re: frustration
Building a successful and enduring alternative party in this country is just unbelievably difficult. It hasn’t been done in 160 years!
The frustration usually leads to dissolution. Rocky Anderson started out with great hopes ten years ago (Justice Party). Nick Brana, likewise, five years ago (Movement for a Peoples Party). Before that, just going back to 1980, just on the left: Citizens Party (Barry Commoner), Labor Party (Tony Mazzocchi), New Party (later became the Working Families Party), Natural Law Party (John Hagelin), 21st Century Party (feminist), New Tomorrow (Ron Daniels’ attempt to make a party out of the Rainbow Coalition), New Progressive Party (2004 Naderites). And then there has been the Reform Party, US Taxpayers Party, Constitution Party, etc.
For initiatives with some endurance, like ours (Green Party), the frustration tends to lead to a kind of solipsistic acrimony. Few can endure it for very long. In-fighting, intolerance, misplaced passion.
Cyber interacting magnifies it.
It’s not just us. It’s evident in the Libertarian Party. In the various socialist parties. It’s why we couldn’t draw Nader in. Medea Benjamin ran for us once. For a while Chris Hedges had an inclination to. But there’s so much rancor and hassling.
The situation is especially frustrating because we can see the widespread dissatisfaction with the dreary duopoly. A majority of people tell pollsters they’d like to have more choices on their ballots; yet few will actually vote third party and very few will make any effort to open up the system.
I can’t imagine that a hundred years from now it will still be just Reps and Dems. Some year between now and then there will be some kind of breakthrough. It happened in Canada in 1984 with the New Democratic Party. After that Canadians always had three significant choices. It will happen in our country.
The “green” idea resonates in so many ways with so many people. Green energy, green transportation, green agriculture. “Live green.” “Vote Green” would seem a logical follow-on. It is, to some extent, in some places. Worldwide, the Green politics movement is growing, incrementally. Some of the Green parties get 20% of the youth vote. I do think it’s the wave of the future. But it’s a slog for us here and now, especially in the belly of the beast.
A lot of people like the general idea that a Green Party exists (not Dems, of course; not even progressives who care a lot about the outcome of the bi-annual horse race). Yet even where the idea of it resonates, few feel motivated to get involved with, or even give money to, something that remains so marginal.
11,000 “members” in New Jersey. But few activists. Few candidates. Too little money.
Our great-grandchildren will vote Green and they will admire our endurance. Will they be able to imagine the frustration we felt amidst an almost surreal situation — as the crises we warned about unfolded, yet so little attention was paid to a program that contained the solutions — our program. So few votes for exemplary candidates (like Madelyn Hoffman, Matt Hoh, Jill Stein, Howie Hawkins). Such a better alternative, but with so little impact. Amidst a social and ecological situation all stagnant and discouraging.
So little in the way of “greening.” No wonder the frustration is palpable. Those of us who have seen the internal life of the party and of other activist organizations over the years know that some bad vibes are inevitable. Kudos for enduring. Somebody someday will admire it. We can’t know from here and now whether or not it will ultimately make any difference.
