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<h2><big><big>Freedom Rider: The Working Families Party Must Go</big></big></h2>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<h3><big><big>by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley</big></big></h3>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<h5><big><big>“It is time to admit that leftists have no influence
in the Democratic Party.”</big></big></h5>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Here in New York state, the uselessness of the
Democratic Party “progressive” wing is on full display. The
Democrat in name only governor, Andrew Cuomo, was not only
re-elected but did so by knocking the phony progressives down
a peg and down a line on the ballot. The Working Families
Party (WFP) has suffered a well deserved comeuppance, having
spent the past year <a
href="http://blackagendareport.com/content/freedom-rider-working-families-party-betrayal"
target="_blank">betraying the causes</a> it claims to
support. </big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Known as Governor 1%, Cuomo was elected in 2010 with
the endorsement of the WFP, a union-financed party who can run
their own candidates but instead give Democrats an additional
ballot line. Despite the endorsement, Cuomo made good on his
threat to lay off state unionized workers and cut their
salaries. Cuomo said nothing when corrupt Democrats in the
state senate switched sides and gave Republicans the majority
in that chamber. He has made no secret of his liking for this
arrangement and his disdain for other Democrats and for the
WFP.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>He temporarily said all the right things to win another
WFP endorsement in 2014 and then promptly formed a rival party
in order to punish them. The Women’s Equality Party (WEP) has
a similar name which confused some voters, as it was meant to
do. Cuomo didn’t need the new party to get re-elected but he
did want to show the WFP who was boss.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The Democrat response to their self-inflicted wound was
to beg progressives to vote on the now discredited WFP line
and for the man who kicked them when they were down. They
pulled out all the stops, using everything from celebrity
endorsements to getting <a
href="http://www.thenation.com/article/185449/vote-working-families-party-pressure-andrew-cuomo"
target="_blank">The Nation</a> magazine to put its seal of
approval on the political disaster.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<h5><big><big>“Cuomo didn’t need the new party to get re-elected but
he did want to show the WFP who was boss.”</big></big></h5>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>But progressive voters in New York really had only one
choice all along, and that was to vote on the Green Party
line. The Democrats gave them no choice with their incompetent
back room dealing and subservience to big money. The WFP was
stuck with a governor whose name they didn’t even want to use
even as they asked for votes.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>It is easy and accurate to describe governor Andrew
Cuomo has an evil bully but that has been obvious for many
years. Cuomo cut his teeth as his father Mario Cuomo’s
“hatchet man” while still a young man. He was a known quantity
four years ago but the WFP endorsed him anyway. They thought
they had a deal to endorse him again in 2014 without
embarrassing themselves but Cuomo is nothing if not
consistent. Angry that he had to bend at all, he gave the WFP
the finger, publicly backtracked on a pledge to help Democrats
get elected, expanded the number of charter schools and
bragged about giving tax relief to corporations and wealthy
people.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Having been played for fools, the WFP was stuck with
the endorsement but they didn’t back down from their habit of
bringing knives to gun fights. They exhorted progressives to
vote on their line and even tried to convince foolish people
that they were hurting Cuomo by voting for him.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The whole sorry episode is a result of the Democratic
political class in action. The unions who fund the WFP don’t
really want to fight for their members or to strengthen
working people. They want to have an in with the powerful and
create a life line of high paying jobs for their insiders. The
WFP is nothing but the Democratic party rebranded to appear
more progressive than it actually is. </big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<h5><big><big>“It is better that the Green Party, which is
pro-public education and single payer health care, moves ahead
of the WFP.”</big></big></h5>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>The careerists and opportunists in the WFP have been
found out and should be finished in New York state politics
once and for all. It is fitting that their amateurish and
duplicitous machinations have resulted in the Green Party <a
href="http://www.capitalnewyork.com/article/albany/2014/11/8556093/green-party-rises-expense-working-families"
target="_blank">getting more votes</a> and moving ahead of
them on the ballot. The WFP, like the rest of the Democratic
Party, doesn’t want <a
href="http://socialistworker.org/2014/11/04/the-wfps-upside-down-logic"
target="_blank">real progressive politics</a> anyway. It is
better that the Green Party, which is pro-public education and
single payer health care, moves ahead of the WFP. We should
have true progressives in electoral politics but the
Democratic Party and their supposedly left wing want to
prevent that from happening. Ironically Cuomo did New York a
favor by making that all too clear.</big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>Democrats in New York state are like their counterparts
across the country, talking a good game about being
progressive but never delivering when they have an opportunity
to do so. The loss of the United States Senate to Republicans
is not as bad as we are led to believe. The Democrats
controlled the White House and both Houses of Congress in 2009
and 2010 and could have increased the minimum wage. Now they
only raise the issue when Republicans are in control and they
can do nothing about it. </big></big></p>
<big><big>
</big></big>
<p><big><big>It is time to admit that leftists have no influence in
the Democratic Party. No one has to beg the Green Party to
move left because they are authentically there to begin with.
Old tropes about wasted votes must be discarded and unpleasant
truths must be acknowledged. The experience in New York state
shows that third parties aren’t spoilers, it is the Democrats
who do that all by themselves. </big></big></p>
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