Blogs Jul 24, 2013 at 4:05 pm

Why I Am Voting for Kshama Sawant

Goldy
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Comments

1
What happened to rent control and when she wanted to seize big companies like Starbucks and make them public?
on July 24, 2013 at 4:17 PM Report this
2
@1: After The Revolution(tm), duh.
trstr on July 24, 2013 at 4:25 PM Report this
3
I've been around this city for 45 years now, and Sawant sounds exactly like socialist activists we used to see shouting Marxist rhetoric on U. District street corners.

Appears to me that they've learned nothing about how to communicate effectively in real-world politics. She'll get about the same percentage of the vote that similar fringe candidates did back in the day -- single digits.
Citizen R on July 24, 2013 at 4:36 PM Report this
4
@1 don't be silly, just because nationalizing Boeing amazon Starbucks Microsoft etc is the central plank of her party's platform, she doesn't really mean it! But all that other crazy shit, that she believes. She swears.
on July 24, 2013 at 4:37 PM Report this
5
She's got my vote too!

@3 Is that you, Richard Conlin?
CC-Rob on July 24, 2013 at 4:38 PM Report this
6
nope.
Senor Guy on July 24, 2013 at 4:39 PM Report this
7
You're drunk, Stranger. Go home.
GSDH on July 24, 2013 at 4:43 PM Report this
8
@4, no, she means it. But she realizes
1) It's not going to happen with a legislature full of non-comunists.
2) It doesn't help to talk about what she really wants; ideological purity often has to take a back seat to practicality.

I'm voting for her because whenever someone like "paid sick leave" comes up that has a snowball's chance in hell of passing, she'll reliably vote for it. The Legislature as a whole isn't going to create laws that are significantly more progressive as a result of Sawant's presence, but the progressive laws that it *does* create will have a better chance of passing.
Ruke on July 24, 2013 at 4:44 PM Report this
9
She'll sweep the vote of beret wearing, Che-loving white college coffee shop Marxists. Aka the guys you never sit next too.
on July 24, 2013 at 4:47 PM Report this
10
I am actually very excited to have a chance to vote for someone that is not just carrying water for the same set of corporate interests that are so heavily represented now on the city council.
on July 24, 2013 at 4:48 PM Report this
11
I'd like to vote for her to reward you for deciding to write so well like this.
TomJohnsonJr on July 24, 2013 at 4:52 PM Report this
12
@8 Ideological purity takes a back seat to practicality? Good to know the mass killings of counter revolutionaries, capitalists and internal party enemies will wait until after she fixes pot-holed streets.
on July 24, 2013 at 4:52 PM Report this
13
I voted for her. Why should my choices be limited to milquetoast Democrats? She's not going to spark a worker's revolution as a freshman city councilmember, but she would be a reliably progressive vote. How many of the other council members can you say that about? Let's go for it.
Hernandez on July 24, 2013 at 4:57 PM Report this
14
"Take into public ownership the top 500 corporations and banks that dominate the U.S. economy and run them under the democratic management of elected representatives of the workers and the broader public. Compensation to be paid on the basis of proven need to small investors, not millionaires."

That's her belief, as much as she wants to deny and hide it.

on July 24, 2013 at 5:17 PM Report this
15
Nationalizing Amazon and Boeing? Those are idiot ideas. I'm sorry, but she's not serving the cause of social justice, she's marginalizing it. No freaking way.
Fnarf on July 24, 2013 at 5:26 PM Report this
16
She supports rent control. Short of strategic bombing it's the most effective way to cause the quality of housing to go down (for those in the rent controlled buildings) and the price (for most everyone) to go up.

If you hate affordable housing, vote Sawant.
Sam Levine on July 24, 2013 at 5:40 PM Report this
17
Context. This is exactly why I wish Albert Shen was running against do-nothing Sally Bagshaw. I'd rather have someone pushing the council on things.
Ryan in the sky on July 24, 2013 at 5:52 PM Report this
18
"rent control"

Another dumb, failed idea. But hey, I'm sure she'll be great running Amazon.com, after all, she's a teacher at a community college.
on July 24, 2013 at 5:53 PM Report this
19
After she nationalizes Starbucks in Seattle can we expect the same quality staff as at the DMV?
on July 24, 2013 at 5:56 PM Report this
20
I don't know that I'll vote for her @11, but I agree about the writing.
M. Wells on July 24, 2013 at 5:58 PM Report this
21
Hey guys, I passionately support a state income tax and universal single-payer health care. Elect me to the city council and that ain't gonna happen either!

