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Cynthia McKinney on Principles & ValuesGreen Party nominee for President (Former Rep., D, GA-4) |
McKinney served six terms as a US House member as a Democrat. But this is the first time Clemente is running for office. “She just called me out of the blue,” Clemente said of McKinney’s asking her to be her vice-presidential running mate. “It wasn’t a big leap for me.”
Clemente is a community organizer, freelance journalist and a self-described hip-hop activist. In the latter position, Clemente said she helps politically organize members of the hip-hop generation, blacks and Latinos born after 1969. Clemente said she joined the Green Party in 2000 because “a two-party system isn’ fundamentally democratic.”
As for her expectations for the presidential race, Clemente said, “I would be happy if we got 5%. I also want to bring young dissatisfied voters to the political process. I’m excited about building a movement of young people.
We have a winner-take-all system in the U.S. that pushes conformity. Regressive ballot access laws in Georgia [and other states] prevent candidates from getting on the ballot. The Green Party is a political entity that deserves to be built.
A: I’ve learned that there is a community of people who have found that life is possible outside of the two-party paradigm. That has sometimes meant that they would withdraw from the electoral process altogether. We have a whole huge swath of the potential electorate who don’t even vote at all.
Some have said that 9/11-Truth is a tipping point for them. The failure of the Democratic Party to support impeachment, which is really the ultimate form of accountability in our system, is a tipping point for some. Hurricane Katrina was a tipping point for others.
And so, what we now want to do is to bring those people back in and to demonstrate to them that it is possible for us once again to have this community of conscience of people who are willing to participate in the process and to make that participation based on shared values.
A: In Georgia, we’ve got some pretty restrictive laws: the open primary, the second primary. And basically, by utilizing the open primary, people can go to the polls and they can pick up a ballot of a political party of which they have never before participated, and that’s what’s happened to me twice.
Q: Explain what happened exactly. You’re saying that Republicans came and voted in the Democratic primary to get you out?
A: Yes, so their votes then determined who the Democratic nominee was going to be. Now, we’ve got some Supreme Court decisions, in 1990, California v. Jones, where the Supreme Court has said that malicious crossover in open primaries could be unconstitutional. And that is something that needs to be tested in the courts. It would, of course, be better if Georgia just changed its open primary statute, but that’s not in the cards.
A: I am entering this process because I believe a successful Green Party campaign can do the following:
McKinney protested the result in court, claiming that thousands of Republicans, knowing they had no realistic chance of defeating her in the November general election, had voted in the Democratic primary against McKinney in revenge for her anti-Bush administration views and her allegations of possible voter fraud in Florida in the 2000 Presidential Election.
Like 20 other states, Georgia operates an open primary: voters do not align with a political party when they register to vote and may participate in whichever party’s primary election they choose. McKinney claimed the open primary system was unconstitutional. The district court dismissed the case.
In the midst of a media frenzy, McKinney made an apology on the floor of the House of Representatives on April 6, 2006, neither admitting to nor denying the charge, stating only that: “There should not have been any physical contact in this incident.” McKinney was not indicted for criminal charges nor subjected to disciplinary action by the House.
The Democrats do not speak for us. The Democrats are no different than their Republican counterparts. The Democrats eat out of the hands of corrupt lobbyists and feed at the same corporate trough.
The Republicans have deceived us. The Democrats have failed us. But we cannot deceive ourselves and we must not fail in our struggle for peace because the world still looks to America for leadership. Now, we must be those leaders.
I invite voters to embrace a new vision for this wonderfully beautiful and amazingly diverse country of ours. It is time for peace. It is time to break the vicious cycle where the poor go to war and veterans come home wounded and ignored.
Come home to the Green Party.
”The Green Party first asked me in 2000 and again in 2004 to become a part of their national drive. With the Democratic Party having left so many of its base supporters behind, the appeal of the Green Party was one that I could hear,“ explained McKinney.
”It will take more than 43,000 signatures for the Green Party to get a ballot line in the state of Georgia. I would love for Georgians to vote Green in support of the key values the party has always had--economic justice, environmental justice, public policy--for the good of the future, not just the term of election.“
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Such factors as religious service attendance, belief, practice, familiarity with doctrine, belief in certain creeds, etc., may be important to sociologists, religious leaders, and others. But these are measures of religiosity and are usually not used academically to define a person’s membership in a particular religion. It is important to recognize there are various levels of adherence, or membership within religious traditions or religious bodies. There’s no single definition, and sources of adherent statistics do not always make it clear what definition they are using.
