Ralph Nader Wins Peace & Freedom Presidential Nomination at Convention in Sacramento

Peace and Freedom finally did something right this time. Although a reformist, Nader will bring some badly needed spotlight (and new voters) to the party. Not to mention the heat it will bring on the Democrats and their Manchurian Candidate.

Congrats, P & F members, for getting wiser.

As much as this writer prefers socialist candidates, Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez will cause P&F to expand not only in California but also in other states which have not normally been known as bastions of radicalism (although they have been n different historical times), such as Mississippi with its large black vote and Utah, with its workingclass coal miner vote and its large Latino workingclass. It is very clear that since 1996, Peace & Freedom party's vote has been split with the Greens, with the Greens growing stronger, which means we do not have much socialist, labor consciousness in this state. Both Ralph and Matt certainly know the labor issues and are able to articulate all other issues very well, with lots of press coverage. We now have 2 strong candidates for president from the left: Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney. One more "oil drilling in the Pacific Coast California earthquake zone is OK" from Obama, and there will be many more to come, should make these two parties combined a formidable challenge to the Democrat-Republicans. Let's see, we already have from Chiacgo's Democratic party election fraud machine, namely Barack Obama, that he supports the death penalty, supports the US military base called Israel, supports bombing Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan, supports continued occupation of Iraq, supports insurance companies instead of a national publicly funded healthcare system as exists in the rest of the industrialized world, and now the latest, supports offshore oil drilling in the California earthquake zone. In case anybody has not figured out this campaign, McCain's election fraud campaign is in full swing, having been set up to go on time in 2000 and 2004. The McCain-Obama campaign is a complete farce and simply a money machine to make the rich richer. And now that Obama has dumped war criminal Hilary Clinton, he has lost a lot of the female vote, which he does not seem to care about at all as he supports the Supreme Court's reactionary decision criminalizing late term abortions. He claims to oppose the Court’s decision but also claims he opposes the “mental distress” exception for late term abortions. Peace & Freedom Party advertises as a feminist party, and women are 51% of the population. Please read all about it at:
http://peaceandfreedom.org/home/
The introduction to the platform at:
http://peaceandfreedom.org/home/index.php/about-us/platform
states:
"The Peace and Freedom Party, founded in 1967, is committed to socialism, democracy, ecology, feminism and racial equality. We represent the working class, those without capital in a capitalist society. We organize toward a world where cooperation replaces competition, a world where all people are well fed, clothed and housed; where all women and men have equal status; where all individuals may freely endeavor to fulfill their own talents and desires; a world of freedom and peace where every community retains its cultural integrity and lives with all others in harmony. "
RALPH AND MATT: WE EXPECT 1 MILLION VOTES FOR PEACE & FREEDOM PARTY IN 2008! LET'S ROCK AND ROLL!

Thank You P&F!
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27 delegates voted for La Riva, 10 for Brian Moore, 6 for McKinney, and 46 for Nader. There was a bit of a controversity about a headline in today's Sacramento Bee which incorrectly stated that ''Nader takes swipe at Socialism ''. La Riva's party said that this time the corporate press had got it right., that Nader was ''anti-communist and anti-socialist ''. Nader disputed that , sending a letter to the paper stating that he respected both the Socialist character of the Peace and Freedom party and the several Socialist tendencies within it .
The convention also passed a resolution that the party was and continued to be a Socialist organization . It passed with only one dissenting vote .

The Sacramento Bee's online article of 8/3/08 may be found at:
http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/1128741.html

These delegates heard Ralph Nader criticize "socialism as anti-human rights and a sin akin to the corporatism that he deplores. That drew hoots from some [why not all?] in the ballroom where tables were stacked with posters and stickers echoing frustrated cries of the political left."

Then these delegates turn around and vote for the socialist P&F platform and vote for Ralph Nader. Clearly, we are dealing with just another reformist group who have no concept of socialism.

Ralph Nader is 74 years old. We are about to see another 70-something put himself in office with election fraud. War Criminal John McCain states that he is dizzy when he stands up. We appreciate Nader's whistleblowing but he should be retired.

There is another stench we are seeing in too many campaigns: No women on the ticket. The Democrats are certainly going to feel the effects of their obvious contempt for women.

Hopefully, Glora La Riva will run for governor in 2010. Also, hopefully, her organization will be much bigger by then and perhaps can be on the ballot by itself. We do not need 2 reformist parties: P&F and the Green Party.

