The Lefty's Pledge

Tired of being jerked around by do-nothing Democrats? Sick of hearing that you've got to vote for the lesser evil, no matter how evil it is? There's only one way out: put 'em on notice that you won't go for the scam any more. Sign the pledge!

I, the undersigned, being of sound mind and therefore fed up to here with the Democratic Party, hereby vow not to vote for a Democrat, for Congress or for President, unless he or she will promise to adhere to these principles:

I. No more imperial wars

Candidates must commit themselves to opposing any and all funding for military adventures abroad, present or to come.

II. Roll back the police state

Candidates must commit themselves to reversing the assault on civil liberties under the Clinton, Bush and Obama administrations.

III. Universal single-payer medical coverage

Candidates must commit themselves to the euthanasia of the health-insurance "industry".

IV. Full employment -- for real

Fiscal and monetary policy must be made with a view to increasing employment and raising the wage, not with a view to protecting or increasing corporate profit. In particular, no candidate who ever uses such phrases as "balance the federal budget," "defend the dollar" or "inflation is priority number one" will ever receive my vote.

V. No more job exportation

Any candidate who expects to receive my vote will have to renounce any "free trade" agreement, past or future, that undermines either the wage level or job opportunities of American workers. He or she will have to swear undying enmity to an overvalued "foreign investment dollar," and commit to bringing the Federal Reserve Bank back under effective Congressional control.

(Background on this topic)

VI. Give labor a fighting chance

Want my vote? See to it the the Employee Free Choice Act passes substantially as drafted, including both card check recognition and short-fuse contract arbitration.

VII. The environment

Criminy, where do we start? Well, here's a stake in the ground: no candidate who says that gasoline prices are too high will ever get my vote. And any candidate who supports a walloping carbon tax -- rebated to households on a rigid per-capita basis -- will get not only my vote, but the votes of all my deceased ancestors.

If there is no Democrat who meets these requirements, I promise that instead of choosing the "lesser evil" I will:
-- write somebody in; or
-- vote for a third-party candidate,"electable" or not, who does stand for what I believe in; or
-- just stay the hell home and keep out of mischief.

Signed,