Thursday, December 29, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Friday, December 23, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Hillary Should Stay Two More Years
Image by Getty Images via @daylifeThe Madonna Of Global PoliticsChina is in sight. Russia is rumbling, and China is in sight.
If Hillary had been vice president, she would have stayed eight years. Being Secretary of State is like being vice president. It is a top job. So her leaving after four years is arbitrary. It is not like suddenly she is too old. If that were the case, she would never have run for president. People who think they are going to be too old in four years do not run.
And it is not about Hillary, it is about the world. I am not saying she is indispensable. I am sure there is someone on the Democratic horizon who might be able to step in. It is about continuity at a crucial time. Tunisia, Egypt, Libya have not been small events. But they are small compared to what could still happen. Syria is still in the works. Iran has not happened yet, Saudi Arabia has not happened yet. Russia is rumbling. China has not happened yet.
And America will happen before China will happen. Only total campaign finance reform will quench the Occupy movement. Nothing less will. And once there is total campaign finance reform in America, this country could legitimately ask for democracy in China.
If Hillary ran on the world's schedule, she might have run for president in 2004, and I think she would have won. But Hillary seems to think the world runs on her schedule. So she took her sweet time - prepare? She was ready in 1992 - and ran in 2008 and lost. Bill Clinton tried very, very hard to get her to run in 2004. I remember watching the guy's moves and feeling sorry for him.
Image via WikipediaIf the world runs on Hillary's schedule, she retires at the end of 2012. If Hillary runs on the world's schedule, she stays in office to 2014. That might be enough time to occupy China. China is the ultimate prize.
You don't change the Secretary of State in the middle of a raging, global revolution.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Mobile Occupy, Dawn To Dusk Occupy
Image by Saint Huck via FlickrEvent: December 12th: Occupy Strikes Back (RSVP for NYC only HERE)Occupy Wall Street Could Legitimately Go Indoors
24/7 camping out in a public place of a few hundred people has been the heart and soul of the Occupy movement. And it will have to return to that. But skipping the winter months would be a good idea. April, anyone?
24/7 can mutate to dawn to dusk, no tents required. 24/7 can mutate to daylong events away from public parks. Flash events, planned events.
This movement went national a long time ago. This movement went global a long time ago. This movement will shake Russia, this movement will shake China.
Wednesday, December 07, 2011
Russia's Turn
Image by didkovskaya via FlickrWhen things were rumbling in Egypt I predicted this democracy tsunami is also going to hit America and Russia and China. Well, it did hit America. We call it the Occupy Movement. And now looks like it is Russia's turn. China might have largely skipped the Great Recession but there is no skipping the democracy tsunami. But I think the democracy wave will have to succeed in Russia before it touches China. Just like the wave will have to succeed in Iran before Saudi Arabia is affected.
I am positive. Obama's reelection will not be the biggest news of 2012. 2012 will be the year of the tsunami of democracy.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
The Real Story Behind The European Mess
Image via WikipediaThe market is sending strong signals. The Europeans did the economic union thing, and they did the single currency thing. But they thought they all could still be all these various sovereign nations.
And the market is saying no to that.
The economic union and the single currency needed to be followed with a political union. The Europeans needed to work on that years ago. Not attempting a political union was a mistake. And the Europeans are paying a price.
And if they are not going to go for the political union the economic union is going to unravel. The single currency could fall apart.
This storm is major.
Friday, November 18, 2011
Somewhere To Start
Image by david_shankbone via Flickr(1) A second term for Barack Obama, with a super majority in the Senate and a majority in the House in exchange for total campaign finance reform within the first 100 days of his second term. If that is not delivered, launch a new third political party. This is me saying 2012 is about The Agenda, not Barack Obama. (2) Wealth Equity Tax of 10% on all corporations with a valuation over a billion dollars.
(3) Nationalize Zuccotti Park.
Jeff Sachs: New York Times: The New Progressive Movement: Following our recent financial calamity, a third progressive era is likely to be in the making. This one should aim for three things. The first is a revival of crucial public services, especially education, training, public investment and environmental protection. The second is the end of a climate of impunity that encouraged nearly every Wall Street firm to commit financial fraud. The third is to re-establish the supremacy of people votes over dollar votes in Washington....... The progressive era took 20 years to correct abuses of the Gilded Age. The New Deal struggled for a decade to overcome the Great Depression, and the expansion of economic justice lasted through the 1960s. The new wave of reform is but a few months old. ...... The young people in Zuccotti Park and more than 1,000 cities have started America on a path to renewal. The movement, still in its first days, will have to expand in several strategic ways. Activists are needed among shareholders, consumers and students to hold corporations and politicians to account. Shareholders, for example, should pressure companies to get out of politics. Consumers should take their money and purchasing power away from companies that confuse business and political power. The whole range of other actions — shareholder and consumer activism, policy formulation, and running of candidates — will not happen in the park..... To put it simply: tax the rich, end the wars and restore honest and effective government for all....... Finally, the new progressive era will need a fresh and gutsy generation of candidates to seek election victories not through wealthy campaign financiers but through free social media. A new generation of politicians will prove that they can win on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and blog sites, rather than with corporate-financed TV ads. By lowering the cost of political campaigning, the free social media can liberate Washington from the current state of endemic corruption. .... A new generation of leaders is just getting started. The new progressive age has begun.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Occupy Zuccotti: The Eviction
Image by david_shankbone via Flickr(1) I am not alarmed. (2) The operation was well done, well executed.
