Do you know where you stand?
What are your political affiliations?
Where do you fit in?
Are you a populist, a progressive, a libertarian, independent, moderate, centrist, Democrat or a conservative right-wing Republican?
Chances are if you vote, you will fit into one or two of these aforementioned groups.
What does each of these groups stand for?
The populist pits the common good against special interests, the little person against the establishment, rural interests against urban.
The progressive wants to remake the Democratic party, often referred to as “netroots”. They want to end wars, energy independence, open transparent government, and promoting civil liberties.
The libertarians want to be left alone, minimal government, very little taxes, national defense, and the legalization of drugs and are especially opposed to the legislation of morality.
Independents are moderates or centrists. They do not vote for a party but for a candidate that appeals to them the most.
Republicans, whether conservative or right wing, are hawkish on foreign policies, value issues, such as abortion, gay rights, tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, deregulations, and claim they want small government but usually end up with bloated administrations.
Democrats called liberals, left-wingers, want a government that promotes equal opportunities through policies like universal healthcare, higher wages, better labor laws for unions, card check, pro choice, supporting strong diplomatic efforts before using military force, civil rights, and a strong stand on climate change.
These are the parties we have to work with so now we have to do some soul searching on who we support and what these candidates have done to deserve our votes and will our vote help our families, unions, country and the world.
Where do we want our taxes spent on in this country—our people or more wars? Do we want to rebuild our infrastructure, such as roads, railroads, bridges, waterlines, sewer, and our schools.
What are we going to do about flooding, fires, and the drought? What party or parties will do the most good and the fastest?
Study up on the parties and any candidate running for office before making your decision. Then join the campaign and fight like you and your family’s lives depend on it because it does.
Good luck. You will need it.
Yes, they are coming for us. Workers need to have one another’s backs because no one else will. Neither the broader labor movement nor the Democratic party are prepared to meet the urgency of this moment. So it’s going to fall upon the rest of us to mount a real resistance against Trump’s authoritarian takeover. We’re going to have to get our hands dirty. I don’t care if you have a good, well-paying union job and you are in the middle class now—if you see a worker being dragged out of his workplace regardless of how skilled the job and potentially taken to another country, you should be ready to be there for that worker. When I.C.E. shows up, gather around and shame them into leaving. It has worked in other places. America is sleep walking into authoritarianism, and if there’s anyone out there who is a member of a labor union that is safe—at this point— and doesn’t think this applies to them. Understand that they just haven’t gotten to you yet. They’re coming for all of us. There are ...
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