Category Archives: Opinion

PDA: The right organization, message and time to make a difference!

October 3, 2024News, Opinionpdacnm

By: Lora Lucero

Canvassing in Michigan during the month of September confirmed for me that Progressive Democrats of America (PDA) is the best vehicle with the right message for this tumultuous moment in our country.

Walking more than 50 miles and knocking on hundreds of doors in the suburbs north of Detroit to speak with registered Democrats about the election, I was reminded that Democrats are diverse and thoughtful, but many feel no connection to the Democratic Party. My canvas list included names of registered but inconsistent voters who believe their political party has forgotten them, except when asking for their vote.

I decided to go to Michigan after listening to Allan Brill’s pitch during a PDA Sunday Town Hall in July. He wanted to connect volunteers traveling to Michigan with a host family, and he likened the Michigan Summer to Save Democracy (MSSD) campaign to the Mississippi Freedom Summer Riders in 1961. I jumped at the chance, and after Allan vetted me, and I vetted the different campaigns working in Michigan, I signed up for September. (Note: There’s still time to sign up to canvas in Michigan or make phone calls to Michigan voters. Reach out to Allan at michigansummer24@gmail.com)

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Climate and Growth

July 11, 2024Opinionpdacnm

Of all the issues that require our attention, climate warming, in my view, is the most alarming. The book, “The Limits of Growth” published in 1972 predicted civilizational collapse occurring within the next 100 years due to climate change. At the time of publication half-a-trillion tons of human produced carbon dioxide had already been released into the environment. Since then the amount has tripled! We are at the beginning of mass extinction, since global warming is projected to continue increasing.

Yet, few in the affluent world would swear off all future growth for the sake of the climate. A rising GDP is seen as good and essential by most politicians. But, doesn’t that imply that more economic activity will also bring higher temperatures? Perhaps not.

Growth and carbon emissions are not necessarily linked. In fact, U.S. carbon emissions have dropped 17% since the 6 billion tons emitted in 2017. The Inflation Reduction Act will spend billions over the next decade on green-energy subsidies which will double the reduction of carbon emissions. Europe and China are also taking meaningful measures to reduce emissions.

As the world understands the necessity of decarbonization, we can hopefully shape the kind of growth to greener, more equally distributed, and more people-benefitting outcomes. Our GDP may still grow but in a direction benefitting the people and the planet. Great-power competition, both military and economic, can be reduced by focusing on survival and cooling a hot world. Humanity can seize the opportunity to work together, to care for each other, to stop senseless spending on weapons, and to restore the health of our planet and its inhabitants.

Bill Swift

AMERICA’S MILITARY COLONY: A Wall of Defense Against Barbarism?

February 29, 2024Information, Opinionpdacnm

By Alan Wagman

Although it may seem puzzling why the United States supports and provides cover for Israel’s most outrageously authoritarian, lawless, and even brutal actions, the reason is hiding in plain sight. It is not, as many speculate, primarily because of AIPAC. It is because Israel is a military colony of the United States.

From its inception, Zionism viewed a Jewish state as the handmaiden of colonialism. The founder of the Zionist movement, Theodor Herzl, described his proposed Jewish state in his 1896 book, Der Judenstaat (“The Jewish State”) as “ a wall of defense for Europe in Asia, and outpost of civilization against barbarism.” (Astute readers will find echoes of this racism in Netanyahu’s recent justifications for Israel’s conduct in Gaza; one can decide for oneself if the echo is intentional.

Some argue that Zionism was not a colonial project because Jews had lived in Palestine for thousands of years. This ignores the fact that the Jews who had been living in Palestine for the nearly two thousand years prior to the European Zionist intrusion into Palestine often were at least as loyal to their Palestinian identity as to the incoming Zionist colonizers.

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Do They Think We’re Fools?

September 28, 2023Events, Information, Opinionpdacnm

We’re living in an age of deep hypocrisy; the good news is that the youth recognize it, are calling it out and demanding accountability.

Witness the Energy Conference in Albuquerque on Sept. 14 where politicians and fossil fuel CEOs patted each other on the back while sanctimoniously discussing the “all-of-the-above-approach” to de-carbonization. It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the fossil fuel industry embraces the “all-of-the-above-approach” because blue hydrogen production and wishful thinking about the future of CCS (carbon capture and sequestration) enables the industry to keep drilling and pumping. PDA-CNM joined the youth and indigenous groups protesting outside the conference hotel.