As reprinted in Dave Dellinger’s autobiography, From Yale to Jail: The Life of a Moral Dissenter, the editorial, titled “Declaration of War,” written in 1945 after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and the fire bombing of Tokyo and other Japanese cities, read:
“The atom bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki destroyed whatever claims the United States may have had to being either “democratic” or a “peace-loving” nation. Without any semblance of a democratic decision—without even advance notice of what was taking place—the American people waked up one morning to discover that the United States government had committed one of the worst atrocities in history.
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A few articles of interest…
Van Jones, “Why They Win & Why We Lose” (Summer 1999)
The title is self-explanatory. The Right doesn’t keep winning because they have more guns and media than we do, though that’s part of it. They largely keep winning because the Left doesn’t have a winning strategy or attitude. Van touches on just some basic ways of thinking that plagues the Left and which we must overcome in order to win.
Zack Exley, “The New Organizers, Part 1: What’s Really Behind Obama’s Ground Game” (Oct. 8, 2008)
Obama’s campaign is a fricken machine! And the Left should be learning from it. If we are interested in building a new party, which includes some electoral arm, the Obama campaign is the model for being innovative and reaching out to new audiences.
George Lakoff, “Don’t Think of a Maverick! Could the Obama Campaign Be Improved?” (Sept. 11, 2008)
We need to be message warriors! Learn from George Lakoff as he points out where Obama, as a case study, is succeeding in winning hearts and minds - and also where he is failing (and why).
Matt Stoller, “Obama’s Consolidation of the Party” (May 7, 2008)
Unless something major happens that propels McCain to a comeback victory, Barack Obama will be the 44th President of the United States. What does that mean for the Left? Matt Stoller outlines how Obama has consolidated power within the Democratic Party, effectively creating a new tendency with him in charge. He’ll have the power to make policy, a fundraising base that will force Democratic candidates for House and Senate to come to him if they want to win, and all branches of Government behind him. Where will this help progressive forces in the U.S.? Where will it set us back?
My friend Jonathan McIntosh has produced a new video, perhaps his finest work I’ve seen to date, remixing the presidential debates with clips from “So You Think You Can Dance?”
The remix is called “So You Think You Can Be President?” I recommend it to everyone who wants a real critique (not to mention eight minutes of laughs) of Obama and McCain’s frighteningly similar positions on energy issues and increasing attacks against the Afghan people. Check it out!
Barack Obama is the first Democrat that’s figured out that a winning Democratic Party strategy needs to make use of the solid progressive majority that exists in almost every state in the Union. This includes the South.
Since the Reagan electoral victories of the 1980’s, Democratic candidates have used one of two strategies in their attempt to regain control of political power in the United States. Candidates like Bill Clinton successfully won the White House by moving to the right on issues such trade policies, dismantling social programs, and the economy. Candidates like Al Gore and John Kerry attempted to take the White House by winning in “blue states”, trying to flip “swing states”, and largely ignoring most of the rest of the country. Bill Clinton had to move to the right on economic and foreign policy issues. And in the most blunt and straightforward indictment of the Gore/Kerry electoral strategy, one analyst rightly said: “Democrats just don’t seem to be able to count.”
Friday I posted about the movie Saw, while waiting on a bench for my theatre to empty. I was waiting to see the movie Quarantine. All the trailers I had seen for it presented it as a horror/suspense movie about a building that is quarantined due to some outbreak happening inside, which the Government later covered up.
Posted by mobile phone:
I’m sitting in my local movie theater waiting to see a movie. Beside me is a ten foot wide, eight foot tall advertisement for the movie “Saw V”. A good friend often points out that in order to live in our perverted society, we must block out most of the suffering and [...]
Posted by mobile phone:
Its interesting to watch McCain’s desperate attempt to fight his way up his impossibly steep hill to the White House. An entire early section of the debate focused on the tone and tactics of the two campaigns. McCain focused on lies against Obama’s character, while saying his campaign was focused on the [...]
