LaRouche Youth Make Mass. Democratic Convention a Dialogue on Financial Collapse, Impeachment

PRESS RELEASE

LaRouche Youth Make Mass. Democratic Convention a Dialogue on Financial Collapse, Impeachment

May 20, 2007( EIRNS)—This release was issued today by the Lyndon LaRouche Political Action Committee.

The Massachusetts State Democratic Convention on May 19 was anything but a business-as-usual non-election-year event, as the Boston LaRouche Youth Movement joined forces with progressive Democrats and with elected state officials to transform the event into a passionate debate over the collapse of the economy, the need to end the Iraq war immediately, and the urgency of impeaching Vice President Dick Cheney. Even before the formal convention proceedings began on Saturday morning, the 2,000 delegates and 500 guests had been inundated with LaRouche PAC literature, and had been presented with two resolutions to be later debated by the entire convention: a resolution on emergency measures to deal with the housing crisis, and a resolution to impeach Vice President Cheney. Both the resolutions received more than enough signatures to be formally presented, debated, and voted at the convention.

With the LYM presence sparking a lively debate among the attendees over the collapse of the economy and the crimes of the Bush-Cheney administration, and with a tone of optimism over the recent Democratic victory in the Gubernatorial race, state officials addressed the opening session of the convention, highlighting the growing threat of mass housing foreclosures and evictions, further adding to the environment of debate over the LYM-presented resolution. The LYM's invoking of the Franklin D. Roosevelt legacy set the tone for the formal debate over the resolutions—a session directed by the state party's attorney, James Roosevelt—the grandson of FDR.

LYM member Megan Beets delivered an impassioned presentation of the housing resolution from the podium, invoking the general welfare clause of the U.S. Constitution and the FDR precedent for freezing foreclosures and declaring a bank holiday to reorganize the financial system for an economic recovery. Although one delegate stood to oppose the emergency housing resolution, when the actual vote of the 2,000 delegates took place, a clear 2/3 majority, by voice vote, endorsed the resolution.

Next, LYM member Matthew Ogden addressed the convention, motivating the resolution for the impeachment of Dick Cheney. By this time, an alternative resolution had also been presented, calling for the double impeachment of Bush and Cheney. A lively debate over the two resolutions followed, with the double-impeachment resolution eventually being adopted.

The net effect of the LYM presence at the convention was that an energized Democratic Party vowed to press the state's elected Democratic representatives in the U.S. Congress to take the kinds of bold initiatives that were embraced by the convention delegates.

Coming just three weeks after the LYM played a similar role in energizing Democrats attending the state party convention in California, the Massachusetts events send a powerful message to Washington: The American people are ready for revolutionary policy changes, led by an emerging future party leadership of young men and women, who are dedicated to a revival of the spirit of FDR and the reversal of the past thirty years' collapse of the moral, cultural, and economic foundations of the Republic. Many delegates in Massachusetts and in California three weeks earlier, found themselves, for the first time, enthusiastically joining with the LaRouche movement to set a new national agenda, fueled by a newfound optimism about the future.