Were supposed to be setting up the means by which all the good things you guys want done yesterday can get done. We are not the program. We are putting together the mechanism to give the program a chance to be fleshed out and to work.

Most of my comments have been expressed more fully in email messages and they should be considered when reviewing this subject.

I feel I need to understand more about a platform. I hear of the planks in a platform, the extension of a metaphor. In light of this I am in favor of each one of us submitting planks for a platform. For example for Environmental Issues I would like to re-propose my previous statement. The reason for this (and it may need work because the language may need to be more precise) is that it becomes a core principle. For example under the idea of an ecology of politics that stands on a respect for all living beings there is little room for selling pollution credits, which I think is a bad policy. However some people might not like my idea because Windmills would not have a priority over killing hawks since all living beings have an equal standing. Therefore something would have to be invented to keep hawks away from windmill blades. Likewise my statement is designed to be an ecological principle that is fully supportive of equal rights for women and men of all races and creeds yet it does not support religions that have exploitive value systems and instead challenges them to become good citizens of the ecosystem. On todays topic, reproductive rights, I intend that the statement will emphasize the right to choice since it does not recognize the right of one creed or species to dictate choices to any other — here in particular I am opening my statement up to comment since "respect for all living beings" is a phrase that is sometimes loaded by the far right, but I like it and want to claim it for our own in and of itself. Also I do not accept the re-definition of life's beginning that the far right is recreating. The same question has to be answered for the food chain in an ecological argument, which seems to be answered by many traditional hunter gatherer societies by respect and acknowledgement of debt. "Never taking more than you need." In the long run good family planning resources, and emergency birth control are the more sound ecological principles. In fact they are very rational, responsible solutions, demonstrating that the politics of the far right, whatever they claim, is not the politics of responsibility.

Dan

I reread my last comment and it seemed a bit harsh I apologize, I didn't mean to be- such is the problem with email. Maybe we're defining platform differently but somehow, maybe under some other heading, we need to hammer out what exactly are our values.


How do you define someone as a progressive candidate?
What issues should trigger a group response either through the email network, newsletter or some other mechanisim?

Dean brought a bunch of pretty disparate people together. We need to discuss our values to make sure that we all we're all on the same page. Here's a partial list (not as elegantly worded as Nancy's) of some values:

Protection of:
1) Our environment
2) Women's reproductive rights
3) Funding for public education
4) Civil liberties
5) Worker's rights and wages


I think we may want to create an issue list and then poll people about those issues they feel most passionately about, supportive and indifferent.

What I see here is more of How we intend to promote our platform.. Not what our platform is We seem to be pretty big on the HOW but not the WHAT.

We need to hammer out what exactly we stand for:

Yes, we want to promote progressive candidates etc, harness the internet etc.. but to promote what? Support whom?

What are our values?

This sounds right to me. I don't know if it needs a separate line but I am interested in the following:

Promote an ecology of politics and social relations that is based on an ecology of being, which begins with a respect for all living beings.

obviously late at night. skipped some numbers but that must mean there is room for more thoughts on the subject :-)

Let's have at it folks!

peace and blessings,
nancy