The Senate denied Single Payer a vote, so we're taking it to the street!

On December 16th the US Senate was to hold a historic debate on a Single Payer Health Care system for all Americans. Amid the barrage of compromises and disappointments surrounding Congress' handling of health care, this first-in-US history proposal on the Senate floor was considered a step forward in the Single Payer movement -- OR SO WE THOUGHT.

Because obstructionist Republican senators forced a reading of the entire 767 page bill (estimated at 10 hours), Senator Bernie Sanders (VT) had to withdraw his amendment due to Congressional recess deadlines -- denying Single Payer advocates even this symbolic progress!

IF THE SENATE CAN'T MAKE TIME FOR SINGLE PAYER, THEN WE WILL!

On Friday, December 18th from 9am-7pm, Green Party NYC and Single Payer activists will gather at Union Square in Manhattan to read the entire, 767 page amended bill that was denied debate on the Senate floor. Congress must know that we will continue to fight for Single Payer Health Care as the best and most cost-effective way of delivering medical care to *all* Americans!

• 46 million Americans currently lack health insurance
• 60 million Americans do not have access to primary health care
• Profit-making, private insurance companies waste $400 billion a year on administrative costs, CEO payouts, advertising -- while their customers are routinely and arbitrarily denied care!

Call 917-825-3562 or email michael@greenpartynyc.org if you can participate! We're looking for readers and Single Payer advocates to talk to New Yorkers about this issue. Please forward widely! Tell your community to stop by during the reading!

MARATHON PUBLIC READING OF SINGLE PAYER HEALTH CARE BILL
Friday, December 18th 2009 9:00am-7:00pm -- Activists welcome to step up and read pages from our copy of the bill
South Side Of Union Square, New York City
4/5/6/N/R/Q/W/L Trains To Union Square!
Contact: Michael O'Neil 917-825-3562 | michael@greenpartynyc.org
http://www.greenpartynyc.org

Green Party NYC needs your support to continue organizing for issues like Single Payer Health Care and Climate Justice. Please consider donating a few cents or even a dollar for every page of this historic public reading: http://greenpartynyc.org/donate

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Some upcoming events for Reverend Billy and the Life After Shopping Choir:

Buy Nothing Day, Friday Nov 27, 5 AM - trying to convert the Consumers at the front-door of Macy's on 34th St.  

Then off to the Valley Stream (Long Island) Wal-Mart to remember Jdimytai Damour, who was trampled to death there on Black Friday one year ago.

A 40 voice gospel singathon at the Christmas Revival at the Brooklyn Lyceum on Saturday December 12th.
 

Details for all events at http://www.revbilly.com/events

And now a holiday message from Reverend Billy Talen:

“Blessed are the meek for they shall inherit. Blessed are the jobless who force us to change the economy. Blessed are the homeless who unlock empty buildings. Blessed are the evicted who resist with their children watching! Blessed are the broke who re-introduce the what-can-I-do-for-no-money? Blessed are the re-cycled gifts and home-made art and swap-o-ramas and farmer’s markets. Blessed is the local Christmas. Local-ujah!

On this tour there is no room in the inn. We are not paid much – but our hosts have a lot to share. We’re forced out into public space, nuzzled by cows and sheep with angels over-head! Out into the commons, out into the new funky Garden of Eden. We’re starting over!”

Now we have to change all our words around.

I never thought of Peace as a word that was moveable. All our words have been shifted by Consumerism and Militarism. Democracy is gone, America and Freedom are gone. Peace always stayed there in one place.

Peace patiently waited for us to notice the best things about ourselves. Peace always stayed with us. Peace was ignored by the governments and the powerful but it was still there – the monument that is made of the sky and the wind, our memories of a face and our loving touch. But now we have to change our words around. They have taken the word Peace and we’ll have to make up a new word, a secret signal.

Predator drones will be released tonight destroying the word we always depended on. The flying bomb will go out over the villages, sailing over the sleeping children and prayers and friends stopping for a laugh. The bombs will float and hesitate and change direction from computers in Florida and Missouri and the soldiers at the computers will know that Obama has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. And so they will be consumers of a war that is now being marketed as a product named Peace.

So — it has come to this. War has finally captured Peace.
 

A very heartfelt thanks to all of you for your support, time, and effort.   I feel very happy with the race we ran -- it was principled, engaging, substantive, and fun.

By now many of you have seen the numbers and the truth is that I cannot help but feel disappointed.  According to the unofficial count we got about 1,500 votes or 7%. (Although our own tally from the polls we closed was closer to 1,750).   All day long yesterday, people -- many of whom I had never seen before - passed me giving me the thumbs up, or came up to shake my hand, or after a last minute entreaty from me or one of my team came back from the poll saying "I voted for you."  And the numbers we got from MS 51 where I ended the night were closer to 20% so I really was feeling pretty good walking to our party.
How to explain it? Of course one thing is that the two-party system is so entrenched that it is very, very hard to get people to vote otherwise.  But here are a couple of ways of looking at the numbers that tell a more positive story.

