Get Out There and Vote Dan La Botz, Socialist for Senate!

"Certain conspiracy-addled commentators want you to know that scary Kenyan Socialists are secretly plotting to overthrow America as you read this newspaper. In the face of such panic, surely no Socialist would be brazen enough to run for office — especially here in heartland Ohio... Enter Dan La Botz."

That's how a short article from the Cleveland Scene begins, describing the campaign by Socialist Dan La Botz for the Ohio Senate seat. While no Kenyan, La Botz is running on a principled, anti-capitalist campaign, as outlined by the "radical ideas" he espouses, such as "the right of Americans to full-time jobs at a living wage, universal access to health care, ending the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and opposing prejudices like racism, xenophobia, and homophobia." Sardonically, they add, "Yes, there’s no room for this brand of nutbag thinking in our fair corner of the world."

Among the political mainstream, with their corporate sponsors and narrow ideological dogmatism, those ideas certainly are radical. But for someone like my father, a factory worker for thirty years who was laid off during the 2008 economic crisis, a "full-time job at a living wage" with "access to health care" isn't exactly a revolutionary message. For someone like my father, a white man with an adopted black son, my brother, "opposing prejudices like racism" isn't a radical demand either. The thing is, my father is not alone. 

Everyone knows Ohio, and it's many urban centers like Toledo, Cleveland, and Columbus, have been hit hard by unemployment and declining living standards. Many folks are looking toward the future in a sense of despair, with the economic indicators relatively bleak for anyone making under a couple hundred thousand dollars a year. Frustrated, many people are turning to alternative political voices, or turning away from politics all-together.

This is not a bad thing. We should reject the corporate platform of the Democratic and Republican parties, with their ideological commitment to corporate capitalism and big business. However, we need a political organization, a vehicle through which can articulate the demands, the needs, and the hopes of working class people.

Unfortunately, many have turned not to the left, where there is a noticeable absence of well-organized political structures, but to the right, where corporate populism, a sort of fake grassroots has taken hold. I am, of course, talking about the infamous Tea Party.

As the Cincinnati City Beat, in an article endorsing Dan La Botz for Senate, explains so lucidly, "on a political level, the Tea Party simply is a “populist” cover for the Republican Party's desire to maintain tax cuts for the wealthy, eliminate the estate tax for the wealthy, deregulate Wall Street firms that almost drove the country into financial ruin and protect profits for health insurance corporations."

No doubt that. City Beat continues: 

"We're angry that our health insurance premiums skyrocket while coverage gets scaled back and insurance corporations report record profits. We're angry that BP can dump millions of barrels of oil into the Gulf of Mexico and get away with it. We're angry that the Supreme Court equates corporations with personhood and now allows businesses to pump even more money into an already corrupt political system. And we're angry that this country has spent more than $1 trillion and endured more than 5,000 dead soldiers to fight largely unsuccessful wars in the Middle East."

And, I should add, for any of us with a conscience that extends beyond our national borders, we are angry that hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians have been murdered in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Pakistan. And we are angry that our tax dollars go to funding an immoral, illegal, and illegitimate, and horrendously violent occupation of Palestinian land by the Israeli state.

But best of all, I think City Beat sums up many of the feelings Ohioans share about the Senate race here, when they say they're "unexcited about the Democratic nominee, Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher, and squeamish about the GOP nominee, former Cincinnati area Congressman Rob Portman."

Disgusted with the mainstream choices, the City Beat has openly and courageously endorsed a Socialist candidate. Besides the fact that he "supports radical democracy, the democratic control of the economy by the majority of Americans instead of by a small minority," part of the reason they want Ohio voters to choose La Botz is the likely chance that the "heads of those on the Far Right who consider Obama a socialist would explode, and that could be fun to watch."

I couldn't agree more.

And, for those of you following the election, you should know that Rob Portman, the Republican, is ahead in the polls. So far ahead, in fact, that Lee Fischer, the Democrat, has essentially dropped his campaign. You could still vote for him, but it would be a waste. A huge waste, in fact, when he has no chance of being elected.

