On May 31st, Diane Sare, LaRouche independent candidate for U.S. Senate in New York State, broadcast her Friday weekly New York Symposium, on “Lessons from the New York Petitioning: The Leadership That America Needs.” Sare began with a strategic briefing. A kangaroo court is being used to attempt to keep Trump off the ballots for President. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. is being blacked out of the press and being told that there will be no debates. LaRouche had been subjected to these dirty tactics during his eight runs for the Presidency. Yet despite that, he played a major role in shaping U.S. policy. Today, the continuing escalation toward nuclear war continues regarding the conflict in Ukraine, but instead of a robust debate on the necessary strategy among Presidential candidates, we are presented with a clown show!
Sare’s guests on the Symposium were three Sare for Senate volunteers involved in the petitioning. Sare estimates that in the course of gathering well over the required 45,000 signatures, her army of volunteers spoke to at least 250-300,000 people throughout New York State. Jose Vega, running for U.S. Congress in the Bronx (CD-15), filed 10,000 signatures out of 7,000 required. People flew in from around the country to help. This is real People Power. Here are examples of what the volunteers encountered: One woman refused to believe that Vega was running for Congress, because she didn’t know a single 25-year-old who cared about national and international issues! In another instance, Vega watched a father trying to take his drug-addicted son home. This is the reality of life for millions of Americans, and why we have to provide leadership. Some people jumped at the chance to sign the petitions for a supporter of LaRouche. Our campaigns are occurring at a critical time in history. The growing nuclear war danger is providing the motivation to demand that our elected officials stop all military funding for Ukraine.
Campaigner Michelle Erin described how shocked many people were at the requirement to collect 45,000 signatures from registered voters in six weeks. Many people were excited about the possibility to vote for an Independent. Our volunteers were very happy to be able to take action. We encountered many ironies. In Manhattan, we met people who would step over homeless people in order to insist to us that the economy is better than ever. A litmus test was how people responded to the issue of peace. When people responded to that, they usually would sign to place Sare’s or Vega’s name on the ballot. In the state capital, Albany, where we filed the petitions, there is a statue of George Washington with both a sword and a plow. Beating swords into plowshares is one of the themes of Sare’s campaign.
