Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter

Puget Sound Liberals Weekly Newsletter #122

Enhancing Freedom, Opportunity and Cooperation in Puget Sound and Beyond

Through informing and networking Liberals and Liberal Organizations.

Our vision is hundreds of thousands of well-informed Puget Sound Liberals working together.

2300 members May 16, 2008

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                        Table of Contents *Featured Articles

About Puget Sound Liberals

Opportunities, Petitions and Feedback

  How Would You Spend $3 Trillion instead of Iraq?

Commentaries from Our Members

Dave Miller on Separation Between Church and State

Don Smith Proposes a Museum of Accountability*

Jack Smith on Peace for Israel and Palestine

Linda Jansen on Israel’s Brutality

Ray McBain on The Nation Magazine

Liberals and Democrats Links to the Beef

Superdelegates: Not a Problem*

Barack Obama’s Immense Campaign Resources*

Where are the Democratic Blue Dogs From?

State and Local Links to the Beef

Democrats Comprehensively Address Major Issues*

Evaluating a Tax System. What Is a Good One?*

What Should a Liberal Do Now?*

Nation and World Links to the Beef

A Way Around Our Electoral College

Hello $200 Oil. Goodbye Economy.*

What if George Bush Was President During Cold War?

Our Liberal Spirit

Life Is a Glorious Struggle*

Recommended Books

Our Political Priorities

·       Fair Clean Elections and Open Government

·       Fair Taxes and Competent Spending

·       Investment for Productivity

·       Quality Health, Education, Jobs, Income and Retirement

·       Environmental Protection and Energy Independence

·       Personal Security and Equal Rights

·       Justice and Peace Everywhere

·       International Cooperation and Leadership

Conservatives oppose all of these

     Let’s End Our National Nightmare

         Let’s Restore Our American Dream

More on Conservative opposition to our American Dream

Washington State’s 4 Major Needs

·       Federal Funding for Health and Education

·       A Progressive Income Tax

·       Public Campaign Financing

·       Replacing Republican Legislators

Quote of the Week

Life is a Glorious Struggle. Dave Thomas

For more. For more.

Calendar of Events

King County Democrats - LD Meetings            Some 2008 Legislature Lobby Days

Thurston County Progressive Net                  Western Washington Fellowship of Reconciliation

Alliance for Democracy                               Democratic Underground.Com

Town Hall Seattle Calendar                            Sierra Club Cascade Chapter Calendar



Washington Public Campaigns Calendar          Conversation Cafe

Whatcom County Peace and Justice Calendar Drinking Liberally

Wallingford Neighbors for Peace and Justice – Friday Night Movies      Liberal films on PBS

Calendar of Events

Friday, May 16 at 6:30 PM at Candy Sullivan and Jule Sugarman’s place (1140 Alki Ave SW #505, Seattle) – inSPIRe monthly potluck and discussion: with Valerie Tarico on the Evangelical Mindset.

Friday, May 16 at 7 PM at Redmond Town Center Marriott – Spring Fundraising Gala to Benefit the Northwest Progressive Institute. Includes Chip Hanauer, the most successful hydroplane racer in the sport's history, Darcy Burner, our candidate for Congress in the 8th, Major General Paul Eaton (Ret.) who led the creation of the Army's Stryker force at Fort Lewis, and Seattle radio personality Mike West as master of ceremonies with music by legendary jazz guitarist Don Mock. There will be a rich buffet and no host bar. $60.

Saturday, May 17 at 9 AM at IAM #751 Hall (9125 – 15^th Place South, Seattle) – Rally and Door Knocking in Seattle on McCain’s disastrous record for working families. Sponsored by AFL-CIO officer Arlene Holt Baker, 8^th CD candidate Darcy Burner, WSLC officer Al Link and other labor leaders and union volunteers.

Saturday, May 17 at 1 – 4 PM at Seattle Labor Temple, Hall 6 (2800 – 1^st Avenue, Seattle) – Health Care House Party Training, sponsored by Washington CAN. To register.

Monday, May 19 at 6:30 at Shoreline conference Center (18560 1st Avenue Northeast, Shoreline) – King County Council Town Meeting on Public Campaign Financing.

Monday, May 19 at 7 PM at REI-Seattle (222 Yale Avenue North, Seattle) – REI Cool State Forum: New Green Economy: Where are the opportunities and benefits? RSVP

Monday, May 19 at 7 PM at Kane Hall 130 (University of Washington) – Niger Delta Forum by Sweet Crude film crew who were detained in Nigeria and others. $10.

Tuesday, May 20 at 5 PM at Olympic Sculpture Park Pavilion (2901 Western Avenue, Seattle) – Jim McIntire Campaign Kickoff & Fundraiser for Washington State Treasurer. For more.

