Alex Myers Gets Revolutionary with Politics for the People April 13

So what else is new in the independent political movement?

Not exactly new, but Cathy L. Stewart is hosting the next P4P Book Club conference call with author Alex Myers.  Read his book Revolutionary and call in for the book club call with the author on Sunday, April 13th at 7 pm EST.

Revolutionary by  Alex Myers 

“In 1782, during the final clashes of the Revolutionary War, one of our young nation’s most valiant and beloved soldiers was, secretly, a woman. When Deborah Samson disguised herself as a man and joined the Continental Army, she wasn’t just fighting for America’s independence—she was fighting for her own."

This is Alex Myers' first novel. Born and raised in Paris, Maine, Alex was raised as a girl and attended boarding school at Phillips Exeter Academy.  In his senior year, Alex came out as transgender, the first ever at Exeter.  After Exeter, Alex earned his bachelor’s at Harvard University, also the first openly transgender student at Harvard, and worked to change the University’s nondiscrimination clause to include gender identity.

Very timely on all accounts. Highly recommended!

NH

Independents Rising and The Parties Versus The People: Bring It On!

JACKIE SALIT'S INDEPENDENTS RISING
Author Sees Improved Discourse As Key To 2012 Presidential Election Outcome (By John Ostapkovich, CBS PHILLY) “I think independents are looking to see whether the president or his opponent are going to give voice to this central issue in American politics today, which is overcoming political partisanship,” she says.



If you have not already picked up a copy of Jackie Salit's new book Independents Rising, time's a-wastin'! And you can read Hankster chapter by chapter reviews here, here, and here -- and stay tuned for more! Utah League of Independent Voters [on Facebook as Utah League of Independent Voters] founder Randy Miller and I are the relay team, and watch for Independent Kentucky's [on Facebook as Independent Kentucky] Chairman Michael Lewis's review of Chapter 8...


And by the way, The Hankster has a Facebook page too -- hope you'll like it!


MICKEY EDWARDS' THE PARTIES VERSUS THE PEOPLE
Can we fix a hyper-partisan Congress? (By Mickey Edwards, Special to CNN) It surprises me still to hear people express amazement at the hyper-partisan nature of Congress and its resulting inability to deal collectively with the nation's problems. In a constitutional system that places most of the federal government's real power with the peoples' representatives, that is a serious problem.

Former Congressman Mickey Edwards is a lecturer at Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He is also a vice president of the Aspen Institute and director of the Institute’s Aspen-Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership program. His new book The Parties Versus the People: How to Turn Republicans and Democrats into Americans is in stores and online now.


Edwards and Salit were featured guests at Cathy L. Stewart's Politics for the People monthly forum both last April talking about their books. Video snipits below. 

C-Span Coverage of Cathy Stewart's Politics for the People Now Online

C-Span has a video up in their library that you need to check out! From Sarah Lyons:

• The CSPAN broadcast was pushed an hour back last night because of an emergency Congressional hearing.Here's the link to coverage of Politics for the People in case you missed it.  http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/305705-1

Chief organizer of New York City Organizations of the New York Independence Party, Cathy L. Stewart, conducts her Politics for the People session with guests Jackie Salit, long-time grassroots independent organizer and consummate outsider, President of independentvoting.org and Mickey Edwards, a 16 year veteran of the US Congress from Oklahoma City, and a chairman of the House Republican leadership's policy committee.

This Independence Party of New York New York City Organizations event took place at the Baruch College Newman Center on Apr 27, 2012

Participants spoke about independent political movements, the challenges of being an unaffiliated candidate, and the two-party system of American politics. Among the topics they addressed were independent voter demographics, the history of independent movements, and recent levels of partisanship in Washington. They responded to questions from the audience.

To promote the series, C-Span issued this particular on April 30.

Panel Looks at Role of Independents in U.S. Politics

Washington, DC
Monday, April 30, 2012

The U.S. political system was the focus of the “Politics for the People” series in New York Friday.  Former U.S. Congressman Mickey Edwards and Jackie Salit, President of IndependentVoting.org, were the featured panelists.

He says in elections, like in any normal decision making process, people want choices but in this case voters are only offered choice A or B.

