No more Harm. Vote Winograd for Congress. Or else go nowhere. That's as plain as it gets.

[by Scott Thill]

The government may have been hijacked by a bunch of red-state wingnuts, but in the final analysis it is the Democratic Party, who steered America into the new century, who laid down their arms and let Bush walk in unchallenged to the White House. And for all the whining and speculation (Was it Nader's fault? Would the Supreme Court decision survive a Gore challenge? and so on), it doesn't matter anymore. Because times have changed people, and so have regimes. And the Democratic Party you once fought for and supported has done little else besides help the Bush administration create a phony war, spy on the American people, steal not one but two elections, and more or less degrade the American character and policy apparatus to the world at large.

So what do we do about it? In a word: Vote. But with your conscience, not your party affiliation program. That said, Democrats like Marcy Winograd, who is challenging entrenched incumbent and Bush apologist Jane Harman for an all-important California district comprised of defense industries, beachfront homeowners and, yes, a richly diverse populace. She's certainly talking the talk, but Morphizm is on its last legs as far as the Democratic Party goes. So we put Winograd through the wringer to see if she can take it. And she can.

But, to mangle The Who's Tommy, we're not gonna take it -- much longer. If Winograd fails to oust Harman, and the party establishment continues to foist a series of Republicrats on a suffering country that's had quite enough of them, then Morphizm is done with the Democrats for good. You've got your marching papers. Now march, mutherfuckers! Here's someone you can follow while you're at it.

Morphizm: Why should voters choose you over Harman? Given how Democrats have rolled over since 2000 (and before that), why should anyone vote Democrat at all?
Winograd: Voters should vote for me because, unlike Harman, I will vote to cut funding for the war in Iraq and bring our troops home. I will vote to stop the next war before it happens, to impeach Bush, and to redirect the war billions into universal affordable healthcare, quality education, job training and environmental protection. The cost of the Iraq war (costofwar.com), fast approaching $300 billion, could pay for 37 million preschoolers to attend Head Start this year or 5 million new public school teachers The cost of this war could have fully funded worldwide AIDS programs for 28 years. We need to connect the dots between what the Bush administration is spending on senseless killing and what our government is denying its own people. Not only will I have the courage to challenge this notion of a permanent war economy, but also to hold Bush and Cheney accountable. In contrast to my opponent, I will sign on to efforts to impeach those who led us to war for no reason.

In many ways, this race is a referendum on the Iraq war. My opponent failed to scrutinize intelligence analysts' objections in the build-up to the war and continued to fund the occupation despite heartfelt protests from her constituents. Harman's top contributors are defense contractors (opensecrets.org), while mine are individuals from all over the country who see this race as iconic, as a struggle for control of the Democratic Party. Who does the Party belong to? Corporations? Leaders disconnected from the people? Or the people themselves?

I ask the people to stand with me, to stand for change. I am about peace and wear a dove pin. Jane Harman sports a B2 bomber broach on her lapel. Though largley symbolic, I have vowed not to accept any money from defense contractors, of which there are plenty in El Segundo and Torrance, not involved in peace conversion or the development of alternative energy that will sever our dependence on foreign oil. We need, as Congressman John Conyers says, a unified security budget that encompasses defense, protection, and prevention -- a sound foreign policy that embraces diplomacy and rejects the Bush policy of pre-emptive war.

Morphizm: How has Harman let down voters in California? She's in a position of power, so why hasn't she used any of it? How will you remedy that situation?
Winograd: Though Harman is pro-choice and has garnered support from single-issue women's advocacy, she has failed to protect our youth from unjust war, to protect our environment from war and nuclear proliferation -- the worst environmental crimes imaginable -- and has failed to protect our constitutional freedoms now under assualt.

Morphizm: Core democratic value questions. Do you believe in the right to abortion? Do you believe in the separation of church and state? Should the president be censured? Should he be impeached?
Winograd: Yes, yes, yes and yes.

Morphizm: What would you do to solve California's energy crisis? Your district encompasses both rich and poor areas. Why are you the candidate for both?
Winograd: I am the candidate for both regions because I put people's needs ahead of commerical ones, though I also believe we need to plan for the future, a future of energy independence. I am trying to bring defense contractors to the table to talk about peace conversion. Wish me luck.

Morphizm: What is your stance on fossil fuels? Renewable energy? What plans do you have on that score for your own district?
Winograd: I support the New Apollo Energy Act, which would provide corporate tax incentives to develop alternative fuels and sever our dependence on foreign oil. I am concerned about pollution at our Port of Los Angeles and wonder why we can't substitute a cleaner fuel for diesel engines that idle and pollute the air in San Pedro and Wilmington.

jMorphizm: Iraq. We're there. Now what?
Winograd: My exit plan calls for:
a) announce an immediate withdrawal, and start withdrawing region by region
b) engage UN and Arab stakeholders not involved in the war or occupation in overseeing the establishment of a transition coalition government, and free and fair elections
c) US and UK pay peace-time reconstruction through NGOs.

Morphizm: What is your stance on immigration? Do you believe in amnesty and citizenship or police enforcement and punishment?
Winograd: We need to raise our immigration quotas to more accurately reflect the need or demand. We also need to revisit and renegotiate those so-called free trade, more like slave trade, agreements that undermine wages and working conditions in Central America, thereby increasing the influx of immigrants into the US. I support an "earned citizenship" program that enables immigrants to work, pay taxes, do community service and eventually earn citizenship. When we criminalize immigrants, we end up creating a subterreanean economy controlled by gangs and drug lords. I oppose Bush's plan to militarize the border and see it as an incremental step on the way to further militarizing our whole society.

June 1, 2006

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