Tuesday, May 20 at Redmond City Hall (15670 NE 85^th Street, Redmond) – 48^th District Legislators’ Town Hall, with Rodney Tom, Ross Hunter and Deb Eddy

Friday, May 23 at 6:30 PM at Rick Hegdahl’s home (104 - 165th Avenue NE) – Lake Hills Liberals Salon, including Light Buffet and discussion of Priorities for Our 2009 Democratic Administration. Bring beverage, fruit, cheese, crackers, etc

Friday, May 23 at 7 PM at King County Library Administration Building (960 Newport Way NW, Issaquah) – American Democracy Movie Night “Cheney’s Law” and discussion, hosted by 5^th District Democrats. About the struggle over the power of the presidency.

Saturday, May 24 at 3 PM at the Bradford Center (750 – 108^th Avenue NE, Bellevue) – Movie and Discussion of Uncounted: the New Math of American Elections, sponsored by Eastside Fellowship of Reconciliation.

Thursday, May 29 at 7 PM at the Sammamish Public Library (825 – 228^th Avenue NE) – Dinner and Issues in American Democracy discussion of ‘absentee ballot only’ voting in King County, led by Elizabeth Walter and Jason Aaron Osgood of Washington Citizens for Fair Elections. Sponsored by 5^th LD Democrats and Democrats of Inglewood Neighborhood.

Thursday, May 29 at 7 PM at Ethic Cultural Center (3931 Brooklyn Avenue NE, Seattle) - Zero Point Presentation and discussion of Energy, Exotic Weaponry, and the Mystery of 9/11. $10. Sponsored by 911TruthSeattle and the Metaphysical Library of Seattle.

Sunday, June 1 at 2:30 PM at Greater Tacoma Convention & Trade Center (1500 Broadway, Tacoma) – Sound Alliance Founding Assembly. For more about Sound Alliance.

Friday, June 6 at 7 PM at Seattle Town Hall (1119 8th Ave, Seattle) – Cindy Sheehan speaking on Moving from a War Economy to a Peace Economy $10-25. For more.

Friday, June 6 at 7 PM at the Rainier UU Center (835 Yesler Way, Seattle) – Screening and Discussion of Broken Limbs: Apples, Agriculture and the New American Farmer.

Saturday, June 7 at 2 PM at Burlington Public Library (820 E. Washington Avenue, Burlington) – SiCKO, Special Features and HR 676: The Single Payer Solution. Sponsored by United for National Healthcare. To help arrange this event.

Saturday, June 7 at 7 PM at University Temple United Methodist Church (1415 NE 43rd Street, Seattle) – Dahr Jamail speaking Iraq and its relationship with Iran. Sponsored by Interfaith Network of Concern for People of Iran, Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility and Church and Society Team of University Temple United Methodist Church.

Opportunities, Petitions and Feedback

Opportunities

How would you spend the $3 trillion the Iraq War will cost us? On what other government programs?

See a great collection articles on climate solutions, including a ten year plan for what you can do.

Check how green you are.

Try MoveOn’s new game: What’s the difference between President Bush and Senator John McCain?

Learn how to revitalize our manufacturing industries.

Read Washington State Budget and Policy Center’s research concerning our economy and taxes.

Petitions and Donations

Tell state legislators to stop Republican attempts to limit voting access.

Urge your U.S. senators to support S. 2123, the Public Safety Employer-Employee Cooperation Act.

Tell your U.S. senators to oppose the FCC’s support of media consolidation.

Tell H&HS Secretary Leavitt to prepare for the public health impacts of global warming.

Sign Washington CAN’s petition for create universal access in Washington to quality health care now.

Tell President Bush to deploy peacekeepers to Darfur.

Feedback

Are there topics which you think should be covered more thoroughly in this newsletter?

Commentaries >From Our Members

Dave Miller on Separation Between Church and State

Excerpts from an Email

Our new chapter of Americans United has grown to more than 80 members. Here are just some of the activities that we, at our national and chapter levels, are fighting against:

Federal “faith-based funding,” paid for by all taxpayers, continues to be allocated almost exclusively to fundamentalist evangelical organizations (all three presidential candidates state that they’ll maintain the “faith-based” funding program, though presumable administer it in different ways).
Obviously unconstitutional proselytizing of recruits and other military personnel continues at almost all military installations, and persecution of those with the wrong faith, especially atheists, is tolerated.
“Pulpiteering” is occurring in many churches (the promotion of a particular candidate or political party contrary to IRS regulations). For more. For more.
America’s longstanding National Day of Prayer (itself problematic from a First Amendment point of view) has been hijacked by the religious right.
Bills keep being introduced at all jurisdictional levels to further the notion that American is a Christian nation, to protect the currently illegal display of religious symbols in government buildings, and otherwise mix government and religion.
And the creationists keep fighting to place their religious theory in science classes in our public schools.

