2008 Woodie Awards
New political party on the rise
Michael Cannon
Issue date: 12/3/07 Section: Opinions
As the spectacle of the presidential electoral process falls upon us once more, our two traditional parties reveal their impotence more than ever. Amongst leading candidates, there is almost an unspoken consensus to keep discussion of legitimate issues off the table. They are exchanging serious discourse on healthcare, education, and poverty for frivolous debates over abortion and religious credentials.
The Democratic Party claims to represent the interests of average working Americans, but continually sells them out in the interests of the wealthy and big business. Although, they differ on many secondary issues, the Democrats and the Republicans are fundamentally identical.
While these stale candidates idly bicker, some working folks have been trying to organize some alternatives to the two-party system.
This is especially true in New Orleans' where the emerging "Reconstruction Party" is gaining ground in its attempt to rebuild the region.
Over two years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans and mangled much of the Gulf Coast, discontent is still high amongst the region's residents. In the face of a painfully slow and disorganized reconstruction effort, many people are now translating their frustration and anger into concrete political action.
As evidenced by its name, the party mainly focuses on the reconstruction of areas damaged by Katrina. However, they also use the term reconstruction in a broader sense, such as fighting poverty and improving education and health in New Orleans' dilapidated inner city.
Its New Orleans program contains some surprisingly radical proposals to this effect, such as a minimum wage of $16.00 per hour for all businesses having fifty or more employees, expanding and improving public housing for the city's displaced residents, and mandating free health clinics for children.
They also aim to democratize reconstruction efforts by proposing that city council meetings take place in the evening in order to allow more residents to attend and participate in decision-making that directly affects themselves and their communities.
Reconstruction activists are seeking to forge a progressive alternative to the stagnant Democratic Party. After experiencing the complete failure of local Democratic governments to rebuild the Gulf Coast, this is the only logical course of action.
Though still in its formative stages, the party is already gaining a fair amount of momentum. Malcom Suber recently ran for the New Orleans' city council under the Reconstruction ticket and garnered a fair amount of press..
Says Suber, "We want to win this seat so working class and poor black folk have some representation at City Hall and to move forward towards building the Reconstruction Party."
Unfortunately, his bid for office was unsuccessful. This was probably due to thousands of New Orleans' citizens still in involuntary exile.
Despite the defeat at the polls however, the Party has gained attention and is using the momentum from its election campaign to continue organizing at the grassroots level across the region.
Maintaining this momentum could prove difficult. Historically, the death knell of all "third party" movements comes from an inability to make and maintain a connection to a mass base. In other words, the Reconstruction Party must sink deep roots into the working class if it is to become an effective political force.
This could possibly happen by linking up with another group of grassroots organizers, the new U.S. Labor Party.
The Labor Party's goal is for unions to break with the Democrats and create a national mass party of labor that can truly represent the interests of working Americans. This is a very ambitious aim, but if they were able to connect to organize labor, this would lay the basis for a viable third party to challenge the two-party system. The Reconstruction Party could flourish by merging into this movement.
This of course is optimistic speculation, but such developments are possible. All political parties rise and fall and there is no reason to assume that the Democrats and Republicans will last forever.
It is still unclear whether the Reconstruction movement will develop into a lasting political force, but the fact that it is emerging at all is symptomatic of a deep dissatisfaction with the two traditional parties in the Gulf Coast. Betrayed by both federal Republicans and local Democrats, some people in the region are trying to create an alternative that can genuinely represent working people's interests. Suber aptly describes the situation: "If we want real justice and equity, we'll have to do it ourselves. Certainly the Democrats and the Republicans make empty promises to the people."
Michael Cannon is a sophomore sociology major and can be reached at mrc3g@mtsu.edu.
The Democratic Party claims to represent the interests of average working Americans, but continually sells them out in the interests of the wealthy and big business. Although, they differ on many secondary issues, the Democrats and the Republicans are fundamentally identical.
While these stale candidates idly bicker, some working folks have been trying to organize some alternatives to the two-party system.
