Owen R. Broadhurst:
Owen R. Broadhurst
96 Elbert Rd.
Agawam, MA 01001-3202
413-786-1508
thersites@unforgettable.com
A Sane States Strategy
Howard Dean is dangerous.
In any consideration of how the Green Party, more than any other party,
should approach the 2004 contest- we must begin with an understanding that
Gov. Howard Dean of Vermont is not only one of the most odious and truly
frightening of any candidate ever fielded by the Democratic Party, but is
also one of the most remarkably dangerous.
Howard Dean is dangerous because the Senate and House of Representatives are
dangerous.
As we consider precisely what path we must travel in 2004, we must
understand that whoever wins the Presidential contest shall have his
initiatives either passed or confounded by Congress- and that this Congress
is one in which most legislators from both major parties have lent their
consent to Bush administration appointments and policies with limited
exception.
Howard Dean has a dangerously right-wing record and agenda that both major
parties in Congress shall pass into law.
Both parties in Congress colluded to ratify Florida’s election returns even
while the Democratic Party had a nominal Senate majority. Both parties
frustrated filibuster threats against John Ashcroft, Gale Norton, and nearly
every judicial appointment the Bush administration has ever made. Both
parties in Congress allowed for the passage of Bush administration
environmental policies, trade initiatives, and homeland security laws. Both
parties passed the partial-birth abortion ban, the Patriot Act, pork for
giant conglomerates, tax relief for the most affluent and potentially deadly
welfare reform. Both parties in Congress allowed wars with both Afghanistan
and Iraq, covert conflict in the subcontinent and in Central America, the
reinforcement of apartheid in Israel, and another war waged through
demolition of Medicaid
Howard Dean can expect bipartisan support for his most reprehensible
policies, appointments and initiatives.
A Democratic Party reluctant to challenge even the most atrocious actions of
a Republican President shall in no way provide even token resistance to
similar policies and initiatives from Howard Dean. The Republican majority,
meanwhile, shall be more than happy to shepherd such initiatives into law.
Howard Dean is the most likely Democratic Party nominee, blessed with the
most extraordinary momentum and requisite funding heading into the party
primaries.
The Democratic Party Presidential nominee shall most probably be he whose
support of apartheid in Israel has never been questioned, and whose support
for the conflict in Afghanistan has always been resolute. This most likely
nominee supports restrictions on habeas corpus, and more deference in court
for prosecuting attorneys. This highly probable nominee supports capital
punishment, reduced funding for court appointed defense for the indigent,
and more stringent prison terms for violations of irrational drug laws.
Howard Dean has stated that he would not support even a pathetic healthcare
plan until the budget is balanced, and that he would not support any
decrease in defense spending to balance that budget. Vermont’s Governor has
demonstrated a tendency to support corporate pork, oppose anti-sprawl
efforts, and terminate environmental officials who dare to thwart power
plants and the schemes of IBM. The likely Democratic Party nominee will
refuse to use abortion rights as a litmus test in judicial appointments, and
he defunded family planning measures as Governor. This candidate has slashed
financial aid for students and education budgets, and has voiced his desire
to slash the Medicaid budget. He hopes to place even more troops in Iraq and
Afghanistan, and he supports free trade agreements. Congress shall offer him
no resistance.
The “Safe States” strategy plays into this man’s hands and any strategy for
Green Party withdrawal from the contest allows him free reign regardless of
the makeup of Congress to have those policies for which he has demonstrated
support to be passed into law.
Whether we permit his victory by refusing to campaign in states where he’s
vulnerable, or withdraw the Green Party candidate in that improbable event
of his offering “piece of the pie” patronage, the Green Party- by pursuing
these options- will be lending its consent to the direction of his
administration. We will sacrifice ballot status in several states, hurl
ourselves from our moral elevation over these corporate owned parties, and
allow Democrats out of partisan loyalty to ram through measures and
appointments the likes of which not even the Bush administration could hope
to move beyond incredibly rare filibusters.
The planet cannot afford, the nation cannot afford, people oppressed all
over the globe cannot afford, precious and threatened ecosystems cannot
afford, the states cannot afford, towns and cities cannot afford, the Green
Party cannot afford, the various state parties involved in the Green Party
cannot afford, and the masses cannot afford any capitulation, coalition or
“Safe States” strategies that allow triangulating Reagan Democrats free
reign to reward their corporate contributors, heighten society’s
contradictions, waste precious natural resources, reinforce a two-tiered
economic system, and exacerbate levels of oppression in the world today.
We must support an all out fifty states campaign exposing the frauds that
the two major parties have become, and we must do so without reservation or
hesitation.
We must eschew candidates who will not devote all of their resources and
energies to waging such a campaign as more dangerous threats to this nation
and this planet than even King George- presently checked by the token
resistance in Congress that a Howard Dean would not receive- could ever be.
This is the horror that the two-party system has become, and this is the
nightmare that we presently live in as a society. The Greens, and the Greens
alone, are well positioned to call attention to the facts about this
national tragedy. The Greens, and the Greens alone, can use the 2004
campaign to mobilize and organize against it. Let not a more horrible storm
than we can imagine descend upon our lives. The hurricane already disrupting
our lives is harsh enough.
It is time to fight for sanity.
Owen Broadhurst is a Massachusetts teacher, nursing assistant, Green-Rainbow
Party state committee representative, and secretary to the Town of Agawam
Community Preservation Committee. His views are not necessarily
representative of these organizations or professions.