This past month, we have been:

Investigating the use of a “biblical allusions” segment in 10^th grade English in the Bellevue School District to try and determine whether some schools may have gone beyond the allowable teaching of the Bible as literature to teaching it as religion.
Reviewing with one of the involved parents the result of an action AU Eastside initiated to free home school students in the Bellevue School District from housing in a church building replete with religious symbols. This action appears to have proven successful, as the district has decided to place the students in another setting next year.
Building coalitions with other organizations concerned with church-state separation, such as the Washington chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union.
Continuing to educate ourselves on what church-state separation means and implies (especially at the board level).
Examining ways to better understand why our chapter members joined AU and affiliated with our chapter, and what you want from your board and your chapter membership. (Don’t be surprised if a board member gives you a call to chat with you.)

Our next meeting is: Wednesday, May 28 at 6:30-30 PM at Lake Hills Library (15228 Lake Hills Blvd., Bellevue). Dave Miller

Conservative Christians aren’t dead politically. They are still quite active.

Donald A Smith Proposes a Museum of Accountability

Over the past eight years, Americans watched with horror as our elected leaders brought upon us:

· a disastrous, debilitating, and immensely destructive war based on lies;

· shameful neglect and disregard for the welfare of our soldiers, veterans, and their families;

· widespread corruption and mismanagement (especially with respect to the war in Iraq and the reconstruction of New Orleans);

· torture and extraordinary rendition;

· unconscionable incompetence and indifference concerning the devastation resulting from Hurricane Katrina;

· subversion of our Constitutional rights, including wiretapping and imprisonment without trial;

· reckless deregulation, resulting in corporate scandals, increased carbon emissions, the sub-prime loan debacle, and greater dependence on fossil fuels;

· politicization of the Justice Department;

· suppression of evidence;

· obsessive secrecy;

· exploitation of fear, faith, and patriotism for cynical ends;

· election fraud and vote suppression;

· negligence at addressing the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, a major cause of anti-Americanism and terrorism;

· energy and environmental policies that are detrimental to the interests of the majority of Americans;

· ballooning budgetary and trade deficits; and

· increased concentration of wealth and media power.

It is not only the Bush Administration that bears responsibility for what has occurred. Congress and the media failed at investigating and reporting the facts, failed at overseeing the executive branch, and failed at holding wrongdoers accountable. Moreover, in many cases, members of Congress and others -- both Democrats and Republicans -- have been complicit in wrongdoing.

Americans cannot count on Congress and the media to keep us informed and to defend justice, law and truth. Even now, millions of Americans are unaware of the facts about how the war in Iraq came about and about how disastrous it has been morally, economically, and politically. Millions of Americans are also unaware of the many other ways in which government serves the interests of the few.

Consequently, we propose the creation of a Museum of Accountability to be built in the Seattle area to bear witness to the recent and ongoing violations of our laws and shared values. Like the Holocaust Museum, this museum will document the facts about wrongdoing. Unlike the Holocaust Museum -- which was built years after the death of most of the wrongdoers -- the Museum of Accountability will exist while many of those responsible are still alive and still in office.

Via photos, video, and printed word, the museum will present a detailed and palpable accounting of the acts and omissions of our government leaders and of those outside government who aided them in their misdeeds. The museum will have a physical presence in a site to be determined. In addition, there will be an accompanying website (we have already reserved a domain name, and we envision a traveling display. Content will be provided by volunteers (of which we are sure there will be many) and will be verified by a committee of experts.

At the start of the Bush Administration, our country was at the pinnacle of its power, with budget surpluses, unchallenged military supremacy, and a booming economy; America was still regarded as a beacon of freedom and prosperity. After eight years of mismanagement and corruption, the US is morally compromised, militarily depleted, deeply in debt, and heading into recession.

Our hope is that the Museum of Accountability will help return our country to the values that we hold dear and will deter future leaders from similar wrongdoing. Some people say that America doesn't need more partisanship and recrimination. But democracy and morality depend on an informed citizenry and a fearless commitment to justice and the rule of law.

If you are interested in working on the creation of such a museum, please contact Donald A. Smith (206-819-5965)

Jack Smith on Peace for Israel and Palestine

Published May 11 by the Seattle PI

I find it sad to see your newspaper perpetuating the conflict in Israel-Palestine by relying repeatedly on the same writer to give his history of the Middle East from an Israeli viewpoint.

David Brumer ("The incontrovertible right to exist") appears to see the Israel-Palestine situation as an "either-or" case, in which only one side can survive. He abandons all hope for peace, suggesting that all possibilities have already been unsuccessfully tried by the Israelis. He totally ignores the slow progress brought by differing people of hope in nations such as South Africa and Ireland. Instead of seeking solutions, Brumer's "me first and only" approach assures failure as certainly as throwing gasoline on a burning fire would. It is easy to sit in the comfort of the United States and pontificate on simple solutions to very difficult situations, while all people in the Middle East, including his own, continue to suffer.

