April 1, 2005

“April Fools! We’re not really going to wreck the bankruptcy system and turn families over to the gentle mercies of credit card companies! We just wanted to see how extreme we could get and have the media still believe it!”

That’s what I’d like to hear the United States Senate announce today, but I won’t hold my breath.

When a majority of U.S. Senators, including 19 Democrats, voted to pass the bankruptcy bill, some of them may have thought that no read more

April 1, 2005

I pulled together a list of reasons why a proposed Wal-Mart should be kept out of my community. They all apply to yours too.

Not About NIMBY: We are not saying “not in my back yard.” We don’t want to see a Wal-Mart built in a different part of the county, or in a different county, or in a different state. We are opposed to Wal-Marts being built anywhere. It is here in our neighborhood that we have the possibility of stopping one, as others around the country have read more

Panel Presentation for Conference of United Association of Labor Educators
April 1, 2005, Philadelphia, Penn.

I originally proposed as a title for this workshop “What Direction Should Labor Media Take?” Somewhere along the way, the word “Media” got lost, a fortunate accident in that it produced for us the brilliant paper that Andy Zipser is presenting today, which addresses the media question but within the important context of the broader debate over labor’s future. read more

April 5, 2005
The most remarkable thing about the bankruptcy bill (which has now been postponed in the House until next week) is something that the corporate media is incapable of reporting on and probably in some cases incapable of even recognizing. Namely, this bill offers an ideal test for the Democrats.

Most bills contain some redeeming features, some elements that are good for people, not just good for corporate profits. With most bills, a case can be made, however contorted and unconvincing, read more

Presentation at Marymount University, April 7, 2005
Crystal asked me to come here because I had some connection to the hunger strike for a living wage at Georgetown University. When I told her that I was not a hunger striker, but primarily a reporter who wrote about it, she was kind enough to still ask me to speak, but asked if I could bring a hunger striker too. I couldn’t.

So, instead of hearing from one of these admirable young people who put their health and their lives on the line for read more

April 8, 2005
The Socialist Worker’s Lance Selfa wrote an article opposing the idea of trying to turn the Democratic Party into a truly progressive force. Hopeless, he said. I sent him a response, which the Socialist Worker published together with a reply from Selfa. See the exchange here:
http://www.socialistworker.org/2005-1/538/538_08_DebatingthePDA.shtml

At the same time, Ralph Nader running mate Peter Camejo published an article criticizing the same thing and denouncing various efforts read more

April 18, 2005

For more than a decade we’ve heard about a political animal called the RINO (Republican in Name Only), but most species of RINO have become endangered or at least threatened. Republicans in Congress have learned to close ranks and vote as a block.

On the recent bill restricting the rights of those who would file class action law suits, Republicans in the House voted 229 to 1 in favor of it, and in the Senate 54 to 0, with two not voting. On the latest increase in war spending, read more

April 19, 2005

See Photo Album on This Site

So, Jimmy Carter and James Baker are sitting at a table, and Carter starts talking about the disastrous election of 2000 in Florida…. It sounds like the start of a joke. It was actually the start of the first meeting of the Baker-Carter Commission on Federal Election Reform in Washington, D.C., on April 18th. Baker didn’t do much bragging about his role in Florida. In fact, there was more than one occasion during the meeting on which Baker read more

April 19, 2005
Harold Meyerson has an interesting article in the Spring 2005 Dissent Magazine called “Beyond The Consensus: Democrats Agree on How to Play Defense, but What Are They Fighting For?” http://www.dissentmagazine.org/

Meyerson encourages Democrats to “go to war against Democratic Wall Street elites,” to win back the white working class through progressive economic policies. I completely agree, but want to quibble with how Meyerson proposes we do this.

Meyerson read more

April 20, 2005

George Lakoff has become perhaps the most listened to thinker by progressive activists. His instruction to take care in how a debate is initially framed is very persuasive. Clearly it is much harder to bring people to a conclusion that lies outside the possibilities created by a frame. It is also useful to argue in the terms that will appeal to the widest audience.