Instead, I urge everyone to read the open letter by Dan La Botz to Progressive Democrats, which I have copied here:

Dear Friends and Fellow Progressives, 

In the Senate race, the Democratic Party in Ohio has largely ignored your wishes, crushed your hopes, and now abandons you to the Republican Rob Portman. In the beginning, when many and perhaps most of you wanted Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to be the Senate candidate, the Democratic Party organization used its power and its money to push Brunner aside and impose Lee Fisher as the candidate. Now, as we approach election day, Lee Fisher has apparently thrown in the towel, giving up on his race and turning his remaining campaign funds over to the Democratic Party to use for other races where they think they still have a chance. 

What are you going to do with Fisher having failed so badly and now going down to defeat? I know that you won’t vote for Rob Portman or for the Libertarian or Constitution or party candidates who are perhaps even further right than he is. But I am afraid that you might waste your vote by casting it for Lee Fisher. This would be squandering your vote. 

First, of course, as you know it was Fisher who pushed Brunner and the progressives aside. Second, Fisher refused to take a strong stand on issues that concern us progressives, like getting out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Third, even the Ohio AFL-CIO didn’t endorse Fisher (look at the mailing you got or go to the website and you’ll see his name is not on the voting card: http://www.ohaflcio.org/2010endorsements.html) Finally, Fisher ran a lackluster campaign failing to go out and fight for the principles you believe in. 

And now Fisher is anywhere between 10 and 20 points behind in the polls. He doesn’t stand a chance of winning. If you vote for Fisher now, you just waste your vote. It won’t harm the Republicans. And worst of all it will convince the Democrats that they don’t really need to pay attention to progressives like you, since you’ll always bite the bullet and vote for them anyway.

So, this year, don’t knuckle under. Send a message to the Republicans, to the Democrats and to Washington. Let them know that you’re tired of being dragged to the right, that you want a progressive alternative. Vote on November 2 for Dan La Botz, Socialist Party candidate for the U.S. Senate. You won’t be alone. Cincinnati’s CityBeat has endorsed me and progressives around the state have let me know they’re voting for me. 

Thanks for giving this some thought. Look at my website and you'll see we believe in many of the same things. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other soon at the same demonstrations against the war, for immigrant rights, for gay rights, and for all the other things we believe in. Take care. 

Dan La Botz 

Socialist Party candidate for Senate

If that doesn't sway you to vote, I don't know what will. La Botz recently mentioned that along the campaign there has been a "willingness to discuss Socialism," and we on the left should not forgo this opportunity to push for radical change  

Let's take advantage of this moment. If you want your vote to actually mean something this time, get out there November 2nd, vote Dan La Botz for Senate!

UT's Noose, Jena 6, and the Right-Wing's Racist Rants

For those of you who do not know a noose was hung at the UT law center recently. No one is sure who did it, to my knowledge, but we can be assured that the noxious racism that has plagued America's past is not simply a part of history, but a living thing that continues to poison our society and the University of Toledo. Here is an excerpt from the Dean's e-mail:

This morning, a noose was found hanging from a tree on the edge of our patio and outside Room 1008. It has now been removed. We have no idea who put it there or why. Because of the disgraceful history of lynching in this country and the use of the noose as a symbol of intimidation, we take this very seriously. I don't believe that this was done by a member of the law school community but we would very much like to find out who put it there. If you saw anyone do this, please contact Associate Dean Pizzimenti so that we can pursue the matter... This gesture, whether intended as one or not, is an insult to our entire law school community and something we cannot tolerate.

I am glad, at the very least, that it was denounced as an act of racism and not some "simple joke," but this is not the end of such vile hatred and prejudice. We can expect more given the heated political atmosphere, the election of Obama and the right-wing backlash, including the racist rantings of conservatives like Glenn Beck who are already revitalizing McCartyite witch-hunts and disgusting race-baiting. Even as Beck lead a full charge forward to remove one of the sole progressive voices in the Obama administration, Van Jones, for his association in the past with more radical elements of the left (something we ought to be applauding him for, not chastising him) and his "racism against Whites" (a laughable assertion), we saw the Obama administration literally capitulate to the fringe right-wing. We find this resurgence of McCarthyism here at UT as well with the new "list of liberal professors" that the UT Republicans, buttressed by the percussive ideological machinations of Joe the Plumber, attempted to formulate this semester.

