Weidt
24th February 2004, 04:32
Originally posted by
[email protected] 23 2004, 08:24 PM
Does any of the SP members here know of this and have any kind of background information on it? All I know of him is from reading his campain page and bio. What are the issues of his that are in debate?
Yes, I will try to cover the basics. My name is Joe DeNeen and I am the Internet Secretary for the Socialist Party of Michigan. I am involved in the recall effort, so I think that qualifies me to discuss why we want to recall, but folks have their own areas of focus for why he needs replaced.
Walt Brown is a social democrat and a reformist (gradualist). This is an obvious fact that everyone knew going to our National Convention back in October 2003 where he won the nomination by a slim 7 votes. Unfortunately few new of his actual stances on important issues.
In early January comrades came across the NPAT questionnaire that Brown filled out at http://www.vote-smart.org/npat.php?can_id=MZZ75354. Take a look at it and view his answers. It is very interesting to say the least, and those answers is what sparked the most heated debate I've seen in the SP in my two years.
On the NPAT, Brown has some positions that are unacceptable to many of us as a Socialist, and even more so as a Socialist Party candidate. Many positions outright conflict with our Principles and Platform. Here is a quick rundown of the ones I can quick spot glancing at the NPAT again:
-- Brown does not support abortion being legal, nor does he even support it in the cases of incest or race (even most pro-lifers support this!). Additionally is the support for additional waiting periods and the like. The SP Platform states "We support the rights of all women to birth control information and supplies, and to all reproductive health services (including abortion)."
-- Brown supports maintaining the funding of "law enforcement." Basically he supports the continued police occupation of the inner cities (i.e., poor Black and Latino neighborhoods), police surveillance, the war on drugs and the like.
-- Brown supports only slightly decreasing funding for Homeland Security, whereas it should be eliminated completely. Abolish Homeland Security!
-- Brown wants to eliminate space exploration. This seems odd to me, but hey, I'm a Trekkie.
-- Brown supports only slightly decreasing funds for "intelligence operations." This to me sounds like maintaining the CIA, FBI, etc. and not abolishing them. The SP Platform states "We call for the abolition of the Central Intelligence Agency, the National Security Agency, and all other institutions of covert warfare."
-- Brown supports greatly increasing the taxation of cigarettes and alcohol. The SP opposes all "sin taxes."
-- Brown supports barring unions and non-profit organizations from issuing advocacy commercials within 60 days of an election. It sounds like censorship to me and unions and non-profits should be free to promote their ideas, pro or con. This section also includes "corporations" so I hope that is why he checked the box, but even then he should have left it blank.
-- Brown supports increasing border security to stop drugs. Basically he wants to continue the militarization of the US-Mexico border and perpetuate xenophobia. This also contradicts his next answer in favor of ending the war on drugs.
-- Brown supports standardized testing for public school students. Standardized tests are biased, heterosexist, racist and sexist.
-- Brown supports merit pay for teachers.. that is, giving teachers special pay and awards for having students with higher grades. This would benefit teachers in wealth districts and harm those in poorer ones. More money should be put into ALL schools to bring them to an equal level so all receive an equal education.
-- Brown supports using economic means to "persuade" North Korea to give up its nuclear program. This amounts to sanctions, which is unacceptable especially with our knowledge of how well that "worked" on Iraq killing 500,000 Iraqi children.
-- Brown supports increasing military support for Afghanistan, and thus increasing the number of US troops there and continuing imperialism.
-- Brown supports replacing the US occupational force in Iraq with a UN occupational force. Imperialism is imperialism.
-- Brown supports increased visa requirements for students from "terrorist states." Basically this means barring more Arabs and Muslims from coming to the US simply due to their national origin.
-- Brown supports holding countries responsible for terrorists. Isn't this the Bush Doctrine?!
-- Brown supports censorship of violence and sex on TV. No censorship!
-- Brown supports strict penalties for hacking. This is too vague and hacking could be basically anything.
So there you have it, the basic reasons for why people want Brown replaced. His politics contradict with the SP Platform and would alienate many potential supporters and has already alienated some within the SP, especially from pro-choice activists, antiwar activists and the like.
The referendum to recall and replace Brown hopefully will take place and conclude sometime in April. Democracy is slow and painful, but absolutely necessary.