A statement by Stewart A. Alexander, candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party's nomination for California Governor in 2010

In May 2009, the Los Angeles Times published an article entitled "Gay marriage a minefield for candidates for California governor;" however, Stewart Alexander, a candidate for California Governor, has taken a stand in the middle of that minefield and has thrust his campaign in the middle of the debate to achieve same-sex marriage rights.

In October, Stewart Alexander launched his campaign to become California's next governor calling for the legalization of same-sex marriages and the legalization of marijuana; these are two issues that most of the Republican candidates have consistently opposed and legalizing same-sex marriage has only been half heartedly embrace by some Democrats, to include California Attorney General Jerry Brown. The only two Democrats that championed same-sex marriage rights were San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; both candidates backed out from the governor's race near the middle of 2009.

The Republican front-runner, billionaire Meg Whitman, may be prepared to spend what ever amount of money to become California's next governor; however, it would be a disaster for LGBT rights. Meg Whitman has flip-flopped on most of the issues. Recently, Whitman stated that she favored maintaining the legality of the 18,000 married gay and lesbian couples in California; however, she remains opposed to same-sex couples having the right to marry.

The only viable Republican challenger to Whitman's campaign is California's Insurance Commissioner Steve Poizner. Like Meg Whitman, Steve Poizner is prepared to buy California votes; Poizner has already committed more than $15 million of his own funds toward his campaign. Stewart Alexander says "electing Poizner as governor would set back all the gains that lesbians and gays have achieved in the past 40 years."

Presently, in San Francisco there is a legal battle in federal court to determine whether same-sex marriages are protected by constitutional guaranties to protect minorities against the power of the majority to discriminate on the grounds of tradition and morality; it is expected the matter will eventually go all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Stewart Alexander is confident that Californians will be voting on the issue of same-sex marriage rights in November; however, Alexander says it is necessary to win the vote and to win the decision of the courts. Alexander was raised in the south and being an Afro-American, he says "denying the rights of minorities are usually based on discrimination". Still, with little or no money to finance a political campaign, Alexander is prepared to challenge a billionaire and the multi-millionaires in the California governor's race to defend the rights of minorities.

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A statement by Todd Vachon, 2008 Socialist candidate for US Congress from Connecticut's Second District.

Please take a moment to support this incredibly important measure in CT.

The CT General Assembly's Committee on Government Administration and Elections (GAE) is currently reviewing HB6436. This bill proposes to reduce the number of petition signatures required for minor parties to gain ballot access from 7,500 for President to 1,000 and from 2,500 for congress also to 1,000. Furthermore this bill will allow petitioning parties to turn in their signatures to the Secretary of State's office as opposed to the town clerks of 170 different townships.

Please, please, please, as a voter and believer in democracy submit a short statement supporting this bill!

You may email your statement to len.greene (at) cga (dot) ct (dot) gov. Label it as "statement in support of HB6436" and include your full name and home town at the bottom of your message.

Having more voices, more diversity and more options will enhance our democratic process and certainly open up public discourse in ways that have been continually shut out by the two major parties.

You may view my testimony which I gave today in support of this bill here.

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A statement by Stewart A. Alexander, candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party's nomination for California Governor in 2010

Within the past two years, Democrats in Washington DC have spent more than $1.5 trillion to help rescue the struggling U.S. economy out of the worst recession since the Great Depression; now, both Houses of Congress are fast-tracking a stimulus package for President Barack Obama that will likely cost the nation more than $1 trillion. Socialists nationwide are rejecting this new call for deficit spending and are calling for programs that will meet the short and long term needs of the nation and create immediate employment for the millions of working people that are unemployed or under-employed.

The massive spending proposals that are now in the Senate and House will cut taxes while offering limited benefits to veterans, seniors and colleges students; and the proposals will offer some relief for the millions that are now unemployed. Millions of seniors that are Social Security beneficiaries would receive a one time $300 payment under the Senate's version of the economic recovery plan. Veterans receiving disability or pension payments would also receive a one time cash bonus of $300.

