Political Ideas

What MLK Said About Change

By David Swanson

These are some of the words of Martin Luther King Jr.:

“The nonviolent strategy has been to dramatize the evils of our society in such a way that pressure is brought to bear against those evils by the forces of good will in the community and change is produced. The student sit-ins of 1960 are a classic illustration of this method….

“So far we have had the Constitution backing most of the demands for change, and this has made our work easier, since we could be sure read more

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Remembering the Separation of Powers

By David Swanson

In a December 31, 2007, editorial, the New York Times faulted the current president and vice president of the United States for kidnapping innocent people, denying justice to prisoners, torturing, murdering, circumventing U.S. and international law, spying in violation of the Fourth Amendment, and basing their actions on “imperial fantasies.”

Um, thanks for finally noticing. What would you suggest we do about it?

“We can only hope,” concludes the New York read more

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Pelosi's New Chief of Staff

By David Swanson

In a surprise and apparently sudden decision Tuesday evening, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced the hiring of a new Chief of Staff for her DC office. The choice of someone without any experience on Capitol Hill surprised many observers, leading to speculation as to what changes Pelosi may have in store for the new year.

“Al Groh will be able to hit the ground running,” Pelosi said in a statement. “As head coach of the University of Virginia Cavaliers football read more

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Cold Type Reader: Issue 22 Is Out

Issue 22:

68 Pages: Sore Losermen, Virgin or Slut, Rigged!, Globalisation: Theirs or Ours?, Are Americans ‘Better Than That’?, Absolving Baseball’s Owners, A Hunger for Books, Burger King and the Tomato Growers, Passing Around the Painted Pig, Just Another Peace Scare, The City that Said ‘No’ to America, Qaddafi, Paris and Hypocrites, Liberalisation to Murdochracy, Is Bush Stopped in His Tracks on Iran?, The Night I Learned Whose Side I Was On, Politicising Gaza’s read more

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Death By Election

By David Swanson

There must be a Star Trek episode (if there’s not, there should be) in which all the best minds in the leftist political opposition on some planet are diverted into an obsession with a virtual reality game, leaving all the right-wingers free to drive the planet into inevitable war and destruction. A game is a harmless thing when not put to such use. Elections are a fundamental pillar of democracy when not put to such use. That makes the case I want to argue all the more read more

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Cal Thomas: Racist Extraordinaire

By David Swanson

Cal Thomas, in his November 30th column, fears “America’s destruction,” citing two dangers in passing and focusing on a third. The two that I fear (global warming and nuclear war) are not mentioned. Rather, Thomas fears that our military (although by far the largest the planet has ever seen) is too small. He fears that the dollar will be abandoned by foreign governments (hence, perhaps, the need for an even larger military?). And he fears that immigrants are, read more

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It Was Never About Children's Health

By David Swanson

Beginning last November and ever since, I have repeated a standard conversation with many Congress Members and staffers. It starts out with me urging them to impeach Bush and Cheney. They then stress all their other priorities that this would supposedly distract from, including often children’s health insurance (SCHIP). I then tell them that any decent bill on any issue will be vetoed. They then get a very clever strategerizing look in their eyes and say something like read more

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PNACo Fascism Awareness Week

By David Swanson

During the week of October 22-26, 2007, the nation will be rocked by the biggest conservative campus protest ever – Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week, a wake-up call for Americans on 200 university and college campuses. Already over 368 people have expressed interest in participating.

The purpose of this protest is as simple as it is crucial: to confront the two Big Lies of the political left: that George Bush created the war on terror and that Global Warming is a greater danger read more

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TWO GREAT EVENTS IN DC AREA

Look forward to seeing you at both of these:

1. WEDNESDAY NIGHT

PDA at new Busboys and Poets in Shirlington, Va.

Busboys & Poets & Progressive Politics
October 10, 2007, Arlington, VA
Meet Reps. Lee, Woolsey, Moran, Mayor Rocky Anderson, and Norman Solomon

Spend an evening of food, conversation, and community with Congressional Progressive Caucus Co-Chairs Reps. Barbara Lee (CA) and Lynn Woolsey (CA), columnist Norman Solomon and Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson. Rep. Jim Moran will provide read more

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