Op-ed
What the Progressive Left must do to defeat the plutocrats in 2014
For those who might not know the meaning of plutocracy:
Wikipedia
Plutocracy (from Greek πλοῦτος, ploutos, meaning "wealth", and κράτος, kratos, meaning "power, dominion, rule") or plutarchy, defines a society or a system ruled and dominated by the small minority of the wealthiest citizens. The first known use of the term is 1652.[1]Unlike systems such as democracy, capitalism, socialism or anarchism, plutocracy is not rooted in an established political philosophy and has no formal advocates. The concept of plutocracy may be advocated by the wealthy classes of a society in an indirect or surreptitious fashion, though the term itself is almost always used in a pejorative sense.
A small group of wealthy capitalist are buying up politicians and pushing an extreme right-wing agenda which advocates the following:
Getting rid of the minimum wage standard
repeal of the Affordable Care Act
privatizing Social Security
drastic cuts in food stamps and other programs for low-income Americans
Cut backs in unemployment compensation
Two of the most well-known plutocrats are Charles and David Koch and Sheldon Adelson. They are funding such organizations as American For Prosperity and the Club For Growth to push their extreme political agenda.
What we must do to defeat these plutocrats
Direct Community Action
We need to start by organizing the communities where we live through direct action. We cannot defeat these fools on the air waves. Most of the ads they are running have been declared false by “Political Fact”. We need to organize an army of volunteers to go door to door to refute these lies and explain why they should vote early in 2014. The Republicans have re-districted many of the local communities and have no interest in representing the people in these districts. They have a rating of around 9-10% in congress. One would think they would be concerned about their rating, but they have shown no signs of being concerned. We can exploit this situation because history has proven that people will vote their interest. Therefore, we should not refuse to organize in the Republican's Districts. Many of their members who live in these districts are seniors who are getting Social Security and Medicaid.
Get out the Vote Drives
We need to continue to develop get out the Voter’s Drives. Voter suppression efforts are taking place all over the country. The only way to defeat these efforts is through the courts and helping people get the proper id they need before November. If we rely on the courts we will loose. There are a number of court challenges taking place all over the country. A decision on most of these cases will not be decided until after November 2014. In Ohio and Florida they have cut the number of voting hour and developed strict id laws. We need to make sure our people understand all the new laws and vote early.
Moral Mondays
Local activist should organize local Moral Monday Rallies. These rallies have brought out thousands of people in North and South Carolina. These rallies are a very good teaching tools. During these rallies we can stress the importance of community activism. The most effective place to organize outside of the community is through your church. Talk to the pastor and ask him to make and announcement each week about why it is important to vote on 2014, also, help your pastors organize an alternative to “Souls at the Polls by encouraging people to vote early instead. Enclosing, please excuse any typos, quickly written.
Raymond Glenn
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