The Green's Cynthia McKinney-Rita Moreno ticket is looking better by the minute. After all, it is just a protest vote and P&F did not nominate socialists.

The Sac Bee got it wrong, VERY wrong ! Nader never said that Socialism was opposed to human rights .( Since when do we accept our political analysis /interperation from such a corporate paper ? )
It's true that Nader isn't a soclalist. That is , to me, strange that a man that is so intimately aware of the daily crimes of capitalism is hesitant to outright reject it. But he's hardly alone . The late, in some ways Great, Molly Ivins once demanded and got a retraction from Fox's Bill O'Reilly when he labeled her a socialist . She stated that she was for ''democractic capitalism ''. (Talk about utopian ideas ! )
But all that being said Nader has a long track record of working well with activists to the left of him (Like the I.S.O. ) and his and Gonzalez's program , while incomplete, is completely supportable .
They have also pledged to support all PF candidates for other offices. So that when Nader or Gonzalez is speaking to a crowd of a 1000 plus in Berkeley , candidates like Marsha Feinland , who is running for State Senate in Dist. 9 , can l be on the stage with them .
That's of tremendous importance for a small, struggling party like PF.

It was Gloria LaRiva who confirmed Ralph Nader's anti-communism as stated above. He is typical of most Americans who criticize the system. He has all the right criticisms but no solutions. THE ONLY REASON TO VOTE FOR A PEACE & FREEDOM PARTY CANDIDATE IS THAT THAT PERSON IS A SOCIALIST. Ralph Nader is not a socialist.

Ralph Nader is an outsider to Peace & Freedom Party. Gloria LaRiva is a long time member. She is also a woman and Latina; her running mate, Eugene Puryear, is African American. Both are workingclass organizers. In case any man is unaware, all women look at all political tickets, all organizations, all crowds, all symphony orchestras and the like and ask: ARE WOMEN 50%? In the US, women are about 23% of the elected officials, including 16% of the US Senate and 16% of the US Congress. This is pathetic and insulting. Of course the reason is because the Democrat-Republicans are not workingclass parties. Promoting a token woman while featuring an ancient male relic is insulting, which is the very old and despicable game Peace & Freedom is playing.

Since P&F does not have a socialist candidate for president, there is no reason to vote for P&F's presidential candidate. Women have lots of reasons to vote for Cynthia McKinney. She is both the female and workingclass answer to the reactionary Democrat Barack Obama, who is being run to destroy the Left, the only reason the Democratic Party exists.

If the above "thinking" is what compelled people to kick Gloria LaRiva in the face, we do not need Peace & Freedom Party as its members are not socialist. THE ONLY REASON TO VOTE PEACE & FREEDOM IS TO VOTE FOR SOCIALIST CANDIDATES.

DO NOT EVER KICK ANY WOMAN IN THE FACE. SHAME ON THE GROUP THINK AT PEACE & FREEDOM PARTY. I really thought Gloria would win the nomination; I thought this Nader business was some kind of sick joke. Now I know, Peace & Freedom party members are not socialist and are very anti-women. I can hardly wait to vote for Cynthia McKinney.

i hate to break the news to the author of '' I believe Gloria La Riva '' but Nader isn't the only one that doesn't identify himself as a Socialist . Neither does McKinney or Cindy Sheehan.
As for the accuracy of the Sacramento Bee's account, all of the speeches were taped . Check it out yourself .

Eugene Puryear is (or recently was ) a student organizer at the most prestigious Historic Black College , Howard University . i do not know what sort of class background he is from. But to say he is a ''working class organizer'' as if he's a Union carpenter or something is misleading .
He may very well be from and of the small , but growing , Black Middle class professional strata (as are most Howard students ) This isn't a put down in any way . If that is the case he's to be commended for forsaking a affulent professional career to chose to be part of the Marxist left.
But accuracy please .

I will be joining Peace and Freedom party . Ralph Nader and Matt Gonzalez are far more crediable candidates for the Left than Cythinia McKinney and Rosa Clemente .of the Greens .
I would never vote for Gloria La Riva . Not because i'm opposed to Socialism . I am very much for it .
My uncle and Aunt belonged to the Dominican Communist party and suffered a lot for their beliefs .
But they learned from the very bad example of the Soviets that socialism has to be democratic to order to survive . i don't think that the Party for Liberation has learned that lesson .

