Running for State Committeeman from King County

by Ryan 0 Comments

When I found out there was a vacancy on the King County Democrats Board, I hoped that a strong progressive and fair-minded person would run for and win the seat. Then I realized, I am the strong progressive and fair-minded person that I feel King County needs as their State Committeeperson. I am all too happy to show up, do the work, join the conversation, and share ideas. I have already been pouring my heart into this democracy in many ways; as an elected PCO, Vice Chair of Programs in the 43rd LD Democrats, Board member of Fix Democracy First, Graphics Director of Whole Washington(single payer healthcare initiative), ect.

As the King County Democrats’ State Committeeperson, I will be able to represent our county’s progressive voice in both the state and county committee. I will always put our democracy and our party’s values first, though it is important that we hear other perspectives also. If there is anything of which I am certain, it is that we all have to work together to achieve our goals. I certainly favor building bridges wherever possible, including outside of the party where so many progressives organizations and people do great work. I want to help advance our common goals and our party and I know that I have something to contribute.

First and foremost, I have a strong respect for the values of honesty and integrity. It is my view that integrity is one of our society’s most powerful currencies. With integrity, your words, and perspectives have more weight and people seldom doubt your motives. Personal Integrity also makes it easier to build bridges and collaborate with different types of people. I work hard to maintain my integrity and to be honest with myself and others. This is a core principle in my life and it has served me well.

Second, I like to give a fair hearing to others’ perspectives. While I may have given a lot of thought to an issue, other people often have a unique perspective that I may not have considered. That doesn’t mean that I am easily swayed, but it does help lead to common ground, productive compromise and better solutions. I want to work with people to push forward our progressive agenda.

Third, I have a democracy first, values over brand perspective. The Democratic Party is currently the only place where progressive efforts can thrive and it has been on the front line of many progressive fights. I am glad to be within its ranks, making sure the organization stays progressive and becomes even more so. I will innovate to help the Party achieve our goals. Working together, we will improve our county for everyone by electing progressives and pushing forward-thinking legislation.

Fourth, I want to support the effort to engage the grassroots. Big money is the Republican’s game. Money runs their party, platform, and politicians. Democrats must be about the power of people to overcome the power of money. We will not likely raise the amount of money they will and if we get close, I doubt we would like who we would have to thank. Our front line and core grassroots organizers are our PCOs and I am happy to see resources going into mobilizing and supporting their ground efforts. Thanks to the current federal administration, there is a surge of progressive energy and momentum which we must both capitalize on and maintain. I will work to keep our party on point and focused on engaging the people of our country to work towards our progressive goals.

Finally, I show up and do the work. Passive participation is not good enough in this County or in this Party. I am an active participant who wants to move us forward. I join the conversation, provide solutions, and put in the time and work. I have done so as a PCO, on the board of several progressive organizations, and as a volunteer with various campaigns for both candidates and initiatives. More than anything, I want to effect positive change.

King County board members will be voting to fill this vacancy on June 27th and I hope that they will support me for this position so that I can represent our county’s values to the State Committee. I know that I can make a positive difference.

Money in Politics

by Ryan

Getting elected to office takes money. This is a truth that isn’t likely to change anytime soon but how much money and from what sources is certainly up for discussion. A core principle of our country is a fair representation, at least that is the message to us citizens. I freely acknowledge that the wealthy have always had a disproportionate amount of influence in our government and that their interests are much more reliably served. This is actually by design since the architects of our nation were the wealthy minority of their time. They wanted to prevent the impoverished majority from oppressing the wealthy minority.

our government ought to secure the permanent interests of the country against innovation. Landholders ought to have a share in the government, to support these invaluable interests, and to balance and check the other. They ought to be so constituted as to protect the minority of the opulent against the majority. The senate, therefore, ought to be this body; and to answer these purposes, they ought to have permanency and stability.
  -James Madison

I can’t really blame them for wanting those safeguards and I don’t think that the wealthy should be oppressed (Asking them to pay more in taxes is not oppression). However, it does seem that the consequences of this system are quite the opposite of Madison’s fears. The opulent minority have used their influence and their money to mold our government into a tool for increasing their wealth at the expense of all others. Most anyone can see that the majority of our elected officials often work for the interests of industry and the wealthy, even as they wedge the population on certain social issues that have little economic implications. It isn’t that the social issues in question aren’t important, but they do serve as a strong distraction from the economic issues.

The majority of us are at a disadvantage when it comes to getting our will executed. We can’t afford to pay the kinds of prices the wealthy can to buy legislation. It takes almost unmanageable grassroots effort to exert political influence when people don’t have the money to throw around. So what can we do to level the playing field?

  1. Place strong restrictions on campaign investments, especially those from wealthy interest.
  2. Refine the law to make it clear that Corporations are not people and that money is not speech. Corporations should not have a say in our elections.
  3. Close the revolving door to limit incentives for legislators to serve the interests of big money.
  4. Limit the amount of money that can be spent by independent groups to influence campaigns.
  5. Publicly fund elections and require television to donate coverage.

Fair Elections

by Ryan

Our country operates on the principle of representative democracy, but I would imagine a large portion of it citizens would scoff at that notion. When you look at the numbers, it isn’t very difficult to see that our legislatures don’t reflect the makeup of our country and that they don’t pass legislation in line with the will of their constituents. The truth is we have a fundamentally unrepresentative system.

More to come.

Seattle Mayoral Candidate position on Ranked-Choice Voting.

Yes

Mike McGinn, Casey Carlisle, Lewis A. Jones, Keith Whiteman

Not Yet Reached For Comment

Jessyn Farrell, Cary Moon, Bob Hasegawa, Nikkita Oliver, James W. Norton, Jr., Mary Juanita Martin, Jenny Durkan, Thom Gunn, Greg Hamilton, Michael Harris, David Kane, Harley Lever, Larry Oberto, Alex Tsimerman, Tiniell Cato

Contacted Proved No Position

Jason Roberts, Gary Brose

Single-Payer Healthcare

by Ryan

I strongly believe that healthcare should be considered a human right. All other rights hinge on this. After all, what are our rights if we are not healthy enough or even alive to enjoy them.

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