In this context, I find the case of the Jena 6 rather instructive. We need to be pushing back with a popular movement against such extreme conservative elements, the Obama administration will not do it. Obama has bent over backwards to incorporate the right-wing and harped on his "bipartisanship" that has left us with large-scale bank bailouts, no serious economic stimulus to benefit working people, and a ghastly shadow of healthcare reform that may not even include a public option, let alone single-payer, universal health coverage for everyone.

This is an unedited transcript of the first public speech I ever gave. It was in front of a crowd of close to 250 people gathered in the Centennial Mall on the University of Toledo's campus to express their solidarity with the Jena 6 and their outrage at the institutional racism so obvious in Louisiana's courtrooms. Dated September 20th, 2007.

It definitely galvanized my involvement in political discourse and augmented my desire to participate in political action. For anyone who was not there that day, the solidarity expressed between all sorts of people outraged at such virulent racism was astounding. The energy level and participation by such a broad group of people was tremendous, with the BSU leading the march around campus hoisting the "Gay, Straight, Black, White" banner front and center. It was powerful. I have not seen anything on UT's campus since then, but I hope that it can serve as a reminder to us at UT that it is our duty to stand up and challenge every injustice, both here and abroad.

What we need is a movement to combat this sort of ideological assault by the right-wing. We need to start building this movement now, it cannot wait. We can no longer place our hope in an administration that has capitulated at every turn, at every chance, to the people who want to continue the trend of power consolidation in the hands of a select few. We face a dire political and economic situation, and we, as working class people who have the power to control our own destiny, must take up our historical vocation to liberate ourselves from a system that engulfs the population of our world in a sea of oppression.

----------------------------------------------

We are all out here for one reason today, and that’s to protest racism. Racism; what to say about it? It is a disgusting and horrible thing that any good society should try and stomp out wherever and whenever it appears. Unfortunately, as the Jena 6 case and various other incidents have proven, those who run our society actually condone these acts of racism. The Jena 6 are being prosecuted for one reason; the color of their skin. Had a group of white kids beat a black student we wouldn’t be here today, we wouldn’t be having this protest because those white kids wouldn’t be facing 22 years in prison. That’s the simple truth of this system.

Why are these kids facing such heavy consequences for a common schoolyard fight? Since when do we consider tennis shoes a deadly weapon? How can those in charge of the school system in Jena allow white students to threaten black students with lynching, to only be written off as a “prank”? Why are those who commit these hate crimes not reprimanded for them? And why are those who are simply defending themselves from racism becoming the victim’s of this system of injustice?

These are questions we all share and we are all here today because we see the wrong in this situation. We see the injustice and the prejudice which exudes itself from every inch of this case. The question then becomes, what can we do about it? There are petitions you can sign, you can contribute to the Jena 6’s defense fund, and you can write a letter to the governor of Louisiana. More importantly though, you can get out and protest these wrongs that are being committed. We have all taken the first step today by coming out here. It is a step in the right direction to show our support here in Toledo as thousands across the country are standing up and doing the same thing.

It is inevitable that we will run across people who will tell us to "settle down" and to “chill out” and not get so “angry” about things. People are going to question if our protests will make a difference. But I say it has already made a difference, they dropped Mychael Bell’s court conviction simply because they knew how many people were planning on protesting today. More importantly I ask when in history has anyone EVER changed ANTHING by not getting up and fighting for it? I say we ignore those who would rather sit idly by and watch as racism continues to plague our communities.

For the past thirty years we have simply settled with the conditions in this country. We have settled for inequality. We have settled for the ridiculous number of people in poverty. We have settled for police brutality; from Amadou Diallo to Sean Bell, and to Jeffery Turner who right here in Toledo was tasered to death by police officers for loitering. How can you taser someone nine times for loitering? We settled for that. We settled for segregated schools, maybe not by law, but by economics. We have been settling with this racism for too long.