Nader explained carefully how to support people's assurance that we all can build the programs that care for us all - the programs meant to show how to build socialist struggle.
His inductive examinations are profound, recognizing people's sense of disempowerment and the way to let us move toward understanding our power and the direction, thereby, in which we need to go.
Gonzalez contributed well to San Francisco in his elected position, there. He did catch himself up in working for the step by step program without speaking out for the totality necessary to building socialism.
I don't expect there to be any loud call by these people for our program, except their acceptance of, if not their affirmative pronouncement of their agreement with our platform, a delightful study.
I hope more and more people will read it so to gain the perspective of how to go towards socialism and why to say it.

There was no dissenting vote, only a non- or abstaining vote re our support of us being a socialist party.
No LaRiva party or person said of Nader-Gonzalez that they were anti-communist or anti-socialist.
Nader did not speak in any way against socialism. Even the wild-eyed Camejo's comments calling stalinism and too much requirement to SAY socialism did not speak against socialism or communism.
Fun, yeah, making up your news....?
...nothing 'reforminst' about P&FP or me, a born again communist, fundamentalist marxist, well located in P&FP.

The statement in the Sacramento Bee article claiming that Nader attacked socialism is simply fiction. I was listening carefully, and he did not say that or anything with a similar meaning. I can understand bitter opponents claiming he did, but that is based on wishful thinking rather than a review of the tapes, for sure.
Nader rejects all of the "ist" labels people try to apply to him, including "socialist," and has never joined a party. (Personally, I am an enthusiastic socialist, and a life-long member of the Peace and Freedom Party.) I happened to vote for someone else on what we all thought of as the first ballot, which turned out to be the only ballot as Nader got a majority. Quite a number of others were willing to vote for him on a later ballot, had there been one, so his support is deeper than it might seem. As the new State Chair I am now recruiting the 55 candidates for Presidential Elector pledged to Nader-Gonzalez, and some of those who voted for all four candidates, including La Riva, have volunteered.
I am a bit amazed by some who claim that we have turned aside from socialism (we haven't) and that they will therefore vote for Cynthia McKinney. She is a wonderful person, but she also rejects being labeled as a socialist. And her party's platform is definitely not socialist, unlike that of the Peace and Freedom Party. Sadly, many of the key members of the Green Party in California have decided to support a candidate who has proclaimed his desire to send more troops to Afghanistan, who has said offshore drilling is part of an acceptable compromise on energy, who endorses the death penalty, and so on. We can hope that the Green Party comes out of this campaign without some of its worst opportunist misleaders, but it is certainly not socialist.
The Peace and Freedom Party, as a matter of policy, has refrained from any attempt to recruit members of the Green Party, but many of them are spontaneously re-registering in our party, and some have become county chairs and other responsible officials of the Peace and Freedom Party already.
The Peace and Freedom Party has been working for months on a national organizing effort that has resulted in many contacts around the country, and recruitment of members in many states. With the Nader-Gonzalez nomination, this effort is accelerating. We expect to be on the ballot as the Peace and Freedom Party in at least three states this year, and probably at least ten in 2010. We are interested in having talks and forming alliances with activists in every state. Those interested can reach us through our website.
I don't know the details about the videotapes that were being made at the Peace and Freedom convention, but I suspect that most of them will end up on the internet. As they become available, check them out. Very inspiring!

Who is Kevin Akin or Marsha Feinland ? Someone told me that he is a city council member in Bakersfield and she was on some board in Albany . But the general public , even the progressive sector outside of their home areas , have never heard of them . Gloria La Riva is a liitle better known but not by much .
That's one of the major reasons a small progressive party should run someone that, love'em or hate 'em , everyone knows . Like Ralph Nader. i know that for super idealists that might sound like a sellout but too bad .

In the primary election Ralph Nader only received 41 % of the vote while 59% voted for other candidates. It was not a majority but it was a plurality. So, how did he get to the 51% he needed. It's simple, He decided, after studing the platform of Peace and Freedom Party, that he wanted our nomination and his folks pulled out all of the stops. They looked for delegates who supported Nader and got them elected, a little over 40% of the 101 members elected. Then, they went to work and recruited some members to support them. It still looked like they would fall short. As it turned out, a few delegates did not make it to Sacramento, a Moore supporter was out of the room, a possible La Riva supporter came the next day, and three just did not vote. If only two of those had voted it would have gone to a second round of voting. The first round victory surprised most of the delegates, including Nader and his supporters. The delegates were actually elected to serve for two years on the state central committee.

By the way Kevin Akin lives in Riverside, California. Marsha Feinland lives in Berkeley, and the Board she was elected to and had served on is the Berkeley Rent Control Board.