The following essay is the result of an epic facebook rant (it happens to the best of us). I wanted to flesh everything out and cite sources. Nothing below, in anyway, represents Citizens Union of the City of New York or Citizens Union Foundation, both of whom pay my salary. #IndigenousPeoplesDay

Question:

“If we Vote Yes to a New York State Constitutional Convention, won’t it be the same politicians running the show?” #NYConCon

Answer:

There are two big orgs committed to clear the path for everyday New Yorkers, the one I work for, Citizens Union and NY Peoples Convention. We are incensed that the same elected officials are always in charge and see the process of the convention as a way to build up new political people to serve in public office.

Which is why the heart of our YES campaign is to inspire people to run as delegate candidates (Citizens Union site — NY Peoples’ Convention site). The year of campaigns, debates, and political conversation will shift political life FUNDAMENTALLY.

That is, if you are ready to work on something fundamental that is not based in supporting a single candidate or party — or is street protest.

FYI: I’m not a fan of voting as leverage, but this is voting for a process to begin.

Aren’t you tired of seeing the same people elected into office and disappointing you? Gotham Gazette calls it the “Incumbency Protection Machine.” Aren’t you tired of not having policies that help or seeing policies straight up BLOCKED?

I would think that once every New Yorker in NYC understood that we could get strengthened home rule and wrench control of subway funding and if we use plastic bags in the city or not, out of the hands of Albany — they would be in. If upstate New York understood that a more equitable distribution of education funding and quicker supports during recessions could be delivered, with stronger home rule, they would be in to Vote Yes for a #NYConCon.

A big reason that the IDC and Jeff Klein pushed the no campaign around pensions, is likely because continued funding of pensions of corrupt officials are being voted on in proposition 2. I guess once you are being funded by legit mobsters (not conjecture) anything is possible and you will protect your future at all costs, even at the cost of a supposedly “democratic” system.

A $13k/month consultant is paid to lie to the public and shift messaging around pensions (he knows the area as he served as the Executive Director for the National Pension Coalition) so that now — with the separate pensions issue for corrupt officials — anyone exposed to their messaging will vote against taking pensions away — period — even from elected officials who have been convicted of corruption in office (which does seem fair).

The people of New York are being PLAYED and instead of looking at that — I’m catching heat for posting too much about all the TOTALLY AWESOME possibilities for everyone if we Vote Yes to call a Convention. A campaign that has no money behind it, which is why we have very little advertising, no lawn signs, no stickers, no paid social (the lifeblood of political campaigns). BTW — if you want to support the YES Vote with Citizens Union — give here.

Those in power do not want the Convention to happen.

Elected officials are even holding illegal events to push a no vote all across the state, billed as “info sessions.” If you have been to one of these (I have found myself in plenty recently), please hmu on twitter so we can discuss how to go after those abusing power in the name of “democracy.” Browse this document to see what an illegal electioneering event looks like.

When every elected official either wants you to vote no or not talk about the vote, you need to ask why.

We have a HUGE opportunity in front of us. Instead of being curious about this possibility that has been taken out of history classes — after civics courses have been gutted as the first to go in an impoverished education system — people are relaxing into partisan positions.

But the no vote is not partisan at all. Planned Parenthood is colluding with New York Right to Life because that is how power retains power. But it isn’t even big power. Everyone is protecting their crumbs instead of reaching for the actual cake in front of us.

We need to get strong and work together to fix our government when we have the possibility. We are at that moment now. What happened to the great imaginations of New Yorkers?

one of the greatest NY minds — Basquiat

Have we been gentrified into vanilla circular thinking? Are we working too hard to be able to view the forest through the trees? Big money is winning the left, by steering us into complacency and collusion with a NO vote on proposition 1, instead of the work of democracy with a YES vote, in which all community members contribute beyond one vote.

The yes vote starts a process of democracy that we have never seen.

If you read the history of the conventions, the real problem laid in the fact that the meetings were not transparent. The communications revolution had not yet happened.

Citizens Union and all the coalition partners are working like crazy to both follow the vision of Cuomo #1 (because we had a 90% incumbency rate of re-election even in the 90s) with public meetings around the state and to get an online platform off the ground to be used in the process- to host live-streamed meetings and publish info about delegate candidates.

That’s why our organizing fb group is public. That’s why we host video debates on our pages. That’s why everyone on the coalition is open and transparent about our backgrounds (find us all on the interwebs). The lobbyists, politicians and big money are already here. Big money is busy convincing the public that a corrupt Albany is one that works.

When clearly, New York State Government is not working for anyone but those who manipulate it.

Instead, I would, personally, like to see a Constitutional Convention led by the brightest minds in labor, those who are fighting for living wages and basic income. I would like to see women and people of color in leadership (instead of the current 73% white legislators). I would like to see meetings, all over New York State, with ways and means for all to participate. I would like to see a true public process, accountable, affordable (unlike $200 million on decorative bridge lights) and transparent, the total opposite of Albany.

While I have been getting screamed at online that I’ve somehow been duped into working for the MercerKochNameYrBillionaire monster (which I imagine looks something like below), the reality is, this campaign has been moving forward in spite of itself, a lack of funding, and New York machine politics.

I hope that I can convince my brothers and sisters working in the labor movement to side with the people who need advocacy in the fight against Amazon, Walmart, Uber, TaskRabbit and the many other new ways in which capitalism has found to exploit our lives in the name of profit, ways that were not even dreamed of in 1938.

A few ideas:

In solidarity — Priscilla

If you enjoyed this essay please consider throwing some coin in my grocery fund.

This essay is of my own mind and no way reflects the opinions of Citizens Union, for whom I work, so that I can pay rent and feed the greatest kid ever birthed.