NewIndependenceParty.org
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Summary of Content by Chapter
Part I
Chapter 1 Me, a Senate Candidate The author decides to run for U.S. Senate in Minnesota’s Independence Party primary. He finishes second to Jim Moore, the party-endorsed candidate.
Chapter 2 Developing a Campaign Strategy Frozen out by the party and the state’s largest newspaper, he pitches his campaign to newspapers in outstate Minnesota.
Chapter 3 Jumping into the Fray This candidate bombards the media with campaign statements and then embarks upon a tour of cities and towns in various parts of the state. He carries a sign in parades and visits newspaper offices.
Chapter 4 Genesis of Issues What issues can
the Independence Party ride to majority-party status? Being “in the center”
or running celebrity candidates is not enough. This party needs to stake out
positions on fundamental questions differing from those of the Democrats and
Republicans. The author chooses (1) a shorter workweek and (2) dignity for white
males.
Part II
Chapter 5 Poor-Quality Leaders (a.k.a. My Leftist
Critique) By most indications, the economic situation of working Americans has
deteriorated. The income gap between our society’s most and least wealthy
citizens has widened. Soaring executive compensation is not a product of the
free market but of corporate conflicts of interest.
Chapter 6 Making the Free Market Work for More
People Working people can rig the market for labor by supporting proposals for
government to reduce work hours. Americans work longer hours than workers in
other industrialized nations. The politics of gender and race create a political
climate that prevents challenging bad leadership.
Chapter 7 My Involvement with Labor Issues The
author began researching issues of work time in the 1970s. He founded an advocacy
group and hooked up with well-known political figures. Eventually these activities
led to involvement in the fight against NAFTA and the 1995 UN Social Summit.
Chapter 8 The Economics of Work and Leisure
There is a mathematical relationship between work hours, employment, output,
and productivity. Increasing levels of productivity bring a displacement of
labor with several possible outcomes. The main tradeoff has been between shorter
work hours and expanding output in the form of economic waste.
Chapter 9 Nuts and Bolts of the Shorter-Workweek
Proposal The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 established the basic mechanism
for reducing the workweek. The requirement to pay overtime wages for hours worked
beyond the standard creates an incentive (not a mandate) to cut hours. In the
long run, reduced hours do not mean lower wages. On a macroeconomic level, resources
might shift back to productive enterprise at the cost of shrinking economic
waste.
Chapter 10 A Proposal for Fair Trade The object
is to create an international political structure that will accommodate both
expanded trade and enforcement of labor and environmental standards. “Free
trade” negates that possibility. The author proposes a tariff-based mechanism
that would steer global economic development through an orderly process which
successively brings greater investment, increased wages, and reduced work hours.
Part III
Chapter 11 Two Events in 2001 The virulent protest
that accompanied a small Ku Klux Klan rally at the Minnesota state capitol in
August 2001 contrasts oddly with the tolerance of Islamic groups in the aftermath
of the September 11th attacks upon the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
This had less to do with the groups’ respective propensities to violence
than with the liberal temperament.
Chapter 12 About the Ku Klux Klan The Ku Klux
Klan went through at least three phases. In its period of greatest influence
in the 1920s, this was primarily an anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant organization
which ought to restore American values. Klan violence did not significantly
exceed the violence of groups which have criticized it on those grounds.
Chapter 13 Demons in the Press The Star Tribune,
Minnesota’s largest newspaper, has abandoned fairminded journalism to spread
social-political propaganda. Its stories have a tendency to demonize certain
individuals or groups along the lines of political correctness. The Star Tribune
is also known for its last-minute hatchet jobs on disfavored political candidates.
This chapter offers examples of questionable journalistic practices.
Chapter 14 It Started in the ‘60s Given
to abandoning their supporters, political liberals in the 1960s embarked upon
a policy of vilifying white Americans to curry favor with black voters. This
led to landmark Civil Rights and Immigration Reform legislation and to policies
of affirmative action.
Chapter 15 The Downside to Immigration The bending
over backwards to help disadvantaged groups has extended to recent immigrants
encouraging the formation of what some have called “a rainbow underclass.”
The role of Arab immigrants in the September 11th attacks has created conflict
between those who would demand greater cooperation from immigrant groups in
combating terrorism and those who stress civil liberties.
Chapter 16 About Lawyers and Politicians The
vilification of white, non-immigrant Americans and designation of official victims
serves the interests of lawyers and Democratic politicians. Landlords such as
the author become lunch meat for enterprising attorneys who can put together
a discrimination case. This society is organized to feed the occupational wolf
packs which prey upon productive enterprise.