First there are only about 360 registered Greens in district.  So even discounting for those who voted for me mostly out of personal loyalty, we probably got over 1,000 non-Greens to vote Green. 
Brad Landers's (D) vote total represented the equivalent of 30% of registered Democrats.  Joe Nardiello's (R) 40% of registered Republicans. But ours 400% of registered Greens!

We also gained more votes than 2 of the 5 Dems who ran in the primary, despite those two being good candidates who considerably outspent us.

And in Park Slope we beat the Republican by 957 votes to 517, gaining 19% of the total!  The difference between these numbers and the overall outcome highlights that the 39^th Council District, which extends from Cobble Hill to Borough Park is not a "Park Slope District" nor for that matter a particularly progressive district; although the fact that the Democratic nominee tends be someone deemed progressive makes it very hard for a challenger from the left.

I hope this puts things in perspective a little bit.

And certainly no other campaign brought more smiles to people's faces then we did with the funny t-shirts and our high spirits, nor was more fun for kids with our activity book and free puppet shows.

For a nice summary of the campaign please read Louise Crawford's piece in Only the Blog Knows Brooklyn:

http://onlytheblogknowsbrooklyn.typepad.com//only_the_blog_knows_brook/2009/11/the-hardest-working-candidate-in-brooklyn-david-pechefsky.html

So, was it the right thing to do?  Absolutely, not the least because of the all the new friends I made and the old friends I reconnected with. 

And in political terms?  Absolutely.  Many people asked me in the course of the campaign why with my strong resume etc. I wasn't running as a Democrat so I would "have a chance at winning."  No way!  The City Council doesn't need any more deal-making Democrats who compromise their principles to get appointed the chair of some good sounding committee etc. etc. and the political system as a whole needs to be pushed on the Green party principles of ecological wisdom, social justice, grassroots democracy, and non-violence.

So keep an eye out for us Greens and consider coming to a Park Slope Greens meeting.  We meet the second Monday of the month at the Methodist Church on 6^th Avenue and 8^th Street.  There is lots to be done. (Send us an email from this website if you would like more information.)

Best,

David

Spirited, tenacious, enthusiastic and unexpected - these are all words that have been used to describe our campaign by either the media or the incumbent. To those I add the following: amazing and humbling.

As I wrote before the polls opened on Election Day, I am deeply grateful for all your support and contributions of time, money and ideas. I cannot thank you enough.

The 3,323 votes reported on Election Night (the official vote totals come out next week) put me at just under 24% of the vote, a fantastic result for a third party candidate, especially against an incumbent!

In fact, I received the highest vote for any Green Party candidate in NYC history and was the first to max out the Matching Funds Program. I actually received more votes than any third party candidate running for the first time (there were three who lost in the primary under a different party than they ran on in the general) and a higher percentage of the vote than over two dozen Republicans around the City.

But those are just numbers: important but not the whole picture. I wanted to share with you excerpts of some emails I received from strangers on Election Day and the day after:

"I have been extremely impressed with the campaign itself. Though I've lived in Astoria for a number of years, this is the first time I can remember having been swayed, as an ordinary voter, to vote for a candidate for a lesser-known party based upon that candidate's visibility in my community and clear expression of standing for issues with which I agree....she got my attention and my vote, and I appreciate knowing that someone dedicated enough to run such a well-organized and principled campaign is living in and working for my community."

"I’m so sad about yesterday, but thank you for making such a big effort. You were clearly the better choice  -- I guess there’s still so much of Astoria that’s entrenched in same-old, same-old...Thanks for showing so much enthusiasm, integrity and heart over the course of the last year. It will not be quickly forgotten!!"

"I just wanted to congratulate you for running in this year's election for City Council.  I was quite happy to vote for you last night as it was rather thrilling that a "green" person was running for office.  I was also really happy to know that you support marriage equality - and I know that your opponent doesn't."

It's obvious that our message around energy-efficiency, affordable housing, seven day library service and good green jobs resonated with thousands of voters. With close to 100 volunteers on Election Day itself, we were a highly visible presence in the community -- and one that the incumbent, his brothers and his staff commented on to me throughout the day.

During the campaign, we met many amazing activists and community organizers and our Election Night Party was abuzz with ideas about future projects. In the coming weeks and months, we will be assessing what our next steps will be in continuing to work for a just, healthy and sustainable city.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Lynne Serpe