In a report on January 15, 2009, FOX News published this assessment on their website:
WASHINGTON — Carol Browner, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice to be his climate czarina, served until last summer as a member of a socialist organization whose mission is to enact progressive government policies, including toward environmental concerns like climate change.
Socialist International has nothing at all on their website about her now. Scrubbed as clean as the mirrors in a narcissist’s house. Wonder if they’re trying to hide her original involvement or if she is afraid to show proof of her Socialistic beliefs? Either way, only three articles show up and none of them mention Carol Browner.
Thanks to an organization called The Green Tracking Library the original page has been retrieved. They have posted it here. The page clearly shows both her picture and her name listed under “Members of the Commission” on the left hand side of the page.
It has been reported that she worked on Socialist International’s Commission for a Sustainable World Society, which argues that the global community must work collectively to address environmental policies. Their website boasts:
We are aware that essential tasks still lie ahead which we can master only through common action, since human survival increasingly depends upon the joint efforts of people around the world.
It is the people of the world who should exercise control by means of a more advanced democracy in all aspects of life: political, social and economic. Political democracy, for socialists, is the necessary framework and precondition for other rights and liberties.
When she was appointed to Obama’s Team of Czars, a spokesman said Browner’s membership in Socialist International is irrelevant and that she brings “indispensable” experience in policymaking to her new role as Obama’s top environmental adviser. This position does not require Senate confirmation. Congress cannot limit outside influences on Browner, since Presidential executive privilege covers her actions. This makes her arguably the most powerful official in the Obama administration in that she has the power to prevent the use of 85% of America’s natural energy sources – fossil fuels – with only her word. Imagine it; she has dictatorial power to say yes or no to every energy decision made by anyone in the federal government.
There is no way to confirm her membership in the Democratic Socialists of America or DSA. It would make sense, however.
Perhaps the most telling to me is the information found on the DSA website regarding where they stand; their “Mission Statement” if you will.
We are socialists because we reject an international economic order sustained by private profit, alienated labor, race and gender discrimination, environmental destruction, and brutality and violence in defense of the status quo.
We are socialists because we share a vision of a humane international social order based both on democratic planning and market mechanisms to achieve equitable distribution of resources, meaningful work, a healthy environment, sustainable growth, gender and racial equality, and non-oppressive relationships.
Thank goodness we don’t have any members of Congress who are members of the Democratic Socialists of America. We don’t? Do we?
You tell me. On a FAQ page I stumbled across while looking for information about DSA I found these:
Q: How many members of the U.S. Congress are also members of the DSA?
A: Seventy!
Q: How many of the DSA members sit on the Judiciary Committee?
A: Eleven: John Conyers [Chairman of the Judiciary Committee], Tammy Baldwin, Jerrold Nadler, Luis Gutierrez, Melvin Watt, Maxine Waters, Hank Johnson, Steve Cohen, Barbara Lee, Robert Wexler, Linda Sanchez [there are 23 Democrats on the Judiciary Committee of which eleven, almost half, are now members of the DSA].
Q: Who are these members of Congress?
