Democracy, Electoral Reforms, Voting Rights (Also see Political Parties and Elections)

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An important post on this blog still reflects my best thinkig

January 30, 2018 GlenAnderson 0

Trump, Trumpism and the Republican Party are doing horrible things to the U.S. and the world, while the Democratic Party and many Americans seem clueless. Often I think I should write something for this blog about the underlying problems that led us into this crisis.  Then I immediately remember that I did convey my best thinking in a long essay I have already posted to this blog.  Some of that article I wrote in January 2017 around the time of the inauguration, and I had added more before posting it in the autumn of 2017.  It is still valid, and […]

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“Empowering Ourselves for Profound Democracy”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

In modern American society, people recognize that giant impersonal systems have too much power, and often they oppress us.  These include big business corporations that cheat us out of our money, destroy our environment, outsource our jobs to low-wage countries, buy the politicians who make the political decisions, and own the media that control how we perceive the world and what we learn and think about political issues. The big impersonal systems also include governmental systems that make wars despite public opinion and protect big business interests in defiance of the public interest. All of the problems we face seem […]

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“Pakistan: What Are the Realities?”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s June 2010 TV program is about Pakistan. The US war in Iraq seems to have dropped out of the news, but are those problems really solved? Or has a sleight-of-hand maneuver of public relations trickery shifted our attention from the “bad” war in Iraq to the “good” war in Afghanistan? And why has the US war in Afghanistan escalaated into Pakistan, where the US is attacking people – including many innocent civilians – in a country that is supposed to be our ally? The American people are long overdue in understanding Pakistan and the realities […]

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“Understanding and Protecting Civil Liberties”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The American people want our society to provide freedom and social justice. The building blocks for this are human rights and civil liberties. Unfortunately, too few Americans understand and support our basic constitutional rights. If we don’t understand civil liberties, we can’t protect them. As a result, governments and right-wing agitators have been expanding police and surveillance powers, chipping away at our freedom, and reducing our human rights. After September 11, 2001, this process got even more reckless and dangerous. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s July 2010 TV program helps viewers better understand the range of civil liberties and how […]

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“Honduras”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

In the early morning of June 28, 2009, about 100 soldiers from the Central American nation of Honduras forced their way into the bedroom of Honduran president Manual Zelaya, kidnapped him while he was still in his pajamas, and forced him into exile in another country. This military coup – backed by conservative business leaders – overthrew a freely elected president. Latin American nations unanimously denounced this military coup against democracy. U.S. politicians and news media have distorted the realities, so the American people do not understand what really happened, or why. The crisis has continued ever since.  Human rights […]

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“Create a Publicly Owned Washington State Bank”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Serious problems require bold, creative solutions!  The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s January 2011 TV interview explores a creative solution to help our state’s economy. Even during hard financial times, a lot of money flows through the state government. Property tax payments, sales tax revenue, payroll taxes, fees for licenses, and other revenues arrive at various times. From time to time the state pays out this money for salaries, equipment, supplies, rent, payments to local governments, and so forth. What happens to the money while the state has it? The state deposits most of it with the big Wall Street banks […]

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“A Nonviolent Society for the Common Good”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

In recent years American society has experienced a serious upsurge of anti-government rhetoric, including threats of violence against members of Congress – and in January 2011 an actual shooting. We have seen a continuation of war, torture and human rights abuses by our government, cutbacks in vital social and health services, a mania for privatizing public services, intolerance of minority races and religions, and an overall breakdown in the sense of our common humanity. Are these interconnected?  Do they have common roots? Can we find solutions that will resolve these problems and restore our public ethics and our common humanity? […]

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“Real Democracy, Not Corporate Personhood”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

“End ‘Corporate Personhood’ and Other Power Grabs” In its January 2010 Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision, the US Supreme Court ruled that big business corporations can give as much money as they want to election campaigns. By a 5-4 majority (all 5 were appointed by Reagan or George W. Bush), they overturned a century of settled law that had protected election campaigns from excessive corporate interference. This decision further entrenched the bizarre notion that money is “speech” and that corporations are “persons” with free speech and the same civil rights as living, breathing human beings. The Citizens United […]

