Cynthia McKinney Wins Green Party Presidential Nomination

If we can now only deal with the Anybody but McCain mentality amongst the liberal-left so-called "progressives" - we might have this scenario:

Cynthia McKinney gets 10%

Nader gets 10-15%

And in four years, we'll have a formidable Green Party and an independent effort - that will send shivers down the spine of the imperialists. United this effort would be the first serious challenge to the established duopoly - and a very real chance of getting the Presidency - with a number of other Greens and independents getting elected in Congress.

Yes, it will mean four years of McCain, during which the left/liberal/progressives will have to work night and day on a variety of serious issues from anti-war to health care to poverty... and to protect civil rights of Arabs and Muslims.

BUT if any progressive/liberal/leftist has any illusion about Obama --- rest assured he'll be just as rotten as McCain.

BUT will the left-liberal unite around McKinney and Nader, or will it collapse like it did in 2004 --- unfortunately, I think they will collapse. Unfortunate for the US, unfortunate for the world - that the American left is without any imagination (for the most part).

Is Cynthia McKInney still trying to get the Peace and Freedom party's nomination ? After all she was also on their primary ballot .
I think in Californa a Presidentail candidate can be on two ballot lines .
Does anyone know if she is going to be at their convention( which i've been told is Aug. 1-3 in Sacramento ) ?

PAST AS PRECEDENT; LABOR IS OUR BASE
We must look to the past for precedent for workingclass candidates. Eugene Debs, a socialist labor leader, won almost 1 million votes in 1912, about 6% of the vote. That was the largest presidential victory the Left has ever won in the rigged US election system, where most of the workingclass never votes, partly because it is rigged, partly because of the low level of education and MOSTLY because labor does not do much labor organizing. At its height in 1950, labor was about 36% organized; now it is 12% organized. It is not liberal-progressive middle class voters that advance the causes of the workingclass; IT IS THE WORKINGCLASS FIGHTING AS A CLASS THAT ADVANCES ITS OWN CAUSES.

FEMALE VOTE
In addition to the demographics of the population changing, women are now advancing the women’s liberation movement of the 1970s to running for office. In addition to the fact that women are 51% of the population, in 1960, women were 37% of the labor force outside the home; today women are 59% of the labor force outside the home. Lawyers and those whose fields are in the related liberal arts are the most likely to run for public office. In 1990, women were 20% of the lawyers and now are 30% of the lawyers. When we see lots of women running for office, and now winning serious candidate nominations, we can expect a major transformation of this society as women are the majority.

CYNTHIA’S CAMPAIGN SLOGAN: “We have to do things we’ve never done before in order to have things we’ve never had before.” That kind of statement comes directly from workingclass struggle and its goals can only be delivered by the workingclass who have nothing to lose but their chains and have a world to win. If Cynthia McKinney gets at least 6% of the vote, the workingclass will have achieved a major advance.

SOCIALIST PARTIES NATIONWIDE
In addition, there are socialist parties on many ballots, including California’s, a major advance over previous years. The workingclass suffered a major setback during the 1950s era of anti-Communist hysteria. The Progressive Party, which was not socialist, lasted from 1948 to 1954, and Peace & Freedom Party made the ballot in 1968 not as a socialist party but simply as a peace party opposing the War of Anti-Communism in Vietnam. It became socialist in 1974. In case anyone is wondering about the past, Debs’ Socialist Party was on the California ballot from 1910-1938 and the Communist Party was on the California ballot from 1934 to 1944. The Party for Socialism and Liberation, currently running Gloria LaRiva and Eugene Puryear for president and vice-president respectively on the Peace & Freedom Party ticket which will be decided August 2-3, is now on the ballot in Arkansas, Vermont and Colorado with a possibility of soon being on Washington state’s ballot. The Socialist Party USA, currently running Brian Moore and Stewart Alexander for president and vice-president respectively are contending for the Peace & Freedom Party nomination and are on the ballot in Colorado and Vermont, with petitions pending in many other states. In the past, there have been socialist parties on the ballot in New York, Illinois, Michigan, Florida and many other states.

The workingclass vote is growing and Cynthia McKinney’s campaign is sure to help further the cause as things can no longer go on in the old way. This country is sinking into fascism quickly, brought to us by Democrats and Republicans, and our only hope is to push the candidates who oppose fascism loudly and clearly, namely Cynthia McKinney and all of the socialists. See
http://www.peaceandfreedom.org/home/

I recommend these links, and please post them around --

American Blackout —
http://www.americanblackout.com

McKinney grilling Rumsfeld –
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=eootfzAhAoU

McKinney speaking at a Pentagon rally –
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=5G3eq-I7CzM

And the US Green Party site --
http://www.gp.org/index.php
(please post the US Greens instead of runcynthiarun because that site is TERRIBLE and isn't functioning now because of traffic)

asmani--

I'm sorry, but I cannot agree to Ralph Nader. As a working-class person of color, the only reason why I'm even interested in the Green Party now is BECAUSE of fierce radical womyn of color like Cynthia McKinney being given a leadership place like a Presidential campaign. No leftists should be supporting Nader at this point, his time is up, and he and Gonzalez need to get behind McKinney and help BUILD the Green Party at this very crucial time. McKinney's not only been a congresswoman and knows the game in D.C., but her politics are much more grounded in working-class people, and that's why I say let's get fully behind her movement.

