Ten urgent questions for Greens, by Scott McLarty
Hi all
Judging from the exchange on this list over the
‘decline’ of the GP during 2004 (which was really
a year of growth for some states and for DC), I
think a lot Greens are still drawing all the
wrong conclusions and lessons from last year’s
presidential campaign.
Both Cobb & Nader got a fraction of 1% of the
national vote in 2004. Combined, their numbers
are still a fraction of 1%. This suggests that
we would have drawn under 1% in 2004 regardless
of who we nominated (or endorsed) or what
campaign strategy the candidate pursued.
It is not useful to have a discussion about how
the GP could have received a higher fraction of
1% if only we had chosen a different candidate or
strategy.
The reason for the low numbers we drew in 2004
has very little to do with anything we did wrong
or right, and everything to do with forces
external to the GP.
The 2004 presidential contest between the Dems &
Repubs was more contentious than any we’ve seen
in recent decades, which made it very difficult
for 3rd parties to play a role. A lot of
progressives, independents, alienated Dems &
Repubs, and other voters who might have
considered voting Green in other election years
were determined to vote for Kerry in order to
remove the worst president since Warren G.
Harding (maybe worse than Harding).
There was NO CHANCE that Greens were going to
persuade these voters that ‘Anybody But Bush’ was
a fallacy, that Kerry shared many of the same
positions as Bush, etc. Their minds were made up
from the beginning of 2004, and probably earlier,
to vote for whichever Democrat, no matter how
corporate & compromised, would get the
nomination. They were not interested in our
arguments about why ABB was a retreat from
progressive eco antiwar agenda or why it was
important even in 2004 to reject two-party
dominance.
Greens need to learn that voters make up their
minds according to their own criteria and their
own terms, not according to the criteria & terms
we wish they’d use.
For a lot of progressive voters, we’re still a
novelty, an occasional blip in the news. This
will continue until the GP has grown large and
powerful enough to have a permanent and
recognized public voice, with lots more Greens in
office, a significant number of registrants in
many states (i.e., at least 5 or 10% rather than
1 or 2%), regular news coverage of Green
politics, etc.
So let me pose ten questions for Greens based on
these dilemmas:
(1) How do we run an aggressive, effective
national campaign that helps the GP grow in a
year in which the Dem-Repub contest is so fierce
that the Green nominee is bound to draw a tiny
percent, regardless of our choice of candidate or
campaign strategy?
(2) How do we appeal to voters who have already
made up their minds to vote for the Democratic
(or Republican) presidential candidate, and urge
them at least to vote for Greens running in local
& state races? (And how do we do this without
appearing to devalue our presidential campaign?)
(3) How do we stop ourselves from regarding
progressive, antiwar, etc. voters who don’t vote
Green RIGHT NOW as enemies or traitors to what we
stand for, and instead regard them as potential
and future Greens, i.e., friends?
(4) How do we deal with the fact that, for at
least the next decade or two, many registered
Greens will decide to re-register Democrat in a
presidential election year in order to vote in
the Dem primary? How do we persuade them to
rejoin the GP after they’ve done this? (YES, we
want them back in the Green Party. NO, we do not
reject, rebuke, or punish them.)
(5) How do we deal with the fact that a lot of
registered Greens, like registered Democrats &
registered Republicans, will sometimes decide to
vote for candidates outside the party, and that
this may happen more, not less, as the GP grows?
(It might even be a sign of our success.)
(6) How do we prevent our participation in the
spectacle of the presidential election every four
years from eclipsing all our state & local Green
campaigns? (I.e., how do we keep ourselves from
talking and acting as if the future of the GP
depended on a single race in a single year?)
(7) How do we persuade voters who share our
political agenda that, although we probably won’t
see a Green president in the next few decades,
it’s quite possible that we can get a few Greens
into Congress, a lot more Greens into state
legislatures, and a Green into a large city’s
mayor’s office (as Matt Gonzalez proved) during
the next dozen years? How do we assert this as a
major goal, not just among Greens, but for all
progressives, independents, etc.?
(8) How do we keep the GP in the news, in front
of people’s faces, in people’s political
conversations, etc. permanently, even when we’re
not running candidates for office? (Insufficient
answers: participating in other organizations’
demonstrations; sending out GP press releases;
holding endless party & committee meetings;
having endless chitchat on internal GP discussion
lists.)
(9) How do we stop believing that the GP is
something people should join just because they
agree with our platform & 10 Key Values, and make
the GP something people want to join because they
enjoy our company?
(10) Every significant political movement has
also had a social or cultural component. The
Populist Party spread among farmers through
useful lectures on the latest agricultural
methods. The Civil Rights Movement spread
through churches. The protest movement against
the Vietnam War percolated in rock & folk
concerts and on campus. Gay liberation came out
of gay bars, and women’s liberation out of coffee
houses & consciousness-raising groups.
Republican think-tanks emerged from cocktail
parties & trips to strip clubs. What is the GP’s
cultural expression? What will be the social
catalyst for the GP?
Despite the focus on electoral politics, I
consider (8), (9), (10) to be the most important
questions for the growth of the party. If we
find answers to them, our future is assured.
Scott McLarty
