Earlier this year tea party right-wing extremists illuminated who their enemies were. Public employees topped the list, closely followed by those who survive through so-called ‘entitlement programs’. Simply put, the tea party extremists were trying to convince the American public that the reason the country is broke is because poor people have all the money. In the last few weeks however a few new demons have emerged in the extreme right’s pantheon of enemies of America. These include African Americans, veterans, South Asians, and students who wish to cast their ballot at the campuses on which they live. The extreme right is about to find out that college kids do not scare Americans, wounded war veterans don’t frighten neighbors, and old folks on medicare are no more likely to make people nervous than are the members of the local NAACP. What really scares working folks are proposals to roll back the gains that the working class has been struggling for and winning in the past 50 years.
Outsourcing is scary, homelessness is disturbing, unemployment is terrifying, and the prospect of a corporate sponsored tea party victory is the scariest thing of all. The video “Meet Mr. 1%” says it all.
Flop Sweat
Mitt Romney fell flat on his face in a speech to the NAACP. His accidental articulation of his true aims as President, including slashing people friendly programs and trashing the Affordable Care Act nearly got Romney booed off the stage. His performance was so stunning in it’s disconnect from the crowd that it was meant to win over that it rivaled the memorable disaster of Presidential wannabe Ross Perot who when he appeared before the civil rights organization referred to the audience as “you people”.
Will the Real Patriot Please Stand Up?
In another example of how the Tea-Party dominated GOP has simply lost touch with reality, Illinois Congressman Joe Walsh is attacking his opponent, a disabled war veteran, as insufficiently patriotic.
Move-in Special
While Tea-Party sponsored legislators around the country are scheming up new ways to deny citizens the right to vote, the City Council in Madison, Wisconsin took a positive step to encourage registration among new residents. A step that is bound to have an impact in a the capital city in a swing state that hosts up to 40,000 University students.
They’re Everywhere!
Now that Rep. Alan West (R-FL) has failed to launch a 21st Century Red Scare with his accusations of Communists in Congress, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) who only last year was leading the pack for the GOP nomination for the highest office in the land, is trying a new tact. Rather than reviving the bogeyman of socialism Rep. Bachmann has instead opted for culture and religious bigotry to inflame the body politic. Her accusations that an aide to Secretary of State Clinton was in league with the ‘Muslim Brotherhood’ prompted no less than former GOP Presidential nominee John McCain to take to the floor of the US Senate to condemn the accusation and when he did so he found himself on the business end of Glenn Beck’s microphone who declared McCain to be “in line with the Muslim brotherhood.” The tea party economic plans can’t generate any followers, so all that is left is smear and scare tactics.
Take Action – Workers Stand for America on August 11
“If there was a time to change the conversation to focus on the needs of working Americans it is now,” says the call to the Workers’ Stand for America rally to be held in Philadelphia, PA on Saturday August 11 at 11 am. The rally will roll out a second Bill of Rights, inspired by President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s proposed Economic Bill of Rights (1944) that would esure every American have decent work, education, medical care and retirement security. The rally will call on working people from all walks of life to sign America’s Second Bill of Rights which will be presented to delegates at the Republican and Democratic national conventions, and will become the basis for building a grassroots movement toward economic opportunity for all.
Contact Congress – End Bush-era Tax Cuts for the Rich
On July 25, the Senate passed a Democrat-sponsored bill to let Bush tax cuts for the rich expire, while extending tax cuts for the middle class. A Republican-sponsored bill to keep the tax cuts for the 1% was defeated. This was the result of hundreds of thousands of calls and messages from community and union activists to their Senators. Now the House of Representatives is going to vote on its tax bill. Mary Kay Henry, president of SEIU writes that House Republicans are planning to block the measure from becoming law unless the Bush tax cuts for the rich are extended, and the wealthiest 2 percent get another tax giveaway they don’t need. This would endanger every social program that we know.
Tell your member of Congress that working families shouldn’t suffer so that millionaires can get another break.
Handouts to share in your community
“Why Vote?” flyer [English / Spanish] (PDF)
Save Our Nation – Tax Corporations – Tax the Rich (PDF)
¡Salvemos nuestra nación! – !Impuesto para las empresas! – ¡Impuesto para los ricos! (PDF)
Reports from National Committee Meetings
It’s up to us by Joelle Fishman, chair Political Action Commission
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Joelle Fishman chairs the Connecticut Communist Party USA. She is a Commissioner on the City of New Haven Peace Commission, serves on the executive board of the Alliance of Retired Americans in Connecticut and is an active member of many economic rights and social justice organizations. She was a candidate for Congress from 1973 to 1982, maintaining minor-party ballot status for the Communist Party in Connecticut's Third Congressional District. As chair of the CPUSA Political Action Commission, she has played an active role in the broad labor and people's alliance that defeated the ultra-right in the 2008 elections and continues to mobilize for health care, worker rights and peace.
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