In addition to the cash bonus, the Senate's stimulus plan would provide tax relief for individuals and couples. According to the Associated Press, individuals would receive "$500 per-worker, $1,000 per-couple tax cut for two years, costing about $142 billion." The plan would also include tax benefits for businesses to claim tax credits on past profits; the plan would also include tax credits totaling $31 billion to boost renewable energy production.

Other provisions in the stimulus plan would provide limited aid to the poor and unemployed. The Associated Press reports the Senate plan has "$40 billion to provide extended unemployment benefits through Dec. 31, increase them by $25 a week and provide them to part-time and other workers." Presently, unemployment nationwide has climbed above 7 percent and many economists believe unemployment may reach double digits before the end of 2009; in some regions of the U.S., unemployment is now above 15 percent. At a time when hundred of thousands are joining the ranks of the unemployed monthly, much more will be needed by Congress to put the nation back to work.

Within the past year, Congress approved a $168 billion stimulus package that failed to jump start the U.S. economy. That program provided more than 135 million Americans a one time payment of $300 to $600 to help boost the U.S. economy by energizing consumer spending; the program failed to produce any positive results while increasing the national debt. Also, within the past year, Congress has invested more than $1.5 trillion to help rescue wealthy billionaires, troubled banks and Wall Street.

During the final weeks of the Bush administration, Congress approved a massive $700 billion bank bailout that has failed to free up credit for the banks that were burdened with troubled assets. Just last week, Congress release the addition $350 billion of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout package, the Trouble Assets Relief Program (TARP), to the Obama administration. Now President Obama and Congress are preparing to take a gamble with $825 billion on another trial-and-error approach that will likely produce minimal results and will not create jobs for the millions of working people that are now unemployed.

With less than 10 days in office, President Barack Obama has indicated that his $825 billion economic stimulus package will energize the U.S. economy and create future jobs for more than three million Americans; socialists believe millions of jobs can be created by the end of 2010 by addressing the critical needs that are now being faced by working people everywhere. Addressing the health care needs of 49 million working people, that are now uninsured, and more than 120 million Americans that find health insurance unaffordable, is an item at the top of the socialist agenda. Socialists are calling for a single-payer health care system that will provide coverage for everyone; a system that will provide useful, long term employment for working people.

President Obama has introduced various programs that will possibly produce long term results for the capitalists ruling elite; however, these programs will not put food on the table for the millions of working people that are now unemployed or under-employed today. Those program include building and repairing bridges, increasing the production of alternative energy, modernizing federal buildings, computerizing medical recording within the next five years, and investing in science, research and technology.

Socialists believe the current "financial crisis" is not just a temporary setback or because of the lack of regulation in the financial sector; the collapse of the financial sector is indicative of the total failure of the capitalist economy. Socialist Party USA recently stated, "As socialist, we understand that there can no longer be any rational debate on the question of pursuing the "free market" as an alternative to the compelling urgency for a socialist transformation of society. The need of the largest capitalist firms to wipe out competition has already led to the centralization of economic power, but in the form of private ownership of an unaccountable ruling class of professional speculators, not of working people."

It is unlikely the proposed $825 billion stimulus package will have a measurable impact on a national recession that is moving like a category five hurricane. The U.S. recession is deeply related to the expanding global recession; it is likely the U.S. government would need to invest more than $10 trillion dollars into the economy to accomplish any measurable results. Even if such funding were available, socialists believe a socialist transformation of society is necessary; this will require radical demands on the existing system, demands that challenge the basic assumption of a capitalist market economy while pointing the way to a new society.

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A statement by Stewart A. Alexander, candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party's nomination for California Governor in 2010

It has been less than six years since Californians went to the polls to recall former California Governor Gray Davis, now Californians are faced with a budget crisis that is quickly going from bad to worse under the leadership of Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. With a ballooning California deficit and weak economy, Peace and Freedom Party and Stewart A. Alexander continues to call for more state funding for education and less funding for California prisons.

The Associated Press reports that "The governor asked the Legislature to cut $400 million from schools immediately and take away $4.4 billion beginning in July." Further more, the AP reports "Schwarzenegger also asked for the early release of more than 22,000 state prison inmates over the next two years." Sacramento Democrats have called for deeper cuts in education along with regressive measures that will hit low-income and working families the hardest.

