I 've thought about this for a long time, but I 've been held back, in part, by my lingering hatred of Nader from 2000 through 2004. But I can admit now what I couldn 't admit even a year ago: there is no difference between the two parties. The true test of that proposition is not whether the world would have been a different place had Al Gore taken his rightful office --and here I still vehemently disagree with Mr. Nader --but whether Gore had the power to take office after winning. He didn 't. Even with Bill Clinton the sitting president, all the institutions of government closed ranks against Gore, including the Democratic leadership.
It 's time we stop pouring all our organizing resources and energy into a rigged electoral game. We certainly have to stop believing that a party that won 't make fair elections its number one priority is the hope of the future. It 's insane!
We are going to have to find a different way to send a message. We need to target Republicans and corporations directly. They still need to manufacture some level of public acceptance and consent, and we have to disrupt that. You don 't do that by writing a letter begging Hillary Clinton to filibuster.
God knows the Greens have their problems. They are divided, too, because the Dems, via Progressive Democrats of America, are looking to acquire the Green Party as a far-left (in their terms) political boutique. If people want to get involved in reforming a party from within, I suggest they put their efforts where they might actually make a difference, within the Green Party, where the burning question is at least being addressed, namely, do we try to partner with corporations, through the corporate parties, or do we stay clear of them entirely?
The Greens are small, but that gives us the opportunity to make a strong impact. The media hates the Greens with a passion, but the media does everything it can to stifle all authentic opposition. Comes with the territory.
Here are some other very good reasons to organize around the Greens.
First, environmental activists are being openly targeted. It began with a ridiculous lawsuit John Ashcroft brought against Greenpeace. Ashcroft attempted to charge Greenpeace under an archaic maritime statute, claiming that, "The heart of Greenpeace 's mission is the violation of the law. " The FBI subsequently declared animal and environmental extremists the number one domestic terror threat --in spite of the fact that rightwing militias were responsible for the sole major act of domestic U.S. terrorism, the Oklahoma City bombings.
We need to stand between environmentalists and the Bush regime. Now. Safety in numbers.
Second, the Green philosophy represents the political opinions of the vast majority of people in the United States, and in the world. It 's a place where people can agree, a way of framing the debate that brings us together instead of driving us apart.
Third, it 's international. Faux points out that even as the global ruling class is becoming transnational, poverty is "framed as an issue of the distribution of wealth between rich and poor countries, ignoring the existence of rich people in poor countries and poor people in rich countries. " They want to buddy up with those rich people everywhere, from Bandhar Bush in Saudi Arabia to the Venezuelans disgusted with Hugo Chavez ' socialism --but they don 't want us to do the same.
Fourth, a change of voter registration is in itself a message, a version of burning a draft card, a concrete step demonstrating a refusal to buy into assumptions that not only enslave us but make us complicit in crimes against humanity. My friends Daryl and Rob at MandateTHIS.org came up with the idea of mass changes of registration, a Greenwave. We could go in groups to our local boards of election to change our registration. Alert the media. I like it.
The next few years are going to require an all-out struggle. We should take it for granted that things are going to get much worse before they get better and resolve to keep going no matter what. To do that, we have to have an authentic message, based on gut principle and proper priorities. The Dems ' lame new slogan --We Can Do Better --is hardly inspiring.
The Green philosophy 's time has come. If we don 't put the environment first now, we are not going to survive. It 's time to organize around our real problems and seek real solutions.
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