As for me and mine, we choose peace for all people and we are willing to work hard to achieve it. Jack Smith

Linda Jansen on Israel’s Brutality

Published May 11 by the Seattle PI

David Brumer's guest column was characteristic of apologists for the state of Israel in that it turns victimhood on its head, insisting that Israel is blameless in the tragic struggle that has enmeshed the Middle East since the turn of the 19th century.

The first prime minister of Israel, David Ben-Gurion, wrote the following in 1937: "With compulsory transfer (of the Arab population) we (would) have a vast area (for settlement) ... . I support compulsory transfer. I don't see anything immoral in it." (From "Righteous Victims" by Israeli historian Benny Morris, page 144.)

From this beginning, the Israeli state has been pressing forward, trying to rid itself of the pesky, resilient Palestinians. Palestinians must wonder why they should be paying for the wrongs visited on Jews in Europe and other places around the globe. They might also ask why they are not given their own columns in the P-I to explain the devastation the occupation of their land by a brutal army has visited on them.

I am upset that a huge chunk of our foreign policy budget is paid to Israel, which ranked 23rd in the U.N.'s 2005 prosperity rating, while the occupied Palestinian territories rank 102. While some celebrate the founding of Israel this month, I will be celebrating the courage shown by Palestinians in the face of a highly developed PR campaign that seeks to subvert the truth of their existential plight. Linda Jansen

Email from Ray McBain on The Nation Magazine

To remain abreast of what's happening in the world, one must read The >Nation magazine. I'm not saying everything published in their pages is the absolute truth. What I am saying is that they touch on every subject worth knowing about. And their reporting is not beholden to the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Fox News (pronounced "fox snooze"), or any other media moguls.

I receive a new issue every week. It always stimulates my thinking, it always provides facts to help me understand what's going on: people's names, names of organizations, info about countries, etc. And I have access to the online publication (http://www.thenation.com/). Ray McBain

Liberals and Democrats

Superdelegates Are Not a Problem

Our commercial media pundits have continually suggested that superdelegates may support Hillary Clinton, in opposition to the majority of voters, states and pledged delegates which have supported Barack Obama. Many more superdelegates endorsed Clinton when she was the front runner. But since super Tuesday, as Obama has won a majority of primary and caucus votes, he has been steadily obtaining more endorsements from superdelegates than Clinton. He now has more superdelegate endorsements than Clinton and his lead is increasing. With John Edwards endorsement, he Obama may obtain most of Edwards’ 19 delegates. To end the prolonged competition, superdelegates may soon rush to support Obama. This trend has been obvious, even as the pundits have hypothesized and obsessed with the opposite. Just one more reason to distrust the pundits and their dramatic mythologies which they substitute for more expensive research and coverage of real issues. For more.

The pundits may also be wrong to believe that John McCain’s supporters will effectively attack Obama. Clinton’s attacks have not been extreme and he has responded well and effectively. Conservatives may find it as difficult to attack Obama as Clinton has. And his response to Clinton’s attacks may have inoculated him against any more extreme attacks from McCain supporters. He may be able to respond, “There you go again.” Or humorously “Here comes more ropey-doak old politics.” Our voters may respond well to such responses, as they have to his similar responses during our primaries.

If you find yourself misled by all the pundits attempts to make drama of trivia and by their wrong assumptions, think about how you can improve your own priorities and assumptions. How can you become better informed? I hope our website and newsletter are helpful. Although I sometimes go astray. I sure didn’t understand the difference the Republicans’ winner take all and our Democratic proportional selection primaries would make for quickly choosing a winner. Dave Thomas

Barack Obama’s Immense Campaign Resources

Barack Obama has an attractive persona and is effective with both his speeches and face-to-face interaction. He has inspired people, while presenting few targets for those who would attack him. He responds well to the attacks that are made. Note that three Democrats that Republicans linked to Obama recently won congressional seats long held by Republican.

More important for electing not only himself, but also other Democrats, Barack Obama may have built the strongest presidential campaign ever. This includes:

*dates are year when Blue Dog was first elected

Notice that these Blue Dogs are not primarily from southern states. They are widely distributed geographically.

8 of the 43 were elected in 2006, 6 in 2004, 5 in 2002, and 4 in 2000. The other 20 were elected earlier. It appears that the proportion of Democrats who are Blue Dogs is not increasing.

Here’s the Beef

Larry King asked Jon Stewart if America was ready for a Black or woman president. Jon replied, “Did anyone ask us in 2000 if America was ready for a moron as president?”

Do we want change because we’ve lost what we had, or for other reasons?

Violent Conservative rhetoric has increased. What will be the results?

Faced with disaster, Republicans are trying to repackage themselves. It won’t work. More.

Has Hillary Clinton become a Conservative Populist, opposing social elites instead of economic ones?

Did the Rush Limbaugh Effect help Clinton in Indiana, Ohio, Texas, Michigan and other states?

Hillary Clinton emerges as a champion of blue collar voters.

Clinton may do better against McCain in some states. Obama does better against McCain in others.

