20:29 - Tuesday, Jul. 30, 2002
Activism Survey
This is from a survey I took at Activism's Diarlyand Page

1: What are political issues are the most important to you?
Human and civil rights including reproductive freedom, freedom of and from religion, freedom of speech. Creating an effective and humanity affirming welfare system that values education and does not privilege marriage. Ending corporate welfare until public education and mental health and other programs are effectively supported.

2: What do you think of George W. Bush?
I think he is a mess of a man who had an effective political machine behind him. I think he lowered the bar significantly for himself and stepped into a marketed centrism that is false and bought into by too many people. I think he and his crew are anti-woman, anti-gay, white power class warriors who are out to screw people that are not like them. The rich get richer and the rest of us can suffer. This is what he did to the city I am from: Using his father's oil connections, he survived for years as a private businessman in Texas, profiting chiefly from investors who gave him money because of government tax breaks for the oil industry. While his father was Veep, GWB borrowed $600,000 from a bank in Midland where he once was a director, to become a 2% owner of the Texas Rangers baseball team. Not satisfied with owning a low-status team playing in an old minor-league field, Bush and the new owners threatened to leave Arlington, TX unless the city would build a new stadium for the team. The city spent $150,000 on an advertising campaign to persuade voters to finance the stadium through a sales tax. Between the sales-tax revenue, state tax exemptions and other financial incentives, Texas taxpayers handed the privately owned Rangers more than $200 million in public subsidies. When one family refused to sell a 13-acre plot at half its appraised value, Arlington condemned the land for the stadium project. The Rangers then leased the stadium in a rent-to-buy agreement for $60 million — the equivalent of 12 years' rent — and the value of the club tripled. When the team was sold in 1998, Bush's initial investment turned into $15 million. -- from Semitrue.com

3: What do you think of Bill Clinton?
I think his welfare policies were horrible and resulted in a great deal of pain and suffering. I think his inability to stick by Lani Guinier http://www.fair.org/extra/best-of-extra/guinier-queen.html was disgusting. And it was total betrayal when he signed the "Defense of Marriage Act." Sick. But I do think he held the ground on abortion rights and that is valuable. If we look at all that Bush has undone, we can see a lot of the places where Cinton shined.

4: What do you think of the Republican Party in general?
I think in general they are self-preservationists. I especially take issue with folks who vote Republican because they are "fiscal conservatives" and "social liberals." Things are too tight right now between the parties to privilege your pocketbook (which has been deflated most likely since Bush came on board) over the civil rights, education, and health of your fellow citizens and non-citizens.

5: What do you think of the Democrats in general?
I think many Democrats want folks to have the best life and opportunities possible. I think many Democrats in power don't go far enough in supporting wise reform and progress.

6: Who did you vote for in the last election (or would have, if you're not able to vote)?
Gore. But it was truly a sad set of choices.

7: If the election was held tomorrow, would you vote the same way? Why, or why not?
Yes. It was a sound vote. Nader votes were ridiculous wastes. I was not a Nader or a Gore supporter. My candidate did not run.

8: What's your general opinion of capitalism?
I think the way we leave people behind and people die because they do not have adequate housing, health care, etc. is sick and sad.

9: What's your general opinion of socialism?
I don't have one really. I think for the most part there are workable concepts of community that could be valuable, but I have less information than I would like about how a sustainable life comes out of it.

10: Should the US have universal health care for all?
Absolutely. It is just a matter of priorities.

11: What do you think of the "war on terrorism"?
I think it is a marketed term that denies our own history.

12: What do you think of the "war on drugs"?
Has it really worked?

13: What do you think of war?
I think violence begets violence and solves very little most of the time.

14: What do you think about capital punishment?
I think it is an abomination.

15: Who do you think has a harder time in this society, black people or people with physical disabilities?
I am not interested in ranking oppressions.

16: Do you recycle?
Yes

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