A recent editorial in a Sacramento alternative newspaper lamenting Sacramento’s lack of a super-rich, one-percenter to fund big projects has it exactly backwards. Sacramento does not need a super-rich sugar daddy to buy our good will with a patronizing donation of some small part of his or her ill-gotten riches. Our state, our country, and our world do not need more super-rich people: We have way too many already.

In a country where three people have more wealth than the bottom half – and in a world where eight people have more wealth than the bottom half – what’s really needed are fewer super-rich people and more working folks receiving their just pay for the work they do. No one person can work hard enough to honestly earn billions of dollars. That wealth is pirated from the workers who do the actual work. We need to restructure our whole society to support a healthy, wealthy, and vibrant working class. We need a socialist economic system in which there would be public financing of public projects, projects that we could take pride in and not have to name after some egotistical rich pirate.

There is an old saying that money is like manure: Pile it up and it stinks, spread it around and it does a lot of good. We need fewer stinking piles and more spreading good.

– John Reiger
State Chair, Peace and Freedom Party

America is rightly upset about having a racist President, but all Trump is doing with his racist comments is reminding us of our racist past ­– and our racist present.

The Peace and Freedom Party was founded five decades ago in response to the racism in America at that time. The word “Freedom” in our name refers to the struggle for freedom from racial inequality throughout the country, and to the brave Freedom Riders who journeyed to the US South to work for racial equality. The word “Peace” refers to the effort to end the Vietnam War, and all wars.

Since our foundation, we have consistently stood for racial equality, consistently running racially and culturally diverse candidates for public office. We are proud of our past association with the Black Panther Party, the Brown Berets, the American Indian Movement and other fighters for equality.

The president claims not to have a racist bone in his body. That may be true because the heart, the brain, and the tongue are not bones.

Peace and Freedom Party is a feminist party and strongly supports a woman’s right to choose. It is her choice regardless of the opinion of the state, the church, or other people.

We need clear national laws protecting a woman’s right to make her own decision about how she will deal with her pregnancy. The decision to end a pregnancy is not a casual one, but it is hers alone, and should be. Yes, her partner should be encouraged to be involved, if possible, but the pregnant woman must have the final say.

Our society must support women with information and options. Abortions must be part of a free national medical system, with no restrictions on the medical practice of abortion. The only safe abortion is a legal one. Family planning information and support must be freely available to everyone.

We advocate for real choice, for all women to be able to choose to have a child and have a good life, too, with economic security, childcare for all, medical care and education for them and for their children – and the freedom for all to have good meaningful lives. Without these things no woman is truly free to choose.

The Peace and Freedom Party defends a woman’s right to make her own choices about her own body! Those citizens who oppose abortion have the right to their opinion, but they have no right to impose their personal belief on others.

After raising hopes of new progressive policies during the election, our newly elected Governor now claims to be a fiscal moderate. Gavin Newsom now says, “All of this will be whittled down and we will live within our means.” What does he mean?

The “this” he refers to is more preschool opportunity for poor kids and more money for education in general. “This” also means more health care for those left out of the current inadequate US healthcare system. Those are just some of the things he wants to whittle down.

And just what does Newsom mean when he says “our means?” Our means are the financial limitations imposed on California by all the tax loopholes for the rich and all the corporate giveaways that promise jobs and a better economy, yet never live up to their promises.

What we really need is not to be whittled down, but to expand our means by eliminating all those loopholes and all the corporate welfare. And especially the real estate tax loophole that allows large corporations to receive Prop. 13 tax breaks forever while private homes lose their Prop. 13 status when they change hands, which corporations never do. Then “living within our means” can mean a better life for all Californians.

The President’s threat to close our southern border is not only heartless and draconian, it’s exactly the kind of action that has lead to so many undocumented people living in the U.S.

Before 9/11, and before all this racist hysteria about our porous borders, many, many migrant laborers easily crossed the border each year to work seasonal jobs in the United States. And when those jobs were over, they returned to their families and their homes south of the border. When the border became harder to commute across, many migrant workers found it much more difficult to come north for those jobs. Some gave up, but many chose to just stay here. They became undocumented. Families, if they couldn’t get across the border, were split up. Tightening up the border may have kept some people out, but it also kept many people in.

No citizenship requirement for driver’s licenses also meant that we had licensed, knowledgeable drivers on the road. There are no good reasons to require proof of citizenship in order to get a drivers license. Passing the tests should be enough.

Let’s welcome immigrants, let them become full citizens, and join with them to fight for our common interests: productive jobs, a clean environment, peace, and an America that lives up to the promise engraved on the Statue of Liberty.

The Peace and Freedom Party joins all people of goodwill in condemning the senseless acts of violence perpetuated at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and against an African-American man and woman in Jeffersontown, Kentucky.

We see anti-Semitism and racism as part of a pervasive atmosphere of hatred of the “other” including Moslems, Latin American immigrants, and other groups. The current occupant of the White House provokes violence that has deep roots.

The American dream of peace and prosperity is a myth. A college education comes with a promise of lifetime debt, not a productive future. We are the only “advanced” country without a national healthcare system. Workers are increasingly on their own, without a union or even a regular job.

The resulting isolation and insecurity breeds hate, anger, and fear. No wonder the ludicrous statements of a demagogic leader can provoke extreme violent acts.

We can join those who mourn and condemn. But we must redouble our efforts to organize and support all of the working class to strive together for a society in which we have control over our lives and our future.

On the evening of Monday 16 March 2009, a number of clearly identifiable police officers engaged in an unprovoked riot in front of the Israeli Consulate in San Francisco. They beat demonstrators at random, for no apparent reason, with clear malice and intent to inflict serious injury. On behalf of the Peace and Freedom Party, I join in the demand that these clearly identifiable officers, whose images can be seen on multiple videos of the event, be arrested and charged with assault.