On January 2, 1969, [three newly elected and six previously elected] African-American Members of Congress met as the Democratic Select Committee. On February 2, 1971 the group agreed to be known as the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC).
The goals of the CBC are to positively influence the course of events pertinent to African-Americans and others of similar experience and situation, and to achieve greater equity for persons of African descent in the design and content of domestic and international programs and services. The Caucus has not only been at the forefont of issues affecting African-Americans, but has garnered international acclaim for advancing agendas aimed at protecting human rights and civil rights for all people. Today, the Congressional Black Caucus stands 38 members strong.
Upon her election as Chair of the CBC for the 107th Congress, Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson expounded: “Whether the issue is popular or unpopular, simple or complex, the CBC has fought for thirty years to protect the fundamentals of democracy. The Caucus is committed to ensuring that the standard of living for minorities in America does not retrogress, but instead rises to meet the expectations of both our ancestors and our children. The Congressional Black Caucus is probably the closest group of legislators on the Hill. We work together almost incessantly, we are friends and, more importantly, a family of freedom fighters. Our diversity makes us stronger, and the expertise of all of our members has helped us be effective beyond our numbers.”
There is overwhelming evidence of official misconduct, deliberate fraud and an attempt to suppress voter turnout by unlawful means that were used to produce George W. Bush’s false victory. The preponderance of the available evidence points to Vice President Al Gore as the actual winner of the most votes in Florida and he should have been awarded the state’s electoral votes.
Vice President Al Gore may have conceded his judicial contest, but that is irrelevant. There is not provision for the concession of candidates in the Constitution. There is, however, a process set out in law for Congress to consider challenges to electoral votes. The Congress, on behalf of all Americans, is the final judge of how much election fraud to accept.
The hearings held by the NAACP clearly showed that there were massive violations of the Voting Rights Act, and that tens of thousands of Floridians were denied due process when they were removed from the voter rolls without notice. Still others were intimidated by police checkpoints set up near polling places. In Miami-Dade and Broward, investigations by independent news organizations have found hundreds of ineligible persons who were allowed to vote. There clearly were significant inequities in assigning what turned out to be non-working voting machines to precincts that were heavily African-American in Miami-Dade. We would not tolerate any of these errors if they took place in some other country. Is our duty to our own country any less?
Millions of Americans have already expressed their public outrage at the myriad injustices which occurred in the making of George W. Bush’s mistaken victory. But public outrage is not enough. The laws of this country provide for the objection which we herein make on behalf of freedom, justice and democracy. We, Members of the Congressional Black Caucus, therefore wholeheartedly object to the acceptance of the presidential electors from Florida.
On April 19, 1977, 15 Congresswomen held the first meeting of the Congresswomen’s Caucus. In 1981, the Congresswomen invited their male colleagues to join the Caucus and changed the organization’s name to the Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues. 24 newly elected Congresswomen arrived on Capitol Hill in 1993, nearly doubling the number of women in the Caucus in what became the “Year of the Woman.” In 1995, the House of Representatives voted to eliminate funding for offices and staff of caucus organizations on Capitol Hill. The Congresswomen reorganized themselves into a Members’ organization by the same name. As a result, male Members no longer belong to the Caucus.
Bipartisanship is the key to the Caucus’ strength and success. The legacy of its first 20 years is one of Democratic and Republican Congresswomen committed to improving the lives of women and families, and willing to put their partisan differences aside to do it. Twenty-four years after the Caucus’ founding, its membership has grown from 15 to 62. The 107th Congress also marks the first time that all women Members of the House have joined the Caucus.
The members of the Progressive Caucus share a common belief in the principles of social and economic justice, non-discrimination, and tolerance in America and in our relationships with other countries. We also seek to embody and give voice to national priorities which reflect the interests and needs of all the American people, not just the wealthy and the powerful. Our purpose is to present thoughtful, positive, practical solutions to the problems confronting America and the world. In the post-Cold War era, we believe our nation’s priorities must change with the times and reflect new realities. Accordingly, we support curbs on wasteful, inefficient government spending at the Pentagon and elsewhere, a more progressive tax system in which wealthier taxpayers and corporations pay their fair share, adequate funding for social programs that are designed to extend help to low and middle-income Americans in need, and trade policies that increase the exports of more American products and encourage the creation of jobs and investment in America.