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“The Arab World’s Democracy Movement”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s July 2011 TV program examines the growing movement for democracy in northern Africa, the Middle East, the Persian Gulf states, and throughout much of the Arab world. The movement really took off in early 2011 and is continuing up through our taping date in June 2011, so it has been referred to as the “Arab Spring.” As usual, the mainstream news media and mainstream politicians have failed to understand or talk about some of the most important aspects of this, and they have described some aspects inaccurately, especially reflecting U.S. government bias, rather than understand […]

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“Washington State Needs Tax Reform”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The State of Washington experiences recurring budget crises, so the Legislature keeps making drastic cuts.  Revenue keeps falling short of the needs, so they keep slashing and slashing. They have cut funding for state employees, state parks, K-12 education, higher education, health care, assistance for our poorest people, and pretty much everything. But it’s never enough. The Governor and state legislators scrutinize everything on the expenditure side, but they have been refusing to seriously examine the seriously dysfunctional revenue side. They don’t seriously examine “tax expenditures” – various tax breaks, exemptions and loopholes. Some of these have existed for decades […]

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TV: “Occupy Wall Street, Olympia and Everywhere”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

The democracy movement that swept Tunisia, Egypt, and many countries in the Arab world in 2011 also was demanding a fair economy instead of corruption by cronies in unaccountable governments. (See the Olympia FOR’s July 2011 TV program posted at www.olympiafor.org). Los Indignados in Spain, the anti-austerity protests in Greece, and other actions around the world are also related to this movement for democracy, human rights, and a humane economy. And now – with similar consciousness and demands – the Occupy Wall Street movement has swept the U.S., resulting in hundreds of local “Occupy” encampments, protests and other grassroots activities. […]

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TV: “Strategy and Creativity for Grassroots Power”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Throughout our nation’s history, the best political and social changes have been organized through grassroots movements. In the modern era too, if we are to make progress on the issues we care about – peace, social justice, a humane economy, environmental stewardship, and so forth – we must learn how to strategize, organize and build effective grassroots movements. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s March 2012 TV program focuses on this.  During this interview we explore broad insights and strategies for making positive changes in our political and social systems. Our guest is Bill Moyer from the Backbone Campaign — (206) 408-8058 […]

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TV: “Local Economics”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

For many of the topics the Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s TV series addresses – such as coping with peak oil and the climate crisis, opposing the global economic system that causes wars and oppresses people in poor countries, and strengthening democracy and human rights – we keep coming back to one solution that pertains to all of these: creating a sustainable and humane local economy so we can meet our needs with fewer resources, without damaging the rest of the world, and while strengthening our local community’s resilience and democracy. The Olympia Fellowship of Reconciliation’s April 2012 TV program focuses […]

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TV: “A Publicly Owned Electric Utility for Thurston County?”

December 3, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

Puget Sound Energy, the capitalist-owned electric and gas utility that serves Thurston County and other parts of Western Washington, was based in Bellevue, Washington until a few years ago when it was sold to a different group of capitalists based in Australia – on the opposite side of the world. In 2012 local people in Thurston County Now the Thurston County Public Utility District – which is owned by the general public of our own local community – were exploring the feasibility of buying out Puget Sound Energy’s business in Thurston County and operating it with local ownership, local management, […]

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TV: “Local Government Fairness and Accountability”

December 2, 2017 GlenAnderson 0

How many people actually pay much attention to local governments’ detailed decisions about zoning, funding streets and sewers, and so forth? Hardly anyone pays attention – except those who have a direct financial stake in those decisions, such as real estate developers and other persons who have direct financial interests in local governments’ decisions. So what happens as a result? The “special interests” are able to exploit local governments to serve their narrow economic profits, while the rest of us never know that we are being ripped off. For example, the local elites that run many local governments and media […]