Both Obama and Clinton promote unproven clean coal to woo West Virginia and Kentucky voters.

Former Bush donors now give to Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton instead of John McCain.

Barack Obama stimulates a wave of young people to become the next generation of Democrats.

John Edwards endorses Barack Obama.

It’s illegal for Obama to give Clinton more than $2000 to retire her campaign debt. More.

A Louisiana congressional election demonstrated that Barack Obama may have coattails.

View finalists in MoveOn’s 30 second Obama video spot contest (video). There’re GREAT!

John McCain rails against activist judges, but would appoint activist Conservative judges.

The Arab network Al-Jazeera is closely following our Democratic presidential nomination race.

North Carolina Senator Elizabeth Dole and Oregon Senator Gordon Smith may lose re-election. More.

SEIU will promote more and better Democrats, opposing those who don’t support our American Dream.

Larry Bartel’s book Unequal Democracy debunks much conventional political wisdom.

Conservative pastors are defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics.

Are our commercial media wrecking our elections and government? What can be done?

State and Local

Democrats Comprehensively Address Major Issues

Governor Christine Gregoire and our Democratically dominated legislature can be praised above all for their comprehensive approach to major issues, such as environment, health care, education, government budgeting and management. For more on government management. For more. For more on education (Washington Learns). For more on health care. For more on Environment. They are beginning to deal comprehensively with transportation.

Hopefully, they will bring the same comprehensiveness to other major issues, such as: election reform, taxation, affordable housing and urban sprawl, and law and justice, especially sexual abusers, users of mind altering drugs and repeat offenders. For each of these issues, we need to begin with comprehensive research and education. Hopefully, a major priority of our 2009 legislature will be to establish task groups to initiate comprehensive research and education for these issues, as occurred with our environment and education and is occurring with health care. Hopefully our advocacy groups will create a consensus and cooperate politically as environmental groups have done.

I know little about sexual abusers. But since people get very passionate about their treatment, I would like to know more. How do they differ? It would seem that exposing yourself is different from having one short affair with a slightly underage person from having many such affairs from incest from violently attacking strangers, for some examples. Can these various offenders be classified according to the threats they pose? Which can be rehabilitated and which can’t? Can we create a classification of abusers with recommended legal and other responses. I hope our state government will create a task group to answer these questions and make recommendations. Do any of you readers know where answers can be found or who are experts? Dave Thomas

Evaluating a Tax System. What Is a Good One?

Our Washington tax system is not fair, not productive and not stable. Correcting it requires a progressive income tax. The first step is educating our public. A major beginning question is: “What makes a quality tax system?”

According to the National Conference of State Legislators, the Principles of a High-Quality State Revenue System are:

1. A high-quality revenue system comprises elements that are complementary, including the finances of both state and local governments.

2. A high-quality revenue system produces revenue in a reliable manner. Reliability involves stability, certainty and sufficiency.

3. A high-quality revenue system relies on a balanced variety of revenue sources.

4. A high-quality revenue system treats individuals equitably. Minimum requirements of an equitable system are that it imposes similar tax burdens on people in similar circumstances, that it minimizes regressivity, and that it minimizes taxes on low-income individuals.

5. A high-quality revenue system facilitates taxpayer compliance. It is easy to understand and minimizes compliance costs.

6. A high-quality revenue system promotes fair, efficient and effective administration. It is as simple as possible to administer, raises revenue efficiently, is administered professionally, and is applied uniformly.

7. A high-quality revenue system is responsive to interstate and international economic competition.

8. A high-quality revenue system minimizes its involvement in spending decisions and makes any such involvement explicit.

9. A high-quality revenue system is accountable to taxpayers.

Among our Washington State Department of Revenue’s reports is the Tax Structure Study which asks the following questions about our tax system: (1) Elasticity/Volatility, (2) Stability, (3) Equity/Fairness, (4) Adequacy, (5) Economic Vitality, (6) Economic Neutrality/Efficiency, (7) transparency/Lumpiness, (8) Administrative Simplicity, (9) Harmony With Other States, and (10) Home Ownership.

These two sets of principles for evaluation tax systems mostly contain the same principles, as can be understood by reading their more detailed descriptions. The Tax Structure Study concludes its evaluation of our tax structure by saying: “The Committee’s view is that the current structure is so flawed in meeting the most important criteria that it must be judged as unsatisfactory.

· Washington’s taxes are paid disproportionately by that segment of our citizens whose income is the lowest. The Committee believes that a fair system of taxation is one in which contributions to state revenue are at least proportional across the spectrum of incomes. Ours is among the worst in the nation on this count.

· There is great value in having harmony with other states and particularly with neighbor states. Our tax structure is quite unique and its differences make opportunities for taxpayers to engage in behaviors to avoid taxation. Prominent among such phenomena is the stream of traffic from our state across the Columbia River to buy goods in Oregon to avoid sales tax. A further example is the unnatural division of business activity within a company in order to locate certain activities out of this state to avoid the B&O tax.