Alexander and the Peace and Freedom Party are rejecting the proposals of the Democrats and Governor Schwarzenegger to cut funding for education and are calling for much deeper cuts in prison funding. While running as a candidate for California lieutenant governor in 2006, Alexander proposed a prison population reduction of 50,000 non-violent inmates to ease the over crowded prison system. Alexander says "The governor's proposal to release 22,000 inmates does not go far enough; greater cuts in prison funding are necessary and it will help avoid making unnecessary cuts in education."

Due to the California budget crisis, that is projected to swell to $41.6 billion by 2010, education will take big hits from kindergarten through university level. Wednesday of this week, the University of California Board of Regents voted to cut freshman enrollment this fall by 6 percent and will immediately freeze the pay of top administrators. School districts statewide will be making cut-backs, laying off teachers and staff members to cut cost.

Alexander says, "Governor Schwarzenegger and Sacramento Democrats should not punish our children due to their poor leadership as public administrators." Peace and Freedom Party and Alexander support free education from kindergarten through university level.

On March 16, 2009, thousands of students will gather in Sacramento at the Capitol Building for a march and rally to protest the budget cuts to education and cuts to community colleges. Stewart Alexander is encouraging students to join the march and rally to keep the community colleges open. For more information regarding the time, location and date for the Mass Community College March/Rally in Sacramento, call (415) 585-2121.

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A statement by Stewart A. Alexander, candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party's nomination for California Governor in 2010

As the State of California continues to slide deeper into the worst budget crisis in the state's history, Peace and Freedom Party and Stewart A. Alexander launched an attack on Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's budget proposal; Stewart Alexander says, "It will benefit the rich and tax the poor."

Mr. Kevin Akin, Chairperson for Peace and Freedom Party, says Governor Schwarzenegger's tax proposal is a "savage attack on working people." Instead, the Peace and Freedom Party has urged an "emergency 5 percent tax on California's richest one percent to help resolve the state's budget crisis."

Stewart Alexander says the "governor's tax proposal continues to demonstrate that the governor lacks the ability to lead the State of California." While running as a candidate for California lieutenant governor in 2006, Alexander repeatedly criticized Schwarzenegger on California budget issues. Alexander says, "California's economy has experienced major set-backs under Schwarzenegger's leadership."

Governor Schwarzenegger's budget proposal will seek to close California's $41 billion budget deficit by raising taxes on consumer services, a shorter school year, reducing the dependent care exemption on state income tax returns, a $12 billion hike on vehicle registration and a sales tax increase.

Kevin Akin says, "The sales tax is a regressive tax that falls far more heavily on working people and the poor. Together with the governor's proposal to reduce the per-child income tax exemption by a brutal two-thirds, this would result in the worst shift from progressive to regressive taxation in California's history."

Alexander emphasize that Schwarzenegger should focus on putting Californians back to work rather than taxing what little income that is earned by most working people. Alexander has proposed creating jobs in the building and construction industry by restoring and repairing millions of California homes and creating jobs by bringing automobile manufacturing to California.

To address California's immediate budget woes, Alexander says Schwarzenegger should take the advice of the Peace and Freedom Party. This week, Kevin Akin summarized the budget-related proposals of Peace and Freedom Party as follows:

• Raise income taxes on the most prosperous five percent of taxpayers -- the highest rates on those making the most.


• Lower sales taxes, and aim for their elimination.


• End property taxes on modest owner-occupied homes, take the cap off property taxes on corporations.


• Enact an emergency five percent capital tax on the richest one percent of Californians.


• Ban the wastefully expensive contracting-out of state, country and city jobs.


• Release non-violent drug offenders and others servicing excessive sentences; transfer 25 percent of prison funds to education.


• Enact a universal single-payer health care for better care at less cost.


• Eliminate the undemocratic 2/3 vote requirement for budget and finance decisions by the Legislature.


• End the stranglehold of the big-money Democratic and Republican parties by enacting proportional representation in the Legislature, giving a voice to all points of view in Sacramento.

