An insightful personal conversation with Cynthia McKinney, Green Presidential hopeful. McKinney reveals her personal journey growing into a political activist with her father as mentor.

She talks about her entrance into the electoral arena from Georgia State Legislator to Congressperson and the trials, tribulations and wisdom gained and her desire to create meaningful change in people's lives by running for President as a Green.

Thanks to Craig Seeman, originally published here.

Note: This Draft Manifesto was produced by a group of Reconstruction Party activists who met in New Orleans on Saturday, Jan. 26 in support of the International Days of Action against Neo-Liberalism. This draft is being submitted for wide discussion and amendments to all activists interested in joining the effort to build a Reconstruction Party. Sister Cynthia McKinney participated in this meeting and contributed to this Draft Manifesto.

What We Want; What We Believe; What We Need. Now!
Draft Manifesto for a Reconstruction Party

" . . . whenever any form of government becomes destructive to these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness." -- Declaration of Independence

In the context of what is perhaps the most important Presidential election in a generation, we feel compelled to add our voices to the deafening silence coming from both the Democratic and Republican parties on the real issues of concern to us. We therefore insert this agenda -- our agenda -- into the current political discourse and assert our readiness to cast our votes on the specificity with which these issues are addressed in the electoral arena. We reject "differences" that will not make a difference and "changes" that will not bring about any change. The vision of the Reconstruction Party encompasses all communities in need of reconstruction.

1. We Want Freedom Now!

Thank you, everyone who voted for me on Tuesday in the Green Party Primaries in California and Massachusetts, and especially those that endured the vote suppression tactics of the Illinois machine or the dangerous weather conditions which Arkansas voters faced. I am asking that you continue to support our campaign as we travel across this wonderful land meeting Greens and building momentum towards November's presidential election.

The Power to the People Campaign is currently focusing on turning out McKinney supporters for Sunday's Maine Green Independent Party caucuses and next Tuesday's Washington, DC primary for the Statehood Greens.

This morning, Cynthia appeared on Democracy Now! with Amy Goodman. You can see and hear it using either our local player, or from the Democracy Now! servers in Real Video, Real Audio or mp3. Follow the readmore link to see the transcript.

We're seeking a volunteer who can help trim this and similiarly long audio clips to focus our attention and bandwidth on our candidate's interviews. Write please if you can help with this, if you have a copy of audacity and the skills to use it, or at least would be willing to learn, Thanks!

On January 13th, Green Party Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney participated in the first Green Presidential Debate, organized by Greens in the San Fransisco Bay Area. These are a few of the simple, achievable, 'radical common sense' ideas advanced by Ms. McKinney as her priorities, once elected, for transforming our economy, setting it on an ecological path.

Money is the Mother's Milk of Politics. Money is necessary to buy the yard signs and handbills, pay the airfare necessary for Cynthia's travels, meets the payroll necessary to staff her campaign and makes it possible for Cynthia to get her Green message out to the voters of this nation.

Thanks to the public backlash to the past abuses of our system of privately financed elections, Congress in the wake of the Watergate scandal adopted a system of partial public financing. Under this system, public tax dollars are available to match the first $250 of each individual contribution that an eligible Presidential candidate receives during the primary campaign.

With your help, Cynthia McKinney can qualify as a candidate eligible for these Federal matching campaign funds. To do so, she must certify that she has met the "threshold requirement" for eligibility by raising at least $5,000 in each of at least 20 states. While any contribution up to $2,300 per donor is welcome in support of this campaign, only the first $250 of each individual contribution counts toward that total.

Consequently, the Power to the People Campaign has set a goal of raising $100,000 in qualifying contributions as our first step in launching this campaign to elect Cynthia McKinney the 44th President of the United States. With your help we can achieve that end. Please use our donor form to make as generous a donation as you can. Then send all of your friends, coworkers and neighbors to this site asking that they match or exceed your donation.

Help us expeditiously put this first campaign milestone behind us, so we can get on with the business of getting Cynthia on fifty-one ballots and reaching out to the voters of this nation who are ready for a Green alternative to the wars being waged both at home and abroad by the War Parties and their candidates. Our communities deserve no less.

Running for President is like running fifty-one state-wide campaigns simultaneously. And it all starts with gaining access to the ballot. Its a big task. Its much bigger than any one woman can deliver on her own -- even a woman like Cynthia McKinney who brings to the task more backbone and courage than most. It will take the commitment of folks like the Greens of Illinois who just successfully petitioned to place Cynthia on their Presidential Preference Primary ballot.

If the voters of every state and the District of Columbia are to have an opportunity to vote for Cynthia McKinney on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, it will be because ordinary people everywhere get involved and engaged right now in making that possible.

For all its pious talk about exporting democracy, the United States has a lot to learn from the rest of the world about the process of opening its public elections to broad participation by the people of this nation. In fact, the ballot access barriers in the United States are on average more prohibitive than those of any other nation which holds elections.

Your help is urgently needed to surmount these barriers and place Cynthia on the ballot before the people of this nation. Please take a few minutes now to pledge your support in two ways. Please visit our donor form and make as large a contribution as you can afford. Then visit our volunteer form and pledge your support for our ballot access work, primary campaigns and other essential campaign work.

Cynthia brings to this Power to the People campaign, six terms of experience in the the U.S. Congress, as well as the courage and backbone to have survived that service with her consience and integrity intact. But to reach the voters of this nation, she needs your help now. Please give generously of your money, time, energy and skills. Then invite your friends to do the same.