To Defeat a Bloomberg
Presidency, Vote HBPA
by Limari Navarrete, LaRouche Youth Movement
As a result of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's policy for the homeless, last October, families who had just been put out onto the street, began to be turned away from the city's homeless shelters. The reason? They had to first "prove" that they were homeless and had no relatives they could stay with. In addition, Mayor Bloomberg wants to implement a "new measure of poverty," one which includes whatever paltry benefits the poor receive, such as housing subsidies, child care, and food stamps, as part of their income. New Yorkers are already beginning to witness images of the 1930s Great Depression: families riding the subways all night to find a warm place to sleep, or children huddled over a subway grate for warmth, trying to concentrate on their homework.
This year's Presidential race is challenged by the greatest financial collapse man has ever known. The anti-FDR interests, like Felix Rohatyn and George Shultz, would rather kill than let their system go. Just as they installed Pinochet in Chile to terrorize South America, they are pushing Bloomberg's candidacy to do the same. This is the man they want to become the Mussolini of America. These interests have already succeeded in California, with Bloomberg's "soul mate," the budget-axing governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Regardless of this pair's fascist ways, their vulnerabilities are being exposed by the LaRouche Youth Movement.
Sixteen-hundred miles from New York City, on the streets of Houston, Texas, LaRouche Youth Movement (LYM) organizers are bringing Americans a crucial message: We're going to defeat Bloomberg in the March 4 Texas primary! Most citizens were taken aback by the possibility. "But he's not even running!" they responded. Now the LYM in Texas is setting out to do to Bloomberg what they have already done to former Speaker of the House Tom DeLay: Destroy his credibility and embolden the population to fight against a fascist coup in the United States. The main way we have done this, is with Lyndon LaRouche's Presidential "candidate": the Homeowners and Bank Protection Act (HBPA), to keep people from losing their homes, and prevent Federally chartered banks from closing.
Texas and Ohio are the two big states holding primaries on March 4; they are also states where the HBPA has been passed in several city councils: five in south Texas, and five in the vicinity of Cleveland, Ohio. Cleveland will be a battleground for the Presidential candidates in the build-up to March 4. Congress has abandoned the Midwest, letting it rust away under Rohatyn control. The LYM are now the representatives of this neglected constituency. Exposing the manipulations behind the current elections can catalyze a movement for a republic.
From New York to Seattle
On Feb. 8, the HBPA was introduced into the New York General Assembly as K 1272. It immediately gained 42 co-sponsors, including several Republicans. Three days later, a field meeting of the Congressional subcommittee on Financial Institutions and Consumer Credit took place in New York City Hall. No solution was offered there, except from the LaRouche PAC organizers. The CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association admitted: We are willing to help with any legislation "which does not violate agreements with investors who now own the securities."
In a visit the week of Feb. 11 to Albany, the state capital, four LPAC organizers met with 18 State Assembly offices in one day. The majority of the offices were predisposed to hate the policies of Mayor Bloomberg. Legislative staffers had a sense that a fascist option was completely viable. But they were missing a deep historical understanding of the period of history we are now in. A short LPAC video presentation on Weimar hyperinflation was shown to two offices. Upon seeing the parallels to today's U.S. economy, the staff members' immediate response was, "What should I do now?" Organizers look forward to intense activity coming out of New York State.
On the West Coast, bringing the LaRouche message about the election to the Washington State caucuses brought harmony to events that were so disorganized, they almost sent voters running away. This occurred on Feb. 9, in a district which in the past has been hostile to supporters of LaRouche. Now, the population was beholden to our level of competence. By default, many of the LYM organizers who came to vote ended up running the precincts. Caucus-goers were briefed on the HBPA as the counter to the Bloomberg scheme.
One LYM organizer was approached by a representative for Hillary Clinton, and asked if she would speak in favor of Clinton. The organizer explained that she would speak as a LaRouche supporter, and thought Clinton reflected in a small way what we are doing. "I don't love Hillary. I hate fascism," the organizer said. The Clinton representative responded with, "That's fine. You don't have to love Hillary. Its good that you know things; I think Hillary's campaign would be pleased with that."
