On Socialism, and this one guy I know...

[stevedeshazer]

Back in August 2002, when we were busy trying to stop the impending invasion of Iraq through demonstrations in our town of Little Beirut, my teenage son and I were marching in the streets and raising hell with about 39,998 of our friends and neighbors of similar mind.



Once the above confrontation with Officer Friendly and his crew died down, we marched on. My son's self-made sign got a lot of compliments for its simple message: War Is Wrong. Before long, it got the attention of an older fellow, who walked up to us and addressed us directly with outstretched hand, shaking ours vigorously and introducing himself: Walt Brown.

It took a moment before I realized he was, well, Walt Freaking Brown! I almost fell off the curb, then explained to his obvious delight how I'd voted for him for Congress.

You see, Walt was a state senator in Oregon for twelve years...as a Democrat. But he ran for Congress and never won. Why? He ran as a Socialist.

There are certain things in American politics you can't be if you are to win an election. Socialist, for sure. Atheist or agnostic, yup. I could throw in Muslim, too, except Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) thankfully broke that mold.

But, I digress. The important thing is, who is Walter Frederick Brown? And what does he stand for? And why should you care?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Frederick_Brown

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<snips> (a bit long, sorry)

During WWll, at the age of seventeen, June 15, 1944, Brown enlisted for active duty in the United States Navy as a Seaman First Class. After eleven months of school in radio technician school, Brown was promoted to Radio Technician Second Class and assigned to an amphibious ship USS Carter Hall, stationed in Shanghai, China. In June 1946, he was honorably discharged and enlisted into the inactive Naval Reserve. Utilizing the G.I. Bill, (September 1946 to January 1952), he attended the University of Southern California, earning a B.A. (law) in June 1949 (cum laude), and a J.D. in 1952. He was a Rhodes Scholar nominee and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

In the spring of 1952, Brown was called back to military duty to serve in the Korean War.

After twenty-six years of naval service, during which time he served as a public defender; an advocate for military men with service related disabilities that were fighting the government for denied disability coverage; a trial prosecutor; an appellate criminal attorney in Washington, D.C.; an instructor at the U.S. School of Naval Justice in Rhode Island; a legal officer for the U.S. Naval Station in the Philippines; and a general court martial judge in San Diego, California, he retired with the rank of Commander in the JAG Corps, United States Navy in 1970.

Brown studied Constitutional Law at Harvard. In 1961, he received an MA from Boston University, and an MLS from the University of Oregon School of Librarianship in 1975.

After his extensive service in military law and courts, Brown was hired as an associate professor at the Northwestern School of Law, Lewis & Clark College, teaching from 1970 to 1980.

From 1979 to 1980, he was the Malheur County Counsel and Deputy District Attorney and was General Counsel of the Oregon Consumer League, 1987-1989, and 1991-present.

He is currently (as of 2005) the General Counsel for the Socialist Party USA and a volunteer Attorney with the Consumer Justice Alliance (from 2000-present).

In 2003 Brown received two awards from the Oregon State Bar (in the active emeritus member category), one for the most Legal Services to the Poor, another for Total Hours of Pro Bono Services.

Brown served three terms in the Oregon State Senate, elected as a Democrat, from 1974 to 1986. Probably his greatest victory in the Senate was the world's first ban on ozone-destroying chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) in 1975, which served as a model for several other governments. The ban went into effect in 1977 in Oregon, allowing the Oregon Legislative Assembly to make any needed adjustments (such as to allow CFCs to continue to be used in inhalers for people with asthma).

Brown received many awards from environmental groups for his environmental voting record while in the Oregon State Senate.

Brown was elected to be the presidential candidate of the Socialist Party USA (SP-USA). He went on to earn 10,837 votes, more than any of the Party's presidential candidates since 1952.

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Now, if someone wants to tell me why Socialism should be treated with near universal disdain and ridicule, my buddy Walt here can whip any guy in this room.

* Walt Brown is currently a candidate for Oregon Attorney General as a member of the Pacific Green Party and he has my vote.



http://www.sos.state.or.us/elections/nov42008/guide/cand/brown_w.html

[BrklynLiberal]

1. Sounds like a great man..

I know that Bernie Sanders, VT Sen, is a self-proclaimed socialist, but he ran on the Independent ticket.

[stevedeshazer]

2. Nicest guy you'd ever meet.

Sen. Sanders is another great Socialist.

What's so bad about Socialism?

[BrklynLiberal]

4. Nuttin Honey

[Selatius]

5. Because your boss says it's bad. Now get back to work and shut up!

:sarcasm:

[leftstreet]

3. K&R Thanks for posting!

:thumbsup: