Open Conference
on
The Electoral Crisis
Saturday, Feb. 11, 2 pm
1-- There is no second party; the Democratic Party refuses to offer alternative policies to the Republicans, to fight for its constituency, or even to fight against having elections stolen.
2-- The machinery we vote on is proprietary, with proprietary software, so there is no transparency, access, or accountability concerning the validity of the reported results (and yet, all electoral participants and parties proceed as if the voting procedure were accountable, and thus legitimate).
3-- Due to the political culture of the two party system, no third party dedicated to the people's interest can prevent itself from falling prey to the "lesser-of-two-evils" idea; that is, however hard people work to build an alternate party, on election day a tragic number will bail out and vote Democrat.
4-- Trying to build political participation in governance and their own local interests outside electoral politics is isolating, since US political traditions have historically been centered around elections.
5-- In short, the entire electoral arena, called the "two party system," is hopelessly corrupt.
We are calling this conference to allow this state of affairs, and what to do about it, be debated in public, by the public, and for the public. There will be three short presentations, arguing for three approaches to the crisis, and then the entire audience will be brought into the discussion, in a way in which everyone who wants to can enter the debate from their own perspective. It will be a conference to promote people's thinking and participation on these issues.
The three presentations will be short arguments for:
1-- working within (in, though not of) the Democratic Party
Speaker: Mimi Kennedy, Progressive Democrats
2-- constructing an alternate third party inside the "two party system"
Speaker: Laura Wells, Green Party
3-- working outside the two party system altogether
Richard Johnson, Mendocino Country
Place: Redwood Gardens, 2951 Derby St. in Berkeley
(up near the top of Derby) -- wheel-chair accessible
Time: Saturday, Feb. 11, 2 pm
There will be no time limit on the use of the hall, so the debate can go on as long as people have something to say.