Officers:
Chair: Dena Horton
Vice Chair: Charlie Mitchell
Treasurer: Marsha Manning
Secretary: Michael Dalesandro
State Committeewoman: Jane Buchanan-Banks
State Committeeman: Norm Banks

By Dan Ogden

The Clark County Democratic Party has a long tradition of believing that government at all levels has a positive role to play in society. To that end the Democratic Party has always championed:

• the Bill of Rights, especially the First Amendment
• universal, free public education
• the right of workers to organize and bargain collectively
• the right of all persons to health care and reproductive choice
• the right of all persons to have secure old age through a combination
  of Social Security and pension plans

• multiple-use management balanced with environmental protection of our
  natural resources

• a strong national defense
• an effective and fair justice and law-enforcement system that
  ensures equal treatment of all persons under the law

• a fair and equitable tax system based primarily on ability to pay
• a balanced budget
• a sound money system
• the effective provision of basic local public services such as electricity, power, fire
  protection and policing

• regulation of selected areas of the economy including:
  • protection of bank depositors
  • protection of investors and employees from fraudulent management practices
  • prevention of monopoly and unfair trade practices
  • promotion of agriculture, commerce and industry

We especially strive to protect and help those who need assistance in living and those who are too weak or small to speak for themselves. We embrace the diversity of our nation and support efforts to end racial discrimination, hate, and prejudice. We continue working to provide a chance for all citizens to seek the American dream of owning a home or a small business.

To accomplish these goals, we recruit candidates for public office, support them in their campaigns, provide opportunities for public discussion and debate on current issues, and encourage all citizens to register and vote.

How the Democrats Can Once Again Become America's Dominant Political Party

Rick Perlstein's Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus was a fascinating look at the nascent conservative movement. Perlstein is back again with an analysis of how we can adopt some of the tactics and techniques conservatives used to motivate their base and win nationally.

A majority of Americans tell pollsters they want more government intervention to reduce the gap between high- and lower-income citizens, and less than one-third consider high taxes to be a problem. Yet conservative Republicanism currently controls the political discourse. Why?

Rick Perlstein probes this central paradox of today's political scene in his penetrating pamphlet. Perlstein explains how the Democrats' obsessive short-term focus on winning "swing voters," instead of cultivating loyal party-liners, has relegated Democrats to political stagnation. Perlstein offers a vigorous critique and far-reaching vision that is a thirty-year plan for Democratic victory. [read more]

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also The Corporation a film by Mark Achbar, Jennifer Abbott & Joel Bakan; Zeitgeist Video, 2005 DVD format

A review by Bob Fizzell

A favorite scifi theme is of robots who take on a life of their own and then take over their masters. Inherent in this is the irony that the masters wrote the program. Of course, herein always lies the solution.

Today this scenario has become real. The only question is whether we are astute enough to rewrite the program before our creation destroys us.

The evil program is called “The Corporation” and it resides in the memory of our legal system.

Joel Bakan, in a brief book and a well filled pair of DVDs, reveals the origin and true nature of this program, showing how and why it represents a real threat to our future. Far greater than the threat offered by even a few thousand terrorists, a handful of large corporations are poised, capable of and directed toward the ultimate conquest and destruction of our democracy.

Sound over dramatic? What would you think of our turning over huge power to a few individuals who are irresponsible, highly manipulative, grandiose, lacking in empathy, characterized by asocial tendencies and completely superficial in their relations to others? These characteristics of a psychopath are also necessary descriptors of a modern corporation.

Bakan begins with the historical origins of the corporation as a means to acquire sufficient capital and control liability in the 17th century. Early on it was a highly suspect structure and was generally banned in England from 1720 until 1825. By that time, significant frauds had already become notorious. In the later half of the 19th Century, corporations evolved into legal entities that were gradually freed of social controls and responsibilities while taking on the legal status of a person.

The last serious effort to rein in the corporation occurred at the start of the 20th century. Confronted with rapid growth through mergers, the public demanded restraints. Teddy Roosevelt and the “trust busters” created regulations to control the “robber barons.” The corporate response was to begin a sophisticated public relations campaign to change their image. From being monstrosities that rode rough shod over the public, they portrayed themselves as “friendly neighbors,” “helping hands,” and “pillars of the community.” Today they transcend regulation by nations and write their own rules in trade agreements over which signatory nations have no real control. Assets of individual corporations often exceed the GNPs of most nations. Corporate interests, through their financial power and their trade agreements now supersede the interests of any nation.

