Now we are at it again with this flirtacious lap dance by McKinney and guessing game with Sheehan. Are they Democrats, are they Greens, are they independents? McKinney can’t seem to cut the cord, Sheehan knows she needs the support of anti-war Dems who are still operating under delusions about Ralph spoiling the election twice. Are we going to settle for being listed somewhere down the list as endorsers when she decides to rejoin the Democratic party? Meanwhile, are we going to continue to sell out our good name, not to mention our resources, to people for whom the Ten Key Values are a quaint notion if even ever read by them at all?

I’ve been a registered Green for a constant 6 years, not feeling a need to hop in and out of bed every time a Dem primary comes along like far too many.
Is it too much for us to ask that our Green candidates BE Green, NOT borrowed, NOT blue?

Of course, this strategy of their’s is awful. They’ve got it all wrong. The purposed swing state approach is NOT about reforming the Democrats. It’s about defeating them by calling them out on THEIR awful policies. Throwing the war in their face. Fuck reforming, that’s what the Green Party is for. Or at least that was what they sought to do in 2004. We’ll see if they can seize the moment in 2008. The time is ripe.

Go Sheehan!

A couple of California Congressional seats are opening up and libertarians and greens are already playing a role in the upcoming elections. Here’s an article on third parties in an upcoming election:
http://www.presstelegram.com/search//ci_6247042

They’re are several more articles which appeared in DIGG a couple of days ago regarding other races in the nation that were seeing a rising interest in the third parties - whether Libertarian or Green.

BTW - Here’s a site where election news is routinely updated:
http://www.ballot-access.org/. It’s editor: Libertarian Richard Winger regularly work with Green politicians to improve ballot access.

As a previous poster stated, the Dems don’t care if they lose. Gore and Kerry both threw their elections. They campaigned to lose, then refused to carry a challenge in court to the bitter end when it was clear that they might have actually won despite themselves, or would have if African-Americans had not been stripped illegally of the right to vote in Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2004.

Those who dominate the Dem Party are the same folks who dominate the Repub Party, and they don’t care whether the puppet in their left hand or the puppet in their right hand wins.

I’m also absolutely certain that we’d lose 90% of our active volunteer base by telling them they all have to go to Ohio or Florida to participate. We’d get about 10% maybe 20% of the students, and about 1% of everyone else who isn’t within a three-hour drive of the Ohio or Florida borders.

In other words, this sounds like a Kucinich strategy - rally the troops and lead them absolutely nowhere. To make a point, yes, and then rub out the point and leave a smudge and a stub.

Furthermore, no candidate will get any press at all, I mean at all, if they don’t even make an attempt to get on enough ballots to win in the electoral college. As horrid as the press coverage given to the Nader 2000 and 2004 campaigns was, it would have been astronomically worse if the campaign didn’t even try to get in a position where it was mathematically possible to win. That, after all, is what the Nader ‘96 campaign did, and nobody blames Nader for spoiling anything in ‘96, not even a school board seat somewhere. He wasn’t serious in ‘96 and he had no impact at all. That’s why he must have realized he had to run for real to have any influence on the electorate. You have to pay us at least that much respect before we maybe voters will even listen to you.

Let me drive this point home further. If you’re mathematically out, and intentionally so, then you’ve removed yourself from the race. You’re not even really a candidate anymore, and no one’s going to bother voting for you because simply not voting at all accomplishes the same thing, and it’s easier.

No point in anyone even dreaming you are President, or caring what you say about what you’d do as President, because what you’re saying is, “Work yourself to the bone campaigning for me, and everybody come out and vote for me for President, because I’ve made sure that even if 90% of the country’s citizens travel to Ohio and Florida to campaign for me, and 100% of Ohio and Florida voters vote for me, I absolutely won’t be President.”

That’s just insulting.

Joshua, I’ve enjoyed your articles over the years, but have you actually worked on a campaign before, I mean on the ground side by side with the true believers? Perhaps even as one of them?

Cynicism alone is enough to kill democracy, whether it’s cloaked in a patina of trashy ignorance or of intellectual engagement. The only thing that gets anything done on a campaign is the hope, vision and possibility of winning, period. Without that, there is no will, there is no action, there is no genuine drive to participate in power, hence no conduct or movement towards democracy.

Anyone who runs better run like mad in 50 states, Puerto Rico and every territory Bush plans to annex before election day. If they don’t, they might as well be what’s-his-name who ran so as not to offend Kerry on behalf of 10% of the Green Party in 2004.

hillary
Green Party of PA

I would hope though that it isn’t just Greens who spoil the Democrats but even Libertarians or Bloomburg spoiling it for the Republicans. Wouldn’t it be a wonderful event if it were a 4 way race that really mattered; where the outcome is in doubt (except for the expected theft by the Republicans)? It’s still likely that either the D or R will win (no difference) but if alternative parties can show real muscle than perhaps the other 2 parties would then be on equal footing for the electorate to make real choices.
I would still like to see the Democrats formally join the Republican party just to make it easier for us, as they are the ‘liberal’ wing of the GOP.

As to a GP strategy, I think concentrating on swing states is an excellent idea. But, if there is a state organization with some discipline and numbers, then go after both parties there. NY, CA, even MD, although the Greens are very weak there organizationally, in spite of them running a gubernatorial candidate. But let the Democrats sweat even the states like MD or other ’safe’ states and make ‘em work for it. If the Greens are responsible for a loss in a safe state? then Hurrah for the Greens. Show some real musle there!

I would also argue for going into states like Utah and others that are solidly Republican. Give the electorate a real alternative, as the DP is no alternative anywhere at all.

Myles Hoenig

Neither party, as you correctly assess, is providing that vision. Kucinich does . I don’t think Paul or Gravel do (though they’re completely right on Iraq and our dispicable foreign policy). This doesn’t mean that Kucinich can break the barrier. I do agree it is about movement - but I disagree it’s about ending a war. Wars end with or without a movement. It’s more fundamental, it’s transformative in nature and it includes: Polity, Culture and Economics. All three must be tackled if real fundamental, transformative change is to happen.

Kucinich understands this, has articulated it time and again. But my only beef with Kucinich is that he cannot think outside of the Democratic party - he seems to think that that is where he can influence the most. He’s mistaken. But while he’s the guy with the right message, he’s the wrong messenger.

We need a movement that transforms the culture, the body politics (3rd party) and the predatory capitalistic economic system that’s eating up the earth and all of its inhabitants. A fresh Nader could accomplish some of this. But its more than one candidate, it’s a whole slate at every level. The system will not change to allow 3rd party candidates to “overcome” the obsticles you mentioned. The obsticles must be ignored. If the time is right (and I think it is) we could begin the long transformation process. It will take decades before it is complete, but it can (and should) begin now with fortitude and passion.

It’s an excellent strategy, just those two states. It would go down in the annals of history. I don’t personally think anybody will be around to actually *read* the history, but I will support this effort 100%.