Posted by mobile phone:
I’m here at Hofstra University for the last of the 2008 Presidential Debates. I’ve been doing PowerVote organizing today, mostly talking to students in front of the ‘clean (sic) coal’ table about dirty energy (especially all forms of coal) and the necessity of a clean energy future.
Now I’m sitting in one of [...]
Posted by mobile phone:
I went to my local cell phone store today to upgrade my phone. As I was waiting for my new phone to be set up, I was reading through their pamphlet on cell phone insurance. Under the section on ‘exclusions’ from coverage included - I kid you not - ‘undeclared, nuclear, or civil war; and rebellion, revolt, revolution, or government actions taken to surpress any of the above.’
So be forewarned! In the event of civil war, nuclear holocaust, or revolution (do rightwing revolutions count?), you’re going to have to buy a new phone. Mindboggling…
I’ve been wanting to read “Winning Your Election the Wellstone Way” for a while. 
From the people who wrote the book on running progressive electoral campaigns:
“We’ve put together all our campaign know-how into a practical, hands-on guide for progressive grassroots candidates and their campaigns on how to win. This latest offering was written by Jeff Blodgett and Bill Lofy with Erik Peterson, Sujata Tejwani, Ben Goldfarb and others at Wellstone Action.”
I wrote this post a few months ago. I’m reposting it. Seriously though. If you want to win a new world, read The Art of War by Sun Tzu. And study strategy. Study your opponent. Study the art of winning.
“It is said that if you know your enemies and know yourself, you will not be imperiled in a hundred battles; if you do not know your enemies but do know yourself, you will win one and lose one; if you do not know your enemies nor yourself, you will be imperiled in every single battle.” - Sun Tzu, The Art of War
The Art of War, written in the 6th century BC by Sun Tzu (Master Sun), is a 13 chapter Chinese treatise on military warfare and strategy. When read metaphorically, its a brilliant addition to those studying political strategy, and especially for those seeking fundamental social transformation.
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SEAC Election Guide: We’re excited to inform all our members of two great new pamphlets by SEAC and RAN. The first pamphlet, edited by SEAC National Council Member Dave Shukla and designed by Slim Lopez is called “Now and After: SEAC’s Guide to Student Organizing Around the 2008 Elections“. The guide explores why engaging with the 2008 elections and our current political moment is so vital to the success of building movements into the next year. Essays over topics ranging from analyzing our political moment, to advocating that we organize heavily to prepare for the first hundred days of the next presidential administration and congress, to why the climate movement needs to win economic democracy in order to achieve justice and equity.
RAN NVDA Pamphlet: Secondly, the Rainforest Action Network (RAN) has produced an amazing pamphlet on Nonviolent Direct Action called “Get Some Action: Taking Our Place in the History of U.S. Social Movements“, written by Joshua Kahn Russell, a RAN staff member and SEAC National Council Member. Like Dave and Slim’s pamphlet, it stresses the importance of the climate crisis and taking bold action at this point in history in order to advert catastrophe. Drawing from the rich history of movements for social justice and their strategic application of NVDA, it outlines the basics of this method, its history, and why its a vital tactic in winning the fight against climate change, dirty energy corporations, and environmental injustice. Josh can be reached at josh(at)ran.org
At 11:30 this morning, in another blow to the rightwing’s power, the Connecticut Supreme Court struck down a law banning same-sex marriage, ruling the state had “failed to establish adequate reason to justify the statutory ban.” Connecticut joins California and Massachusetts, becoming the third state in the nation to establish marriage equality for same-sex couples. Like in the two other states, out-of-state couples will be allowed to marry in Connecticut. You can read the decision here: ELIZABETH KERRIGAN ET AL. v. COMMISSIONER OF PUBLIC HEALTH ET AL. (PDF File)
The Advocate reports:
“Oral arguments for the case took place in May of 2007. “Separate institutions for different classes of citizens are now unheard of anywhere in American jurisprudence,” GLAD senior attorney Ben Klein told the high court. “Our history has taught us that separation serves no other purpose than to mark a class of citizens as inferior.””
