The United States Pirate Party elected a new board on February 24th, 2016. They are:
- Chair: Joseph Klein, of the Wisconsin Pirate Party. PGP fingerprint: B713 4744 00F2 AF06 4CD2 B613 58A1 3EF2 41CA 01EE
- Vice Chair: James O’Keefe, of the Massachusetts Pirate Party. PGP fingerprint: 9F7C 6B6C EA9F E2D3 6489 B826 A8B0 F73D AAFF 1FEC;
- Secretary: Lucia Fiero, of the Massachusetts Pirate Party. PGP fingerprint: FA8A 2CB2 EAEA 6D2A 5735 C5F8 D15C 6364 BCAD DE22.
We wish to thank Andrew Norton and Liz Brunner for their previous service as Chair and Vice Chair.
If you are interested in starting a local or state Pirate Party chapter or helping the US Pirate Party, please contact us at the email addresses above. Thanks!
Comments
9 Kommentare zu New Board Elected
Found this by accident and first thought it amusing, but would like more info regarding philosophy, and what this party hopes to achieve in the future. Personal identifier is John Moyna @ P.O.Box 6495 Spokane, Washington USA Email address: BroEustache@gmail.com Hoping this group will survive awhile
How about a Presidential Candidate? Someone as blunt as The Donald, but someone who supports inclusiveness of all groups in the fabric of our society, understands government and consequences of actions. Someone who listens and behaves with civility. Someone with charisma, a sense of humor, energy and intelligence.
This Presidential campaign is up for grabs. All it takes is media attention and the ability to capture the imagination.
I think Bernie Sanders could be an attractive candidate as he embodies many of the qualities of a benevolent pirate. He would need to clarify how intrusive he would allow government to be in some areas. Personally I think it is a good use of our (simplified, fair) taxes to provide health care for its citizens, along with protection and infrastructure – and to negotiate on our behalf in the world market. Additionally, a mechanism for preventing the corruption and greed in the financial community and business communities needs to be developed. Otherwise, generally, government needs to stay the hell out of our lives.
Other candidates? Rand Paul (right ideals but not enough charisma)? Kevin Spacey (he already acts like a president albeit a ruthless one)? Jon Steward (sense of humor, name recognition, but not sure exactly what his politics are)? Fareed Zakaria (he seems confident, reasoned, and a potential pirate – is he a naturalized citizen)?
Linda, what do you think of John McAfee?
Pirate Party of Wyoming is needed. Contact Me
Pirate Party of Wyoming needed–contact me
I jist learned if the USPP and was intrigued; however, seeing comments like the one above means I can’t even consider getting involved… If the best idea for a presidential candidate is to a) co-opt the current leading SOCIALIST candidate, who has a congressional record rife with establishment-arianism, b) a diametrically opposite Tea Party candidate who has proven to lack the charisma to win a popular vote, then c) 3 Hollywood B-list hacks… seriously? This party will need much better thought leadership than this to even gain readers, let alone actual voters willing to ostracize themselves from mainstream politics in an attempt to save our nation.
I don’t think the Pirate Party should endorse anyone, who is not a pirate. We need to get our states, houses in order – we need to run our candidates at the local and state level and work toward ballot status in all 50. That will take time, vision, and patience. The swarm will eventually overpower the donkey and the elephant.
If anything I’d say pirate party should try to be the voice of rationality – a third way between the extreme alternatives. Democrats and Republicans want to drive up debt and maintain a global empire on the backs of the tax payers, while lining their pockets and those of big business. Libertarians want to replace oppressive government with no government – so basically corporate oligarchy or anarchy in other words. Green party wants to replace individual liberty with a total nanny-state. Here’s what the pirate party should do: first, forget about the entrenched Democrat/Republican sheep. You’re not going to win many of them over, they’re too obsessed with keeping each other out of office to risk voting for anything they might actually believe in. Go after the non-voters. There are more non-voters than people who vote Democrat or Republican, if you can get support of those people who are so disenfranchised they don’t even bother to cast a vote, you will win. Run on a platform of individual liberty, sticking closely to the constitution. Say that everyone has the right to live their life how they want as long unless they violate somebody else’s right to do the same. End the budget deficit by taking the vetted budget cuts proposed by Republicans (mostly left-wing special interests) and the vetted budget cuts proposed by Democrats (mostly right-wing special interests) and cut everything. Problem solved, totally bipartisan. Close gitmo and either accuse prisoners of crimes and have trials or let them go. Stop all references to “war” when speaking about ISIS. ISIS is not a government, it is a cult. Cults don’t commit terrorism, they commit crimes. They aren’t terrorists, they are murderers and criminals. You can’t wage war with a cult. It only lends credibility to their status and serves as a recruitment tool. Want to shut ISIS down? Get local and international police involved and stop sending in military and stop calling it a war. The worst thing we can do is call this a war and go in alone with our military. As for taxes, new tax rate for the bottom 20% income bracket is 0%. It only accounts for 2-3% of our gross tax revenue, so why bother taking money from those who need it the most. Corporate tax rate should reduce from 35% to 13% (~half) which is a Republican idea. This is offset by making offshore tax haven strategies illegal, which is a Democrat idea. Now instead of earning $0 tax revenue on trillions of offshore profit, we earn 13% tax revenue on that money. Businesses are happy because they can reinvest the money they earned wihout paying 35% taxes. Government is happy because we started earning >$0 on all that money that used to be funneled offshore. Win-win. End medicare/medicaid/welfare/etc. Replace it with an unconditional basic income for all citizens. Fund it with all the money you’ll save from shutting down all of the military bases outside the US borders and fund with tax dollars. End oil subsidies. End solar subsidies. End all subsidies. Give the EPA some teeth, they should prosecute and sue when there is evidence a company is endangering people and/or the environment with their actions. The government doesn’t do enough to punish corporations when they violate we the people’s right to life liberty and happiness by putting poison in our water and air. I’m thinking about fracking, in particular. The long term effects are not entirely known, but we already know that people’s water is being poisoned and methane gas (hundreds of times more potent greenhouse gas than CO2) is being released into the air much more than previously thought. These considerations are being forgotten because of how profitable natural gas is. The government needs to stand up to corporations and protect we the people.
If a party acknowledges values over party then advocating a “best-match” candidate in elections the pirate party is not running in seems like a logical step – especially higher level candidates (who might vocalize such a show of solidarity to sway pirate party voters). The pirate party in particular is a party founded on sharing so creating a network of other parties that you will agree to debate, discuss, and endorse is vital to successful pirate (and other) parties.
Berniecrats.net created a list of politicians endorsing Bernie and his issues and it’s a fantastic idea if you want to aim for maximum impact (they have a big spreadsheet with state-by-state breakdowns based on a questionnaire.) My political alignment is somewhere between green and pirate and there are key places where pirate party overlaps with green (equal representation, grassroots democracy, human rights, free speech, etc.). Building bridges and cross-pollination of ideas is essential to the success of non-major parties and their issues. Even if the pirate party isn’t represented in every race it can still be influential in making its issues heard.