From: chriswa@microsoft.com (Chris Waldron)
Subject: RON DANIELS Speech (part 4 of 4)
Date: 23 Jul 92 19:31:18 GMT
Organization: Microsoft Corporation
Distribution: soc.culture.african.american

Originally posted by harelb@math.cornell.edu (Harel Barzilai) on
misc.activism.progressive ...

Four Excerpts:

    "We need to have this notion, that all human beings are endowed
    with certain inalienable rights.  Certain basic human rights,
    including those rights are the question of a *good job at good
    wages* [...] And if can rebuild Europe after [...] the 2nd World
    War, and rebuild Japan, then we need a *domestic Marshall Plan* to
    rebuild the ghettos and barrios and reservations of this country.
    50 billion dollars a year to rebuild the inner cities of this
    country!  We need a domestic Marshall Plan. <applause>

   "There must be political pluralism, we've got to open up the
   political process, make it easier for candidates to get on the
   ballot in this country.  We need election finance reform, take the
   private money out, [...] have the elections be publicly financed.
   We need universal registration. [we need a system where we] elect
   candidates based on the agenda as opposed to their personalities
   and all this other stuff.  We need a participatory democracy where
   people are *engaged* [...]

    "We need to *repeal* the national security act of 1947.  Let's get
    rid of the CIA [...]

    "After the Democrats meet and after the Republicans meet, after
    they've had their little *clown show*, their superfluous
    meaningless show(*), that we need to gather up all of our folk, all
    of the different people who want a new society, to have our own
    progressive convention.  that convention *will take place* on
    August 21st to the 23rd, in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

    [(*) Subsidized by your and my tax-dollars --HB]

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Ron Daniels '92 (Independent) -- Speech (part 4)
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[Speech Continued:]

So I'm saying to you, let's have a fighting program for a new
America.  And it must be based on vision, and certain *fundamental
principles*.  The principle that human beings --- and what is the
purpose of the economy? what is the purpose of government?  It is in
my judgment to see that all human beings has the fullest potential
[...] for development.  That all living things, that life, is
precious, and it has a right to *live and thrive*, and develop.
That must be the basis of our understanding of the economy and
government.  And so it seems to me as we talk about a fighting
program, we must fight against racism.  One of the things I'm very
disappointed about in terms of the Democratic party is, [...] not
until recently, Bill Bradley has raised his voice, the Democrats
have not raised their voice.  They too became --- even though they
had a good civil rights record, they backed up --- and refused to
stand tall in the struggle against racism.  So we must fight against
racism and all forms of discrimination.  Based on sex, religion,
sexual orientation, and disability.  We must have complete <thump>
equality for women!

America when it comes down to the way it treats poor people, and
the way it treats women, is a catastrophe!  In terms [...] of pay
equity, in terms of [...] pre-natal care, in terms of family leave.
Every Western democracy has a better record than the United States
of America.  And so we must have complete equality for women.  And
there should be no question whatsoever about a woman's right to
preserve her choice, and her ability to protect her own body.  That
is a _sacred and fundamental_ right. <applause>

 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    Excuse my inserting a few "footnotes" to Daniels' assertions
    about the U.S. relative virtually all other western industial
    nations:

    "Although the U.S. ranks 2nd in the world in per capita gross national
    product, the country ranks 19th in the world in infant mortality rate,
    and 29th in low birth-weight babies. Our child poverty rate is higher
    than Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, West Germany, Canada, the United
    Kingdom, and Australia.

    "The U.S. in not among the 61 nations that provide health
    insurance or basic medical coverage to all parents and their
    dependents, nor is it among the 63 nations that provide a family
    allowance to working parents."