This is especially true in New Orleans' where the emerging "Reconstruction Party" is gaining ground in its attempt to rebuild the region.
Over two years after Hurricane Katrina destroyed the city of New Orleans and mangled much of the Gulf Coast, discontent is still high amongst the region's residents. In the face of a painfully slow and disorganized reconstruction effort, many people are now translating their frustration and anger into concrete political action.
As evidenced by its name, the party mainly focuses on the reconstruction of areas damaged by Katrina. However, they also use the term reconstruction in a broader sense, such as fighting poverty and improving education and health in New Orleans' dilapidated inner city.
Its New Orleans program contains some surprisingly radical proposals to this effect, such as a minimum wage of $16.00 per hour for all businesses having fifty or more employees, expanding and improving public housing for the city's displaced residents, and mandating free health clinics for children.
They also aim to democratize reconstruction efforts by proposing that city council meetings take place in the evening in order to allow more residents to attend and participate in decision-making that directly affects themselves and their communities.
Reconstruction activists are seeking to forge a progressive alternative to the stagnant Democratic Party. After experiencing the complete failure of local Democratic governments to rebuild the Gulf Coast, this is the only logical course of action.
Though still in its formative stages, the party is already gaining a fair amount of momentum. Malcom Suber recently ran for the New Orleans' city council under the Reconstruction ticket and garnered a fair amount of press..
Says Suber, "We want to win this seat so working class and poor black folk have some representation at City Hall and to move forward towards building the Reconstruction Party."
Unfortunately, his bid for office was unsuccessful. This was probably due to thousands of New Orleans' citizens still in involuntary exile.
Despite the defeat at the polls however, the Party has gained attention and is using the momentum from its election campaign to continue organizing at the grassroots level across the region.
Maintaining this momentum could prove difficult. Historically, the death knell of all "third party" movements comes from an inability to make and maintain a connection to a mass base. In other words, the Reconstruction Party must sink deep roots into the working class if it is to become an effective political force.
This could possibly happen by linking up with another group of grassroots organizers, the new U.S. Labor Party.
The Labor Party's goal is for unions to break with the Democrats and create a national mass party of labor that can truly represent the interests of working Americans. This is a very ambitious aim, but if they were able to connect to organize labor, this would lay the basis for a viable third party to challenge the two-party system. The Reconstruction Party could flourish by merging into this movement.
This of course is optimistic speculation, but such developments are possible. All political parties rise and fall and there is no reason to assume that the Democrats and Republicans will last forever.
It is still unclear whether the Reconstruction movement will develop into a lasting political force, but the fact that it is emerging at all is symptomatic of a deep dissatisfaction with the two traditional parties in the Gulf Coast. Betrayed by both federal Republicans and local Democrats, some people in the region are trying to create an alternative that can genuinely represent working people's interests. Suber aptly describes the situation: "If we want real justice and equity, we'll have to do it ourselves. Certainly the Democrats and the Republicans make empty promises to the people."
Michael Cannon is a sophomore sociology major and can be reached at mrc3g@mtsu.edu.
Viewing Comments 1 - 4 of 5
David
posted 12/03/07 @ 10:24 AM CST
Minimum wage at $16.00/hr? How much will they have to pay for basic subsistance? I mean, milk would have to cost $10 a gallon...
Southern Leftist
posted 12/04/07 @ 9:54 AM CST
Ha, this is a joke. Suber garnered a couple hundred votes out of tens of thousands that were cast. He has no base and no connection to the masses. I have no loyalty to Democrats, but Suber would have been even worse. (Continued…)
rgj
posted 12/04/07 @ 11:53 AM CST
Want to help protect the Gulf Coast from hurricanes in the future?
Then don't build there. And don't expect my tax federal tax dollars to pay for FEMA to help rebuild your city because you have no common sense. (Continued…)
Jason
posted 12/06/07 @ 12:04 PM CST
It's one thing to deal with the normal shenanigans of Mother Nature; it's quite another to knowingly live below sea-level, in a delta, in one of the heaviest hurricane zones in existence. (Continued…)
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