• Welcome to the new Internet Infidels Discussion Board, formerly Talk Freethought.

A New US People's Party?

My vote will neither help nor harm either party. My state's a done deal. If I lived somewhere that was going to be a close race, I would vote for Biden. But as it is, Trump will win my state no matter what I do.

I think that a lot of people assumed the same in 2016. Your vote probably will go Trump. But I just feel that we need to make sure that every vote counts this election. I think that we need to send a message and beat Trump with the largest possible margin.
The fact that Emily lives in AZ, and doesn't realize, or pretends not to know, that it may actually be a swing state this election, makes it sound like she's already starting to make excuses.

Plausible deniability and all that.

It would be awfully nice if you didn't make such malicious assumptions quite so frequently.

No, I didn't realize AZ is on the fence. I'll pay a lot more attention when it gets to late October.
 
My vote will neither help nor harm either party. My state's a done deal. If I lived somewhere that was going to be a close race, I would vote for Biden. But as it is, Trump will win my state no matter what I do.

I think that a lot of people assumed the same in 2016. Your vote probably will go Trump. But I just feel that we need to make sure that every vote counts this election. I think that we need to send a message and beat Trump with the largest possible margin.

My vote won't go to Trump, I don't know why you're assuming that.

And my 3rd party vote in 2016 had absolutely zero impact on WA's EC count going to Clinton.

I didn't mean to offend. I thought that you were in Arizona. And my point is that whether you vote Trump, Biden or third party, if the state goes Trump, your vote goes to Trump. That's the fucking EC. Don't like it. But yea, Washington will mostly likely go Biden. However, polls are tightening. I'm not taking anything for granted. Too much is at stake. My vote will count this election.
 
My vote won't go to Trump, I don't know why you're assuming that.

And my 3rd party vote in 2016 had absolutely zero impact on WA's EC count going to Clinton.

I didn't mean to offend. I thought that you were in Arizona. And my point is that whether you vote Trump, Biden or third party, if the state goes Trump, your vote goes to Trump. That's the fucking EC. Don't like it. But yea, Washington will mostly likely go Biden. However, polls are tightening. I'm not taking anything for granted. Too much is at stake. My vote will count this election.

Ahh, yes, gotcha. Although, Worldtraveller pointed out that AZ is not a given this year.
 
I finally watched it: The Peoples Convention 2020 - YouTube - a lot of speeches about how corrupt our political system is, but rather short on specifics on organizing a new party, except at the end. But I must note that Marianne Williamson noted that a lot of change has been the result of organizing outside the two major parties. That's an argument for activist movements in general, and not necessarily additional political parties.

The end of it had several people alternate in delivering a speech on how to organize. They talked about building local hubs and state parties. Part of it was identifying local activist organizations and judging which would be helpful to them and which would oppose them. They talked about supporting runs for a lot of local and state offices in 2022, and the Presidency in 2024. No mention of Congress, even though they could also be supporting runs for Congress in 2022. Unlike some apologists for certain parties, they didn't whine that they need to have a candidate for President just to have ballot access.

They did not discuss supporting candidates inside the existing two parties. This is a problem, since most of the progressives in Congress got there because they ran as Democrats, rather than in some other parties. A good part of it was running in districts that are full of yellow-dog Democrats, people who vote blue no matter who.

But all in all, if they can build a party apparat, they will be in much better shape than parties like the Libertarians and the Greens, who only run candidates for President.

See The 7 Most Requested Talks From The People's Convention - has video from Nina Turner, Cornel West, Marianne Williamson, Chris Hedges, Jimmy Dore, Nick Brana, and Ryan Knight.
 
PeoplesPartyUSA - Twitch - has a Presidential-debate response and some national-call videos.

