Received this tip from David McReynolds, who has run for office as a Socialist and a Green. The NYC Local of the Socialist Party landed mainstream media coverage: a story and a photo in The NY Post.
(excerpt from) The NY Post
Black, White, Red All Over
Gotham’s Socialists Party Like It’s 1972
by Sara Stewart / April 16, 2009
… “Every human being has a right to health care,” says party member Zelig Stern. “Every human being deserves a job, deserves access to transportation — everything people need to survive, and even enjoy, their lives.”
Egad! I can feel the brainwashing already.
“It’s not just about going back and forth to work, either,” says Billy Wharton, field organizer of the NYC Local of the Socialist Party. “People should have decent lives. Museums should be free. We want to give people a safety net, but also provide them with the kinds of things that make us human.”
Good God. Is this the future we have to look forward to? Universal health care and free art?
It is if you ask the nation’s youth. Just this week, a Rasmussen poll found that one-third of Americans under 30 prefer socialism to capitalism, while 20 percent of Americans as a whole said they feel that way…
The article emphasizes that the party seems stuck in 1972, “not a blackberry in sight,” yet at the same time provides a link to the local’s blog, which, however, seems to have only been started up this year. Is the SP behind the times in terms of networking and outreach? Is this symptomatic of a deeper entrenchment in outdated ideas?