· Our proportion of state taxes collected from businesses compared to households is dramatically different from norms: 46 percent from business in Washington compared to a western states average of 30 percent.

· Our B&O tax is a dramatic violator of the principle of neutrality among like businesses. The pyramiding of this tax on goods as they move through the production chain is a fundamental problem that requires correction.

· The differentiation made by the federal income tax rules in permitting deduction of state income taxes but not of state sales taxes represents a loss to our taxpayers who itemize. The inability to deduct sales tax amounts to about $500 million in loss each year to Washingtonians.

· Our heavy reliance on the retail sales tax exposes us to the very patent diminishing of the sales base. It is clear that out-of-state and Internet purchasing is on a continuous rise, and there is no assurance that a means can be devised to enable us to impose a tax on these transactions.”

It should be added that our tax system doesn’t obtain enough revenue to support our aspirations for equal access to quality public services. During recessions, taxes produce less revenue and taxes often become even more unfair. Our tax system meets the 5^th and 6^th principles in the first list above. It fails all the other 9 principles. The tax Structure Study goes on to examine changes that should be considered, including the inclusion of an income tax. Another commentary will examine these possible changes. Dave Thomas

What Should a Puget Sound Liberal Be Doing Now?

Like sports, politics has seasons and off-seasons. Our 2008 legislative session is over. Our congress is deadlocked on most major issues. Our Democratic Presidential Nominee race has settled down. Our filing for national and state races won’t begin for several months. What might Liberals do now toward realizing our values? Here are some suggestions:

Study Liberalism

Go to our website, especially our Basic Training and other Commentaries, to study our liberal values; our history of struggles, victories and setbacks; our Conservative opponents (Traditional Conservatives, Libertarians and Conservative Christians), and our political strategies. Learn about our priorities and our struggles to realize them. Also see our reading list.

Become politically involved

Learn about our Liberal political parties: Democrats, Greens and others. Attend some of their meetings and events. Find out what they hope to achieve and what they are doing. Find a way that you can help, get to know colleagues and learn about effective political action. After understanding what is going on, help them to improve.

Learn about Advocacy Groups

Learn about our many types of advocacy groups. Visit their websites to learn their vision, understanding of what needs to be improved, their educational and political strategies and opportunities for involvement.

Survey many types of groups: peace, civil rights, ethnic groups, environment, education, health, labor, veterans, etc. Select one or several that particularly interest you, in which you can apply your talents and learn new ones. As stated above concerning political involvement, do your research and become involved.

We shouldn’t spread ourselves too thin. But we should become aware of the big picture and create a budget for our time an money, which allows us to spend time each month (hopefully each week) on at least one primary involvement and to a lesser extent, several others. Your Liberal values aren’t enough, you need to act to realize them.

Reach Out to Your Neighbors

Interacting only with likeminded people distorts our understanding of our general public toward which our political and advocacy actions are direction. It is not difficult to reach out to our neighbors, perhaps the 20 households closest to ours. While still not including the breadth of our general public, it will help you understand different perspectives and how to deal with them. Listen, instead of just talking. Don’t try to advance your own ideas, until you understand theirs. Look for shared ideas, before discussing differences. Maintaining communication is important, even if your neighbor strongly disagrees with you.

Hold House Parties

Knowing your neighbors is important for preventing crime, assisting people during a disaster or personal crisis, and protecting and supporting neighboring children. An easy way to meet your neighbors is to hold a house party. It’s easier if you get one or several other neighbors to help. Just distribute a flyer to 20-25 nearby households. A late afternoon weekend potluck often works well. Such house parties serve the same function as a block party, without the bureaucratic problems of using a street.

Canvassing

Canvassing is enormously important. Elections are not decided by our most politically passionate and active people. They are decided by the two thirds of Americans who are much less politically active and passionate. Hopefully working with others, canvass the several hundred households in your precinct.

Identify which ones are Liberal, regardless of whether they identify as Independents, Democrats or with another liberal party. Make sure they are registered. After the ballots are mailed, remind them to vote. Let our Liberal candidates know their names, addresses and hopefully phone numbers. When I canvass, I also inform them of our Puget Sound Liberals and obtain email addresses from at least a third of them so they can receive our newsletters.

Don’t waste time with likely Republican or cynical voters. Avoid them, in hopes that they will forget there is an election. For much more.

Begin a Monthly Liberals Social Gathering

Unlike a house party, a Liberals social gathering is primarily for Liberals. Pick an area, ranging from a dozen precincts to a legislative district. Arrange a place and time for monthly meetings. A light potluck (beverage, crackers, cheese, nuts, chips and dip, fruit, etc.) Each month, begin with informal visiting, then show a movie or have a presenter concerning some topic, followed by discussion. Email likely participants, three weeks and again one week before the gathering. 10 to 20 participants allows everyone a chance to talk.

