Hooray! Vote Sawant :)

In before the repetitive spammer bleating about how Sawant wants to put Amazon and Microsoft under government control.

As much as I like the idea of socialism, I don't believe the human race is capable of living with it. Not now, at least. Maybe in several thousand years, but definitely not anytime soon. Humanity still has way too much primitive, unevolved feelings and selfishness.

Honestly, I think we'd probably do best with some kind of dictator. Or just a simple monarchy or something. Even our current (the U.S. gov't, I mean) republic system is a bit too complex for humans to deal with.

@4 Nope. In the same way I can't defend the stances of Republican and Democratic policies that I don't agree with.

But assuming that if she were elected these huge corporations would instantly be placed under government control is just damn stupid.

What policies does she support that she can actually accomplish? That's the real question.

This story isn't worth the digital ink being spilled. The circumstances of how she got on the ballot are so rare, they will probably never be repeated, and she's never going to win, anyway.

Wonderful! The more I learn about Sawant the more I like her. I'll definitely be voting Sawant!

@5 is spot on.

"sugartit" is of course being completely disingenuous (imagine that) to claim that Sawant's stance on public ownership of large corporations is her "single most important policy position". It is literally the last item mentioned on her campaign's list of issues.

I think it's clear that Sawant's campaign is about holding up progressive ideals and that a vote for Sawant is a vote to promote these ideals in general even if we don't expect to see each individual campaign objective accomplished.

"A voice for the 99%" indeed! http://votesawant.org/

I've never considered myself a "socialist", but I have to say Kshama Swant's platform looks good to me!

Our Campaign Stands For

● A state and federal jobs program to provide living-wage jobs for all and rebuild our economy with green technology.
● Tax freeloading big corporations and millionaires to fund job programs, schools, public transit and social services.
● No cuts to social services! No layoffs or attacks on public sector unions! Reverse all budget cuts to education, healthcare, and the Disability Lifeline.
● Raise the state minimum wage to $15/hour.
● For a moratorium on home foreclosures.
● Expand funding for K-12 public schools and reduce class sizes. No to charter schools Initiative 1185. Stop attacks on teachers and their unions. Establish free public higher education and cancel student debt.
● Massively expand public transit. Save the Ride Free Zone in downtown Seattle and make all of King County a “ride free zone!”
● No cuts to Basic Health and expand it into a universal, state-wide single-payer healthcare system.
● Massive public investment in renewable energy and efficiency technologies to urgently replace fossil fuels. No to the coal terminals! No to nuclear energy!
● End police brutality and the institutional racism of the criminal justice system. Invest in rehabilitation, job-training, and living-wage jobs, not prisons or detention centers! Abolish the death penalty. Create an elected civilian review board with full powers over the police.
● For a woman's right to choose when and whether to have children. Defend abortion rights. Free birth control, paid maternity and paternity leave, and high-quality, fully subsidized child care.
● Equal rights for LGBT people, including same-sex marriage, healthcare, Social Security, and pension rights! Yes on Referendum 74.
● Full legalization and equal rights for all undocumented immigrants. No to E-Verify.
● Break the power of Wall Street and Corporate America! Take the giant corporations that dominate Washington state such as Boeing, Microsoft, and Amazon, into public ownership under democratic workers' control to be run for public good, not private profit.

Notice how "sugartit" apparently has nothing better to do than flood comments sections with straw man arguments. Socialism isn't about "the nationalization of private property" (note the right always wants to confuse "private property" with "the means of production"), but - as stated in the demands - having the workers themselves take the major corporations into "public ownership under democratic workers' control". Meaning workers get to vote, on a one-person-one-vote basis, on the day-to-day decisions needed to run their corporation ("the means of production"), with decisions on the overall economy made by representatives elected from those workers (if you have trouble visualizing this, try watching the 3-part documentary "The Battle of Chile", or the more recent "The Take"). The condition necessary to make that work without a stifling bureaucracy is a productivity of labor sufficient to reduce the workweek to something like 20 hours or so (which we could easily do in the U.S., Europe, or Japan), thus giving people enough time to participate in the decision-making process. What killed all the attempts (so far) at "socialism" is that they were implemented in countries with low productivity of labor - Russia, China, Cuba, etc - and it's difficult for the majority of people to meaningfully participate in any economic planning when your workweek is 60 hours or more. The right always tries to scare people away from socialism with claims of "big government", and they're relying upon people's natural aversion to the governments that are controlled by, and run in the interests of, the capitalist class. Give workers the decision-making power to turn increased productivity into fewer hours worked (instead of more profits for the bosses) and people will have the time to make government truly an "us" rather than a "them".

It is heartening to see a socialist contesting the election... as an alternative politics in the USA... I wish she wins the elections and ushers in a new era in the world of politics all over the world... all this low productivity of labor is kind of crap that the capitalists and the supporters of capitalism have been spreading... all these examples of Russia, China and Cuba are those of communists... even though they understand the nuances the capitalists and the imperialists put them in the same bracket... we are already witnessing the slowdown of developed economies and their impact all over the world... they want to socialise the loss but want to privatise the profit... only a socialist can provide an alternative to this chaos all over the world... imperialist forces all over the world will conspire to defeat this candidate... but my hope is she wins and let the idea of socilaism prevail... the effort and the fight from her is commendable... a long way to go !!!

with the torch in her hands she must resolve to bring light to each household in her county and eventually the whole country ... I know ... I know the US does not have the shortage of power... though I am not her voter... I wish her all the success in this election.

Kshama Sawant is a brilliant, articulate, savvy candidate with an excellent analysis of contemporary politics and the economy. She's also running against one of the most conservative "roadkill" Democrats in our state who is personally responsible for some of the worst economic policies over the last few years and almost tanked our state economy in the last legislative session. Moreover, Sawant is a MUCH better representative of the political, racial and economic makeup of the 43rd than Chopp ever was and would truly represent the interests of her constituents. MOST IMPORTANTLY, she is the ONLY person running against him in the general election. It is very clear that Chopp is going to win, but it's also clear that this is one of those extremely rare situations where people can vote their conscience as an act of dissent with ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO LOSE.

If you are truly progressive, then you will vote Sawant. It is one of the only ways to show local Democratic Party leaders that we are fed up with their increasing conservatism, dependency on money and distance from their own base. If Sawant was to get 30-40% of the vote, Chopp and other Democratic leaders would be FORCED to take more progressive positions on important issues, if only out of sheer fear of third party candidates eventually taking their seats. Voting third party in a situation like this is an extremely powerful way to criticize the powers that be. If you don't do it, then you can't really call yourself a progressive.

Don't call the SAP "third";it is an ALTERNATIVE party (calling it "minor" and "third" work against progressive change as relates to political dialogue in this empire,for cryin' out loud!).And Sam Reed is a Gopper;don't expect goodness from his unkind!Pfft! ------> http://socialistalternative.org