Even though she'd be a great vote on the actual issues that would come before the council, you're going to vote against her because you don't like what she might do should she be elected dictator? Sheesh.
Goldy on July 24, 2013 at 6:23 PM Report this
22
The Sawant v Conlin race is to me the most difficult on the whole ballot. Yes Conlin displays a frustrating lack of urgency about the big issues facing this city, but he is right on the most important question before the council: density. He has consistently and quietly supported dense, in-fill development. The fact that he is in general such a stalwart on this issue is enough to make me pinch my nose and vote for him. If Kshama didn't support such an idiotic idea as rent control I would be much more likely to vote for her.
Dedalus on July 24, 2013 at 6:36 PM Report this
23
@21: I agree rent control has exactly 0% likelihood of becoming a reality in this town. But if that is how she responds to the question of affordable housing policy, then she is also adding precisely nothing to the conversation on this crucial issue. Not inspiring.
I think she could be an amazing candidate next cycle if she gets just a little savvier in how she talks about housing and development issues.
Dedalus on July 24, 2013 at 6:42 PM Report this
24
@20, oh, I won't vote for her. Goldy showed just how appealing it could feel, enough to make me wish I were that kind of voter. But I'm not.
TomJohnsonJr on July 24, 2013 at 7:00 PM Report this
25
Electing Sawant wouldn't just give progressives breathing room on the left. It would be a wake up call to the centrists and the conservatives to get their shit together and make just one coherent point, and maybe even build a clear agenda. Instead of all this Frank Blethen caterwauling and Sarah Palin 'kiss my grits' time wasting.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn on July 24, 2013 at 7:10 PM Report this
26
How many Socialists are there in Seattle, much less WA State? Chuckling aloud! Last year, Sawant picked-up about 30% of the vote against House Speaker Frank Chopp. Democrats must like her. Seattle has 9 City Council seats. There's Incumbent Bozo Conlin, and unknown weirdo running against her for a single seat. Vote for the lady. I'm bored and need to see some action.
danelaw on July 24, 2013 at 7:24 PM Report this
27
Sawant might be too far left, but Conlin is scum.
NineOneFour on July 24, 2013 at 7:26 PM Report this
28
@8, she's not running for the Legislature.

Rent control is a very reasonable idea. However, since developers and real estate management organizations have the power in this area, it's not going to happen. Just remember that ideas that don't fly in a particular place at a particular time aren't necessarily bad ideas.
sarah70 on July 24, 2013 at 7:28 PM Report this
29
I'm voting for Brian Carver.
MrBaker on July 24, 2013 at 8:19 PM Report this
30
yes. Carver. http://electbriancarver.com/biography/

dump Conlin.

(Goldy, Sawant would fuck your arena deal so hard, you'd blush)
south downtown on July 24, 2013 at 8:32 PM Report this
31
Long, long ago it was the 47 states and the Soviet of Washington! So a vote for Sawant is a return to our socialistic heritage!
pat L on July 24, 2013 at 8:34 PM Report this
32
David, obviously you are voting for her because she is filthy lying freedom hating socialist scum who has no clue about how reality works and continues to peddle juvenile college sophomore "radical" politics. Kinda like you.
Cascadian Bacon on July 24, 2013 at 9:52 PM Report this
34
@ 32, methinks you doth project too much.
Matt from Denver on July 25, 2013 at 6:21 AM Report this
35
@32 It's funny how socialists are so often portrayed as caricatures, and yet it's comments like yours that come off as cartoonish.
Goldy on July 25, 2013 at 8:23 AM Report this
36
Vote Carver! For the return of the Supersonics!

http://www.sonicsrising.com/2013/7/18/45…

Sawant will try to kill McGinn's arena deal.
Pindoc on July 25, 2013 at 10:21 AM Report this
37
http://electbriancarver.com/wp-content/u…

Plus Carver is pushing for city wide preschool!
Pindoc on July 25, 2013 at 10:32 AM Report this

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