Nathan wrote:
> What I love are leftists who talk about "progressivism" and then betray
all the progressive groups on key issues.
To me a key issue is to end the homophobic/transphobic stranglehold of the Democratic Party. It took DECADES to pass gay rights legislation in a city with the largest gay population in the world and where the Council was overwhelming Democratic. To me queer rights is a key issue for any progressive (which many, mamy progressive seems ready to betray at a moment's notice).
> Every frigging union, good government groups like the Brennan Center and
People for the American Way, the NAACP and the Asian American Legal Defense
& Education Fund, NYPIRG, the Working Families Party and so on all see
nonpartisan elections as a Bloomberg strategy to destroy the current
progressive city council in the City.
Well, I think and experience for myself. Just because Group X, Y, Z says vote this way doesn't mean I do so. These groups want the party system to survive since they exist in a symbiotic relationship with it. The groups produce the policy papers and Democrats read them and disseminate their ideas. With a non-partisan system, the policy groups would have to reach out to a broader audience.
As for the current council being progressive: not in my city. You must be thinking of another New York City LOL. The Council is delaying lead paint legistlation due to the pressures of landlords and building owners. They allowed Robert Mugabe, arch homophobe who encourages the persecution and killing of queers in his country, to speak in the Council Chamber. They have yet to pass legistlation forbidding city contracts to go to groups that refuse to ban discrimination against queers.
> But Bloomberg has probably bought his success with the support of folks
like Brian who, deluded, are betraying their progressive allies.
I am not deluded. I just think for myself. Dr. King once asked if the words of salvation came from a black man would anybody listen? The way Bloomberg brought this up was bad, but I think that non-partisan elections are good and are a step toward greater democracy which party politics can tend to suppress. The fact that the good idea came up in a bad way does not taint the idea.
Brian Dauth Queer Buddhist Resister