Co-Chairs Hon. Raúl M. Grijalva (AZ-07) Hon. Lynn Woolsey (CA-06) Vice Chairs Hon. Diane Watson (CA-33) Hon. Sheila Jackson-Lee (TX-18) Hon. Mazie Hirono (HI-02) Hon. Dennis Kucinich (OH-10) Senate Members Hon. Bernie Sanders (VT) House Members Hon. Neil Abercrombie (HI-01) Hon. Tammy Baldwin (WI-02) Hon. Xavier Becerra (CA-31) Hon. Madeleine Bordallo (GU-AL) Hon. Robert Brady (PA-01) Hon. Corrine Brown (FL-03) Hon. Michael Capuano (MA-08) Hon. André Carson (IN-07) Hon. Donna Christensen (VI-AL) Hon. Yvette Clarke (NY-11) Hon. William “Lacy” Clay (MO-01) Hon. Emanuel Cleaver (MO-05) Hon. Steve Cohen (TN-09) Hon. John Conyers (MI-14) Hon. Elijah Cummings (MD-07) Hon. Danny Davis (IL-07) Hon. Peter DeFazio (OR-04) Hon. Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) Rep. Donna F. Edwards (MD-04) Hon. Keith Ellison (MN-05) Hon. Sam Farr (CA-17) Hon. Chaka Fattah (PA-02) Hon. Bob Filner (CA-51) Hon. Barney Frank (MA-04) Hon. Marcia L. Fudge (OH-11) Hon. Alan Grayson (FL-08) Hon. Luis Gutierrez (IL-04) Hon. John Hall (NY-19) Hon. Phil Hare (IL-17) Hon. Maurice Hinchey (NY-22) Hon. Michael Honda (CA-15) Hon. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (IL-02) Hon. Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30) Hon. Hank Johnson (GA-04) Hon. Marcy Kaptur (OH-09) Hon. Carolyn Kilpatrick (MI-13) Hon. Barbara Lee (CA-09) Hon. John Lewis (GA-05) Hon. David Loebsack (IA-02) Hon. Ben R. Lujan (NM-3) Hon. Carolyn Maloney (NY-14) Hon. Ed Markey (MA-07) Hon. Jim McDermott (WA-07) Hon. James McGovern (MA-03) Hon. George Miller (CA-07) Hon. Gwen Moore (WI-04) Hon. Jerrold Nadler (NY-08) Hon. Eleanor Holmes-Norton (DC-AL) Hon. John Olver (MA-01) Hon. Ed Pastor (AZ-04) Hon. Donald Payne (NJ-10) Hon. Chellie Pingree (ME-01) Hon. Charles Rangel (NY-15) Hon. Laura Richardson (CA-37) Hon. Lucille Roybal-Allard (CA-34) Hon. Bobby Rush (IL-01) Hon. Linda Sánchez (CA-47) Hon. Jan Schakowsky (IL-09) Hon. José Serrano (NY-16) Hon. Louise Slaughter (NY-28) Hon. Pete Stark (CA-13) Hon. Bennie Thompson (MS-02) Hon. John Tierney (MA-06) Hon. Nydia Velazquez (NY-12) Hon. Maxine Waters (CA-35) Hon. Mel Watt (NC-12) Hon. Henry Waxman (CA-30) Hon. Peter Welch (VT-AL) Hon. Robert Wexler (FL-19)
I was fascinated by the list of Progressive Coalition members supporting the socialist agenda. If you would like to compare the names of the current members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, the “official” list of members is here.
From a 2002 article in World Net Daily I found an article giving us the truth about the Congressional Progressive Caucus:
Until 1999, the website of the Progressive Caucus was hosted by the Democratic Socialists of America. Following an expose of the link between the two organizations in WorldNetDaily, the Progressive Caucus established its own website under the auspices of Congress. Another officer of the Progressive Caucus, and one of its guiding lights, is avowed socialist Rep. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Independent.
The Democratic Socialists of America’s chief organizing goal is to work within the Democratic Party and remove the stigma attached to “socialism” in the eyes of most Americans.
The headline for the article almost made my heart skip a beat: “Pelosi leader of ‘Progressive Caucus’ – Dems’ likely top House official part of powerful, socialist-linked bloc”
Now, of course, we know that she is in fact the top House official. The Speaker of the House of Representatives; the single most influential person behind the crazy House health care bill that passed amidst much arm-twisting and empty promises; Nancy Pelosi linked to the Democratic Socialists of America!
For these and other reasons, Carol Browner, number 12 on our master list of Obama’s Czars, is number two on my “get rid of these Czars” list. While we are in the mood to get rid of Socialists, let’s just get rid of Nancy Pelosi as well. Whaddaya say?
