We are the Liberation Caucus!
The Liberation Caucus is a voting bloc caucus of the American Solidarity Party, with members of varied backgrounds unified by common principles.
We seek to dismantle capitalism and replace it with an ownership society.
We seek the dismantling of the present system of capitalism, with its reliance on unsustainable consumerist growth, usury, the concentration of wealth in the hands of a small number of individuals with outsized influence on our politics and economy, and an aggressive, imperialist military policy. We work toward the replacement of that system with one focused more on the needs of people, whether described as distributist, socialist or communitarian. We promote peaceful solidarity among nations. We seek an ownership society, where every person has equitable access to land, shelter, healthy food, clean water, education, healthcare and productive capital through worker-owned, democratically-run cooperative enterprises.
We reject racism, misogyny, and all attempts to undermine human dignity.
We understand that racism and misogyny undermine the dignity of the human person, and continue to plague our society. We know reconciliation will require dismantling systems of oppression to create a society where people of good will of all backgrounds can flourish. We reject attempts by the establishment to use tokenism and weaponized identity politics to silence working class opposition and to erase the anti-capitalist struggles of working class women and working class people of color. At the same time, we also reject class reductionism and the false choice that we must focus solely on class to the exclusion of other systems of oppression the ruling class have imposed on the working class. We choose solidarity with oppressed people everywhere.
We acknowledge the global climate catastrophe and promote an immediate, rapid transition to a ecologically sustainable economy.
We know ecology and environmentalism are central to any holistically pro-life politics, as is a rapid, just transition to green, renewable energy and a communitarian approach to transportation and agriculture. We have an ecologically-imposed drop deadline to create a sustainable, global economy that puts people and the planet over profit. We cannot pursue half measures or be content with status quo policies and politics. We need bold action to save human lives and to prevent the catastrophic disruption and destruction of delicate ecosystems.
We support a more egalitarian society and power structure, achieved through local autonomy and decentralized democracy.
We support a more egalitarian society and power structure through decentralized, deliberative democracy. Only through dialogue across differences will we ever make progress toward shared goals. We must build our society from the bottom up, providing for local autonomy and prioritizing the family and the community. To combat our polarized political environment, we embrace the role of community-based conversations and civil discourse grounded in hard truths to find common ground and common sense solutions for the common good.
What are our goals in ASP?
Build a community for camaraderie of people within the American Solidarity Party who share common values stemming from distributist, socialist, social democratic and communitarian politics, whether they identify as coming from the left or from other anti-capitalist political traditions.
Actively recruit individuals into ASP who share the values that unite the Liberation Caucus.
Promote the values of the Liberation Caucus within the American Solidarity Party through dialogue with other members, strengthen ties between members of the Liberation Caucus and others within the broader party, and encourage caucus members to take active roles in organizing within ASP.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Many people in the wider party have come to ASP after leaving the Republican Party or independent conservative spaces. The purpose of the Liberation Caucus is to provide a soft landing spot for people coming into the party from the broader political left or from other anti-capitalist political spaces.
Though we boast a number of former Republicans in our caucus, most of our members have come from the Democratic Party, the Green Party or other left-of-center, independent parties. While everyone is welcome in the ASP, we want to provide a specific space for leftists and other anti-capitalists to join together to develop friendships and navigate politics in the ASP.
As people join the party from the right, we also hope to provide a balance in the party to keep our party’s platform from potentially drifting to the right on economics, justice issues and foreign policy.
Lastly, we believe the symbol of the party, the pelican, helps to illustrate our purpose. A pelican flies best with two strong wings. The American Solidarity Party has the opportunity to draw people in from all sides of American politics. We will have the best chance of winning if we do not neglect recruiting people from the pro-life left, and pro-life anti-capitalists provide an important perspective that will help our party continue to grow.
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The caucus has always been and will remain formally neutral on LGBTQ issues. While the American Solidarity Party’s platform takes a position on these matters, just like in the wider party, our members take a variety of positions on these issues.
We encourage members to engage in individual and collective action on this and any other issue of concern to them both inside and outside the party. Those activities reflect the positions of the individuals involved, and have no bearing on the position of the caucus.
In the party and within the wider culture, we seek to foster constructive dialogue on these issues and indeed all issues.