(3) It was the wrong thing to do.
(4) New York City should take pride in the fact that something that started in a small park in this city has spread across the world. Liverpool takes pride in The Beatles.
(5) There will be a regrouping.
(6) The eviction was top news on Google News for an entire day. It probably still is. The Occupy people could not have thought of a better way to spread their message around the country, around the world. An operationally well executed plan was a political defeat, if the purpose was to calm down the Occupy movement.
(7) The movement has to rethink, regroup, and do one better.
(8) It is not within this or any other mayor's power to address the concerns of the movement. The mayor does not have a political solution. The movement is above the mayor's pay scale. The movement is not asking the mayor for the solution. No city official can address.
(9) This movement is out of the box thinking. It is stepping out. It is saying the entire system is dysfunctional. Something fundamental is not working.
(10) The movement can sleep outdoors if it wants to. Why not? The right to peaceful assembly does not end when the sun sets.
(11) The movement has to go through some introspection.
(12) Public acts are important. 200 people in 200 basements hammering away on social media sites could not have had one millionth the impact. Of course Zuccotti Park mattered. That 24/7 character has to be brought back. (Occupy Wall Street Could Legitimately Go Indoors)
(13) Nonviolence is the only option.
(14) My favorite part of the movement so far has been individuals writing out on placards explaining what makes them part of the 99%. That has to be magnified.
(15) Mass actions like literally shutting down Wall Street and crossing the Brooklyn Bridge in ways that disrupt traffic might be great ways to get old media attention and magnify the message, but they go beyond my personal comfort level for now.
(16) But then financial bad behavior on Wall Street over the past decade was not exactly within your comfort level either.
(17) I wish the movement worked harder to achieve more sophisticated levels of organization.
(18) Isolated incidents of possible criminal behavior, or in one case suicide, would be a lame excuse to shut down the movement. There are murders taking place in New York City every day. Should the city be shut down?
(19) Message.
(20) Organization.
(21) The movement will take a few months to take both of those to the next level. The mayor wants debates. There will be debates.
The Occupy movement is not a mirror image of the Tea Party. To say it is to suggest Charlie Rangel is a modern day MLK. The Occupy movement competes with acts by MLK. It is a modern day movement, completely crowd sourced.
Occupy The World
Occupy Wall Street Could Legitimately Go Indoors
Occupy
The Conversation Is The Revolution
Tahrir Square In America
Sunday, November 13, 2011
Occupy The World
Image by david_shankbone via FlickrOccupy America has to be first and foremost about total campaign finance reform. I was Barack Obama's first full time volunteer in New York City. And I staunchly believe in the guy's reelection. But I have tried to see the Occupy movement for what it is and I have been open to options that might or might not be best for Barack Obama's political party. (A Multi Party System For America) But I believe 2012 has to be about The Agenda. The agenda is total campaign finance reform and progressive taxation (Sales Tax, Wealth Equity Tax) within 100 days of Barack Obama's second term. To that end giving him a second term, a super majority in the Senate and a majority in the House might be the best way. (Occupy Wall Street: My Idea Of Obama 2012) But that can be no blank check. The Occupy movement has to spell out the agenda by the summer of 2012. Occupy China, Occupy Russia, Occupy Iran All Over Again
The Occupy movement can achieve globally what guns and tanks can not. The Occupy movement can end all wars for all times. You do that by turning all countries into democracies through peaceful protests. And once that goal is achieved, by achieving rule of law between countries. The UN General Assembly has to be reorganized and turned into a true global parliament.
Occupy Wall Street Could Legitimately Go Indoors
Occupy
The Conversation Is The Revolution
Tahrir Square In America
Sunday, November 06, 2011
Occupy Wall Street Could Legitimately Go Indoors
Image via WikipediaI say take it to a church basement nearby. Or two, or three. Cap the number of people that can spend the night there. 200 is good enough. Know who those 200 are. Have a line. Process people. Spending a night should be a badge of honor. The glory is not in braving the winter outdoors. The glory is in channeling the online communication.
Occupy Wall Street is the national nerve center, it is the global nerve center for the movement. I think taking it indoors and getting it better organized would be a great move to make.
Come back out into the park in about four months or five.
Staying put in the park would be the best option. But moving it to a church basement would also be a legitimate option.
A Multi Party System For America
Occupy Wall Street: My Idea Of Obama 2012
Occupy
Sales Tax, Wealth Equity Tax
The Conversation Is The Revolution
Tahrir Square In America
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