I watched its most recent national call, and it discussed how People's Party hubs were being formed all over the US, in nearly all 50 states. I also saw mention of how the MPP was getting on the ballot: by registering as a party rather than getting signatures for a candidate, the Green Party's approach. This approach would work for local and state and Congressional candidates, as well as for a Presidential candidate, but that talk did not discuss their efforts in that. This has to be done in every state with a MPP candidate, and they mentioned how they seemed to be headed for success in California.

Movement for a People's Party - YouTube - with the convention video cut up into all its contributors' speeches.

PeoplesPartyUSA on Reddit.

Movement for a People's Party - Home on Facebook

Movement for a People’s Party (@peoplespartyus) • Instagram photos and videos

Movement for a People’s Party (@4aPeoplesParty) / Twitter

Movement For A People's Party - A Party For Us their home page
 
Bernie groups break free of Dems: New party rising? - NationofChange

Our Revolution Chapters Are Joining MPP Marking A Momentous Shift Towards A Major New People's Party In The Progressive Movement - The People's Party mentions Bernie Sanders supporters who have associated themselves with the MPP. Like the Our Revolution chapters of Los Angeles, Central Connecticut, and Oregon, and "We Want Bernie" of Worcester MA.

Back to NationOfChange. Author Jonathan H. Martin notes that its policy positions are what many progressives want, and that it has done a good job of getting endorsements from a variety of progressive activists and journalists and the like.
On the other hand, there are reasons to think carefully before signing on with the MPP. First and most obviously, some of the group’s claims about what its proposed party can accomplish sound strikingly grandiose.
Like expecting to be the biggest party in 2024. Not something that I'd bet on.
Second and also worrisome, there are indications that the MPP may not be a sufficiently grassroots and democratic outfit, despite calling itself a “movement” and highlighting its formal “decentralized and horizontal organizational structure.” Brana seems to be the main spokesperson, in addition to being the group’s sole official founder and national coordinator (until recently called the “director”). The MPP’s news postings and press releases regularly spotlight him and refer comparatively little to other members. This raises important questions about how much power Brana really shares with the rest of the MPP.
The author then advocates a more decentralized approach. "Concrete, locally driven and locally oriented party-building would predominate for the foreseeable future." - a lot of local efforts that would coordinate in broader efforts.
Crucially, Progressive parties would carefully choose their campaigns so as to maximize the chances for catalyzing victories. Ordinarily, Progressive candidates would have to be willing and able to run competitively, unlike the common Green and Libertarian candidates who lose by huge margins and tarnish their party’s public image. A good local candidate would normally need to have a clear, simple populist message; strong community or movement connections; a commitment to work long and hard to reach voters; and in many cases, an adequately resourced campaign operation with a substantial crew of helpers. Location would also matter. Some of the best settings for a Progressive breakthrough could be smaller or less populated districts where it is easier to interact with most voters; communities where one major party dominates (thereby reducing the chance of splitting the left-leaning vote); or places where the political establishment has become entrenched, overconfident, and unresponsive to organized popular demands. And a national independent Progressive PAC (such as this new group) could channel additional resources to only the most capable Progressive campaigns in the country.
Can anyone say AOC? Much of that describes very well how she ran against Joe Crowley in NY-14 in 2018.
  • Clear, simple populist message? Yes. Opposition to Big Money. Medicare for All. Etc.
  • Strong community or movement connections? Some at first. AOC was doing some activism and campaigning.
  • A commitment to work long and hard to reach voters? AOC wore holes in her shoes doing that.
  • Smaller or less populated districts? Yes. NY-14 is E Bronx & N Queens, easy to travel to.
  • Communities where one major party dominates? Yes, the Republican Party is insignificant in NY-14.
  • Places where the political establishment has become entrenched, overconfident, and unresponsive to organized popular demands? Yes, Joe Crowley was mainly doing power politics.
Yet AOC ran as a Democrat. It she had run as (say) a Green, she would have lost miserably.

That's something that the People's Party has yet to address.
 
