery to money.
We have a nation full of homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, crime, overcrowded jails, women living with their children on the street to escape abusive situations, suicidal teenagers, ever-increasing numbers of people dying of incurable diseases caused by environmental pollutions, a disappearing wildlife population, and an increasing number of people growing up in cycles of fear, depression and violence.
No single legislation is going to change all of this. A change in the Senate, a change in the House isn't going to change all of this. It represents the desire for change in the American people, but it isn't going to change all of this.
What is going to change all of it? The only person I know who has come even close to having an answer to that question is Jack Reed in his book "The Next Evolution". (http://www.communityplanet.org) Jack writes that the only way to fix all of the problems that we are currently facing is to develop a new system of sustainable, cooperative, consensus based communities.
It may sound far out, but if you read the book or watch the video it starts to make more and more sense. Within these communities people would be able to live rich, abundant lives centered around the activities that they personally enjoy.
Community decisions wouldn't come from some far off elected official, but would be based on the real needs within the community. People would be empowered to make the best choices in their daily lives based on what is good for all. Success would no longer be measured by how much personal wealth one has collected, but by how far a person has come in achieving their personal goals.
I would personally give up a mansion full of stuff and a bank account full of money to live in a community such as this. When I start to imagine the impact on the planet if people started operating with the intention of doing what's best instead of doing what makes the most money, it gives me goosebumps to think of how wonderful life could be.
I want to wake up in a world of peace and harmony, a world of love and beauty, a healthy world, a free world. Maybe you want to live like this too? We could all live like this, all it takes is a little bit of change, a little bit of positive intention, a little bit of cooperation.
What's needed in this country is real change. The Peace and Freedom party had some great platforms, as did the Green Party. I wanted to vote primarily for the Peace and Freedom Party, and some for the Green Party, but ended up voting for the Democrats out of fear that my vote "wouldn't count", or would count against me.
I wonder how many other people vote against candidates rather than for them, or don't bother to vote at all because they don't feel represented.
We need a wave of change in this country. A two party system is not adequate to represent the diversity of such a large nation, and a system in which those with the biggest pockets win can only serve to further the interests of the rich. What is needed is a new system.
Our media, our government, our daily lives are entirely governed by money. Money is just a system of representation, a way of keeping track of the worth of an object, and yet somehow, money has replaced the value of the objects that it is meant to represent. People are spending their whole lives in the pursuit of money, and yet the things that are truly important, like happiness and health, can't be purchased.
This may seem obvious, but we are continually led to believe that it is not. We are told that we need to buy things to be happy, that we need to buy things to be healthy, that we can't afford to pay for the things that we need without working at least 40 hours a week. So we keep working, looking forward to that blissful time called retirement, when we can spend the time doing the things that we really want to do. A life of virtual slavery, yet we swallow it whole, never believing that there could be another way.
Our government uses the same excuses to not improve our lives, we don't have enough money to provide public health care, we don't have enough money to improve our education system, we don't have enough money to protect the environment.
So we have people in our country who can't afford medical care, and we have children growing up learning on the streets or in overcrowded classrooms, so we have people and animals dying every day because they are drinking polluted water, breathing polluted air and eating deadly chemicals, but we can't afford to do anything about it because the people in charge of deciding where the money should go are acting in the interests of big money politics and not what's truly good for the country.
So we spend the majority of our lives working in jobs that we hate so that we can afford things that we don't have time to use, and at the end of it all, what do we have?
A nation of people living on the edge, unable to sleep at night, unable to function without anti-depressants, and stimulants. We have something to help us to sleep, something to help us wake up, something to help us stomach our slavery to money.
We have a nation full of homelessness, drug addiction, poverty, crime, overcrowded jails, women living with their children on the street to escape abusive situations, suicidal teenagers, ever-increasing numbers of people dying of incurable diseases caused by environmental pollutions, a disappearing wildlife population, and an increasing number of people growing up in cycles of fear, depression and violence.
No single legislation is going to change all of this. A change in the Senate, a change in the House isn't going to change all of this. It represents the desire for change in the American people, but it isn't going to change all of this.
What is going to change all of it? The only person I know who has come even close to having an answer to that question is Jack Reed in his book "The Next Evolution". (http://www.communityplanet.org) Jack writes that the only way to fix all of the problems that we are currently facing is to develop a new system of sustainable, cooperative, consensus based communities.
It may sound far out, but if you read the book or watch the video it starts to make more and more sense. Within these communities people would be able to live rich, abundant lives centered around the activities that they personally enjoy.
Community decisions wouldn't come from some far off elected official, but would be based on the real needs within the community. People would be empowered to make the best choices in their daily lives based on what is good for all. Success would no longer be measured by how much personal wealth one has collected, but by how far a person has come in achieving their personal goals.
I would personally give up a mansion full of stuff and a bank account full of money to live in a community such as this. When I start to imagine the impact on the planet if people started operating with the intention of doing what's best instead of doing what makes the most money, it gives me goosebumps to think of how wonderful life could be.
I want to wake up in a world of peace and harmony, a world of love and beauty, a healthy world, a free world. Maybe you want to live like this too? We could all live like this, all it takes is a little bit of change, a little bit of positive intention, a little bit of cooperation.
For more information:
http://www.myspace.com/pixleyflix
Thers is another seemingly progressive party known as the populist party based here in California. I am not a spokesman for them, but they seem very passionate about the same issues that the Green and Peace and Freedom Party do. Is there anyone trying to merge all of these parties together, so as to utilize all of their resources colletively, and be able to actually win something? They all agree on the same basic principles, there is really no reason why they shouldn't all be working together, as opposoed to agaisnt one another.
Voter registration must be a year around activity. At election time if everyone brought 20 people to vote in their cars, people without rides to the polls that they had previously registered in poor neighborhoods a third party could win. It's about individual responsibility. As far as having money for real campaigns, it is necessary to support advocates. If 150,000 people had donated $5 to Peter Camejo that would have totalled $750,000, enough for a decent campaign. People have the idea that someone is going to rescue them without working on building the voter base and putting up a dime. This is why we have the corporate candidates in charge. Constant short letters to editors to educate the public to our issues are absolutely necessary, even if they don't get used. Our biggest block to reform is not taking the right actions such as voter registration, letters to editors, bringing people to vote in our cars, and just being lame in general when it comes time to attend protests. We must elect our own people to office but who wants to represent dysfunctional people who won't help themselves? Some reality to think about
For more information:
http://www.1union1.com
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