The Party for Socialism and Liberation’s Gloria La Riva for President campaign is a nationwide effort that is officially listed on the ballot in California and the states below. Despite a patchwork of outrageously undemocratic ballot access requirements throughout the country, dedicated activists were able to make sure voters in these states will have the option to vote socialist. In addition, the campaign has obtained official write-in status in many other states.
But Gloria and the PSL are not running just to win votes in a rigged election system. The campaign is designed to popularize a bold socialist program through the electoral arena, to give voice to all the people in the struggle and help build a working-class movement that lasts well past November. Below are reports on some of the struggles that the Gloria La Riva for President campaign will be highlighting in states nationwide. These injustices can be ended by a new, socialist system.
Colorado
Fracking is a devastating practice that imperils the health of nearby communities and beyond. It also breathes life into a global energy system based on fossil fuels, which has dramatically changed the Earth’s climate and brought the world to the brink of an unprecedented crisis. Fracking has become widespread in Colorado, despite the firm opposition of a great many people in the state—a sentiment the La Riva for President campaign fully shares.
The Democratic Party has played a key role in bringing fracking to Colorado, and is going all-out to block a referendum on fracking from appearing on the ballot in November. Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper and former Senator and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar—who is now the head of Hillary Clinton’s transition team—are key allies of massive oil and gas corporations.
Many of these politicians push the false narrative that fracking is necessary because it creates jobs. But the unemployment crisis produced by capitalism is so profound that it will take a total overhaul of the economy—liberating it from the stranglehold of the rich—to address it in any meaningful way.
Iowa
Spearheaded by Governor Terry Branstad, Iowa has recently privatized the management of the state Medicaid system. This imperils the health of 560,000 Iowans who depend on the program to access even the most basic medical care.
As is the case across the board in the U.S. healthcare system, the private corporations that took over Medicaid administration has sought to deny care and drag their feet on payments in order to maximize profits.
The La Riva for President campaign believes that quality healthcare is a right that should be guaranteed to all people. The insurance companies should be liquidated, the pharmaceutical companies nationalized and the entire infrastructure of the healthcare system put at the service of the people, not private profits.
Louisiana
The following is an excerpt from a campaign statement issued by Gloria La Riva following the devastating floods.
As flood waters recede in Baton Rouge and broader Louisiana area, it is clear that massive federal funding is needed immediately, not weeks or days later,” said Gloria La Riva, presidential candidate for the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
I have spoken with several friends in Baton Rouge, including Yalanda—a woman with whom PSL members and I became friends during our visit to Baton Rouge—when we participated in protests for Alton Sterling in early July. Yalanda is living with her family in her car, because her home that she rents is flooded. Although she has applied, FEMA says any aid that may be provided is weeks away.
More than 40,000 homes are severely damaged, more than 20,000 people have applied for FEMA aid, a huge number given the unprecedented flood. The damage is growing. This just points to the need for the federal government to do more than declare a federal disaster in only four parishes. People cannot be left so vulnerable and in danger for their health and safety.”
New Jersey
Governor Chris Christie, who has distinguished himself as a particularly servile backer of the extreme bigot Donald Trump, is proposing enormous cuts to education funding for impoverished school districts. Ironically called the “Fairness Formula,” his plan would distribute state aid evenly across all districts without regard for their income level. This would further entrench the grossly unequal, racist character of the education system in the state.
Newark, a city that has been hit hard by the pro-privatization “reform movement,” could see its state aid drop by 60 percent if this were to be implemented. Hillary Clinton was one of the earliest champions of this “movement,” leading an anti-teacher campaign as first lady of Arkansas. Gloria La Riva and the PSL believe that high-quality education—from pre-K to PhD—should be completely free of charge and a constitutional right.
New Mexico
A nauseating 45-minute video released shows jailers at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Bernalillo County torturing an inmate. For 45 minutes Susie Chavez screams and cries in pain as jailers shock her with electricity, hold her in stress positions and spray her in the face with mace.
We call for a full investigation of the ongoing abuse within the MDC and prosecution of Sgt. Eric Alan and all other officers involved in brutalizing Susie Chavez.
The PSL presidential campaign of Gloria La Riva in New Mexico has initiated a community protest of the abuse at Metropolitan Detention Center at the special meeting of the Oversight Advisory Board and is continuing to lead the struggle for justice for Susie Chavez and others abused at the facility.
Vermont
Residents of Vermont are fighting to prevent the basing of the notorious F-35 jet in Burlington. The F-35 is a symbol of both the U.S. war machine’s drive for world domination as well as the extreme waste that characterizes so many of the Pentagon’s outlandish weapons projects.
So far—and the project is far from complete—development of the F-35 has cost the public about $1.5 trillion. This has lined the pockets of Lockheed Martin while diverting much-needed resources from programs to address the unemployment, poverty, housing and education crises facing poor and working people.
The La Riva for President campaign demands money for people’s needs—not war against our sisters and brothers around the world.
Washington
Teams of dedicated PSL volunteers qualified for the Washington ballot by collecting 1,900 signatures at the NorthWest Folklife Festival and the Fremont Solstice Parade and Festival. At these large public gatherings, they met many people who had been inspired by the Bernie Sanders campaign who were interested in supporting a socialist candidate for president.
One campaign demand that strongly resonates with Washington voters is the call to make free housing a constitutional right. PSL volunteer Doug Vitaly explained, “In particular, housing costs in the state have been rising dramatically, especially in Seattle and Tacoma, where rent increases are currently among some of the highest in the nation. Rent control is illegal in Washington State, meaning that landlords can raise the rent as much as they want, so long as they give adequate notice. Many long time tenants are being forced out of their homes so that landlords can get a higher rent from new tenants.”