Bernie groups break free of Dems: New party rising? - NationofChange

Our Revolution Chapters Are Joining MPP Marking A Momentous Shift Towards A Major New People's Party In The Progressive Movement - The People's Party mentions Bernie Sanders supporters who have associated themselves with the MPP. Like the Our Revolution chapters of Los Angeles, Central Connecticut, and Oregon, and "We Want Bernie" of Worcester MA.

Back to NationOfChange. Author Jonathan H. Martin notes that its policy positions are what many progressives want, and that it has done a good job of getting endorsements from a variety of progressive activists and journalists and the like.

Like expecting to be the biggest party in 2024. Not something that I'd bet on.

The author then advocates a more decentralized approach. "Concrete, locally driven and locally oriented party-building would predominate for the foreseeable future." - a lot of local efforts that would coordinate in broader efforts.
Crucially, Progressive parties would carefully choose their campaigns so as to maximize the chances for catalyzing victories. Ordinarily, Progressive candidates would have to be willing and able to run competitively, unlike the common Green and Libertarian candidates who lose by huge margins and tarnish their party’s public image. A good local candidate would normally need to have a clear, simple populist message; strong community or movement connections; a commitment to work long and hard to reach voters; and in many cases, an adequately resourced campaign operation with a substantial crew of helpers. Location would also matter. Some of the best settings for a Progressive breakthrough could be smaller or less populated districts where it is easier to interact with most voters; communities where one major party dominates (thereby reducing the chance of splitting the left-leaning vote); or places where the political establishment has become entrenched, overconfident, and unresponsive to organized popular demands. And a national independent Progressive PAC (such as this new group) could channel additional resources to only the most capable Progressive campaigns in the country.
Can anyone say AOC? Much of that describes very well how she ran against Joe Crowley in NY-14 in 2018.
  • Clear, simple populist message? Yes. Opposition to Big Money. Medicare for All. Etc.
  • Strong community or movement connections? Some at first. AOC was doing some activism and campaigning.
  • A commitment to work long and hard to reach voters? AOC wore holes in her shoes doing that.
  • Smaller or less populated districts? Yes. NY-14 is E Bronx & N Queens, easy to travel to.
  • Communities where one major party dominates? Yes, the Republican Party is insignificant in NY-14.
  • Places where the political establishment has become entrenched, overconfident, and unresponsive to organized popular demands? Yes, Joe Crowley was mainly doing power politics.
Yet AOC ran as a Democrat. It she had run as (say) a Green, she would have lost miserably.

That's something that the People's Party has yet to address.

But you are assuming that their goal is to win and make positive liberal changes to the country. But their goal is really to help the republicans (maybe break the democrats slowly) and help Trump. AOC isn't very sharp and cares about the country.
 
The national call I'd earlier discussed was on Sep 17. There is a new one on Oct 8 on twitch.tv. I watched it, and Nick Brana said that some consultants who help people organize were very happy with the MPP, because the MPP people were starting now rather than waiting until the last minute. They also talked about how they plan a sort of dry run for gathering signatures for ballot access. That's for getting access as a party rather than as a candidate.

They also said that it was preparation for the midterms in 2018 and the Presidency in 2020, and Nick Brana was confident that his party would then be the biggest.

Strikes me as wishful thinking, and I think that the MPP is better off doing what the Working Families Party is doing: supporting both its candidates and like-minded Democrats. Checking on the endorsements at Working Families Party - Fighting for an America that works for the many, not the few. it is mostly local and state candidates, and only a few Congressional ones. There is also a lot of variation in what candidates the WFP has. Though California is more populous than New York, California has 26 WFP candidates, including 3 state-legislature ones and one Congressional one, and New York has 191 WFP candidates, with 121 state-legislature ones and 23 Congressional ones.

So is this what the MPP will end up being like?
 