Many of these activities can be performed during the spring and summer months, when the weather is nice and politics is often at a lull.

Here’s the Beef

Arguments concerning the form of our state primaries.

How powerful are our Washington members of congress?

Show me the money. How much our candidates raised, spent and have left.

14th District Rep. Mary Skinner (R-Yakima) will retire from the House after a 14-year career.

John Gotts is running for 15^th LD Representative against 6 term incumbent Republican Bruce Chandler.

David Carrier is running for 17^th LD Senator against incumbent Republican Don Benton.

Of our Washington members of congress, only Jim McDermott voted against defense authorization bill.

Nation and World

A Way Around Our Electoral College

A major defect of our electoral college is that it violates our principle that all voters should have equal representation. Four times, the result has been the selection of a president who did not receive the most popular votes. Another defect is that it encourages candidates to focus their campaigns upon large swing states, to the detriment of voter participation in other states. But these defects are not enough to produce the political will to constitutionally change the electoral college system.

Now a new strategy has emerged to correct these Electoral College defects. States are passing legislation that requires that their electors vote for the winner of the most national popular votes. This legislation would only go into effect when states containing over half of the popular vote have passed it. At that point, the electors from the states that have passed the legislation will be enough to select the candidate with the most popular vote.

The popular vote will be important. Candidates will seek to increase their votes in all states. For more.

Hello $200 Oil. Goodbye Economy.

Some are now predicting that the cost of a barrel of oil may soon reach $200, with gasoline costing $5-10. Since most of our oil is imported, this will produce an enormous drain of money from our economy to oil producing countries abroad. The cost of gasoline will produce inflation while the drain of money will cause recession, what we call ‘stagflation’. For more. And if you think oil is expensive, imagine its price will be if we bomb Iran.

Our Federal Reserve is not capable of dealing simultaneously with inflation and depression. Tightening money will fight inflation, but increase recession. Loosening money will do the opposite.

Additional impacts of the high cost of gasoline will include the increasing the price of housing close to jobs while reducing the price of housing which requires commuting. This will negatively affect both urban and suburban dwellers, except for those who already own urban homes. It will increase the demand for mass transit, which is now woefully inadequate. It will wreck our automobile industries, which are dependent upon selling gas guzzlers.

The only answer is to become less dependent upon gasoline. But this will take time. In the meantime, we will suffer enormous dislocations, larger than we are now suffering or suffered during the late 1970’s when Jimmy Carter was president. Aggravated by a growing foreign debt, which foreign countries will not continue to service without raises in interest rates (which further slow our economy), our depression could approach that of the 1930’s.

John McCain and the Republicans offer nothing to ameliorate stagflation. They instead offer obstacles to reducing it. We need to elect Democrats who must place the highest priority upon reducing our oil consumption through conservation, development of alternative sources of energy and of transportation and other technologies which use these alternative energies. These measures are also necessary to reduce the global warming which is increasingly harming our economy and environment. To the extent that we don’t reduce our dependence upon imported oil, we will experience economic dislocations which will reduce our ability to deal with most of our other challenges. Our highest priority must be reducing our oil consumption. For more. For more. Dave Thomas

What if George Bush Was President During Cold War?

Richard Nixon negotiated with the Soviet Union. Ronald Reagan sought military superiority while negotiating from a position of superiority. George Bush’s approach to foreign policy has been totally different. With a ‘Take it or leave it’ and ‘Bring ‘em on’ approach, George Bush refuses to negotiate. Instead, he invaded Iraq and has repeatedly threatened to invade Iran.

If George Bush had been president during the cold war. He might have started a war with the Soviet Union, resulting in the destruction of both our countries. We can be glad that his presidency didn’t begin until the cold war had ended. He only started a war with a country less than a 10^th of the population of the United States and with no ability to attack the United States. Even so, he has gravely harmed both Iraq and the United States.

Here’s the Beef

To understand our many crises, a global perspective is necessary.

Myanmar regime cares only about its continued power.

You can help the Burmese cyclone victims by donating to the network of Buddhist monks.

The world’s worst human rights crime may be the imprisonment of Gaza.

165 development agencies meet to call for reforming aid, especially U.S. foreign aid.

Agro-Businesses make huge profits while poor people starve.

Biotech Industry trying to profit from climate change by creating adaptable species.

Some electric cars have solar panels. Don’t need gasoline or plugging in.

Private companies seek to profit from our failing infrastructure.

Helen Thomas says our media should tell and portray the truth about war.

Commercial media show Defense Department briefed retired military 4500 times.

Our occupation of Iraq is using oil worth $5 billion a year.

Bush reduced our superpower status. Will our oil addiction eliminate it entirely?

Thanks to President Bush, ACLU has doubled their membership.

Are the feminists losing the struggle for respect and equality?

If you’re too poor to pay your utilities bills, social workers may take your children.

Working mothers need more publicly financed child care and more family leave.

Lots more spying on Americas, but fewer prosecutions for terrorism.

