Communists in our midst

Who is Rick Nagin?  Rick Nagin is a leader of the Communist Party USA in Ohio.  Did you know there was such an organization before today?

Did you hear about the Russian spies that were rounded up last week?  Did you know a prisoner exchange is in the works?  Are we living in the Cold War days again?

Like many Communists, Nagin is also a Democrat, almost succeeding in securing a Cleveland City Council seat, running as a Democrat in 2009.

Rick Nagin has a history with Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH). He served as Kucinich's Labor Coordinator in the 2008 primary and in return Kucinich endorsed Nagin during his 2009 Council run.

In 2008 Rick Nagin was a fulltime volunteer in the AFL-CIO Labor 2008 campaign for Barack Obama.

In the latest Peoples World, Rick Nagin impresses on his fellow Communists, the vital importance of defeating the Republicans in November's mid-term elections:

Defeating the Republicans in November must be the top priority for all progressives. The pundits tell us incessantly that Democrats will lose seats and possibly control of Congress because usually (but not always) this is what happens to the party in power in midterm elections. The Republicans hope this narrative will help demoralize Democratic voters, but their main message is that President Obama and the Democrats are responsible for the unrelenting economic crisis.

This crisis was caused by the Republicans and the Republicans are doing everything possible to sustain and aggravate it. If they do gain seats in November, we can expect further gridlock in order to set the stage for a return to power in 2012.

Given the fierce resistance the Republicans have mounted to all steps to relieve the crisis, the claim that the Democrats are responsible for the continued high unemployment and despair is nothing but Big Lie propaganda. It is the Republicans, not the Democrats, who have blocked extending unemployment benefits and further stimulus packages like the Brown-Miller jobs bills...

Anyone who blames the Democrats for the ongoing crisis or accepts the phony concern about the deficit has fallen victim to cynical Republican Big Lie propaganda.

Unfortunately this includes some on the left who seem more inclined to attack Obama and the Democrats than to build the movement to defeat the ultra-right. That movement depends on electing Democrats, some of whom may in fact be less than inspiring. But only if Democrats are elected will the progressive movement have the time and space to grow. The 30 years of increasingly rightwing governments, beginning with the Reagan administration, were very difficult for labor and all its allies, including the progressive movement.

If the right wing returns to power, the situation will be much worse. The Bush-Cheney administration will be mild in comparison. The rightwing is hell-bent to destroy the current administration and guarantee that nothing like Barack Obama happens again. They will mount an unprecedented attack on the living standards and rights of labor and the American people. The assault on the environment and the military threat to all nations on earth will escalate. Given the blatantly fascist orientation of the corporate-funded Tea Party and their cheerleaders in the media and much of the Republican Party, the dangers inherent in the November elections must be a clarion call to action for all of labor and all democratic and progressive-minded people.

Those who minimize the importance of the elections or, worse, have already accepted defeat, are irresponsibly playing directly into the hands of the enemy. An all out effort is needed to defeat the Republicans in November.

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Rick Nagin understands the consequences of not defeating the Republicans and the Tea Party Movement in November.  Labels for political hacks are so convenient:  Democrats and Communists, Republicans and Tea Partiers, progressives and liberals, conservatives and obstructionists.  But labels are useless in this political climate.  It's a throw-back to Tories and Whigs.  Those labels weren't very useful -- betcha don't even know what they stood for today.

Labels don't matter nearly as much as the content of the character of the individuals you will elect in November.

This article was written last week by an avowed Communist.  It is the reason people who are independent thinkers and Constitutionalists like Mike Lee are becoming an increasingly important element in the rising tide of discontent against intrusive and big government policies.  
 
Republicans vs. Democrats, Tea Party vs. progressives is no longer the issue.  We must search for and elect representatives who will stand up for freedom of choice and self-determination regardless of party or political label.  Rather than promote class distinctions, racism and management vs. labor arguments, look for those who can unite the country by urging a return to Constitutional values. 
 
We've been down this path before, and it makes no sense to repeat the lessons of the past.  Communists in America exist for one reason only -- this is America, and anyone can say anything they want.

But that doesn't mean you have to elect them.

The distinctions could not be more clear cut than they are this year -- the choice is between people like Mike Lee, or people like Rick Nagin.  Let's see if America can get it right this November.  I think they can.