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Convention rejects Nader endorsement
The Green Party’s step backward
ALAN MAASS reports from the Green Party’s national convention in Milwaukee.
THE GREEN Party rejected the independent campaign of Ralph Nader at its convention last weekend. Instead, the Greens nominated a little-known attorney and activist from California, David Cobb as their presidential candidate.
Cobb won the party’s presidential nomination by a narrow majority of the nearly 800 delegates voting at the convention, heading off a further vote that could have led to an endorsement of Nader’s independent campaign. Nader and his vice presidential running mate, Peter Camejo–a Green Party veteran who ran twice for governor of California, winning more votes in these elections than any Green candidate in the U.S. other than Nader–had asked for an endorsement of their independent presidential campaign, rather than the party’s nomination.
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Want to get rid of Bush and grow the Greens? Don’t listen to Medea Benjamin.
By: Robert Tufts
In her plea to Greens to nominate David Cobb, Medea almost makes a convincing argument for why Greens should support David Cobb and his “giving something to the Democrats in exchange for nothing” strategy (otherwise known as the “safe state” strategy). However, in doing so Medea, and many of the professional liberals like her, essentially suggest that we should betray our core vision, and cede whatever political power the Greens may have in exchange for some mythical coalition building that the Green Party’s professional liberals think will emerge during the course of the 2004 election campaign.
The truth is that we will build the Green Party, build successful coalitions, and create sustainable change moving us closer to the world we want. It just won’t happen by giving in to the Democrats. It won’t happen by trying to build top-down coalitions where Green professional liberals cave in to the demands of supposedly progressive organizations. These same “progressive” organizations who concede their values in exchange for supposed allegiance from the Democrat Party. It will happen by our grassroots struggles. It will happen when we run strong candidates for local office. It will happen when we work successfully in coalitions at the state and local levels.
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Green Party Calls for Carbon Tax, Higher Taxes for the Rich and Wall Street, to Resolve State Budget Crisis
The Green Party of NYS today offered a number of alternatives to resolve the state's fiscal crisis, calling for a state budget that improves the future of all New Yorkers, rather than reacting out of fear of a budget shortfall.