At the Fall State Committee Session, SC delegates reviewed Michael Engel’s petition for endorsement, and, following a question-and-answer session with Mr. Engel, formally endorsed his candidacy. We urge all Party members to visit his web site and those in his district, especially, to consider his supporting candidacy in any way they can.

In addition to demonstrating values and goals wholly in accordance with our own, Michael Engel is truly qualified to run—he’s an educator, a business owner, a vet, and a union member who has served in office before. His credentials: Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Westfield State College, the owner of Cherry Picked Books in Easthampton, a former member of the : Select Board, School Committee, Easthampton( 1990-1998), a member of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and a US Army Veteran who served in the US and Germany ( 1966-1968).

Here’s Michael’s statement on “Why I’m Running for Congress”:

I decided to run because I am alarmed by what I see as growing threats to our democracy:

The dangerous level of public anger, frustration, and cynicism aimed at the political process;

The unchecked growth of corporate power;

The transformation of our economy by Wall Street and the big banks into a carnival of speculation;

A financially irresponsible federal government using our money to create a welfare state for corporate America while ignoring the needs of working people;

A party system that no longer provides meaningful alternatives;

Elections corrupted by obscene amounts of campaign money.

I don’t have magic solutions to these problems, and I won’t make false promises about how I can transform things singlehandedly. Rather, I first of all want to listen to and represent those citizens who have been ignored or patronized by career politicians giving lip service to their concerns, or mouthing slogans about “hope” and “change,” but who actually serve only lobbyists and campaign contributors. On a broader level, I want to listen to and advocate in Congress for those citizen groups in the district working on ideas and projects that can be part of building a new political and economic system to replace the old, broken one.

Among other things, that new system ought to include:

A tax structure based on ability to pay that rewards work and saving rather than speculation;

Making sure that everyone who wants a job can find one;

An environmental policy that encourages innovative and creative alternatives to dependence on fossil fuels;

An end to wasteful and pointless military adventures such as the one in Afghanistan;

A public education system freed from the curricular straitjacket of standardized tests so it can promote love of learning, academic success, and active democratic citizenship;

A health care system that guarantees everyone access to the care they need while empowering consumers and professionals rather than the insurance companies.

These goals cannot be achieved by expanding the powers of the federal government, as liberals advocate, or by shrinking them in favor of a free market society, as conservatives favor. Building a new system requires something entirely different: a government that is responsible and accountable to its citizens, who can then use it as an instrument to achieve that end. And that in turn requires citizens to become active participants in the political process on all levels.

I refuse to label myself with an all-inclusive ideological tag. On social issues, I’m a liberal--or even a libertarian. On politics, I’m a small-d democrat who favors a stronger voice for citizen and community control, with a federal government that acts as a partner to the states and localities rather than as an overlord. I’m a fiscal conservative, not in the Republican sense of rewarding the rich and cutting services for the rest of us, but in terms of fighting for a financially responsible federal budget. As for economic policy, I am a democratic socialist. That means asserting citizen and community control of economic decisions that affect our lives. For starters, we have to take that power away from the multinational corporations, the big bankers, and Wall Street, and break up the cozy alliance between them and the federal government.

If all this sounds “revolutionary” or “radical”, it is. The United States was born out of a revolution, and those who struggled to preserve and expand democratic values were often branded as radicals. That great historical tradition makes me proud to be an American. We need to fight for its rebirth. I believe these values and goals are consistent with the American Dream--indeed, they can make it real.