The day we stop feeding privileged white men Leftists like Nader and instead give it to those who HAVE leadership, that's the day we'll move forward with a movement. But to claim Nader to get 10-15% only feels like a step backwards to a whole idea of uniting the Left.

Cynthia McKinney/Rosa Clemente in 2008 should be a step forward for not just the Green Party (mad props to them, finally), but to the entire Left. Just what the hell does Nader/Gonzalez have (besides white and male privilege) that McKinney/Clemente doesn't? Corporate conspiracy theories? Please, Cynthia doesn't need that to grill the elites and aristocrats and empower people of marginalized communities to stand up! She is a righteous womyn who will be fighting for Justice long after November, and we need to acknowledge and recognize her leadership!

Hopefully, with Obama's open fascist politics now exposed with his support of the FISA spy bill, the identity politics routine should end. Barack Obama is just as much a person of color as Cynthia McKinney, whose politics, by the way, are not particularly radical as she is not a socialist. She just raises the issues that need to be raised and is not paid for by the corporations. A socialist always calls for eliminating the private profit system that is the cause of all these wars as well as the cause of the vicious exploitation of the workingclass and of the prison-industrial complex.

Ralph Nader is Arab-American which is worth noting in a time in our society that scapegoating Arabs is the latest tool to promote war profits. That a man of his speaking and thinking abilities is marginalized in this backward, bankrupt, rotten and almost completely fascist society demonstrates the urgent need for a serious labor movement in this country. He did win a record-breaking 2.74% of the vote in 2000 or 2.8 million people as a Green Party candidate, yet only .38% of the vote in 2004 running as an independent, demonstrating the need to run on a party ticket. Since it is doubtful that he will get the P&F nomination, he probably will not be on the ballot in California. It appears that this 74-year-old attorney can simply rest on his laurels, which are many. Of course, knowing him, resting consists of sitting in an interview chair speaking truth to power!

As to winning P&F's nomination, hopefully it will be a socialist, either Gloria LaRiva or Brian Moore, as P&F is on the ballot to present the socialist perspective.

Given the rigged nature of the anti-democratic American election system and the fact that 50% of American adults, mostly the workingclass, never vote, it is unlikely that the Greens or the socialists in any state or nationwide will win 10% of the vote. It would take an extraordinary voter registration drive among the 100 million non-voters to make that possible, and there is no national organization or statewide organization yet capable of such a feat. 10% of the vote is 10 milion people. That is not happening in 2008. Even 6% is generous for Cynthia McKinney. She is facing the terrible blind voting that goes on in this backward society that guarantees the Democrats 90% of the black vote, 70% of the Jewish vote and 60% of the Latino vote. With Obama running, even though he is utterly reactionary, he would be the first African American elected president and that is enough for the regular Democrats. The Greens and socialists have to go after the 100 million workingclass non-voters to make any gains.

Thank you to Indybay for letting us express our excitement and concerns. This is an extraordinary moment for all of us and gives us hope in these terrible times.

Sons of Arab immigrants(like Nader ) and Sons of Mexican Immigrants (like Matt Gonzales ) don't usually benefit from '' White privilege '' ! i love this identity politics ''logic'' . And why is Rosa Clemente a ''person of color ''but Matt Gonzales not ?
Of course the real issue is what the candidates stand for , not their race or ethnic orign .

There are several people of color running-Cynthia McKinney, Rosa Clemente, Ralph Nader, Matt Gonzales, Barak Obama and we don't know who Obama or MacPain are chosing as their Vice Presidential runnign-mates. There are several present or former Congresspeople or Senators running, Cynthia McKinnney, Bob Barr of the Libertarian Party, Obama, and McPain. (It should be noted that Matt Gonzales was the gormer chairperson of the San Frnacisoc Board of Supervisors and cmae in very close to being San Francisco's mayor.

Allthat + more makes this year's Presidential race interesting. But the most interesting thing is their positions. 3 candidates --McKinney, Barr and Nader-- are against the Iraq war, the Afghanistan, and any future war with Iran. 2 candidates are for true universal healthcare--Mckinney and Nader. 3 candidates --McKinney, Nader and Barr are against the illegal spying bill that Obama and McCain voted for. Don't vote superficially. Investigate where each candidate stands on the issues that important to you and the people of the world, because remember even tho this race is (allegedly) decided by eligible voters in the U.S., the President of the United Snakes affects everyone in the world.

The race and gender smokescreen is a very easy way to keep the left going in circles and to keep the deeper and more threatening issues from arising -- capitalism, the super-rich, the control of nations by corporations . . .

Touch your race and gender buttons and then walk away and let you all destroy eachother. Pretty simple job for the torture and wiretapping white men who control this country.

Don't forget what the real issues are. Black people can be thugs. Women can be murderers. We're all people. It's time for a person with even a scintilla of color to be in power. We all agree on the basics. Ultimately though, that won't save us.

Indeed, mainly white men are the ones who will rob us all blind in the end, but women and people of color will assume the role at the drop of a hat. And those in power would like nothing better than to keep you going in circles arguing over "color," "race," "gender," and "whiteness" or "people-of-colorness".

But each moment you do that, they get away with another scheme to suck billions out of average people all over the world through through their IV tubes behind the commericals and the fake news headlines. You were too busy insisting that someone really was a "person of color" to notice that they just stole your house.