Last Thoughts on Aug. 3 Election

Well it's down to the last few days before the BIG election Aug. 3. I'm grateful for everyone who has endorsed or supported my write-in campaign against Harold Ford Jr. for the U.S. Senate, and I thank everyone for your votes.

I also urge everyone to vote, if you haven't already, for Steve Cohen for Congress (U.S. House Dist. 9) and Steve Mulroy for Shelby County Commission (Dist. 5). Both are being viciously attacked by opponents who do not seem to care about facts or integrity in politics. Both are progressive candidates who deserve to win their races.

Back to HFjr. All the national attention has been on the political downfall of Joseph Lieberman in Conn. Lieberman has lost support of liberal and progressive Democrats and is now BEHIND in the the polls to his Democratic challenger, Ned Lamont. Even the NYT has now endorsed Lamont! Why? Because Lieberman has been a major supporter of the Bush Administration and has provided the necessary votes to allow the GOP domestic and foreign policy agenda to proceed.
Why hasn't there been a similar backlash against Tennessee Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr.? His record supporting Bush and the GOP is almost identical to Lieberman's! Why are TN Democrats still supporting Harold Ford Jr., while Democrats in other states are standing up to the DLC and the Democratic "leadership" in DC and turning against conservative DINOS (Democrats in Name Only) and supporting progressive Democrats??? When will the TN Democratic Party wake up? Why are TN Democarts supporting a CONSERVATIVE republican governor, Phil Bredesen, who doesn't have a progressive/liberal bone in his corporate body? The former Republican governor was more progressive/liberal than Bredesen?

Well, after this election folks, I may be jumping ship. As I said in the Memphis Flyer interview, I am embarassed to be part of the TN Democratic Party, and I"m weighing the options: Socialist Party or Green Party? I'd rather join the Socialist Party, but the Green's are more organized and have a larger political presence nationally and even in TN. But I am a SOCIALIST, becuase I support ECONOMIC and political EQUALITY, and I oppose the concentration of "private" wealth and power. We can have no true Political Democracy without economic democracy.. MARX WAS RIGHT!

So I am a Democratic Socialist who is giving up on the hope that the Democratic Party could be the party in our two-party political machine to use to fight for social and economic justice.

But the next immediate battle will be in November. We must try to stop the anti-gay Amendment 1 in Tennessee, and hope the Democratic Party will do something useful and fight this unjust Amendment, which most Democrats in our state legislature VOTED FOR! The Democratic Party in TN is making a big mistake by pandering to anti-gay Christo-fascists. Gay people are leaving the Democratic Party! Some are supporting the Republicans ("why not? they are no worse?") and some are joining the Green Party or other "third parties" which support equality for gays and lesbians.