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(Stewart Alexander was the Socialist Party's candidate for Vice-President of the United States in 2008.)

During the 2006 California Election, Stewart A. Alexander was a candidate for California lieutenant governor; Alexander was on the statewide ballot representing the Peace and Freedom Party. During the 2008 General Election, Stewart Alexander was the U.S. vice presidential candidate for Socialist Party USA. Now, as the State of California continues to reel in a deepening financial crisis, Alexander believes he is the right person to be the next California governor.

Stewart Alexander is making his announcement to run for governor at a time when California has a critical budget crisis that may balloon to a $41 billion deficit by 2010. Alexander says most of California’s financial woes have less to do with the national recession, "California has a leadership problem."

Alexander admits that fundamental changes must occur on a national level to ease the financial burden that is mounting on local and state governments; "the occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, and advancing U.S. imperialism is costing lives and creating financial hardships on millions of working people in all 50 states to include California."

As a candidate for California governor, Alexander’s campaign will focus on creating jobs, establishing affordable health care, and providing free education through university level. First, Alexander believes it is necessary for California to establish a single payer health care system to insure that the health care needs of all are protected.

Alexander has introduces several plans that are designs to bring hundreds of thousands of good paying jobs to California. A strong advocate for mass transportation and fuel efficient vehicles, Alexander wants to bring automobile manufacturing back to California building electric cars. Must recently, Alexander introduced a plan that would create good paying jobs in the building and construction industry providing low interest government loans for home improvements.

Alexander says his bid to be the next California governor is a grassroots effort; "It is a campaign that is about change. The entire U.S. economy needs a fundamental transformation, focusing on production for the needs of the many, not the profits for the greedy few."

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A Statement by Stewart A. Alexander, Socialist Party Vice-Presidential Candidate

It has been two weeks since a majority of Americans went to the polls to cast their votes electing Barack Obama to be the next President of the United States. However, socialists nationwide are not joining the celebrations; socialists believe Obama's victory is only a win for the capitalist ruling class and a setback for working class people.

Beyond the tidal wave of liberal Obama fanfare that has engulf much of the nation, Obama's election only represents a changing of the guard to usher in a new administrator for the capitalist ruling elite. As a result of his election Barack Obama is now beholden to big business and the corporate contributors that paid his way to victory.

Matt Erard, with Socialist Party USA, notes that Barack Obama's electoral victory "was established with the largest intake of corporate contributions ever received by any candidate in world history, within the framework of a corporate two-party system established to ensure that the only truly determinative option voters have, at best, is choosing which functionary of the ruling class they wish to represent them." It is important to note that the capitalist elite invested more than $600 million toward Obama's victory and billions more on television, radio, and print media.

Now, only days after the election, President-elect Obama is moving within the old Washington establishment to carve his pathway as president; recruiting his team of leaders and advisors from the Clinton and Bush administrations. His choices are already offering a glimpse into the future of his presidency.

Socialists, throughout the U.S. and the world, have been strongly opposed to the occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan; an occupation that has resulted in over 4,800 U.S. casualties and more than 1.2 million deaths in these two war torn nations. Barack Obama has already made clear that it is his desire to keep Robert Gates as Defense Secretary in his administration. Obama has offered no indication that he will take any positions to end the U.S. involvement in Iraq or Afghanistan; to the contrary, Obama has taken the position to protect the interest of the capitalist ruling class which will push U.S. militarism to greater limits in the Middle East and throughout Western Europe.

Socialists are also opposing the bailouts of big corporations that are now threatening a national and global financial meltdown. These bailouts have been designed by the capitalist ruling class, using public funds to protect the profits and interest of Wall Street and the billionaires of the world. Barack Obama has supported the bailouts of the Bush administration and has indicated that he will support another stimulus package that is now being urged by President Bush.

In early 2008, President Bush backed a $168 billion stimulus package that was an economic disaster; these public funds offered no relief to the millions of U.S. families that are now struggling to keep their homes, to keep food on the table and to pay their bills. Now the $700 billion economic bailout, that was also backed by Obama and rushed through Congress, is already being question by many of the nation's top economic analyst, with serious doubts whether the funds will ease the current economic crisis.

