CODEPINK Platform

From CODEPINK:

During the upcoming Democratic and Republican National Conventions, the eyes of the country will be focused on the political future of our nation. Let's not get caught up in the razzle-dazzle of
convention shows, but recognize that real democracy means people organizing from the streets to community forums to electoral politics in a continuum of pressure from the bottom up. Both parties have led us down the path of militarism and neglected our basic needs, impoverishing our communities and endangering our security.

Now is the time to stand up for true peace and security—to demand that our government reverse military quagmires in the name of the war on terrorism; liberate us from the oil companies' polluting agenda and begin a serious offensive for conservation, efficiency and renewable energy; promote good jobs at living wages instead of pursuing cheap labor abroad; and transfer war funds to health care, clean energy and anti-poverty efforts at home and abroad.

Below is our more detailed CODEPINK Platform for Peace and Security. Please send it to the leadership of the political parties, to your friends and colleagues. And join us—at the
conventions, during the elections and beyond—as we continue to be vocal advocates for the peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world we want to live in.

Thank you.

CODEPINK Platform for Peace and Security

• Withdraw all U.S. troops and military contractors from Iraq.


• Redirect war funding and excess Pentagon spendingtoward needs at home, including healthcare, education and rebuilding the Gulf Coast.


• Move from unilateralism and pre-emptive strikes to international cooperation and diplomacy. Start with Iran.


• Seek dialogue with warring parties and increased development assistance to end the fighting and poverty in Afghanistan.


• Respect international law and the sovereignty of other nations, including Pakistan.


• Promote global disarmament, including the disarming of US nuclear stockpiles.


• Promote an equitable peace plan between Israel and Palestine that would leave the Palestinians with a viable state.


• Fight terrorism through police and intelligence efforts and by addressing root causes.


• End torture, respect human rights, and restore habeas corpus.


• Respect the rule of law, uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.


• Hold officials accountable for their abuses of power, using such remedies as impeachment.
  


• Protect personal freedom by rejecting warrantless spying, stifling of dissent, and other affronts to individual liberty.


• Provide universal healthcare through a single-payer, not-for-profit system.


• Replace "free trade" agreements with fair trade deals with other countries that protect workers' rights and the environment.
  


• Implement humane and comprehensive immigration reform that affirms the dignity and integrity of immigrant families.


• Address global warming and oil dependence by raising auto fuel economy, imposing mandatory caps on carbon pollution and investing in public transportation, energy conservation technologies and alternative energy development.



• Protect women's reproductive freedom, including the right-to-choose.


• Ensure equality for lesbians gays and transgender people, including in marriage and military service.
  


• Implement Clean Money public financing of elections, plus free TV/radio time for candidates.
  


• Mandate paper ballots and rigorous audits of elections.


• Break up media conglomerates, diversify broadcasting, expand minority and nonprofit ownership of our airwaves, and provide high-speed community Internet for all.

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Send our CODEPINK Platform for Peace and Security to DNC Chairperson Howard Dean and RNC Chairperson Mike Duncan

Forward our CODEPINK Platform to five friends and ask them to send it to the DNC and RNC Chairs

Elect Progressive Candidates at All Levels

From democrats.com:

I pledge to help create a progressive majority in America by electing progressive candidates at all levels - not just the President but also school boards, city councils, and state governments.

Local and state governments have an enormous impact on our lives, and also produce our future national leaders and Presidential candidates.

With the many challenges that the U.S. now faces, it is increasingly important that we elect new, progressive leaders to office at all levels - not just the President.

So we need to look beyond the upcoming election, and build a progressive political movement that will elect an enduring majority. The way to accomplish this goal is to begin locally, where progressive activists can make the biggest difference.

Progressive Majority, an organization committed to recruiting, training and electing leaders willing to stand up and fight for what matters, is asking you to do your part to help.

Take the pledge today to help elect progressive leaders not just to the White House but to your school board, city council, and state government.