Part IV
Chapter 17 The Gender Chip on my Shoulder Raised
in a world of white-male comfort, the author awoke to new realities of hate
stirred up by the feminist movement. His arrest for domestic violence in November
1985 sent him on a mission to protest anti-male policies. Laid off from an accounting
job at a public-transit agency, he has since gone on to more interesting and
rewarding experiences.
Chapter 18 Coming out of the Racial Wilderness The author’s advocating “dignity for white males” raises many questions. He has found greater understanding of this position from within the African American community than among whites. The challenge is to discuss such topics without succumbing to hate.
Chapter 19 Roots of White Self-Hatred While
a student at Yale, the author questioned the premise that continuous education
was the key to personal success. He dropped out of college to seek more basic
life experiences. The author believes that educated whites may hate themselves
for similar reasons. Our society should rethink the educational process from
the standpoint of young peoples’ psychological needs.
Chapter 20 Following my Ideas to Somewhere -
Inner-City Real Estate and New Women Preoccupied with ideas, the author followed
his own path to relevant activities. He connected with labor groups, published
books, and then bought real estate. After he purchased a nine-unit apartment
building linked to drug dealing, Minneapolis city government condemned this
property. As a landlord dealing with crime, the author met and later married
an African American woman. Now married to a woman from China, he has written
a book on world history and built a close-knit interracial community west of
the Minneapolis loop.
Chapter 21 Landlord Politics The author’s
problems as an inner-city landlord bought him in contact with a group of other
landlords who were suing the city of Minneapolis. He helped to build them into
a militant political organization to fight City Hall. Through picketing events
and a cable-television show, this landlord group succeeded in turning public
opinion around on questions of housing and crime. It played a key role in defeating
the city’s top three elected officials in the 2001 municipal elections.
Part V
Chapter 22 Growing up Politically Raised in
a Republican household, the author was an ardent supporter of Michigan Governor
George Romney’s bid for the Presidency. He later moved in leftist political
circles as a result of his interest in the shorter workweek. Burned by Minneapolis
Democrats, he now affiliates with the Independence Party of Minnesota.
Chapter 23 Two Campaigns for Mayor After an
abortive campaign for Mayor of Minneapolis in 1997, the author again became
a candidate for Mayor after the leader of the landlord group dropped out of
the race. Carrying a picket sign and distributing literature, he waged an energetic
battle against the incumbent administration winning a small number of votes
in the primary election held on September 11, 2001.
Chapter 24 Lessons Learned from the Landlord
Group The Minneapolis landlords succeeded through action where coercive approaches
had failed. Their attitude was internally nonjudgmental. Ignored by the large-circulation
newspapers, they created their own media in the form of an alternative newspaper
and a cable-television show, thereby acquiring a direct pipeline to public opinion.
Chapter 25 My Campaign for U.S. Senate After
attending the Independence Party state convention in St. Cloud, the author jumped
into the Senate primary at the last moment. He put together position statements
and a campaign web site before driving around the state to visit newspaper offices.
The result was a second-place finish on September 10th with 31% of the votes
in a three-way contest won by the party-endorsed candidate.
Chapter 26 Paul Wellstone and the Rest of the
Campaign The period between the primary and the general election was dominated
by Senator Paul Wellstone’s tragic death in a plane crash on October 25th.
The author had known Wellstone for twenty years. They were in a debate together
on October 5th. Though defeated in the primary, the author later campaigned
for Independence Party candidates. Norm Coleman was elected to the U.S. Senate.
Part VI
Chapter 27 Building a Third-Party Movement:
Part I Because political candidates have a critical need to communicate with
voters, the relationship between candidates and the media influences the outcome
of elections. Journalists are torn between providing full coverage of campaigns
and encouraging candidates to advertise. Third parties, whose candidates receive
little free publicity, might consider acquiring their own media capability.
Chapter 28 Building a Third-Party Movement:
Part II To build up interest and bring new people into their organization, third
parties should let people freely express their opinions, be focused on action
as well as winning elections, and keep parliamentary maneuvering to a minimum.
The Independence Party has both a legacy of achievement and new opportunities
to reach out to a broader constituency.
Chapter 29 Confronting the Demons A fear-based
orthodoxy, sometimes called “political correctness”, controls public
opinions concerning race, gender, and religion. One must confront these demons
to gain personal freedom. At the risk of being called “racist” or
“anti-Semitic”, the author confronts the disproportionately high black
crime rate and Hollywood’s manipulation of images in entertainment programming
to create attitudes favorable to Jews. He offers a belated defense of Trent
Lott’s statement.
Chapter 30 Is There a Third Way? Social divisiveness and privilege preclude rational solutions to the earth’s problems. The author assumes the hated white-male persona as a ploy to break down barriers to a solution. Third-party politics offers the best hope of breaking through the logjam of the current system, producing both social healing and an economic restructuring to benefit ordinary people.
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