Brilliance and idiocy all in one…
The infamous Marc Cooper has a rant published in the latest edition of the L.A. Weekly (reproduced here on Arianna’s web site). It quite effectively demolishes most of the arguments against the recall.
Unfortunately, he has to get his digs in against the Green Party:
Myth No. 4: The Green Party is a viable alternative.
This should be a historic opportunity for Green candidate Peter Camejo, who got 5 percent of the vote in last year’s gubernatorial election.
Fuggeddaboutit.
Camejo has pushed marijuana legalization and instant-runoff voting to the top of his agenda. These might be cutting-edge issues along the Venice boardwalk or in the UC Santa Cruz dorms, but they are not even remotely now on the minds of most California voters. The Greens’ preference for talking to themselves rather than to others destines the party to soon wash up and splinter like the Peace and Freedom folks. Eventually the California Greens will be meeting in one guy’s house with different sectarian groups caucusing in the living room and dining room.
… it’s not worth rebutting the specifics of this. Suffice it to say that this is just one more bit of evidence about the level of self-delusion and deliberate blindness to reality that some progressives appear to have.
He ends the piece by adamantly endorsing Arianna’s campaign, and saying “Only a populist independent could break up the special-interest logjam in Sacramento.”
Which may be true… but an independent candidacy is not a long term solution. Arianna’s campaign will be here and gone, and leave nothing behind of permanence. If she wins, great, we’ll get some things done, but there will be no one to follow her, no one to carry the torch at a local level or beyond the next election. If she doesn’t, even less will result.
Progressive politics needs a vehicle, an infrastructure, a political organization organized around progressive principles that is self-sustaining. The Green Party, and no other organization, offers that potential.
The recall process may be able to slingshot Arianna over the entrenched barriers that have been thrown up against progressive politics, but only the Green Party can successfully mount the long term campaign to sustain a full frontal assault and make a serious breach in the wall.