Why The Working Families Party Is Fighting for Its Survival - The New York Times - "The Working Families Party needs 130,000 New Yorkers to vote for Biden on its line, or it will lose its automatic ballot spot."
Because of rules backed by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, a Democrat, concerning third parties, the Working Families Party must garner at least 130,000 votes or 2 percent of the total vote — whichever is higher — on its party line for the presidential election in November, or it will lose its automatic ballot line in New York.

The rules present an unusual challenge for small parties in New York State; the parties must encourage New Yorkers to vote for a presidential candidate on their line, even if that candidate is also running on the line of a mainstream party.

...
Should it fail, the party risks losing much of its electoral sway at a time when the Working Families Party is facing influential rivals on the left — the Justice Democrats, the political action committee that helped launch the careers of both Ms. Ocasio-Cortez and Mr. Bowman, enabling them to topple congressional incumbents in New York City; and the New York City Democratic Socialists of America, which won several primaries this summer.

...
For decades, third parties in New York State had to win 50,000 votes in an election for governor to have an automatic ballot line. That began to change not long after the Working Families Party backed the actress Cynthia Nixon as a challenger to Mr. Cuomo in the 2018 Democratic primary.

That choice had significant political ramifications. Just as the Working Families Party was about to name Ms. Nixon as its chosen candidate, unions that are closely allied with the governor withdrew from the party.

...
The new rules continue to face legal challenges, including from the Serve America Movement Party, which favors less partisan politics. That party is not backing a presidential candidate in November, so it will summarily lose its ballot access.
Seems like trouble ahead for the People's Party.
 
I think the multiple line method (or whatever they call it) makes a lot of sense. A minor party can endorse a major party candidate and get recorded the number of people who support that party. It’s like ranked choice, in a way, you just do away with the pretense of having a Working Families candidate and just go straight to, “count our votes for the Dems, just take note of how many of us there are!”

I feel like that’s a decent system.
 
I like it also.

The NY WFP has gotten enough votes to continue to stay on the ballot.
NY Working Families Party on Twitter: "The jury is in: New York’s progressive movement is stronger than ever. " / Twitter
The jury is in: New York’s progressive movement is stronger than ever.

250,000K votes & counting later, we are confident that the New York Working Families Party will remain on the ballot in New York. This is a victory for our party and our movement.

For over two decades, we have been proud to fight for working people and challenge corporate power; elect progressives and unseat turncoat Democrats; help shift the conversation in New York from Dems vs. GOP to moderate Dems vs. Working Families Dems.

Working people & Black & brown communities are historically challenged when we grow in power — & the threat to our ballot line was no different.

What’s clear: our campaign to protect the ballot line has only resulted in a stronger, more united progressive movement in our state.

Tonight, we’re celebrating all of you: voters who turned out in record numbers, thousands of volunteers who mobilized your fellow NYers, movement partners & elected champions who fight the fight for a just & equitable NY every day.

Thank you for protecting our political home ❤️

As we wait for results from the Presidential election, we remain clear about how much is at stake in this historic moment & are prepared to continue to fight for a country that works for all of us.

We will bring the full power of our movement to bear in 2021 and in the years to come by electing the next generation of progressive leaders, delivering legislative wins for working people, & challenging those who block the change our communities in crisis so urgently need.
noted by
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Twitter: "In good news: we had a smashing success in our statewide campaign to protect the @NYWFP @WorkingFamilies party ballot line🎉

WFP wins = key groundwork for more working class victories. Giddy up. Shout out to @sochiesays for leading the way 💪🏽 https://t.co/b4OCvV7G2E" / Twitter
 
This vote is now over, but I nevertheless mention it:
Movement for a People’s Party on Twitter: "
✅ It's time to cast your vote for our official party name!
Cast your vote for the final party name using our ranked-choice ballot (link)
Voting ends in three days (Saturday at 6pm Eastern). (link)" / Twitter


The MPP received numerous nominations of party names, and they decided on these ten to vote on:
1. People's Party
2. Populist Party
3. Workers' Party
4. American People's Party
5. We the People
6. Four Freedoms Party
7. People First Party
8. Bull Moose Party
9. American Workers Party
10. New Deal Party
 
