that was a previous
New Party

seperate from the one in Chicago or New York


kind of like comparing the old panthers to the new ones,,,different ideologies and different approach,,,

Why It's New Party Time
A new conservative wave is sweeping the country. Astonishing and mean-spirited attacks on the poor, on women, on the environment, on working class people and their families, and on children, have risen to the fore.
Why? People are anxious, scared, and angry: constantly in danger of losing their jobs and their health care, alienated from a political system controlled by big money, scared to walk the streets at night, worried about how they're going to afford to send their children to college -- the list can go on forever. And the radical right has manipulated this environment with great success, promoting a cynical agenda that blames these problems on the least powerful in our society -- the poor, immigrants, people of color.

Despite the 100 day storm and fury, designed to camoflage the Republican's pro-corporate agenda, the Republicans will fail. Tax cuts for the rich and spending cuts for the poor will not give Americans the economic security or the control over the economy that they desperately want. Deregulation will not improve the steadily deteriorating environment. The death penalty will not stop violent crime. Cutting student loans and grants will not make a college education more affordable. And ignoring the vital issue of campaign finance will not make the domination of politics by wealthy corporate interests go away.

In such a situation, one might expect that Democrats would be well-placed to pick up the pieces, but they'll fail too, because the Democratic Party is not accountable to people of ordinary means. Whatever the Party once was, it is not now a reliable force for democratic social change. Consider the consequences of two years of a Democratic Administration: A couple of Republican trade agreements that don't respect worker rights or national living standards; deficit reduction aimed at reassuring the bond markets while it ignores job creation; crime legislation for states to spend more on prison than schools. Consider what we have not gotten: investment in schools, in our cities, in our kids, in our future; campaign finance reform; higher wages and shorter working hours; health care; a restored environment; a trade policy that protects living standards and worker rights; mass transit that works; housing for young families. Need I say more?

Nor will it help Democrats to court business even more diligently -- to establish more war rooms in the Commerce Department to close deals for the multinationals or retreat further on labor law reform in the hope of appeasing national capital. Given a choice between a real Republican and an imitation...well, you can guess who business will choose. It is the economy, stupid, and without a credible economic alternative, it's hello President Gramm.

So where do we stand? Republicans are intent on rolling all of us but business, the Democrats stand speechless before their mirrors, and the public alone seems to lose every election.

Neither of the two major parties can succeed in providing those things which the vast majority of Americans want without challenging the corporate power and wealth which is wrecking our society. And neither the Democrats nor the Republicans are prepared to do this, primarily because both parties are funded by these same corporate interests.

Secure jobs with a living wage, a clean environment, safe streets, excellent educations for our children, time with our families, and fair elections in which ordinary people can have a say will not be possible without a root-and-branch change in the way we organize our corporations, our communities, and our political system. To do this will require changes in public consciousness and organization, including the formation of a New Party, a party which is actually controlled by its members-- party which will fight hard and creatively for campaign finance reform, excellent public schools, jobs that pay decent wages, and so on. And a party which is rooted in local communities and whose membership actually holds its elected officials accountable.

Such a party does exist, and is now active in about a dozen states. Called simply the New Party, this organization has run almost 100 candidates nationwide and has won two-thirds of these races. Nothing huge -- school boards, zoning boards, city councils, and state legislatures -- but it's a good start nonetheless. And they'll be expanding throughout the country and into higher level races as their confidence, experience, and resources increase.

In a pre-election poll by the Times Mirror Center for The People and The Press, 53% of Americans said they wanted a new political party. People are fed up with politics as usual and a political system that ignores those who can't afford to attend $1,000 a plate dinners. They're fed up with an economy that continually rewards the top 20% and leaves everyone else behind. And they're fed up with the two major parties, dinosaurs who have long ignored the needs and interests of ordinary people. It's time we give Americans what they want -- a Real Democracy, a Fair Economy, and a New Party.

http://web.archive.org/web/20010305024158/http://www.newparty.org/op-ed-6-95.html