RESOLUTION FOR A GREEN PARTY RUN IN ALL STATES
RESOLUTION FOR A GREEN PARTY RUN IN ALL STATES
The Missouri Green Party passed the resolution below by consensus during its
meeting of January 4, 2004. Feel free to share it with other Greens.
Don Fitz
RESOLUTION FOR A GREEN PARTY RUN IN ALL STATES
The Missouri Green Party (MOGP) urges all state Green Parties (1) to run
candidates for US president and vice-president in 2004; and (2) to include an
active campaign for president in their 2004 electoral efforts. Such participation
is important for building Green Parties as meaningful alternatives to the
corporate Democratic and Republican Parties. Presidential campaigns are
especially important in states that depend on state-wide results to gain or keep
ballot status.
Missouri Greens precaution against dangers of succumbing to Democratic Party
pressure to not run a presidential candidate in some states.
Giving in to such Democratic Party pressure would be followed by suggestions
that Greens not run candidates for Senator, Governor, Congress or any other
elections where Democrats did not want to be challenged by a more progressive
party.
The absence of Green Party candidates would remove pressure on Democrats to
move to the left, which could result in the Democratic Party shifting to the
right, the Republican Party shifting further to the right, and the “center” of
US politics becoming even more backward.
The absence of Green Party candidates could result in millions of voters not
going to the polls, as suggested by the fact that the greatest portion of the
almost 3 million people who voted for Ralph Nader in 2000 said they would not
have voted had he not been in the race.
The absence of Green Party candidates would remove pressure on the corporate
parties to enact Instant Runoff Voting [IRV], a method by which voters rank
order candidates so that if their first choice is not one of the top contenders,
one of their lower ranked choices is used.
The Missouri Green Party has a message to the Democratic Party. If it is
concerned with the possible election of Republicans, it has two choices:
1. The Democratic Party can help enact IRV so that progressive votes can be
transferred from one party to another; or,
2. The Democratic Party can urge its candidates to drop out of all races
where both Greens and Democrats are running for the same office.
It is not a useful strategy for the Democratic Party to whine that it cannot
win races unless Greens drop out. The Green Party is here to stay.
