Can Socialist lightning strike twice in Seattle?

[octoberlib]

Can the Socialist lightning strike twice in Seattle politics? That's the big question as the woman who helped lead Kshama Sawant's stunning upset election to the Seattle City Council seeks to topple Washington state's Speaker of the House.
Before November's election that saw Sawant defeat longtime incumbant Richard Conlin, the thought of a Socialist candidate winning any election was virtually inconceivable - even in super-liberal Seattle.

Emboldened by Sawant's victory, 32-year-old Jess Spear is taking on Frank Chopp, the powerful and longest-standing Speaker of the House in state history.

Spear's campaign in Seattle's predominantly Democratic 43rd Legislative District is following the playbook she used as Sawant's campaign manager - a persistent drum beat of progressive issues like a $15 minimum wage, rent control and criticism of big business.


http://mynorthwest.com/832/2567023/Can-Socialist-lightning-strike-twice-in-Seattle

[edgineered]

1. The link doesn't make that second bolt of lightening

seem likely; it is a positive for people in the area though. Keeping progressive values as the campaign issues is a win for everyone. Best of luck to him.

[octoberlib]

2. Spear is running against a much more experienced opponent, according

to the article. I'm just glad to see Socialist candidates running.

[edgineered]

3. Yes, we need to have more step up.

It is as if even saying socialism is a taboo - people automatically cringe when hearing the word. Educating against it starts at an early age and that's too bad. Talk about people voting against their own interests...

[octoberlib]

4. Yep

To some Socialism = Communism = Stalin = police state and the murder of millions of people. I've seen this expressed on this site by people who should know better.

Upton Sinclair's take on this:





Of his gubernatorial bid, Sinclair remarked in 1951:

The American People will take Socialism, but they won't take the label. I certainly proved it in the case of EPIC. Running on the Socialist ticket I got 60,000 votes, and running on the slogan to 'End Poverty in California' I got 879,000. I think we simply have to recognize the fact that our enemies have succeeded in spreading the Big Lie. There is no use attacking it by a front attack, it is much better to out-flank them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Upton_Sinclair

[edgineered]

5. A most interesting read.

We tend to think that the events of today are unique, clearly the undercurrents that he experienced prove that wrong. Thanks for the link, I'll have to see what the B&N has on this topic while there on my Sunday routine.

[edgineered]

6. Picked up a copy of "The Jungle" today and

read the first chapter while getting my caffeine fix outside on their patio. Sinclair's explanation of their lives and customs (at the wedding alone) portrays a wretchedness to life then and there.

Corporate rule in this country will return us quite quickly to that scenario should they finally get all their wishes.

[octoberlib]

7. I agree. It's been ages since I read The Jungle.

I'll have to re-read it since it's even more relevant today. Sinclair said he was disappointed because The Jungle is about the exploitation of the factory worker but the American public became fixated on the food safety issues in the book.

Public pressure led to the passage of the Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906; the latter established the Bureau of Chemistry (in 1930 renamed as the Food and Drug Administration).

Sinclair rejected the legislation, which he considered an unjustified boon to large meat packers. The government (and taxpayers) would bear the costs of inspection, estimated at $30,000,000 annually.[19][20] He complained about the public's misunderstanding of the point of his book in Cosmopolitan Magazine in October 1906 by saying, "I aimed at the public's heart, and by accident I hit it in the stomach."

[21]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jungle