It is time to stand up and fight. It is time to come together and fight alongside one another to stop this injustice and this inequality. Regardless of your race or religion, whether you’re a male or female, gay or straight, it doesn’t matter. Whether there is a blatant case of racism as we see with the Jena 6 or an incident of racism against Mexican immigrants, or prejudices against Muslims, or attacks on gays; an attack on one is an attack on all. We need to fight racism and oppression on every front. Those who rule society fear our coming together and standing next to one another. The people up top don’t want that. They want us to have these artificial boundaries like race to wedge us apart and break us down. Divide and conquer, that is their mentality, and it’s been working for to long.

It is no coincidence that only a few days before this planned demonstration they threw away Michael Bell’s conviction. They wanted to deter us from coming together, from standing up and protesting the wrongs that are happening. They knew how big of an event this was and how many people around the country were so strongly against what was happening in Jena. They want us to be happy and “settle” with Michael Bell to be tried in juvenile court. They want us to give up and stand down.

Now is not the time to do that. Now is the time to stand up and fight. We need to stand up and push forward with this case, it’s NOT time to give in, it’s NOT time to settle. It’s time to pick up where the black power movement left off in the 70’s. It’s time to push forward and keep pushing forward. Those who run things here fear the power of the people when we unify. The political climate in America is changing, right now we are winning. We stood up and fought for Kenneth Foster, an innocent man on death row, and we won, we saved his life. We got the courts to throw out Mychael Bell’s conviction. But if we stop now, if we give in now, that little bit that we have won will be stripped away from us quicker then you could imagine.

People are going to try and convince you to “be good” and just “write your senators” and “write your congressmen.” We have been writing our congressmen for the past 30 years, and where has that gotten us? It’s gotten us 13% of our population stuck in poverty, it’s got the working class people struggling to support themselves and their family, and it’s got towns that allow white children to threaten to hang black students from trees without punishment. It’s got district attorneys who can threaten to “end the life” of black students with a “stroke of their pen.” We’re not saying that you should stop writing your senators, keep doing that, that’s fine, but some times you need to step back and realize that just writing your senator may not get the job done. Go ahead and write, but remember that sometimes it takes more then that. Sometimes you need to get out into the street and protest. Sometimes you need to put your pens down, and put your fists up. Now is one of those times.

The people are the only ones who ever changed anything in society; nothing was ever handed to us. Everyone wants to talk about how Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves. Lincoln didn’t free the slaves, the millions of people, white and black; who got up and fought in the civil war freed the slaves. Abraham Lincoln just signed a piece of paper. Everyone talks about how Lyndon Johnson GAVE black people the right to vote. Johnson didn’t GIVE anyone the right to vote, the people who stood up and protested, and fought with police on the streets, they are the ones who WON the right to vote. Lyndon Johnson just signed a piece of paper. The power to change society is in OUR hands, not the hands of these politicians and lawmakers. History has proven that we are the ONLY ones who can change society, and now is the time to do it. Let’s keep pushing forward so the events that are occurring in Jena can never happen again. It’s time to stand up and fight. Power to the people.

High-speed Rail On It's Way to Ohio?

So, folks, here it is. Long past due, of course, but for the first time there is serious talk about implementing a high-speed passenger railway system throughout Ohio and the Midwest. Given the horrendous state of public transportation opportunities for Ohio residents, and anyone from Toledo can surely back these sentiments, this plan has a host of potential benefits for the region and for us.

For the full list of benefits regarding high-speed rail to the Midwest, check this out. Here's a summary:

- Can transport people nearly as fast as a plane at a much lower price.
- Less air pollution, less smog.
- Productive alternative to cars, as you can do essentially whatever you want while you travel (read, work, etc.)
- Estimated to provide $1.3 billion in highway congestion relief and $700 million in airport congestion relief.
- Reduces reliance on private, individualized forms of transportation that are deadly to our environment and costly both personally and for road maintenance.
- Jobs, a couple thousand long term jobs and nearly fifteen thousand construction jobs, dire at a time when working class people are feeling the heat from the economic collapse.

This is perhaps the most intense pursuit of public transportation we've seen in the Midwest region. I see no reason why progressives should NOT support this plan.