To hear the media, however, these huge powers are tempered by a “social consciousness” in our best corporations. Today we hear constantly of “green” corporations, “socially responsible” corporations. Bakan notes that there is a fundamental problem with this concept, however. Since the Dodge vs Ford decision 90 years ago, the courts have been consistent in their rulings that the only responsibility of every corporation is a profit for its owners. In fact, this responsibility is so predominant that a board of directors can be held liable for any action that conflicts with profit maximization. Thus we return to the corporation as a psychopath. It can be nothing else if it is a person. Its only interest is self interest.

In the second half of the book and in several hours of interviews on the DVDs, Bakan develops and supports these ideas. But his thesis is simple: corporations are in direct conflict with democracy and nationalism. He develops this thesis with an abundance of evidence and makes clear the implications for our future. If you care about our future, you definitely must become familiar with either the book or the DVDs. I recommend both.

We must either rewrite the program for “the corporation” or be prepared for the robots to follow their course. [read more]

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Ed Schultz is here to slay the "right-wing radio dragon" and revitalize the charge against Bush-era "conservative cruelty" with his own bold, irreverent truth-talk. When the self-described "gun-toting, meat-eating, drug-free liberal" from America's heartland came out swinging with his syndicated radio program, The Ed Schultz Show, listeners realized right away that this was no cookie-cutter liberal, but a tough-talking advocate for everything that's right about the left. "A free press is all that stands between you and a dictatorship," warns Schultz, in defiance of the Bush administration and ultra-conservative talking heads like Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity, whom he blames for quashing political debate just when America needs it most. While Big Ed has what it takes to "go bare-knuckle brawling" with his staunchest detractors, it is with a deep compassion and impeccable common sense that he describes how our "government by the rich and for the rich" is imperiling the lives of average hard-working Americans. [read more]

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Resolution on Social Security as adopted by Clark County Democratic Party Central Committee.

Date: February 14, 2005.

1) We hereby resolve not to endorse, work for or support financially any Democratic candidate who expresses support, advocates or votes for any form of privatization, or other language meaning the same thing as privatization, of the Social Security Program.

2) We hereby resolve that the Secretary to the Committee communicate with Senators Murray and Cantwell and Representative Baird, the strong desire of this Committee, that they make a strong written appeal to the Congressional Democratic leadership that Congressional Democrats take a united stand energetically opposing privatization of the Social Security System.

3) We hereby resolve that the Secretary of the Committee further communicates to Senators Murray and Cantwell and Representative Baird, the necessity for such a united stand so as to deprive Congressional Republicans of any political benefit afforded by the appearance of bipartisanship in relation to changes, of the character described above, to the Social Security Program.

4) We hereby resolve that the Secretary of the Committee communicates with all the other Central Committees in the State of Washington and the Chairmen or Chairwomen of the Democratic Parties in all the other forty-nine states to inform them of our resolutions relating to Social Security passed today by this Committee.

John Perkins tells the gripping tale of the years he spent working for an international consulting firm where his job was to convince underdeveloped countries to accept enormous loans, much bigger than they really needed, for infrastructure development — and to make sure that the development projects were contracted to U. S. multinationals. Once these countries were saddled with huge debts, the American government and the international aid agencies allied with it were able, by dictating repayment terms, to essentially control their economies. It was not unlike the way a loan shark operates — and Perkins and his colleagues didn't shun this kind of unsavory association. They referred to themselves as "economic hit men." [read more]

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We all know books make perfect gifts, but who likes standing in those long lines at the bookstore? Instead of going out to that big box bookstore, why not visit our website, purchase your books, and help raise money for Democrats?

Bluedonkeys.com, the official website of the Clark County Democratic Central Committee, has recently joined the affiliate program through Powell’s Books. This allows us to raise money when you buy books.

Every time you use the links off our website to purchase books, we’ll earn a 7.5% commission off your sale. That means if we sold one book per day at an average selling price of $20 (typical for a new, hardcover book), then we would generate $1.50 per book, or about $45 per month.

There is no cost for the county party to participate in the program, only a few volunteer hours a month to put together the list of political books and to make updates to the page.

To buy a book through our website, go to www.bluedonkeys.com. On the right hand side of the page about half-way down you’ll find the links to Powell’s Books. You can either use the search box to locate and purchase a book, or you can visit a list of political books we’ve put together. We’ll be updating the list regularly as new books become available.

Not only is this a great way for us to raise money, it’s also supporting a local union shop. While there were tense labor negotiations in 2003 that resulted in strikes, a contract was signed in May, 2004. The International Longshore and Warehouse Union, of which Powell’s is a member, also participates in this affiliate program.

Who knew it was so easy to purchase books, buy union, and help support the Clark County Democrats at the same time?