Your support and efforts are critical to this goal. Thank you in advance for supporting progressive candidates at all levels.

Change We Can Believe In An: Open Letter to Barack Obama

From The Nation:

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Add your name to this Open Letter calling on Barack Obama to stand firm on the principles he so compellingly articulated in the primary campaign.

Dear Senator Obama,

We write to congratulate you on the tremendous achievements of your campaign for the presidency of the United States.

Your candidacy has inspired a wave of political enthusiasm like nothing seen in this country for decades. In your speeches, you have sketched out a vision of a better future--in which the United States sheds its warlike stance around the globe and focuses on diplomacy abroad and greater equality and freedom for its citizens at home--that has thrilled voters across the political spectrum. Hundreds of thousands of young people have entered the political process for the first time, African-American voters have rallied behind you, and many of those alienated from politics-as-usual have been re-engaged.

You stand today at the head of a movement that believes deeply in the change you have claimed as the mantle of your campaign. The millions who attend your rallies, donate to your campaign and visit your website are a powerful testament to this new movement's energy and passion.

This movement is vital for two reasons: First, it will help assure your victory against John McCain in November. The long night of greed and military adventurism under the Bush Administration, which a McCain administration would continue, cannot be brought to an end a day too soon. An enthusiastic corps of volunteers and organizers will ensure that voters turn out to close the book on the Bush era on election day. Second, having helped bring you the White House, the support of this movement will make possible the changes that have been the platform of your campaign. Only a grassroots base as broad and as energized as the one that is behind you can counteract the forces of money and established power that are a dead weight on those seeking real change in American politics.

We urge you, then, to listen to the voices of the people who can lift you to the presidency and beyond.

Since your historic victory in the primary, there have been troubling signs that you are moving away from the core commitments shared by many who have supported your campaign, toward a more cautious and centrist stance--including, most notably, your vote for the FISA legislation granting telecom companies immunity from prosecution for illegal wiretapping, which angered and dismayed so many of your supporters.

We recognize that compromise is necessary in any democracy. We understand that the pressures brought to bear on those seeking the highest office are intense. But retreating from the stands that have been the signature of your campaign will weaken the movement whose vigorous backing you need in order to win and then deliver the change you have promised.

Here are key positions you have embraced that we believe are essential to sustaining this movement:

§ Withdrawal from Iraq on a fixed timetable.

§ A response to the current economic crisis that reduces the gap between the rich and the rest of us through a more progressive financial and welfare system; public investment to create jobs and repair the country's collapsing infrastructure; fair trade policies; restoration of the freedom to organize unions; and meaningful government enforcement of labor laws and regulation of industry.

§ Universal healthcare.

§ An environmental policy that transforms the economy by shifting billions of dollars from the consumption of fossil fuels to alternative energy sources, creating millions of green jobs.

§ An end to the regime of torture, abuse of civil liberties and unchecked executive power that has flourished in the Bush era.

§ A commitment to the rights of women, including the right to choose abortion and improved access to abortion and reproductive health services.

§ A commitment to improving conditions in urban communities and ending racial inequality, including disparities in education through reform of the No Child Left Behind Act and other measures.

§ An immigration system that treats humanely those attempting to enter the country and provides a path to citizenship for those already here.

§ Reform of the drug laws that incarcerate hundreds of thousands who need help, not jail.

§ Reform of the political process that reduces the influence of money and corporate lobbyists and amplifies the voices of ordinary people.

These are the changes we can believe in. In other areas--such as the use of residual forces and mercenary troops in Iraq, the escalation of the US military presence in Afghanistan, the resolution of the Israel-Palestine conflict, and the death penalty--your stated positions have consistently varied from the positions held by many of us, the "friends on the left" you addressed in recent remarks. If you win in November, we will work to support your stands when we agree with you and to challenge them when we don't. We look forward to an ongoing and constructive dialogue with you when you are elected President.