And, for those of you voting in the Toledo mayoral elections here in a few weeks, check this statement by candidate Keith Wilkowski:

Toledo should pursue intermodal transportation systems for people by developing high speed passenger rail in connection with the Obama Administration’s commitment to a Chicago to Pittsburgh high speed rail line. Toledo is strategically positioned to convert our downtown railroad station into a regional multi-modal hub for passenger cars, buses, and high speed trains. Even beyond that, with high speed rail on the horizon, Toledo should aggressively pursue the engineering, design and manufacturing jobs that will be created by America’s new investment in high speed rail.

Let's have no illusions, whoever gets into office may be pressured into pursuing some sort of high-speed rail, the question is, however, under what conditions will it function? How will it be run? Will it be private or public? What are the assurances that once it is built, using federal stimulus money, that it won't simply be handed over to a private corporation to jack up the prices in order to extract as much profit as possible? What will the conditions of the potentially 2,000 permanent workers be like? These are all questions that need to be raised, however, we have to be PART of the dialogue in order to raise them.

I'll end with this, it's a e-mail forwarded to me with a link to a survey by the Ohio Department of Transportation. Worth taking a minute to fill out. Tell them we want high-speed PUBLIC transportation!

----------------------------------------------

As Ohio's economy continues to sag and energy prices remain high, our state needs a statewide passenger rail system more than ever!

Ohio is applying for passenger rail stimulus dollars to connect Cincinnati, Dayton, Columbus, and Cleveland via passenger rail by 2011. The state would then work to increase speed and frequency of service while also extending service to other cities throughout Ohio.

Help Ohio get on track with passenger rail! The Ohio Department of Transportation is currently collecting public input to inform their planning efforts and the stimulus application. Click here to access the survey.

Huge Potential Victory for Toledo Public Schools

It was announced yesterday that Learning Not Recruiting was holding a press conference in front of the Toledo Public School Board building at 10:30 this morning. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend, but the reason for this was because the TPS board made a unanimous vote which made some major changes to the availability military recruiters will have to TPS students. Here's an outline of the major changes:

1) As required in law, every year, TPS will now deliver a visible consent “opt-out” form to parents and students, which will enable them to make choices for the privacy of releases of student contact information. This form will be accompany the Emergency Medical Authorization, a form which parents must return each year.

2) TPS will use several avenues to inform parents and students of their rights to opt-out of the releases of private student information, known as “directory information.” These notifications will be included in school registration packets, principals’ newsletters and at the TPS website.

3) As specified in the federal No Child Left Behind law, and as agreed by the U.S. Department of Education, TPS will honor any student’s opt-out, including a minor student’s opt-out, from military recruitment releases of directory information.

4) TPS will no longer administer the official military entrance test known as ASVAB at any Toledo Public School. They acknowledge in policy that these tests should not be the responsibility of any TPS employee to administer.

Furthmore, the significance of this is immense. To quote the main organizer of Learning Not Recruiting, Peggy Daly-Masternak: “To our knowledge, TPS Board is the first in the country to eliminate ASVAB testing."

This is surely a percussive blow to the predatory military recruitment policies employed by the U.S. government. Economic enlistment, the targeting kids who are huddled into dilapidated schools with little resources, is rampant in Toledo. Where I went to school, Southview in the Toledo suburb of Sylvania, we had a military recruiter in one a month or so at lunch. Some TPS buildings, to my understanding, have a permanent office for recruiters. Under harsh pressure to meet their quotas, they do whatever they can to coax malleable teens into military servitude. I have had more than one or two friends, unsure of what they want to do or feeling they lack the resources to do it, coerced onto this path.

I don't have to point this out, but we can be sure the recruiters will attempt to fight back. This can definitely damper their ability to pull as many kids out of school and into the military. Pressure continues to be placed upon recruiters, especially given Obama's enlargement of the occupation of Afghanistan, so we can expect them to lead a full-scale backlash against this victory.

At the University of Toledo, the Army ROTC program has ballooned in the past few years. Hopefully, this battle will spread onto the campus as well, I will welcome it.

More importantly, perhaps, is the fact that Toledo has now set a precedent that we can hope for other public school districts to follow. We should welcome this as a major victory, and do everything we can to defend these gains.

The full news release can be read here at Glass City Jungle.