Subject: DC
Voters READ THIS: Don t waste your vote!
Date: Thu, 12 Oct
2000 18:48:32 -0700 (PDT)
From: DC
Statehood-Greensweek <dcsgweek@yahoo.com>
To: dcsgweek@yahoo.com
WE DARE YOU TO
read this!
...Before you vote on November 7...
==> WHY SHOULD YOU support the DC Statehood Green
Party and Ralph Nader for President and Winona LaDuke
for Vice President?
==> Do DC Statehood Green candidates and their
campaigns deserve your support? (YES!)
==> What s the difference between Green and Democrat?
Aren t we all fighting for the same goals? (NO! --
Read below.)
Not as bad as the Republicans, Bush would be
worse, and other lesser-of-two-evil arguments are no
longer good enough. While Bush and Gore differ on
some issues, like abortion rights, they agree or come
close to agreeing on many major policies that affect
our lives especially here in DC.
Al Gore is likely to win a commanding lead in DC,
since three-quarters of DC voters are registered
Democrat. Under the electoral college system, DC is
so likely to go for Gore that there s little danger of
spoiling if lots of DC voters vote for Nader.
If the Nader-LaDuke ticket wins 5% of the popular
vote, the Green Party will become a major party, with
campaign matching funds for the next national
election. And it s about time we broke up the near
monopoly of sold-out Democrats holding office in DC.
The US needs a strong and uncorrupted pro-environment,
pro-labor, pro-human-rights third party, and DC needs
a strong SECOND PARTY!
In other words.... In Washington, DC in the year 2000,
a vote for Al Gore is a WASTED VOTE.
THERE IS NO BETTER TIME to support the Green Party,
Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke, and the DC Statehood
Green Party! (Read the contact information at the end
of this message.)
* * * * *
Where do the DC Statehood Green Party, the national
Green Party, and Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke stand?
*** DC Statehood?
DC Statehood Greens have led the movement to win
DEMOCRACY for Washington, DC sometimes at great
risk. The DC Democracy 7 (including candidate for
Shadow Representative Martin Thomas and four other
Statehood Greens) are on trial right now for
protesting in the House of Representatives against
Congress s veto power over our local laws.
The Democratic Party and its leaders in DC are pushing
for representation in Congress. DC Statehood Greens
say representation is NOT ENOUGH it won t free us
from Congress s tyranny. (Algeria, as a colony of
France, enjoyed representation in the French Assembly,
until a revolution liberated it from colonial
exploitation.)
DC Statehood Greens demand SELF-DETERMINATION in
the form of STATEHOOD, which will also ensure our
representation in Congress. Ralph Nader and the Green
Party nationally fully support these goals!
*** Democracy?
The Commission on Presidential Debates, run by the
Democratic and Republican Parties, made sure that no
third party candidates would be allowed into this
year s debates. We say, American voters have a RIGHT
to know about candidates whose names they ll see on
the ballot on November 7!
The Debates Commission, which has made the debates
into partisan political campaign events, is funded by
corporations (Anheuser-Busch, US Airways, etc.), in
violation of laws prohibiting corporate funding of
campaign activities. The League of Women Voters calls
the Commission s control the hoodwinking of the
American People. Ralph Nader has filed a lawsuit
against the Commission. LET RALPH DEBATE!
What do Mayor Anthony Williams and other DC Democrats
think of democracy? They pushed through a charter
amendment, campaigning for it illegally with
taxpayers money, which restructures the DC Board of
Education, depriving DC voters, especially parents, of
the right to vote for 4 of the 9 board members.
Williams & Co. claim that turning 4 board members into
appointed bureaucrats will mean more accountability.
What this really means is more cronyism and shady
deals corporations with special interests, like
Marriott Hotels and America On-Line, expect to be
rewarded for the contributions to the Vote Yes
campaign and less responsibility to DC parents and
children.
