Quoted Text

SCHENECTADY
Concerned citizens join national discussion on economy, politics
DAVID LOMBARDO Gazette Reporter
Reach Gazette reporter David Lombardo at 395-3134 or dlombardo@dailygazette.net.

    Tea was an option for the people gathered at the Moon & River Cafe on Saturday afternoon, but no one would have mistaken this American Dream house meeting for a modern day political tea party.
    About a dozen people assembled in the Stockade District, as one of over 1,500 meetings in the country over the weekend where like-minded activists shared their personal stories, reflected on the dominant issues facing the government and tried to craft a unified plan to leverage their political clout. Their main focus was on the economy, with a strong emphasis on what was described as a need for fairer taxes.
    MoveOn.Org activist Joe Seeman of Ballston Spa characterized the events as inclusive assemblies that were aimed at promoting an atmosphere of equity in America. “Anyone who isn’t a billionaire should be part of this movement,” he said.
    The older crowd was led by NY Communities for Change organizer Harold Miller, of Schenectady, who at times had trouble focusing the group’s diverse attentions. In describing the purpose of the day, Miller reiterated the official title for the meeting, saying it was a chance to “talk about rebuilding the American dream.”
    The eclectic group engaged in a lively back-and-forth that touched on inequities in tax policy, health care and jobs, which was marked by a sense of disillusionment, yearning for the past and highly confi dent opinions.
    Retired teacher Maxine Borom of Schenectady said she wasn’t sure how to get politically engaged and hoped the meeting would serve as a way to voice her general upset. Part of her anger was aimed at the wealth discrepancy in America, which she contended was worse here than in any other country. “The economic distribution is unequal,” she said.
    Borom added that an underlying problem for the country is the misleading way issues are framed, such as the debate between cutting spending and raising revenue. She argued that the prevailing demand for reduced spending was the product of a misled electorate. “We need to break the stranglehold of the American imagination,” she said.
    Expanding on this point was Schenectady resident Linda Muralidharan, who seized on the reality of national politicians receiving taxpayer funded health care, while opposing government run health care for the entire population. “The average voter doesn’t see the hypocrisy,” she said.
    For Muralidharan, the motivation to join this movement revolved around her desire to ward off what she argued were trends last seen during the rise of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Without acknowledging that Tea Party advocates cite the same rationale, she did say, “I don’t think anybody in the Tea Party is angrier than I am.” .....................>>>>.....................>>>>...................http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r01400&AppName=1

Quoted Text

Ideas from a local forum
American Dream House Meetings held to discuss the path for U.S.
By JENNIFER GISH Staff writer
Published 12:02 a.m., Sunday, July 17, 2011

ALBANY -- The turnout was half what was expected, and Susan Weber assumes it was because of the sunny July day, but she remained encouraged.

The session at the Albany Public Library Saturday afternoon was one of more than 1,500 American Dream House Meetings being organized nationwide by MoveOn.org, a grass-roots political organization. Several were being held throughout the Capital Region this weekend, where people got together to discuss what changes they wanted to see in America, from moving toward cleaner energy and green jobs to expanding Medicare. More than 25,000 people were expected to assemble nationwide this weekend to set priorities for MoveOn.org that would be laid out in the coming weeks in a "Contract for the American Dream." Van Jones, an embattled former White House environmental adviser, is helping lead the campaign.

The group, which has been described as the liberal response to the tea party, also is a grass-roots movement that's using house meetings to advance its cause. Weber, a retired lawyer from Loudonville and one of the meeting hosts, said she believes the ideology is more toward political center.

"People are very well-informed and very engaged and interested in this process and in fixing what's wrong with this country," Weber said. "It's so clear to me and to the people I work with in this movement with that these things are really wrong. I feel that many people in our country also see that these things are wrong, so I see a marvelous opportunity to tap into the justifiable dissatisfaction and create a movement for change."

Participants in the session were asked to look over 40 ideas for change culled from among 23,000 suggestions submitted to MoveOn.org. Each house meeting was asked to choose 12 that they'd set as the priorities and that information would be shared with the national headquarters, which would take the most popular ideas and build them into its agenda.

The group at the library chose pushing green energy development and jobs, discouraging corporations from sending jobs overseas, ending the wars and using military spending to address domestic issues such as job creation, returning to a tax system that more aggressively taxes the wealthy, removing the cap on the Social Security tax, stopping corporations from incorporating as foreign companies for U.S. tax purposes, investing more in public education, making Medicare available to all Americans, refusing corporations the same rights as people, funding elections with public money and small donations and boosting workers' rights....................>>>>.....................>>>>..................Read more: http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Ideas-from-a-local-forum-1469431.php#ixzz1SMuSdjHn

The American Dream House - Isn't there already a Communist Party in America?
http://www.cpusa.org/party-program/(browse this website - sounds similar to the American Dream House)

From the Gazette article.

Quoted Text

The group at the library chose pushing green energy development and jobs, discouraging corporations from sending jobs overseas, ending the wars and using military spending to address domestic issues such as job creation, returning to a tax system that more aggressively taxes the wealthy, removing the cap on the Social Security tax, stopping corporations from incorporating as foreign companies for U.S. tax purposes, investing more in public education, making Medicare available to all Americans, refusing corporations the same rights as people, funding elections with public money and small donations and boosting workers' rights

All those people. How amazing. They are all so smart too. Well cultured and educated and pure.

It appears that these folks know they are being challenged by the folks who believe in personal freedom/liberties and the opportunity to gain your own personal wealth (what ever that should be).

They are taking the same ideas from the Communist Party and wrapping it in a pretty package under the guise of American Dream Home!!