    ["Children in Crisis, Z magazine, Jan. 91]

    Of the 19 Western Industrial Nations, the U.S. ranks:

    #1 in % children living poverty
    #1 in % elderly living in poverty
    #1 in unequal distribution of wealth
    #1 in homelessness
    In the World, the U.S. ranks:
    #15 in women's wages as % of mens
    #63 in % women in legislatures

    [See _We're Number One_ by Andrew Shapiro, Vintage Books (Random
    House) , 1992, New York]
    --Harel
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We have to have [...] a socially responsible economy.  Where we
are asking and demanding that corporations be responsible.  Bill
Clinton talks about individual --- and that sounds so good, you know,
just everybody's got to be responsible.  I want corporations to
be responsible.  And so we want to talk about accountability of the
corporations, reining them in.  They don't have the right to shut
down plants and destroy lives and families with impunity and run
all over the world wrecking lives of other people.  Polluting the
environment, Mexican children being born without brains! because
these people go down in the interest of profit.  And will produce,
and pollute the air and the water and not care about anything
but profit.

   -->  [Send the 1-line message GET CHOMSKY VICTORS2 ACTIV-L to ]
   -->  [LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET for more info re Mexico etc      ]

We need to have this notion, that all human beings are endowed with
certain inalienable rights.  Certain basic human rights, including
those rights are the question of a *good job at good wages*, and
full employment.  Dust off some of those terms, you know what I
mean?  Good jobs with good wages!  People talk about what is my drug
program, what is my program against violence in the inner cities?
full employment!  Give the boys and sisters in the hood, a job.
A *gig* would go a long way toward solving the urban violence problem
in this country. <applause>

If we can't provide jobs, we have to have income maintenance.  Again
as Larry [Agran] has indicated, a single source, single payer.
Negative income tax.  If you don't make enough, *provide* enough,
so there's a certain floor beyond which people do not fall.  We need
to have affordable housing for everyone in this society.  National
health care, based on the Canadian plan, again as Larry [Agran] has
indicated, single source, single payer.

    [Send 1-line message GET HEALTH INSURANC [sic] ACTIV-L  ]
    [to LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET for info on this and/or email]
    [harelb@math.cornell.edu for a letter to NPR summarizing]

*No* choice in education, that's *madness*.  The public educational
system should not be the preserve of the poor, it should be that
education in the public system should be second to none.  If you
choose to go to a private system, that's your business.  But we
ought to have an educational system that is impeccable; that is
solid; that is sane; that pays teachers good wages; that has a
partnership between teachers and administrators and the community;
that has facilities [...] that serve the communities where they have
more desperate needs.  And one that has a *multicultural education*
as a centerpiece of the educational process!  Multicultural
education as a centerpiece of the process. <applause>  [...]  And
when we come down to the question of secondary education, a college
or university education, yes it ought to be free.

If we're talking about this *baad* country to the south of us, this
bad country, that used to have all the prostitution, illiteracy, and
disease, and used to be run by Meyer Lansky and all this kind of
stuff, that's the bad country down there, Cuba!  Bill Clinton has
said, what? [questioning] He supports the bill to clamp <thump> down
on Cuba, and all that tough macho stuff Bill Clinton is talking
about.  Well I think there's some good things happening in Cuba.

    [Send 1-line message GET LAT-AMER HMNRTS90 ACTIV-L         ]
    [to LISTSERV@UMCVMB.BITNET to compare Cuba's human rights  ]
    [(actual Amnesty International Reports) to U.S.-backed     ]
    ["democracies" in Cenral, even South America --v.surprizing]

It needs to change, but some good things happening in Cuba. <applause>
And among the good things is, that we have a society in the United
States of America where 60 million people cannot read and write.
60 million people in America are illiterate!  They have universal
literacy in Cuba!  They have universal health care!  They have free
education for every citizen in Cuba!  If they can do it in Cuba,
why can we not do it here in the United States of America? <applause>

    [Despite being a 3rd world country long-subjected to economic]
    [warfare and embargo by its nextdoor Superpower, they (Cuba) ]
    [have a better infant mortality rate than the abysmal one for]
    [American non-whites (the overall U.S. infant mortality rate ]
    [is already shameful, the *lowest* of all western  industrial]
    [nations -- see the new book _We're Number One_ by A Shapiro ]

And if can rebuild Europe after [...] the 2nd World War, and
rebuild Japan, then we need a *domestic Marshall Plan* to rebuild
the ghettos and barrios and reservations of this country.  50 billion
dollars a year to rebuild the inner cities of this country!  We need
a domestic Marshall Plan. <applause>  And that domestic Marshall
Plan, as Larry [Agran] has indicated --- I think we're on the same
page here --- must be based on the notion of people empowerment at
the local level.