Our speeches and one-on-one discussions impacted the way people voted in these caucuses.
Who's Afraid of the HBPA?
Equally positive is the kind of resistance we have begun to receive to the HBPA. This reveals a job well done, as it was inevitable that some out there, when under pressure, would act as agents for Felix Rohatyn. These Rohatynites are beginning to separate themselves from the pro-FDR faction.
For example: In Pennsylvania, Democratic Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski attacked the HBPA at a Feb. 3 town hall meeting. He claimed that the HBPA was a "communist" idea, promoting the unilateral seizure of all banks. This is clearly a Rohatyn-orchestrated line, which public officials should know better than to toe. These representatives should clearly understand by now that the HBPA calls for the protection of the banks, which are otherwise doomed to fail.
The LYM met an equally cowardly response at the New Hampshire State House the week of Feb. 11. This state initially drafted the HBPA as HCR-14. But some of the state reps decided to run from reality and attach an amendment, making the bill no better than just another Congressional bailout scheme. As one LaRouche organizer noted to the elected body: "Your amendment says that you need to provide a 'solution' which causes the 'least market disruption.' Except, you were elected to defend the General Welfare. What would your constituents think if they knew that this is where you stand?"
The term "General Welfare" brought out some demons from legislators stubbornly clinging to their unworkable monetarist views. One representative immediately demanded to be shown where it says "General Welfare" in the Constitution! The organizers referred him to the Preamble.
There were only three testimonies on the agenda, but after this exchange the president of the New Hampshire Bankers Association came out to try to defend its reputation. He was completely against the HBPA and even against the amendment. But the top-down control became clear when he echoed Kanjorski's line: "Everyone knows that the LaRouche people want to dissolve the Federal Reserve and seize the banks for five years."
With a LYM organizing job having been well done, of the 400 members of the New Hampshire legislature, few responded to this dirty trick. Instead, one state rep defended the LYM: "Well, I sort of like these New Deal guys, and this FDR stuff; I can't believe that you think free-market capitalism can actually solve this, but it seems like you do. Is that true?" The banker was defeated, as we hope the amendment will be next week.
In Orange, N.J., a former state rep, who had been chair of the finance committee, went out of his way to attend the meeting where the HBPA would be discussed. He attacked the people who took out risky mortgages and called the HBPA nothing but a bailout. Who deployed him to attack the HBPA is unknown, but his comments follow the line of fascist Rohatyn: defend the speculators and crush the people.
Local Leaders Must Think Like Statesmen
Presently, the city of Los Angeles is not willing to do anything about home foreclosures, except to provide information for the public on preventing them. In the face of such disregard for the population, the LYM has set up a battle zone in the 50th Assembly District, where they are exposing the weak flank of the Bloomberg operation by finishing off any semblance of credibility Schwarzenegger might have left.
This fight is being taken directly to the Hispanic population, organizing around the alternative of U.S.-Mexican collaboration on great water infrastructure projects, such as the PHLINO and PHLIGON.
This district is an area southeast of Los Angeles, which has a high concentration of the lower 80% income bracket. It is also the district where the city of Bell Gardens has passed the HBPA. There, city council member Mario Beltran is coordinating a southeast county regional meeting on the issue. The mayor of Lynwood has already given his endorsement, and other cities in the district are considering its passage.
Sacramento, the state capital, and one of the worst hit cities in the nation in terms of foreclosures, has completely backed down from taking any action to save its constituents. Where these council member have given up on providing real leadership, our movement is filling the vacuum. Door-to-door work there is giving constituents something to vote for: the HBPA—and against: Michael Bloomberg.
Is Sacramento afraid that Arnie might come down from the governor's chair to terminate the city council members with a robotic arm? That might seem like something that can only happen in movie. But if Americans cower in fear of "soul mates" Schwarzenegger and Bloomberg, this clown show will certainly become a horror film.