It is likely the Obama presidency will be a continuation of the present Bush White House; expanding U.S. imperialism and more repression for working people. It is also likely that working people will experience the greatest economic downturn this nation has experienced within the past 100 years and the world will witness the rebirth of the Cold War.

Barack Obama has offered no indications that he is prepared to make any major shifts from the present Bush White House; Obama is only a new face for the oppressors of the working class.

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A Statement by Stewart A. Alexander, Socialist Party Vice-Presidential Candidate

Hello Comrades,

Again, I want to congratulate Brain Moore for the tremendous effort that he put into the Moore/Alexander campaign; it was truly an historic event. I also want to thank all the members within the Socialist Party USA for their faith, determination and contributions that made our efforts so historic.

I also want to thank Matt Erard, Maggie Phair, Steve Tash, Susan Dorazio, Norma Harrison, John Reiger, Muffy Sunde, my mother Ann Alexander, my wife Vicki Alexander, Darcy Richardson, C.T. Weber, Steve Zeltzer, David McReynolds and Walter Brown who believed in me and helped me through some difficult periods in this campaign.

This campaign was very inspiring to me and I believe the campaign has inspired the socialist movement here in the United States. The need for our work is greater than ever as the nation and world is now witnessing the desperate attempts of the capitalists to rescue capitalism. The only hope for the working class has already been outlined in the Platform of Socialist Party USA.

We must not wait another two years to begin re-organizing for all that is ahead for the working class in the 21st Century; we must begin today. I will contribute to the efforts to help build the Social Party USA here on the west coast. We must continue to use the media to make sure our message is reaching the millions that are searching for real solutions and social change during these difficult times.

We have a difficult mission ahead of us within the next four years; the nation is already in a severe recession and a global depression is eminent. I believe our time has come. I place no hope in President Elect Barack Obama or the methods of the capitalists; I only believe in socialism.

I will be proud to move forward on the road that is before us in the company of all my new comrades in the Socialist Party USA and working with such an outstanding organization. I am also looking forward to assisting in the efforts to build the party and expanding our mission from coast to coast.

Comradely,
Stewart A. Alexander

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We didn't win, however, as most of you know I didn't get in this to win. I decided to run to get my (our) message across. We ran a campaign with $600.00 and received 94,696 votes, I would say we did a great job. So I would like to say thank you to everyone keep fighting for what you think is right. That is how Michigan and America will get better. Its not politics that change the world its people that care enough to fight against what they think is wrong. 94,696 voters think what we do and that isn't to bad and should be enough to give us hope.

In Solidarity,

Dwain C. Reynolds III

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A statement by Todd Vachon, Socialist Party candidate for US Congress from Connecticut's Second District (link)

If you enjoy your freedom, thank a protester; thank a dissident, because dissent protects democracy. Be it a stingy two-party democracy, it is still better than a really stingy one party totalitarian state. False patriotism, flag waiving and unquestioningly supporting your government is not defending freedom, it's opening doors for fascist minded folks to eliminate our freedoms right from under our collective nose.

The extreme right has been drumming up all sorts of McCarthy era attacks in the past weeks including cries of "unAmerican activity" and "anti-American" and "socialist."

I find it rather odd that these same folks who don't miss a beat to run the rhetorical bits about "The Land of the Free" and "Defending Freedom" are the very same folks who would attack and limit our freedoms.

America was founded on the notion of freedom from persecution. How can someone who claims to defend freedom propose to limit it for certain groups of citizens. The real unAmerican activity is the work of those who would eliminate a women's freedom to control her own reproductive health, those who would discriminate and deny a couple the right to get married because of sexual orientation.

Puritans and Protestants, and later immigrants from all walks of life fled their home lands to come to America to seek freedom. Should women, LGBT folks, people of color and other minority groups make an exodus? There is nowhere else left to go, no more "uncharted land." This is what we have folks and who we are. We'll just have to start getting along and excepting each other for who we are. Period.

