And the other thing I wanted to point out is that history tells us that
it is a combination of an independent political party and a social movement on
the ground. And I just wanted to emphasize that and to invoke Frederick Douglas
who says, "Power can seize nothing without a demand. It never did and it never
will." That demand needs to be brought to the table in the political and
electoral sphere. If it doesn't happen there, everything you do outside of the
voting booth doesn't count for much, hardly anything. You need to have it
inside the voting booth as well and it's been that alliance of labor struggles
together with the socialist labor and Progressive Parties, the struggle of the
women's movement with the Women's Party, the abolition movement with the
Liberty Party. That's how we were able to move forward to define the solutions
and drive them forward. So, at the end of the day I just think it's life saving
and it's liberating.
And one other thing I should mention also. It's like talking to people
who are in battering relationships, who are being abused by their partners.
It's really hard for people to come up out of that mindset and realize how much
they're being battered. Often I feel like this is a matter of political therapy
for people to recover their personhood, their lives, politically because we've
been so talked out of it; so talked into a battering political relationship.
It's really important to look at the facts on the ground that this is not
benefiting us.
In fact, it was not Ralph Nader's voice that got us here. He brought a
lot of independence into this race and he got equal members of Democrats and
Republicans that we sacrificed so much when we agreed to silence. There's no
way anyone's going to move us forward if we are caving to this argument that we
have to silence ourselves. It's a non sequitur that by being silent we're going
to advance democracy. The only thing that's going to advance democracy is
democracy. Without our voices, there is no democracy at all.
And if I can leave you with one last image; some people say, "Well, you
know the Democratic Party may be really lousy, but it's not sinking the ship as
fast as the Republicans." Okay, so put yourself on the mindset of being on a
sinking ship and taking on water really fast and it's just about submerged. Is
the solution for you to get into another ship which is half up to its neck in
water, but which is also headed for the bottom of the ocean? That's not the
solution. You need to get into a lifeboat. Don't let them talk you into a ship
that is also sinking but slightly less quickly. That's not a solution and we
have a clearly established trajectory at this point. There's only one solution
which is to get off of that sinking ship into the lifeboat that is headed for
the secure, green, just, peaceful shores that aren't that far away. They are
within reach, but we have to get off the boat and start sailing on that
lifeboat right now.
Rob: Okay,
so we're going to take this and transcribe it and it'll be also up on the
podcast. We'll publish the transcript on OpEdNews.com. Now, you mentioned when
we were talking before that you know OpEdNews. Can you say something about
OpEdNews?
Jill: I
try to read it every chance I get. It's bold, uncompromising truth telling and
this is what we depend on for the real news. Thank you so much for your incredible
service. This is what democracy looks like and cannot survive without.
Rob: Alright.
Thank you.
Jill: Thank
you.
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