This vote is now over, but I nevertheless mention it:
Movement for a People’s Party on Twitter: "
✅ It's time to cast your vote for our official party name!
Cast your vote for the final party name using our ranked-choice ballot (link)
Voting ends in three days (Saturday at 6pm Eastern). (link)" / Twitter


The MPP received numerous nominations of party names, and they decided on these ten to vote on:
1. People's Party
2. Populist Party
3. Workers' Party
4. American People's Party
5. We the People
6. Four Freedoms Party
7. People First Party
8. Bull Moose Party
9. American Workers Party
10. New Deal Party

How about the "Help the Republicans Party"!
 
Our Party Has A Name! - The People's Party
The People's Party
El Partido del Pueblo

Maine Becomes First State To Register The People's Party! - Dec 1
The People’s Party is on the move! It officially registered as a state party in Maine today, where in order to get on the ballot for the 2022 midterms, it had to register in December of this year. Organizers filed on the morning of the first day of the filing window. The first state party registration comes less than a month after the general election, as the People’s Party prepares to offer a progressive populist alternative to the corporate-funded Democratic and Republican parties in 2022 and 2024.
So it's not just the Presidency that they are concerned about. They seem to be wanting to send some people to Congress.
“The People’s Party will serve all Mainers and not big money,” said Maine MPP organizer Laura Irwin. “Our independent spirit is the reason Dirigo is our state motto.” Next, the team in Maine will register at least 5,000 members to the People’s Party over the next year to achieve ballot access.

The People’s Party will register in all 50 states and intends to win the presidency in 2024. It will run on a new social contract of desperately-needed progressive policies such as Medicare for all, free public college, abolishing mass incarceration, a basic income, and a Green New Deal — overwhelmingly popular policies that the establishment parties refuse to support.
Seems rather overconfident.

Nina Turner Is Running For Congress - a former Bernie Sanders campaigner

But some of that party's supporters are concerned.
Should we be excited about Nina Turner running as a Dem? : PeoplesPartyUSA
 
This vote is now over, but I nevertheless mention it:
Movement for a People’s Party on Twitter: "
✅ It's time to cast your vote for our official party name!
Cast your vote for the final party name using our ranked-choice ballot (link)
Voting ends in three days (Saturday at 6pm Eastern). (link)" / Twitter


The MPP received numerous nominations of party names, and they decided on these ten to vote on:
1. People's Party
2. Populist Party
3. Workers' Party
4. American People's Party
5. We the People
6. Four Freedoms Party
7. People First Party
8. Bull Moose Party
9. American Workers Party
10. New Deal Party

How about the "Help the Republicans Party"!

Right. A person wanting to actually move the country to the left would try to create a party on the right to compete with the teapublican/trumpublicans; run just to the center of that group. There are probably enough ex-republicans and disaffected republicans right now to make it viable...
 
This vote is now over, but I nevertheless mention it:
Movement for a People’s Party on Twitter: "
✅ It's time to cast your vote for our official party name!
Cast your vote for the final party name using our ranked-choice ballot (link)
Voting ends in three days (Saturday at 6pm Eastern). (link)" / Twitter


The MPP received numerous nominations of party names, and they decided on these ten to vote on:
1. People's Party
2. Populist Party
3. Workers' Party
4. American People's Party
5. We the People
6. Four Freedoms Party
7. People First Party
8. Bull Moose Party
9. American Workers Party
10. New Deal Party

How about the "Help the Republicans Party"!

Waaah caring about other people is bad waaah.
 
Y'know what we need to do? We need to condemn anyone who tries to form their own political parties instead of looking at the systemic issues in society. That's what we need to do! And by the way, condemning people who try to form their own political parties certainly doesn't reinforce a cult-like mentality! Not at all!
 
Back
Top Bottom