[Sosfbay-discuss] [SC-SM] New progressive 3rd party and the Greens place in multiparty democracy

[Drew Johnson]

Hey Scott,

If you read the part of the e-mail that you clipped off I believe you'll
find that the time frame projected was AFTER the 2008 elections (ie. it
talks about 'November')  And BTW, several efforts are already underway.
But I'm talking about general trends here, and the general trend is
towards multiparty democracy.  In multiparty democracy I see we Greens as
holding a very significant leadership role.  That is what my post was
about.  The demise of The Duopoly and new opportunities for Greens in this
upcoming situation.

And absolutely I agree that running all out is what we need to do to the
best of our ability.

Green is Core!

Drew Johnson
GPCA

On Tue, November 13, 2007 10:41, Scott McLarty wrote:
> Hi Drew
>
> I doubt very much that we'll see a new party
> between now and November 2008.  If a new
> insurgency for another party were going to take
> place before the next election, we'd be seeing
> lots of evidence already.  Organizing a new
> political party requires a strenuous effort
> involving lots of people, and it has to take
> place early enough for the new party to get
> ballot lines in as many states as possible.  In
> other words, if it were going to happen, it would
> have happened months ago.
>
> Dennis Kucinich is no closer right now to leaving
> the Dems for a new third party than he is to
> leaving the Dems for the GP.  Cindy Sheehan has
> been outstanding as an antiwar leader and may
> turn out to be an excellent independent
> candidate, but she hasn't shown any interest in
> the kind of political organizing associated with
> founding a new party.
>
> The closest thing to what you describe is Unity
> 08, which wants to locate a populist crack
> between Democrat & Republican and use that as a
> basis for a presidential campaign with a
> bipartisan ticket.  Of course, there is no such
> 'between' -- the D & R parties overlap too much.
> You can put a D and an R on the same ticket, but
> they'll still be corporate party politicians.
>
> Furthermore, Unity 08 is built on the same
> fallacy as Perot's Reform Party, that you can
> establish an alternative party or movement with
> an independent alternative presidential campaign.
>
> The GP, on the other hand, has built a national
> infrastructure that has lasted more than one or
> two elections because we don't put all our
> resources & efforts behind the presidential race.
>  We're a grassroots party that runs  candidates
> at every level.  Regardless of how we do in any
> given presidential election, we still have lots
> of other races, and Greens win some of them.
>
> This is an argument for running lots of strong
> Green campaigns for local & state office in 2008,
> especially for state legislatures, which we're
> capable of winning.  A strong list of Green
> victories at the end of 2008 will demonstrate the
> GP's permanence, that we're not going to go the
> way of the Reform Party.
>
> Our objectives for 2008 should be (1) hold a
> high-profile competition for the Green
> presidential nomination with several strong
> candidates, and then unite behind the nominees;
> (2) run lots of candidates for local & state
> office, with a concentrated effort to get Greens
> into more city councils, mayors' seats, & state
> legislatures (Brent McMillan's 2008 Challenge,
> aiming for 1,000 Green candidates in 2008, is a
> good basis for this, and the national GP should
> offer our candidates as much assistance as
> possible); and (3) work with other groups (other
> political parties, when necessary) for reform of
> ballot access rules, impeachment, withdrawal of
> US troops from both wars, and other goals.
>
> That's how we'll establish a permanent Green
> alternative to both two-party domination and
> fly-by-night independent & third party efforts.
> Conversely, if our goal is multi-party democracy
> with a variety of options for voters, then the
> first step in achieving it is giving America its
> first permanent third party.
>
> Scott
>
>
> --- Drew Johnson <JamBoi at Greens.org> wrote:
>
>> While I don't feel certain of the details such
>> as who, and when, as I've
>> been saying this year I do feel certain that a
>> new progressive 3rd party
>> is likely to arise (one with lower standards
>> than we Greens promote with
>> our 10KV).  The energy is there for it and
>> people like Sheehan and
>> Kucinich and other progressive Dems are likely
>> adherents.  While on one
>> level I feel disappointment that we Greens
>> haven't been ready to fully
>> take advantage of the moment and be that party,
>> I continue to think that
>> in the long run we can turn the upcoming new
>> multiparty landscape to our
>> advantage to the extent we can live out our
>> 10KV.
>>
>> And of course impeachment is late but not 'too
>> late, nor is it 'too
>> little'.  True we can not save the hundreds of
>> thousands of lives already
>> lost or trillions flushed down the war toilet,
>> but any life saved and
>> resource redirected to peace is worth the
>> effort of our struggle.  Greens
>> have including our newly minted Green Cynthia
>> McKinney have been in the
>> forefront of the impeachment movement all along
>> and the investment in real
>> leadership we've accomplished will stand us in
>> good stead as we make
>> impeachment happen and come into our own power
>> in the new multiparty
>> landscape.
>>
>>
>> Green is Core!
>>
>> Drew Johnson
>> GPCA
>>
>