And one more bit, Obama is no socialist. He is a fervent supporter of Free Market ideas that exploit the many in order to enrich the few. Just look at his advisers and likely future cabinet...we're talking University of Chicago Economics. There are many socialist political parties in this country and none of them are backing Obama for President. In fact, The Socialist Party, USA has it's own candidate; Brian Moore, who is an eligible write-in candidate in CT. The PSL has Gloria LaRiva and The Peace and Freedom Party of CA have chosen Nader.

Just some food for thought from a Monday morning ranting socialist. :)

Peace,
Todd

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I urge all of our Socialist Party members to get out and vote, early, if possible, to avoid any problems on election day.

Voting on principle, instead of for power, is our all-important obligation, and that principle is for a radical systemic change in our economic system.

Send a message, loud and clear, that you are not happy with the status quo, nor with our present destructive capitalistic economic system, and that the two mainstream political parties are not offering any choices for the American people.

Your voice is important, especially in showing that alternative radical ideas and the socialistic economic system, which favor workers and average citizens, and promotes real democracy, have to take precedence now more than ever.

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The 2008 General Election is only days away and millions of voters will have two choices to make: capitalism or socialism, and the voters' choice for leadership will determine the destiny of the U.S. and world economy well beyond the next term of the U.S. president.

The capitalists have two candidates with one agenda: to protect the profits and the wealth of the super rich. To the contrary, Socialist Party USA and Brian Moore stand for a fundamental transformation of the U.S. and world economy, focusing on production for need not profit. Brian Moore's campaign is not about reforming the process, "the Moore campaign is about changing the process".

The economic changes that are being offered by the Moore/Alexander campaign are much broader than the New Deal that was introduced during the Roosevelt administration. Socialists believe only a global transformation from capitalism to democratic socialism will provide the conditions for international peace, justice, and economic cooperation based on the large-scale transfer of resources and technology from the developed to the developing countries.

I am asking working people everywhere to vote for Brian Moore for president and Stewart A. Alexander for vice president and not to compromise your vote due to popular opinions or opinion polls. Much more is at stake than just the economy: our freedoms and our security as a nation.

Every 75 years the capitalists ruling class devise an economic crisis which is always followed by a conflict between nations or a major war. We must end this cycle and support socialism and socialist candidates.

In the upcoming General Election, "Get Out and Vote" for a new pathway for working people: vote for Brian Moore for President and Stewart A. Alexander for Vice President.

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A statement by Mary Alice Herbert, Socialist Party Vice-Presidential Candidate

As socialists, we should not be drawn into supporting any aspect of the war on drugs--especially any attempt to further militarize our borders. A heightened military or police presence increases racial profiling and intimidation and does little to prevent the flow of drugs. Our prisons reflect the racism of our legal system because, while 85% of drug offenders are white and 15% people of color, 15% of those imprisoned on drug charges are white and 85% are people of color.

This is not really a war on drugs but a war on people. If decreasing drug use in the U S were really the goal, why aren't prevention and rehabilitation programs sufficiently funded? Why isn't addiction treated as a medical problem instead of a crime? Our socialist goals of eliminating poverty and creating meaningful work and space in society for everyone would be the most effective way to eliminate drug use. The need many in capitalist society feel for an escape from the grind of life and the lure of money fuel the drug economy.

It's clear that this "war" has supplied our burgeoning "Prison Industrial Complex" with it's preferred prison population--non-violent drug offenders, who increasingly fill cells and are relatively easy to manage. It has done more to beef up funding of local police departments willing to add drug-inforcement units than it has to stop the flow of drugs into our communities. It is a profitable business that's going on. One explanation for this is that capitalism benefits from having an illegal product of some sort. (In medieval Europe it was coffee.)

Money from illegal drugs can't be traced and gets into the larger economy. It's useful for carrying out covert operations. It has become public knowledge that the contra war in Nicaragua was carried on, against the will of Congress, by drug sales. The small planes that flew weapons to Central America came back filled with drugs. which made their way into our inner cities. There is solid evidence that CIA involvement against the Russians in Afganistan was financed by heroin produced from the poppies harvested there. (Now that the Taliban has been defeated, the poppies are growing again.)

