Can Someone Find Me a New Political Party to Join?

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
Social Security is going to start paying out more than it takes in in approxamately 15 years. SSN is the single most successful government anti-poverty program ever. Rather than cut the tax on lower income workers, it needs to have its $65K cap removed and should be taxed progressively, while distributed evenly.

It would have been nice if the Feds had put SS reciepts into some kind of savings account, but they didn't. It's still not too late to do so, and start repaying the recipts that have already been looted.

If you make the SS tax as progressive as the income tax, thats fine, continuing to call it "the SS tax" is simply a matter of accounting. I would note however that simply removing the 65K cap doesnt do that - it leaves a flat tax rather than a progressive tax, it fails to tax income from capital, and most importantly, it leaves a substantial tax burden on low income people who are otherwise exempt from federal income tax.

LOTM

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Ramo
www.cpusa.org

That's funny, Ramo. I was asking a serious question, however.

[Victor Galis]

Join the Democrats. In Georgia, they're just as Conservative as you like your parties to be

[Stefu]

DinoDoc, this is just a hunch, but based on your posts, Rassemblement Pour la République would fit you better than Parti Socialiste. You might even consider Démocratie-libérale.

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara
SDUSA (sedusa ), for all intents and purposes, no longer exists. They are even more geriatric than the Communists. Sweeny's victory in the early 90s marked a shift in the "party" leading the AFL-CIO from SDUSA to DSA. It's a shift in the correct direction, more activist, less willing to play patsy to the government's anti-communism.

Im not familiar with the recent organizational relation of AFLCIO to SDUSA and DSA (sorry no longer DSOC) And I certainly understand that Sweeney has been less focused on anti-communism than Meaney or Kirkland. But my impression is that AFLCIO and most of its component unions are still much more willing to play ball with New democrats than DSA are, and much closer to Clintonism (which is not quite 1960's anticommunism anyway) on foreign policy (trade of course excluded) than DSA - my impression is that Labor party flirtation was more some of the more left leaning component unions, not serious from AFLCIO. I could be wrong.

If SDUSA does disappear there will ultimately be something to replace it - there are, I beleive, many democrats who are dissatisfied with the indifference to
social justice of DLC, but who like other aspects new democrat/third way politics, and who certainly are unsympathetic to outright leftist politics a la DSA or Greens. However I supose it would have less of a traditional blue collar working class base than SDUSA had. We can see this in the discussions of Gore's attempt to appeal to "pink collars" and other economically marginal service workers, many of them (unfortunately) not unionized. It has yet to be seen if these social elements , which are "losers" in the current system, yet lack the tangible interests in protection of most AFLCIO members (other than the govt employees) are capable of organizing, or developing a fuller class consciousness.

LOTM

[lord of the mark]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui

Democrats arent against cutting taxes - just we want to start at the opposite end of the spectrum from the GOP, thats all. How about cutting the social security tax, rather than the estate tax, and how about eliminating income tax on the people in the lowest brackets, rather than across the board cuts that give most to the rich?

I'd want both, cutting estate and SS tax. And BOTH, eliminating income tax on people in the lowest bracket and across the board cuts.

See why the Dems wouldn't like me?

They'd hate me for so vigerously supporting the Bush tax cut .

Ok now eliminate the across the board cuts, and eliminate the tax on MORE people at the bottom.

LOTM

[Imran Siddiqui]

Sorry, won't do it.

That is why I'd be a bad Democrat .

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Stefu
DinoDoc, this is just a hunch, but based on your posts, Rassemblement Pour la République would fit you better than Parti Socialiste. You might even consider Démocratie-libérale.

Can you summarize thier platforms? I'm not familiar with them.

[Stefu]

BTW, I love the way extreme left manages to fracture itself and then spend their energies on debating each other on whether the Amendment III of the Fifth Article of the 6th Manifesto for year 1952 is really Bakuninite in nature or just poop. Then again, considering their ability to achieve anything nearens 0, they might as well have *some* illusion of importance.

Too bad the extreme right can't fracture itself in such manner. There would be something deeply satisfying in two militia compounds spending their days pointing guns at each other over frantic disagreement of whether black helicopters are flown by Chinese or Vietnamese.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Stefu: That is because the extreme right believes in unity .

[Stefu]

Can you summarize thier platforms? I'm not familiar with them.

Hmph. Everyone's a joke-ruiner.

All right, it wasn't particularily good joke. In fact, it was poop.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I liked it .


Dino is just a boche-Americane. Don't mind him.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Stefu
All right, it wasn't particularily good joke. In fact, it was poop.

I didn't get it. Therefore it wasn't funny.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Stefu: Why don't we keep from him what the punchline was supposed to mean .

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by Imran Siddiqui
Stefu: Why don't we keep from him what the punchline was supposed to mean .

Please do. I'm starting to think that it was quite "Bakuninite" in nature.