I don’t think a lack of these communications skills has much to do with the decline of progressive politics in read more

April 26, 2005

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James Roosevelt stood on a large outdoor stage on Tuesday in a Washington, D.C., park filled with union members waving signs about Social Security. “Every American,” he said, “deserves what my grandfather, Franklin Delano Roosevelt laid out for them.”

The shouts that followed that remark must have been heard inside the nearby U.S. Capitol.

“Are we in this country ever a We, or is it I and Me all the time?” asked Roosevelt, read more

A Press Conference for Theocracy
April 26, 2005

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Two white Republican U.S. senators and a group of largely African-American preachers held a press conference in the U.S. Capitol building on Tuesday to demand a vote on the nomination of Janice Rogers Brown to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Brown’s is one of the nominations that Democratic senators are opposing by means of the filibuster.

Because the Democrats are in the minority, even if they could discipline read more

April 27, 2005

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Former Vice President Al Gore gave a lengthy speech on Wednesday on the topic of Republicans’ attempt to eliminate the right to filibuster in the Senate.

The event was organized by MoveOn.org, and MoveOn member Sarah Landon introduced Gore. Landon pointed out that Gore had worked in an administration that saw more judicial nominees blocked by Republicans than the current one has seen blocked by Democrats. We hear about activist Democratic judges, read more

April 28, 2005

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A forum held in a US House of Representatives office building on April 28 brought together leaders of the movement to withdraw US troops from Iraq, including Congresswomen Lynn Woolsey and Barbara Lee, both California Democrats and Co-Chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. Woolsey is the sponsor of H. Con. Res. 35, a resolution calling for the withdrawal of troops to begin immediately.
http://www.woolsey.house.gov/newsarticle.asp?RecordID=391

Woolsey read more

My favorite authors are Derrida and Rorty, and when I read them I do to them what they do to others, namely I try to detect in them remnants of religion that do not fit with the majority of their statements. I pick out dichotomies used by them which I think they ought to be compelled by their own thinking to drop – for example Rorty’s split between “public” and “private” which I think derives straight from Augustine’s “sacred” and “worldly” read more

From Jen Kern

To Whom it May Concern,

I am a former colleague of David Swanson who worked closely with him in his capacity as Communications Coordinator for ACORN for over two years.

I found David to be hardworking, conscientious and passionate about the struggle for social and economic justice. He quickly adjusted to both the substance of his work (which often involved learning very detailed aspects of a range of complicated policy issues) and to the pace, climate, and values of the organization. read more

From Steve Cobble, Political Strategist

To Whom It May Concern:

David Swanson is quite possibly the hardest-working person I have ever worked with — and I have spent most of my adult life on political and issue campaigns, where hard-working people are everywhere. David is smart; committed to change; a good writer, and a very fast writer. He is optimistic, and I enjoyed working with him on the Kucinich Campaign (of course, that was partly because he was constantly volunteering to take on additional read more

FROM DENNIS KUCINICH

Cleveland, Ohio
February 6, 2004

To Whom It May Concern:

This is to enthusiastically recommend David Swanson to your employment.

I worked closely with Mr. Swanson on a daily basis in his capacity as press secretary to my campaign for President of the United States.

He is honest, thorough, hardworking and able to complete even the most demanding tasks expeditiously.

His extraordinary dedication helped to build strong awareness of our campaign in the national media.

He was aggressive read more

From Jeff Cohen, founder of FAIR, columnist/TV commentator, former ACLU attorney

Feb. 3, 2004

To whom it may concern:

I have been an executive in the progressive/public interest/nonprofit sector for more than two decades, and I have never come across a public interest co-worker whose skills and work ethic surpassed those of David Swanson. He is a quick study, talented writer, great motivator of colleagues and consummate multi-tasker. I first met him when he was the communications director of ACORN. read more

Karen Kilroy
Akron, Ohio

re: David Swanson

To Whom It May Concern

I had the good fortune to work closely with David Swanson in his role with the Kucinich for President Campaign in 2003-2004. My role as Webmaster was closely dependent on his role as Press Secretary. I could always depend on the quality of David’s output as I posted his writings to the kucinich.us web site and in mass email communications.

David’s role included being editor-in-chief of the website, which meant that he was read more