Congress members support expensive farm bill which primarily serves agro-business interests.

Burger King plays dirty against farm workers.

U.S. health outcomes are worse than other countries. Afro-American men’s outcomes are worse yet.

George McGovern and Bob Dole decry reduced school lunch funding in bloated corrupt farm bill.

The debate about the New GI Bill.

During recent 6 months, men lost 700,000 jobs and women gained 300,000 jobs.

Banks don’t want to lend, Businesses can’t borrow, less investments, more bankruptcies.

Hedge funds are ripping us off.

Republicans find way to slow immigration. Wreck our economy.

Our Liberal Spirit

Life is a Glorious Struggle

My life is a river of consciousness. It continually flows by without stopping. Only leaving memories. My life is poured out.

My life is a glorious struggle. Glorious because I dream. A struggle because I dream. Without a dream, I am a cow. With a dream, I struggle because my dream is not realized, will be difficult to realize or if realized, may become unrealized again. With unrealized dreams, my life is broken. For more.

Christian communion consists of pouring wine and then drinking it. Of breaking bread and then eating it. For me, it symbolizes that I can live my poured out life. I can live my broken life. Whatever happens. Whatever condition I find myself in. I can pick myself up and keep going – dreaming new dreams and embracing new struggles.

Whatever the past, I still have choices. I can accept the past. I can view the future as open. I can still dream and struggle. My life is always a glorious struggle.

Imagine that I die and go to heaven for ever. Suppose in heaven, everything is so perfect that I have no dreams and no struggle. What would I do? Would I spend all my time in gratitude? Eternity is a long time to be doing only that. I am glad for the glorious struggle that my present life is. Dave Thomas

Recommended Books – See our list of books for liberals

Lou Cannon, 2003, Governor Reagan, His Rise to Power

Governor Ronald Reagan ran as a Conservative; but governed as a pragmatic politician. He railed against big government, but passed an enormous tax increase. He railed against bureaucrats, but often learned from them and accepted their advice. He railed against 1960’s permissiveness, but defended civil rights. He railed against judicial activism, but appointed moderate judges. Later as president, he railed against the Soviet Union, but sought agreements with Mikhail Gorbachev.

Idealistic Liberals decried Reagan’s Conservatism. Idealistic Conservatives decried his pragmatism. Our general public respected him for passing legislation.

Will Barack Obama pursue a similar strategy, from the Left? Will he rail against our Old Politics of division and partisan advantage, but work cooperatively with those who practice Old Politics. Will Obama pursue Liberal ends, while pragmatically compromising with powerful Conservative legislators? Will he satisfy our general public by passing legislation, while many Liberals decry him as less consistently Liberal than he pretends? Will this criticism from Liberals inoculate him against charges of being too Liberal?

It worked for Reagan. Will Barack Obama try it and find it works for him? Dave Thomas

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About Puget Sound Liberals

In October, 2005, we founded our Lake Hills Liberals as an experimental demonstration of creating neighborhoods where liberals thrive and multiply and maximizing our vote for Liberal candidates. In January, 2006, we began our newsletter.

During our first year, we focused upon Lake Hills neighborhood development, experimenting with a variety of activities and events. To elect Liberals, we canvassed our 12 precincts to increase the number of identified likely Democratic voters from 33% to 90% and stimulated them to vote, which assisted election of our 2006 Democratic candidates. We recruited 30% (500) of them. We encouraged house parties to allow neighbors to meet each other to be able to prevent crime, to assist each other in a disaster, and to protect and assist our children. We created our website. We began a monthly discussion group, called the Lake Hills Liberal Salon.

During our second year, we recruited many members from throughout our Puget Sound and beyond. We changed our name to Puget Sound Liberals. Using our newsletter and website, we continued to focus upon educating our members about our Liberal values, history, priorities, policies and political strategies. We enabled Puget Sound Liberals to more easily identify, communicate, associate and cooperate with each other. Our political priority was promotion of Public Campaign Financing.

As we begin our third year, we continue our past activities, especially electing Liberals, canvassing Lake Hills, promoting house parties, educating and enabling cooperation among Liberals, and promoting Public Campaign Financing. Our new political priority is promoting a fair Washington tax system which produces enough revenue to provide all of our residents access to quality health, education and other public services. We need a progressive income tax to substitute for part of our existing excise, property and sales taxes and supplement them.

To get our free services, including our newsletter, our ‘Proud Liberal, Time for a Change’ yard signs or ‘Proud Liberal’ bumper stickers, volunteer or make a donation, contact Dave Thomas. Please help your liberal friends to become well informed, by inviting them to receive our newsletter. Just send us their name, email address, and residence (community, zip code and legislative district.)

Our weekly newsletter is currently distributed to 2300 members by email each Friday. Submit your news to Editor Dave Thomas. We are seeking reporter-reviewer-editors with knowledge of particular political groups and issues. We have asked the following experts to help us.