The DC Statehood Green Party fought against this
assault on our democratic rights. School Board
candidates Gail Dixon (for Wards 5 & 6), Thomas Smith
(Wards 1 & 2), and Larry Gray (candidate for Board
President, an At-Large seat, endorsed by the party)
led the Vote No effort. Dixon and Smith are
longtime DC Statehood activists.
DC Statehood Greens are running for office as way of
helping the people of DC speak out and organize on
their own behalf helping people win back what Ralph
Nader calls the tools of democracy. You ll never
hear Democrats or Republicans talk about this.
*** Health Care?
The DC Statehood Green Party, the Green Party
nationally, and Ralph Nader support health coverage
for all Americans under a single-payer national health
insurance program, which covers everyone regardless of
ability to pay, age, or prior medical condition and
allows full choice of physician.
DC Statehood Greens have helped lead the movement for
DC health care At-Large Council candidate Arturo
Griffiths helped organize the Greater Southeast
Coalition (which saved Greater SE Hospital) and the
Health Care Now Coalition (supporting clinics,
coverage for DC s 90,000 uninsured, etc.).
Democrats like Mayor Williams, on the other hand, want
to keep health coverage under the control of HMOs and
other private profit-driven corporations. Al Gore, in
his 2000 platform, discards the promise of the
Democratic Party, since 1948, to enact national
coverage.
Gore s prescription drug plan for seniors gives them
INFERIOR coverage to the private plans enjoyed by
Americans under 65, and his health care plan does
NOTHING for the 44 million Americans without
insurance. Democrats and the Democratic Party,
especially Al Gore and VP candidate Joe Lieberman,
take huge contributions from HMOs, insurance firms,
drug companies, and other corporations.
*** The Injustice System?
Even the Washington Post admits (October 11 editorial)
that Ralph Nader is the only presidential candidate
who talks about racial and economic disparities in
sentencing and other prison injustices.
Nader, the Green Party, and the DC Statehood Green
Party oppose the death penalty, incarceration for
nonviolent drug offenses, the failed War on Drugs,
privatization of the prison system, criminalization of
marijuana, mandatory sentencing, and zero tolerance,
which destroy the lives of millions of Americans,
especially young people, African Americans, Latinos,
and other minorities. Al Gore and the Democratic
Party mainstream support these injustices, refusing to
talk about the damage they inflict.
Privatization of prisons creates an investment
incentive to lock up more people, with longer
sentences for smaller offenses. The DC Statehood
Green Party helped the Ward 8 Coalition in DC block
construction of a private prison in Anacostia.
*** Campaign Finance Reform?
Al Gore and other Democrats talk about campaign
finance reform, while accepting huge corporation
donations some of them questionable and resulting
in investigation of Gore s fundraising practices.
Gore s money comes from the very oil companies (his
family owns a controlling share in Occidental),
insurance and drug companies, and other corporations whose CEOs sat in the Democratic
Party Convention
skyboxes that he claims to stand up against!
Ralph Nader, Green Party nationally, and the DC
Statehood Green Party REFUSE ALL CORPORATE
CONTRIBUTIONS.
DC Democratic politicians take lots of money from
major real estate firms, big developers, out-of-DC
business interests, and other corporate elites.
That s why we see multi-million-dollar taxpayer-funded
hand-outs to the wealthy: tax breaks, subsidies,
attacks on rent control and housing protections, and
expensive projects like the new Convention Center in
the Shaw neighborhood, the MCI Arena (welfare for
millionaire Abe Pollin, funded through a surtax on
small DC businesses), and plans for a new stadium on
Massachusetts Avenue.
These projects congest and pollute, provide only a few
menial jobs for local people, and evict DC residents,
usually the poor, working, and middle class folks who
lack clout in City Hall. The DC Statehood Green Party
has fought against these boondoggles, and Ralph Nader
has campaigned nationally against taxpayer-funded
sports stadiums and other corporate free lunch!
*** Fair Wages?
Al Gore s Democratic Party wants a minimum wage --
that no one can live on. Nader, the Greens, and the
DC Statehood Green Party demand a LIVABLE WAGE.
