First, although I didn’t seek the post and tried to foist it off on somebody else, I wound up appointed as the founding State Director for the National League of Latin American Citizens (California League of Latin American Citizens here, or CALLAC for short). Either way, the awesome weight of responsibility for building this organization at this critical time in history has fallen onto my shoulders and into my lap. It would be detrimental to that effort for me to run for office because it would have the appearance of opportunism to do so at the same time as I’m trying to discharge my duties for CALLAC.
Secondarily, the leadership of the party that I would have run with, the California Peace & Freedom Party, have so damaged the party “brand name” that it would be a constant distraction as I would have to distance myself from a lot of the lunatics who run the organization. This year, the party added a known registered sex offender to its state leadership body (the State Central Committee) and he has become a national spectacle by pretending to be a representative from other national organizations that have repudiated him (on grounds of his organizational behavior having nothing to do with his having had sex with a 14 year old).
Third, my work for political and social change has never been confined to partisan political activity. There are other instruments of change in the world to accomplish and implement my ideals and notions of justice: the labor movement, the feminist movement, the civil rights movement to name a few avenues of change. So what should you do?
There are options out there. Begin by checking out the issues that nobody is talking about. You can see my views on those issues at:
http://www.janbtucker.com/IdeaOpinions.html
Next, figure out whether those ideals can or should be accomplished by partisan political work or some other kind of social organizing or a combination of both. For example, if you want the 99% to have a fairer distribution of income and assets, that can be accomplished for by government action like raising the minimum wage; or it can come about through joining and supporting a labor union so that you and your fellow employees can bargain collectively for better wages, working conditions, and benefits; or you can support changes to laws to make it easier for workers to organize unions and organize a union at the same time.
Some of the options for partisan political activities this year are especially intriguing:
- America Elects has qualified for the ballot in California and many other states utilizing a sophisticated internet based organizing format
- The Justice Party of former Salt Lake City Mayor and self-described radical Rocky Anderson is trying to get on the ballot
- The Peace and Freedom Party and the Green Party are on the California ballot and there are rank and file movements afoot to bring them back to control by the grass roots and to their historical ideals
- New leadership is emerging in the La Raza Unida Party to re-launch it as the serious, radical, and progressive political party it once was to to get it on the California ballot
- There are progressive and radical activists in the Democratic Party who are not the enemies of serious radical change, especially in the California Latino Caucus, and those institutions can help change things for the better.
Finally, get active and do something. What you do on election day is important. So is what you do 365 days a year to make the world a better or worse place.
