Meeting Minutes from InspireSeattle Social on January 21, 2012

Our Guest Speaker:
Bob Ferguson is a lawyer, King County Councilmember. Ferguson indicates his priorities are community safety, government reform, environmental protection and veteran issues. He was first elected to the King County Council in 2003. On the Council, Bob represents approximately 200,000 citizens in North King County, including communities in Seattle, Shoreline, Kenmore, Bothell and parts of Woodinville and unincorporated King County.

With the rise of the Tea Party movement we have seen an increase of extremism from the Far Right that is even greater than what we experienced from the Bush Administration.  Although many argue the Tea Party movement is not large, their influence has been undeniably significant, both at the federal and state levels.  They have been working diligently to overturn healthcare reform and to keep America engulfed in a high cost system that ensures high profits for insurance companies, hospitals, pharmaceuticals and medical specialists, yet leaves millions without healthcare coverage.  This "kill Obamacare" movement has been led at the state level by many Republican state Attorney Generals, including Washington's own Rob McKenna, who now wants to bring his pro-corporate and anti-citizen views to our state's Governor's office.

A less reported but arguably even more extreme movement from the Tea Partiers is their comprehensive attack on government regulation, and in particular, environmental regulations.  The Rightwing message is that Liberals, Progressives and Environmentalists are out to reduce our freedoms and liberty by imposing unneeded government regulations on people.  A common message they espouse is that "today's environmentalists are yesterday's communists, I.E., they're really just watermelons:  green on the outside and red on the inside".  In July, Republican members of Congress put forth a bill to reduce environmental protections in at least 39 ways.  One would prevent the Bureau of Land Management from designating new wilderness areas for preservation. Another would severely restrict the Department of Interior�s ability to police mountaintop-removal mining. And then there is the call to allow new uranium prospecting near Grand Canyon National Park.  This bill attempted to gut funding for federal agencies, such as the EPA, chartered to enforce environmental law.  ( Click here to see the New York Times article.).  This anti-environment / pro-corporate movement is being led at the state level and championed by far-right state Attorney Generals.  our impacts on the environment, society, and ultimately ourselves.

The Far Right movement has worked to ensure that Corporations are legally viewed as "just people" and that corporate money is "really just free speech", thus ensuring high corporate influence and control in elections at every level of office.

In this environment of Rightwing extremism, it is now more important than ever that we work to elect people that support Progressive policies and views. This is especially so for key elected offices such as our state's Attorney General. InspireSeattle has invited Bob Ferguson, a King County Councilmember who is running for state Attorney General, to come talk with us regarding his priorities and views, and how he plans to implement them if elected to this office. This discussion is part of a Listening Tour Ferguson is conducting and is a fantastic opportunity for Inspire members to participate in this upcoming election. Note: this event is not a fundraiser.