Unlike the Democrats, we want to overturn the
Taft-Hartley Act, which restricts union organizing and
workers rights. (This is why some unions have begun
to defect from the Democratic Party and endorse
Greens.) Ward 4 Council candidate Renée Bowser is
lawyer for labor and unions and a DC Human Rights
Commissioner.
*** The Social Safety Net?
Al Gore s 2000 Platform abolishes the traditional
Democratic Party promises of the New Deal and the
Great Society, and wants to see more money for the
military, in support of US intervention in other
nations and Reagan s discredited and fraudulent
space-based missile defense. Gore urged Clinton to
sign the 1996 Welfare Reform Act and Parental
Responsibility Act, which blame and punish the poor
and powerless. A July 2000 Brookings study showed
that the Welfare Reform Act has especially hurt cities
like DC.
Ralph Nader calls for drastic cuts in military
spending, with the money rechanneled into social needs especially for American
cities.
The DC Statehood Green Party has worked to strengthen
the social safety net, and has fought for restoration
of tenant assistance and services for the poor,
homeless, and seniors. Arturo Griffiths is a leader
in the DC Coalition for Housing Justice, fighting
against the eviction of tenants victimized by
unscrupulous landlords.
*** Free Trade?
DC Statehood Greens were leaders in the protests
against the IMF and World Bank here in DC on April 16,
and we and other Greens from across the US joined the
demonstrations against the WTO (World Trade
Organization) in Seattle last year.
Ralph Nader, alone among major presidential
candidates, opposes these international trade
authorities with the power to override local and
national labor, human rights, and environmental
protections. Al Gore, his platform, and the
Democratic Party mainstream support these
anti-democratic, anti-labor, and anti-environmental
agreements.
*** Needle exchange? Medical marijuana? Same-sex
marriage? Nader & Greens support; Gore and most
mainstream Democrats oppose. Gore supported the
anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act, which Clinton signed
and Lieberman voted for in 1996.
*** Read the web sites listed below for other points
of comparison on issues on which Gore and the
Democratic Party have betrayed us, and on which Gore
and Bush agree.
* * * * *
HOW YOU CAN HELP
==> Volunteer for DC Statehood Green campaigns (we
especially need people at the polls on Election Day,
November 7): Call Philip at 202-483-0174
==> Contribute to the DC Statehood Green Party: write
a check to DC Statehood Green Party and mail it c/o
Phil Barlow, 1852 Columbia Road NW, apt 405,
Washington, DC 20009 (Any amount helps! Call Phil at
202-483-0174 or any of the numbers below to learn
contribution limits.)
*** Arturo Griffiths for At-Large Member of DC City
Council: (202) 265-2659
*** Tom Briggs for Ward 2 Member of Council: (202)
265-9176.
*** Renée Bowser for Ward 4 Member of Council: (202)
291-3636
*** Thomas E. Smith for Wards 1& 2 Member of the DC
Board of Education: (202) 737-8088
*** Gail Dixon for Wards 5 & 6 Member of the DC Board
of Education: (202) 529-6525 (Gail is currently
At-Large Member of the board)
*** Martin Thomas for DC Shadow Representative:
(202) 332-1709
*** Nader 2000 Campaign: (202) 265-4000 (If you
already support Ralph Nader for President, please join
us in campaigning for our local DC candidates, too!)
*** Ward One Committee of the DC Statehood Green
Party: Dave Bosserman, (202) 483-4165
*** DC Statehood Green Party spokesperson: Scott
McLarty, (202) 518-5624
More information...
*** DC Statehood Green Party:
http://www.dcstatehoodgreen.org
*** Association of State Green Parties:
http://www.greenparties.org
*** Green Party national platform: http://www.gp.org
*** Nader 2000 Campaign: http://www.votenader.org
THANKS!
Please forward this message to friends, family,
coworkers, etc!
Paid for by the DC Statehood Green Party, Philip
Barlow, treasurer.
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