The Washington Times - Rocky Anderson is Rocking the Vote

News Article

By Joseph Cotto

Rocky Anderson is not a man who needs lengthy introductions.

His record of legal, civic, social, and by far most prominently, political activism really does speak for itself. As a matter of fact, chances are that you had strong opinions about him one way or the other before clicking on this article.

The former two-term mayor of Salt Lake City, which is rapidly becoming one of the American West's premier metropolises, Anderson is an outspoken advocate for progressive public policy measures as well as equal rights for minorities. Keeping this in mind, it should come as little surprise that he is running for president.
However, his decision to leave the Democratic fold and campaign as a third party candidate is more than a bit unexpected.

Why did Anderson choose to do such a thing? Why is he running? Isn't President Obama an adequate champion for center-left causes? Or is the Mayor's candidacy about something more than partisan and ideological matters?

*****
Joseph F. Cotto: Running for president is one of the greatest undertakings imaginable. What inspired you to enter this year's race?

Mayor Rocky Anderson: I am running for president because of my deep concern about the corrupt transformation of our nation's government. It serves only those who buy and own Congress and the White House. To determine the reason for repeated public policy disasters, one needs only to follow the money. Also, Presidents Bush and Obama have asserted dangerous powers never intended to reside in the executive branch. They have disregarded the rule of law, the Constitution, and fundamental values that have, until now, distinguished our nation from authoritarian, human-rights-abusing countries.

The aggrandizement of imperial powers by those two presidents is unique in our nation's history and, with the complicity of an irresponsible Congress and a judiciary that has betrayed its role in checking abuses of power by the executive branch, has resulted in illegal and disastrous wars of aggression, failure of leadership to prevent the most catastrophic consequences of climate chaos, illegal spying on U.S. citizens' communications, war crimes for which there has been no accountability, and a threat to basic liberties through such outrages as the targeting of U.S. citizens for assassination and the claim of authority to indefinitely detain anyone, including U.S. citizens, without charges, trial, legal assistance, or the right to habeas corpus.

Cotto: You are campaigning as a candidate of neither major party, though until recently you were a registered Democrat. Why did you choose to pursue a third party route rather than seek the Democratic nomination?

Anderson: The Democratic Party is now simply one of two political parties feeding at the same trough of special interest money.

The Democratic Party has turned away from fundamental Democratic Party values of economic, social, and environmental justice, colluding with the Republican Party as both parties and almost all of the elected officials belonging to them have led our nation into illegal, tragic wars of aggression; a crushing debt and interest burden, exacerbated by astounding tax breaks for the most wealthy; a two-tiered system of justice, pursuant to which there is no accountability for war criminals, no accountability for those who engaged in felonious surveillance of citizens' communications, and no accountability for those on Wall Street who engaged in massive fraud, contributing to severe economic problems negatively affecting hundreds of millions of people.

Cotto: Throughout the Republican presidential primaries, ideology often trumped issues as a matter of discussion. How would you describe your political views, beyond the use of a convenient label?

Anderson: My political views are based on a commitment to liberty, accountability under the law, equal opportunity, and compassion.

These values have been severely undermined during the Bush/Obama years by the Democratic and Republican Parties alike, through the ratcheting up of the imperial presidency; the corrupting influence of money in our political system; the selective application of the law in favor of the rich and the powerful; the deprivation of basic health care for millions of citizens; the failure to provide essential leadership to combat climate chaos; the incarceration of a far greater proportion of our population than in any other nation; the greatest economic disparity in wealth and income than at any time since the 1920s; and the wholesale violations of human rights epitomized by the killings of hundreds of innocent civilians by unmanned drones in nations where Congress has not authorized acts of war.

Source