Edwards advocates changing this given the growing population of independents.
Jackie Salit agreed with Edwards. She added on election day it’s the American people who are speaking.

The “Politics for the People” series was created in 2002 by the New York County Independence Party. The Series aims to give the public an inside look at public policy from an independent’s point of view.

For the Hankster Series up close and personal, please see HanksterTube.

Notes from Sarah Lyons: IndependentVoting.org Spokesperson Training Conference Call + Link to Politics for the People Event

     Spokesperson Training Call Tomorrow! 

Sarah Lyons, Independentvoting's Communications  Director, will continue a spokesperson training course, via conference call, for everyone who's interested in publicizing our campaign for Congressional hearings on the second class status of independent voters. The next training call will take place tomorrow (Sunday)

May 6
at 7pm EDT 

 

                                        Register here for the call

Participation in the first 2 calls is not required.

CSPAN aired the Politics for People event at Baruch College featuring Jackie Salit and Mickey Edwards twice yesterday.  If you missed the coverage, here's the link to view the program.

Lenora Fulani Speaks Out on Racial Divide at Politics for the People

Lenora Fulani -- on the over-taxed, underserved poor and working class people who are excluded from the American political process...

Gabrielle Kurlander at P4P: Independents & Centrism

Question from the audience by Gabrielle Kurlander at the recent Politics for the People forum:

Hankster Choice of the Week: Cathy Stewart's Politics for the People with Jackie Salit and Mickey Edwards

This week The Hankster will feature Politics for the People, a monthly briefing and forum where independent political activists in New York City dialogue with each other and engage city, state and national elected and non-elected leaders on events of the day concerning independent politics.

Cathy L. Stewart, chief organizer of the NYC Organizations of the New York Independence Party, the founder and creator of the P4P Series, has been a mover and shaker in independent politics since the 1980s. One of the most popular programs offered by the NYCIP, Politics for the People is designed to give an inside look at politics and history from an independent’s point of view.  The class uses a variety of formats and explores a wide range of topics.  Whether featuring a guest speaker or a panel discussion, every class includes an in-depth Q & A session with audience members.

The Hankster is pleased to bring you the latest P4P session in several segments throughout the week.

Please tune in as Stewart brings to the stage Mickey Edwards, former Congressman from Oklahoma City and author of the upcoming book based on his provocative Atlantic article How to Turn Republicans and Democrats in to Americans, and Jackie Salit, the outspoken independent strategist and long-time organizer of the independent movement, author of a soon-to-be-published book Independents Rising.

Jackie and Mickey speak with New York City Independence Party members, activists, and others --  indeed a national audience of concerned Americans, as covered by C-Span, in an important dialogue  about our democracy and our democratic -- but highly partisan-centric -- process.

To begin the series, I will start at the end, with a question by my colleague and friend Dr. Jessie Fields, a medical doctor doctor with a long-time practice in Harlem and in the under-served communities of New York, and a brilliant community organizer. She speaks now about a country in crisis: our country, a nation, a culture, not being able to talk about real issues because of the partisanship of our politics. 


     

Cathy L. Stewart Hosts Jackie Salit and Mickey Edwards at Politics for the People Event April 27

 

Jackie Salit is president of IndependentVoting.org, the country's leading strategy and organizing center for independents.  She ran all three of Michael Bloomberg's campaigns on the Independence Party line, and is the author of the forthcoming book Independents Rising which explores how independents are not only deciding elections, but reshaping the political landscape. 

  

Mickey Edwards is the Director of the Aspen Institute Rodel Fellowships in Public Leadership and was a  member of Congress from Oklahoma from 1977 to 1992.  He has written critically about the partisanship embedded in both our electoral system and in Congress itself, issues he explores in his upcoming book The Parties vs. the People. 


        The Parties vs. The People  

Friday, April 27, 2012

6:30pm 

 

Baruch College

William and Anita Newman Conference Center

151 East 25th Street, 7th Floor

Manhattan

to Register:  Click here

Train: 6 Train to 23rd Street

For more information, please call (212) 962-1699   

or visit www.ipnyc.org