I haven’t posted in this blog for sometime. Going off-topic and actually writing about electoral politics!

I drank some Kool-Aid on Friday night. It’s named Zephyr Teachout. I’ve been high on the Kool-Aid all weekend and would like to offer you a glass of it. I want you to get on the phone TODAY and tell everybody her name. And if you are a Democrat in New York, I urge you to vote in Tuesday’s primary and change history.

Below is a little story about how I became a believer. You take a listen to what Zephyr has to say, and see if she converts you, too!

IF YOU ARE A DEMOCRAT, VOTE IN THIS PRIMARY!

I came home from a long evening of strolling around with my partner and daughter, put the baby to bed, and sat down in the kitchen to scroll through the Ubuntu forums to figure out why I couldn’t get my Lifebook screen to rotate. Forums can suck time better than Facebook, so I thought I would listen to something in the background.

Earlier in the evening, I had run into Howie Hawkins at the Albany Labor Day. Howie Hawkins was one of the founders of the Clamshell Alliance, an anti-nuclear people’s organization that emerged in opposition to the Seabrook Nuclear Power Plant and was one of the key anti-nuclear people’s movements that helped save life on Earth from the insanity of “protracted nuclear war” and “Independence.” (Anarchist Murray Bookchin also participated in Clamshell, and the experience motivated some of his best writing, celebrating and elaborating the affinity group organizing model, criticizing the limits of consensus and connecting “forms of freedom” to organizing structures.) Howie Hawkins is also the Green Party candidate for Governor of the State of New York! Howie is a member of the Teamsters union and was talking to fellow union members at the Labor Day march about the People’s Climate March and what the Green New Deal could mean for labor.

I honestly don’t know what the “Green New Deal” means. I know that Jill Stein advocated for one, and Van Jones was talking about one… I checked out Howie’s Facebook page to see if there were any speeches or videos about the Green New Deal, to listen to while I was working on my computer. And then I found this…

I tuned into this Teachout / Astorino debate hosted by Brian Lehrer, just for some background music while I was working on my computer. But a Westerly blew the debate into the foreground, and I soon understood why Cuomo is afraid of debating Zephyr Teachout.

After listening to the debate, I was a believer. I made a list of 20 Democrats I know in NY and called them Saturday. And I went to the Victory Center to sign up for phone banking.

Cuomo has all the money and all the friends. And he has a name that people know very well. Unfortunately, he has now failed to live up to that name. Personally, I have been disappointed in Andrew Cuomo’s refusal to engage with the People’s Climate March. In June 12th, 1982, when the worldwide anti-nuclear movement came together in New York City for the largest demonstration for peace, Mario Cuomo was there marching at the front of the parade, carrying a torch that had come from Athens, with Mayor Ed Koch at his side.

And while making phone calls for Teachout, older Democrats pointed out that Mario Cuomo would never be a “chicken”.

Listen to the debate. See why Andrew Cuomo is afraid. And, if you are a Democrat in New York, vote tomorrow and change history. Call 10 of your friends who are Democrats and urge them to vote tomorrow! If you live outside of New York, call your friends who are New Yorkers and remind them that history is up for grabs RIGHT NOW. This is a moment that counts.