I got about 2 minutes left and a lot to say, so I got to run it real
fast [begins talking even more rapidly].  I agree with the question
of demilitarization and conversion.  We have to move and struggle to
have a peace economy.  We've got to fight to cut the military
budget.  I won't comment on that because I agree with Larry [Agran]
substantially on that point.  We've also got to fight for political
democracy.  There must be political pluralism, we've got to open up
the political process, make it easier for candidates to get on the
ballot in this country.  We need election finance reform, take the
private money out, [...] have the elections be publicly financed.
We need universal registration.  We need a participatory democracy
where our political organizations invite people to get involved,
form agendas, and engage in [...] fomenting public policy and elect
candidates based on the agenda as opposed to their personalities and
all this other stuff.  We need a participatory democracy where
people are *engaged* at the grassroots level in terms of making the
decisions that have to be made. <applause>

[...] We need to *repeal* the national security act of 1947.
Let's get rid of the CIA. <applause> [...]  And so that's what my
campaign is about.  I'm not going to be President of the United States.
And after having watched "JFK", if I were miraculously elected, I'd be
terrified. <laughter>  But what is my campaign all about?  My campaign
is about building a movement!  It is about saying to people like
yourselves, who feel sometimes powerless, that we have the best vision
and the best values.

Many of you have organized, you've been in various movements across this
country.  Some of you are environmentalists, some of you worked in
the peace movement, some of you work in community-based housing, and
health care programs.  We *know* what's needed in this country.
What we lack is the confidence that we can not only _fight the
power_ but we have the capacity to _fight for power_.  That we no
longer have to _react_ to government, we have to understand that we
are the leaders we have been looking for.  We have to *become* the
government of these United States, with our vision and values as we
approach the 21st century.  We have to become the new majority, we
have to become the government of this country as we move into the
21st century. <applause>

So it's about building a process.  In 2 weeks we'll be announcing
in our campaign a native American woman as our vice-presidential
running mate.  Because in this process [...] that our campaign is
a part of, we need a woman as our co-partner --- and since native
Americans are out of sight out of mind, their land being stolen from
them even as we speak --- we need to be in a situation where we have
a native American woman as our running mate.  We will be announcing
that in a couple of weeks.

We have been saying that we need a progressive convention.
That after the Democrats meet and after the Republicans meet, after
they've had their little *clown show*, their superfluous meaningless
show, that we need to gather up all of our folk, all of the different
people who want a new society, to have our own progressive convention.
that convention *will take place* on August 21st to the 23rd, in
Ypsilanti, Michigan.  It will be called the national peoples'
progressive convention, and we hope that all of you will be there.

We're also fighting to create a progressive cabinet where not only
Ron Daniels and running mate will be there, but where we have a
*team* of people running.  Like Dolores Huerta, [...] Ben Chaves
(sp?), Angela Davis, Barbara Sizemore, Barbara Ehrenreich, Ralph
Nader, Ramsey Clark,

[... Unfortunately the end of the tape's side A occurred here ...]

way to live.  If our vision is clear, if we are honest and willing
and strong, we can build a tomorrow where we will be free.  And we
can build it by embracing each other, and embracing our struggle,
and we can commit to do that together tonight.  Our Campaign for a
New Tomorrow is a *crusade* for a new America.  Thank you very
kindly. <applause>

[We hope to contact the Daniels Campaign and have them establish an
online presence, by which we would forward to MAP, PeaceNet, etc, just
as we did with the Larry Agran campaign for the Democratic Party
nomination. If you can help in this endeavor, please contact us at
harelb@math.cornell.edu]

************************************************************************