Democrats

The following Guest Column published in the Gaston Gazette is a response to an earlier column published by Mr. Williams (a declared Republican candidate for County Commissioner) He attacked the local Democratic party and charged that we are in favor of voter fraud among other ludicrous statements.

As the next Congressional fight over payroll tax extensions and unemployment benefits and pipelines gets set up in the next few weeks for either its final chapter or to be kicked down the road a bit farther, one or the other, you’re going to hear a lot from our Republican friends about how much they value work and workers; most especially, they’ll tell you, they value American jobs for American workers.

After all, they’ll say, creating American jobs is the most important thing of all.

But if we were to look back over just the last few months, some would tell us, we could quickly find examples of how Republicans promote ideas that don’t seem to value work or workers at all, much less American jobs.

Well as it turns out, “some” seem to be right; to illustrate one of those examples we’ll look back a month or two or three to a time some Republicans might wish was long, long, ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

Randy Voller, recently re-elected mayor of Pittsboro, Chair of the Chatham County Democratic Party, and the force behind Chatham County's electoral U-turn earlier this month, will lead the workshop on how to grow a new generation of elected officials who will represent the 99% by recruiting, supporting, and electing progressive candidates beginning at the local level.

Progressive Democrats of North Carolina

2011 Annual Meeting

Saturday, December 3, 2011

9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Orange County Campus (OOC)

Room 201

Durham Technical Community College
525 College Park Road

Hillsborough, NC 27278

919-536-7238

http://clclt.com/theclog/archives/2011/11/09/news-analysis-nc-democratic...

A piece from for Creative Loafing of Charlotte:

Democrats were able to celebrate across Charlotte last night after reelecting Mayor Anthony Foxx, improving their majority on the City Council, and getting two of their preferred candidates elected to the school board. To statewide Democratic leaders, those results were not in a vacuum — they were part of a trend with huge implications going into the 2012 presidential race.

“What happened in Charlotte is a very, very, big deal,” said David Parker, chairman of the North Carolina Democratic Party. “Pat McCrory handpicked those candidates, particularly for City Council, and campaigned for them. And the whole McCrory-Tea Party axis got shot down."

The following will appear as an editorial in the Roxboro local paper. I put out flyers this week at the high school where I work promoting a Teen Democrat meeting next week. 2012 is here.

Conservatives by definition look backwards. Unfortunately, time does not flow backwards; our children and grandchildren will live in the future, not the past.

We gotta grow some jobs, and that’s a fact, and we probably aren’t going to be able to do it with big ol’ jobs programs funded by the Federal Government, what with today’s politics and all, and that means if this Administration wants to stay in the jobs game they’re going to have to find some smaller and more creative ways to do it.

They are also going to have to come up with ideas that are pretty much “bulletproof”, meaning that they are so hard to object to that even Allen West and Louie Gohmert will not want to be on record saying “no no no!”; alternatively, solutions that work around the legislative process entirely could represent the other form of “bulletproof-ery”.

Well, I have one of those “maybe bulletproof” ideas for you today, and it has to do with how “Made in USA” the things are that our Government buys.

It was just a couple of nights ago that Keith Olbermann was challenging us, in one of his “Special Comments”, to rise up in the streets and take back this country.

He pointed out that the only way those on the left were going to be able to fight against those who are looking to get all “Tea Party” is to be as angry and as organized and as aggressive as the Tea Party community, and if we’re smart, we’ll take him up on that challenge.

But if you really want to push “professional” Democrats to the left, most especially this President, and you want to do it in time to impact the ’12 cycle, the only way to do it is to run a candidate in primary contests that either moves the conversation your way…or leaves you with a surprising new Candidate.

And right here, right now, we actually have a chance to do exactly that – and that’s why, in today’s discussion, I’m going to challenge Olbermann right back.

On speaking to power, or, when sanity's gone, there's always satire

So everybody’s hearing the news, right? There is a tentative debt ceiling deal, and this Administration and Congressional Democrats seem to have won everything they wanted: Republicans get to have multiple “we don’t approve” votes before 2012 on raising the debt ceiling, there won’t be any new revenue, there’s going to be another “hostage-taking” event around Christmastime, for many Democrats the issue of the Ryan Budget and the dismantling of Medicare is likely off the table for the 2012 electoral cycle, and the Administration seems to have figured out a way to not involve itself in shaping the way that entitlement reform will work out.

All in all, it’s some pretty slick negotiating, and I’m sure this Administration and Democratic Congressional leaders must be very proud. Even on bad days, however, you gotta have some fun, and that’s why I’m encouraging everyone to take a minute today to say #thanksalot.

As states implement their new voter photo ID rules, a few minor hitches have begun to appear. In South Carolina, right next door:

We have 178,000 registered voters without current state-issued picture identification cards. We have ample record of persons who are unable to get certified copies of their birth certificates (a requirement to get those new IDs), and due to various reasons the state Republicans never bothered to consider, apparently. For example, you need a birth certificate to get a South Carolina ID card; yet, you need a valid ID card to get a copy of your South Carolina birth certificate. How's that for a Catch 22?

I have not been talking about the insanity around the debt ceiling and debt and deficit and the efforts of Republicans to drive us all off the cliff, but I am today – and I’m going to do it by allowing you to grab ahold of this problem and see for yourself just how unbelievably bad this manufactured crisis is going to be.

You will hear a lot of conversation about the consequences from others; today, however, you are going to get the chance to be both the President and the Secretary of the Treasury, and you will get to decide for yourself exactly what bills the Federal Government should and should not pay as the cash runs out if a deal is not made by the time borrowing authority runs out.

At that point you’ll be able to see what’s coming for yourself – and once you do, you won’t need me to tell you what ugly is going to look like.