Fixing Elections: The Failure of America's Winner Take All Politics
Book: published - Routledge, 2003. On November 9th 2000, two days after the presidential election, as the nation was beginning to absorb the full extent of the five-week debacle that was about to ensue, USA Today published a map (similar to the one printed on the back cover of this book) that was portentous in its message.
Study Shows "Top Two" Could Elect More Extremists, Not Moderates
Post: 10 March 2009 on a blog from New America's Political Reform Program. Here is some brand new analysis from Washington state results that might shed light on the efficacy of the top two primary, which many are promoting as a good thing for CA. It is especially directed at whether the top two would elect more moderates -- or more extremists? This evidence below suggests it's a bit of a crapshoot, the top two primary could as easily elect more extremists as elect more moderates. Follow the link above for details.
Who's Right Now? Europe's Far-Right Resurgence Fizzles Out
Article: 1 February 2003 - The American Prospect. The idea of European society as a "melting pot" or "rainbow quilt" is alien and new, and undoubtedly there will be strains for some time to come. But for the American media and punditry -- right, left and mainstream -- to portray the situation as one in which Nazis and fascists are gaining a real foothold in Europe is erroneous and hyperbolic.
Why Progressives Lose: Affirmative Action For Conservatives
Article: June 2003 - Progressive Populis. It is deeply ironic that, for all the radical conservative philosophy oozing from the ideologues of the Republican Party, low-population, conservative, and predominantly white states have benefited from the most flagrant form of representational affirmative action. The representation scheme for the U.S. Senate and Electoral College was founded on quotas for low-population states that have disproportionately favored conservative and white-dominated states for decades.
The World Wide Webbed: The Obama Campaign’s Masterful Use of the Internet
Article: 6 April 2009 - Social Europe Journal. Just as President Barack Obama has shaken up the status quo in his first 100 days in office, his campaign overturned old formulas about how to win the presidency. The Obama campaign did not focus only on battleground states, but instead charged into states that previously had been solidly Republican turf.
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An Antidote to GATT: Stakeholders vs. Stockholders
Article: Labornet viewpoints: Global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement. Also posted at: The Humanist, March-April, 1995. With NAFTA behind us and GATT in front of us, it's a sane response for working people to start feeling surrounded. There seems to be little to stop these steamrollers from running us over, as the workers of the world prepare to unite finally -- in the unemployment line. But, Hill points out, there are stubborn pockets of resistance to free trade that have sprung up over the last few years.
Stakeholders vs. Stockholders
Article: 2000, in Labornet viewpoints: Global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement. Five years on, Hill looks at the enduring legacy of the Pennsylvania law that protects the rights of stakeholders, as opposed to the rights of the stockholders with respect to corporate-community relations. States and communities seeking new strategies to cope with job losses and corporate disinvestment associated with global free trade would do well to understand the opportunities provided by a legal framework solidifying stakeholder rights.
Another Gold Medal For the United States
Article 2000 in Labornet viewpoints: Global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement reprint from: Dollars & Sense (Newsletter) issue no. 205, 1996 - Economic Affairs Bureau). A global survey was released recently that says that world business leaders give the gold medal to the U.S. economy as the "most competitive" in the world among industrialized nations. What business leaders mean when they say "most competitive" is this: low wages, few worker benefits, and deregulation.
ICANN: the Secret Government of the Internet?
Article: April, 2001 - Labornet viewpoints: Global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a little-known international body that oversees crucial Internet functions. Depending on whose description you read, ICANN is either an innocuous non-profit with a narrow technical mandate, or the first step in corralling the Internet for commercial and other purposes. And despite the centrality of it's role in the online world, there has been almost no media coverage of ICANN.
Enable Choice on Labor Unions
Special article by Steven Hill and Dmitri Iglitzin : 20 March 2007 – in the Washington Post’s column - Think Tank Town. The top priority of pro-labor members of the United States Congress is passage of the employee Freedom of Choice Act, a law that would make it easier for workers to organize a union in their workplace and negotiate a contract with their employer. This legislation has been the subject of vigorous public debate among labor organizations and business lobbyists, yet it only scratches the surface of a badly needed overhaul of U.S. labor law.
Time For a Tex-Mex Marshall Plan
Article: 23 April 2006 – Washington Post. The bold yet carefully planned E.U. approach to worker migration suggests the direction that policy between
the United States and Mexico should take. To deal
with the situation, the leaders
of the European Union wisely created policies for fostering regional economic and political integration that make efforts
such as the North American Free Trade Agreement look timid and half-hearted by comparison. Increasingly the demands of the global economy will push North American regional integration out of the realm of a shadow economy and flawed free trade agreements.
Look Who's Acting Like the Microsoft of Politics: This Monopoly's Not Even Debatable
Article by Steven Hill & Rob Richie: 11 February 2000 – Chicago Tribune. For the past year we have watched the U.S. government's attempt to apply anti-monopoly laws to the business practices of Microsoft. Ever since the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed a century ago, it has been widely accepted that domination of a market by a handful of private corporations can be bad for business, bad for consumers and bad for the nation.
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ICANN: the Secret Government of the Internet?
Article: April, 2001 - Labornet viewpoints: Global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement. Also posted at: In These Times, 15 May 2000. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a little-known international body that oversees crucial Internet functions. Depending on whose description you read, it is either an innocuous non-profit with a narrow technical mandate, or the first step in corralling the Internet for commercial and other purposes. Despite the centrality of it's role in the online world, there has been almost no media coverage of ICANN. The question of who should control this new form of global communication requires an answer.
WTO Dissent In the Streets, Instead Of In the Legislature?
Article: 26 April 2000 - Labornet viewpoints: Global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement. As the clouds of tear gas dispersed over the streets of Seattle, one couldn't help but wonder where all this dissent over the World Trade Organization came from. Certainly in booming economic times we have not heard much vocal opposition in our state and federal legislatures.
WTO Problems Underscores Need
for U.S. Labor Party
Article: 12 December 1999 - Albion Monitor. No matter which political party has been at the helm, Democrats or Republicans, the U.S. government and corporations have been the world's primary boosters for the World Trade Organization and globalization. Unfortunately, the heat of debate usually has reduced the complexities of the issue to simplistic slogans and sound bites.
An Antidote to GATT: Stakeholders vs. Stockholders
Article: 2000, in Labornet viewpoints: Global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement. Also posted at: The Humanist, March-April, 1995. With NAFTA behind us and GATT in front of us, it's a sane response for working people to start feeling surrounded. There seems to be little to stop these steamrollers from running us over, as the workers of the world prepare to unite finally -- in the unemployment line. But, Hill points out, there are stubborn pockets of resistance to free trade that have sprung up over the last few years.
Stakeholders vs. Stockholders
Article: 2000, in Labornet viewpoints: Global online communication for a democratic, independent labor movement. Hill looks at the enduring legacy of the Pennsylvania law that protects the rights of stakeholders, as opposed to the rights of the stockholders with respect to corporate-community relations. States and communities seeking new strategies to cope with job losses and corporate disinvestment associated with global free trade would do well to understand the opportunities provided by a legal framework solidifying stakeholder rights.
ELSEWHERE IN LINKAGOGO