Stand firm on the principles you have so compellingly articulated, and you may succeed in bringing this country the change you've encouraged us to believe is possible.

Here is a list of early signatories to this open letter:

Rocky Anderson

Moustafa Bayoumi

Norman Birnbaum Professor Emeritus
Georgetown University Law Center

Tim Carpenter
Progressive Democrats of America

John Cavanaugh, director
Institute for Policy Studies

Juan Cole

Chuck Collins

Phil Donahue

Barbara Ehrenreich

Tom Engelhardt
Tomdispatch.com

Jodie Evans, co-f0under
CODEPINK: Women for Peace

Thomas Ferguson

Bill Fletcher Jr., executive editor,
BlackCommentator.com

Eric Foner

Milton Glaser

Robert Greenwald

William Greider

Jane Hamsher

Tom Hayden

Christopher Hayes

Richard Kim

Stuart Klawans

Bill McKibben

Walter Mosley

Richard Parker, president
Americans for Democratic Action

Gary Phillips
Writer and activist

Jon Pincus
achangeiscoming.net and member of Get FISA Right

Chip Pitts

Frances Piven

Elizabeth Pochoda

Katha Pollitt

Marcus Raskin

Betsy Reed

Bob Scheer

Herman Schwartz

Jonathan Schell

Gene Seymour

David Sirota

Norman Solomon
Author and Obama delegate to Democratic National Convention

Mike Stark

Jean Stein

Matt Stoller

Jonathan Tasini

Zephyr Teachout

Studs Terkel

Katrina vanden Heuvel

Gore Vidal

David Weir

Howard Zinn

Affiliations have been added when requested by the signatory.

Add your name to the Open Letter calling on Barack Obama to stand firm on the principles he so compellingly articulated in the primary campaign.

Wanted - Your ideas for the Netroots platform!

From Netroots Nation:

Dear Friend,

Are you concerned about our country's addiction to oil? Or about getting universal healthcare passed? This is your chance to express what you think our national policies should be!

One of our goals at Netroots Nation is to take ideas from our community, match them with the right technology, and empower you to act. In Austin, we provided a way for you to contribute to a collaborative Netroots platform. The response was fantastic, but we still need your voice.

We need your help to ensure that all the planks are strong, and that the platform accurately reflects our collective views. Contribute your ideas at netrootsplatform.org.

The final platform will be submitted through Obama's "Listening to America" process in which the campaign is encouraging supporters to jointly craft platform planks. Our impact will depend on the process being completely democratic and participatory, and on engaging as many members of the Netroots as possible.

Curious? Skeptical? Here's an excerpt of the current "general principles" plank:

"As progressive women and men living in the United States of America, we believe that the American dream means extending equality of opportunity to every American and working to narrow the gap between opportunity and outcome. We see no reason why the outcome of any American's pursuit of happiness should be economic destitution caused by unemployment, inflation, high energy costs, lack of health care, or any of the other myriad problems facing everyday Americans today. America can do better, and as progressives we pledge ourselves to working for greater opportunities and better outcomes for all Americans."

Read the rest at netrootsplatform.org.

To craft a political platform together, democratically, we're using MixedInk's unique collaborative writing tool. It works kind of like a blog's diary submission and recommendation system, only you can borrow other people's words and ideas to create the best possible plank. From the economy to healthcare to the environment, you'll have a chance to contribute new ideas, edit existing planks, remix the group's best ideas to form new versions, and rate what others have written to help choose the final version.

By fusing our voices together and producing a precise policy vision that reflects our collective viewpoints, our community can better influence the official Democratic platform.

Be sure to contribute your ideas at netrootsplatform.org.

In solidarity,
The Netroots Nation Team
Raven Brooks
Karen Kolber
Mary Rickles
Nolan Treadway

P.S. Don't miss out on other community projects: Register for NN09 in Pittsburgh at regonline.com/nn09. (There are still a few tickets left at the $225 rate.)