The SP-USA calls for decriminalizing marijuana and this is certainly a good first step in mitigating the abuse of people that characterizes the "War on Drugs". I believe we should consider going further and decriminalize all drug use. The sale of drugs should be "socialized". By that I mean that only the government would sell them--at cost. This would take the profit out of drug sales and discourage any kind of illegal activity. An open and humane policy like this would fit well in the economic democracy we seek to establish through democratic socialism.

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A statement by Mary Alice Herbert, Socialist Party Vice-Presidential Candidate

One of the goals of the Socialist Party-USA is providing free high quality public education from pre-school through college. We understand that it takes well-educated citizens to carry on the participatory democracy from below that we advocate. The Bush administration's top-down mandates for local schools, with their reliance on standardized tests are in opposition to the democratic student-centered classrooms we envision. No funds are allocated for school repairs or new construction, for adding teachers so that class sizes can be reduced, or, perhaps most importantly of all, to reduce or eliminate poverty.

We must seriously oppose the cruelly misnamed "No Child Left Behind" initiative, otherwise known as the Elementary and Secondary Education Act. The stated goals are that every student will make "Adequate Yearly Progress". For the students this involves yearly standardized testing and for the participating schools must show progress in 39 different areas. One of these is a low to zero dropout rate. The model for this national plan is the education system of Texas implemented there while Bush was governor.

In August, 2003, education columnist for The New York Times, Michael Winerip wrote about Houston's "Zero Dropout" Miracle achieved during the tenure of School Superindent Rod Paige, who is now U S Secretary of Education. Dr Robert Kimball, an assistant principal at a poor minority high school in Houston, wondered how it was that, although his school's graduating class had dwindled from 1,000 freshmen to 300 seniors, it had no dropouts to report. The same was true of other schools around the city and was accomplished by ignoring data and falsifying records. Schools also counseled students to change to vocational schools and work programs if they felt they would fail to show the mandated adequate yearly progress on the NCLB tests. By encouraging these transfers and quietly letting dropouts happen, schools made sure they had a population that could do well on the tests. Principals who went along got a bonus at the end of the school year and those who didn't were fired. While superintendent, Paige got rid of tenure for principals and made them sign one-year contracts that allowed dismissal "without cause" and without a hearing.

The one-size fits-all testing requirements and the punitive accountability provisions that go along with them are sure to promote bad educational practices. Teachers will feel compelled to teach to the test rather than to individual students. The emphasis on the core "tested" subjects (reading, math and science) will lead to devaluing further the non-tested ones like social studies, music and art. The hostility of the Bush Administration to public education is apparent because these unreasonable and under-funded provisions will create hosts of "failing" schools from which parents will want to remove their children. Under the law, the local school district must fund vouchers for these transfers. This is a ploy to create a demand for alternative placements and to transfer public funds to profit-making private school corporations. It's also a way to weaken teacher's unions.

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A statement by Mary Alice Herbert, Socialist Party Vice-Presidential Candidate

As a feminist and a socialist, I regard government regulation of women's reproductive lives as a last stand of the male chauvinism inherent in the corporate capitalist system we live under. The idea that women can not be trusted with these decisions would have no place in a democratic socialist society. Gender equity won't be achieved until women have control over their own bodies and the societal support they need for the choices they make.

We feminists are not "pro-abortion", but when women are denied information, access to birth control or are the victims of male violence, we believe they have the right to end an unwanted pregnancy.

Before Roe v Wade became law, only affluent women were able to find safe abortions when they needed them. Poor women were often killed or maimed by those they could afford. Now, this right is under attack by conservatives in congress who would like to see it repealed. This group has passed a ban on the so-called partial-birth abortion and refused to allow pharmacies to sell emergency contraception (the morning after pill) in the U S.

This desire to prohibit abortion is more about the control of women's place in the economy than about the stated goals of protecting unborn children. If caring about unborn children is paramount, why is this same group content to allow nearly a quarter of our nation's already living children to poverty? Why are their mothers expected to leave them and work for subsistence wages?

The Socialist Party-USA must must fight any efforts to roll back women's rights to reproductive freedom!

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