I don't understand the need to get Beyond Party Politics, as the new Berkeley Party claims to be doing.

Don't they read The Nation or any number of Liberal think-pieces? Two of the largest Leftist themes in the past two decades are that 'the personal is political' and 'think Globally, act Locally.' Among other things, this either promotes or realizes that everything on a small-scale level is political. So why the sudden distaste with Democracy in action?

I respect the Progressives and the Moderates in the Berkeley City Council-- they have consistent agendas, and you know where they stand. They work hard, if not always think hard. But this crew is self-contradictory from the start. They want to move beyond politics, to a local neighborhoody focus, right? So why:

Elliot Cohen, a member of the city’s Peace and Justice Commission, said current party politics prevented Berkeley from fulfilling its “historic role” as a trendsetter.
He cited the Free Speech Movement and the campaign against apartheid in South Africa as two social movements that began in Berkeley.

Aren't these two goals a little contradictory? And don't these people realize there aren't any obvious issues like Apartheid anymore? Trying to be a leader in the Anti-War earned Berkeley a trip to Purgatory.

The 'transparency and democracy' goal won't get anywhere with the voters, and the building height limit is already being enforced. What's left appears to be people who can't get in with either of the two other parties.

A party that would have a shot would be a strictly 'law and order, bread and butter' based party that tried a straight talk sort of thing. I don't know if it'd get anywhere, but it's worth a try.Email This Post!