My friend Alan Howe is running for President - It's OK that you didn't know

[The Polack MSgt]

Last edited Mon Mar 4, 2019, 02:13 PM - Edit history (1)

He is running a gadfly - one man in a van - campaign.

He does this so that he can keep the things he feels important in small town newspapers and regional radio stations that invite him to speak. His platform and several essays can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/pg/HoweDefendsUSA/posts/?ref=notif

Anyway, his latest essay struck a chord with me because I too recoil at the description of parts of my party as socialist.

I will never conflate Social Democrats and Socialists with my party - Like Alan, I spent too many years waiting to fight Socialists or training to defend other nations against the Socialists to romanticize the failed murderous Soviet Socialist Republics and their proxies.

Fuck Socialism. Being associated with the phrase in any way is ignorant drivel and is offensive to millions of Americans and it is incorrect too...

Take it away Alan:

The use of this term is an unnecessary, self-harming act. It is a gift to Republicans who are gleeful about reminding older voters that Socialism has a long and antagonistic history with the United States. They are gleeful about reminding voters that Socialism posed an existential threat to our nation for decades. They can point to Socialist countries that have failed or are failing. They cannot launch a similar attack on Democratic nations. Republicans will use this opportunity to claim all Democrats are Socialists and that all of us are ignorant of our history and dismissive of the sacrifices earlier generations made to defeat Socialism.

We must stop hurting our chances to save this nation from the threat of Trump and his supporters. Early in my first campaign, I was asked if I was a progressive Democrat or a centrist Democrat. I answered then the same way I answer now: I am not an “adjective” Democrat. I am a Democrat. Our opponents are Republicans. Democrats and Republicans: that is the only distinction that matters. That is the existential struggle for our Democracy at this moment: Democrats versus Trump-defending Republicans. I will not participate in adjectives and categories that divide our party to the benefit of Republicans. And, I will push back at any effort to divide us. We must be united because we must beat back the harmful actions and policies of the current Republican Party.

The past accomplishments that Socialist Democrats and others point to as the benefits of Socialism are nothing of the sort. They are the accomplishments of the Democratic Party: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP, SNAP, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and on and on. (Democrats can also point back to the laudatory actions of Republicans like Eisenhower and Teddy Roosevelt when they talk to Republicans.) No Socialist made these happen. These are the accomplishments of Democrats. These are the actions and policies I am bringing to the fore in my campaign as a Democrat. There is no need for me or for anyone to distinguish themselves in this effort by appending a term with negative historical connotations. It will not help us win this fight. We can do these things and win as Democrats. Our history proves it.

[The Polack MSgt]

1. If you're curious...

https://howe2020.org/issues

[brer cat]

2. I like your friend Alan.

We can do these things and win as Democrats.

Yes, we can and we will!

[George II]

3. Clever idea Alan has. Good for him.

[brer cat]

4. You're making me dizzy.

[Cha]

5. Mahalo, TPMS!

[WeekiWater]

6. They are the accomplishments of capitalists.

"The past accomplishments that Socialist Democrats and others point to as the benefits of Socialism are nothing of the sort. They are the accomplishments of the Democratic Party: Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, S-CHIP, SNAP, the Civil Rights Act, the Voting Rights Act, and on and on. "

"Democratic Socialists are banking off of a niche that has been created. They are using it well and it serves individual politicians, not society as a whole. Many of their plans would, their branding is simply branding. They are capitalists.

[Bucky]

7. The Skipper from Gilligan's Island? I guess he's got the executive experience...

[The Polack MSgt]

8. When I met him WAAAAYYY back in 83

I called him skipper once -as in "whatever you say Skipper&quot - in the barracks dayroom, no one got it but him.

Nerds of a feather.