NAPFE NEWSLETTER OCTOBER 2000

NAPFE URGES MEMBERS TO GET OUT AND VOTE

NAPFE’s Executive Board has endorsed Al Gore for the Presidency in what is evolving as one of the most important elections in recent political history. There are stark policy differences between the candidates. The leadership of the Congress, particularly the House, is at stake. The future of the Supreme Court is in question. The direction of social programs such as Social Security and Medicare is at a crossroads. There is a philosophical difference on how to take advantage of recent economic success with what to do with the project budget surplus. Given all the issues, the ideological future of the country is at stake and each side is galvanizing their troops to the polls. Because, as the Committee for the Study of the American Electorate has found, of all the democracies in the world, Americans participate the least in the process, Get Out the Vote Efforts, are extremely important and necessary. NAPFE has monitored some of these efforts and has prepared a voter education package to help its members in making one of the most important political decisions in recent history.

Two recent Get Out the Vote efforts highlight the issues at the forefront of the current congressional and presidential campaigns. On September 15, 2000, Congressman Charles Rangel of New York and ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee organized a Voter Education forum aimed at mobilizing African Americans. This forum featured many prominent political and civil rights leaders such as House Democratic Leader, Richard Gephardt, NAACP President Kweisi Mfume, National Council of Negro Women President Emeritus, Dorothy Height and Reverend Al Sharpton, all exhorting American Americans to vote. The speakers focused on how black voter participation can greatly impact the outcome of the elections. However, of vital importance was the discussion of the various get out the vote efforts throughout the country. Both the NAACP and the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation have nation-wide get out the vote activities. Contacts lists of these grassroots efforts are included in the NAPFE Voter Education package, which will be sent to each local. If one of these programs is in your area, we urge you to participate.

On October 2, 2000, NAPFE co-sponsored a Press Conference on how a vote for Gore will affect the future of the Supreme Court, an institution that has a greater impact on American life than even the Presidency and the Congress, because its members are appointed for life. This rally organized by People for the American Way and Voters for Choice was co-sponsored by many progressive organizations including the NAACP, the United Auto Workers and the American Federation of Teachers. Speakers such as D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and California Congresswomen Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi highlighted an impact of presidency on the court where Al Gore has stated Thurgood Marshall and William Brennan as the justices he most admires and George Bush as chosen Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas, two of the most conservative justices on the Supreme Court as his favorites. As President McGee has said: “Nothing so illustrates how a President can decide the future of American Society long after his term has ended than his ability to appoint Justices to the Supreme Court. This right to nominate Supreme Court Justices has led to the appointment of Clarence Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall, an appointment which threatens the latter’s legacy. Justices with their lifetime appointment can transform American Society for better or for worse. Republican Candidate George Bush names Justice Thomas as one of the persons he most admires on the Court. So, it’s now up to the voters, will the future of America belong to the Thurgood Marshalls or the Clarence Thomases?”

As has the NAACP, People for the American Way has organized voter education programs throughout the country. We have included information on these efforts in the Voter Education kit.