[Marxism] Green Party R.I.P.

[Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx>]

Counterpunch, December 30, 2008
Identity Politics, R.I.P.
The End of the Green Party

By JOHN WALSH

After the election of '08 it is clearer than ever that the Green 
Party of the U.S. (GPUS) now lies in the political graveyard.  GPUS, 
R.I.P.  Here we attempt a badly needed postmortem.

Full disclosure.  In the summer of 2007 when I was newly elected to 
the GPUS National Committee as a representative from MA, I felt that 
the GPUS was indeed viable.  In fact I responded then in CounterPunch 
to an article by Joshua Frank, warning that the GPUS was breathing 
its last.  In retrospect, he was a far better diagnostician than 
I.  And I squandered a lot of time searching for signs of longevity 
in the GPUS.  I write this in part to save others from a similar, 
futile, very unappetizing and at times downright painful experience.

To begin.  At the national GPUS convention in 2007, my first, the 
most electrifying moment was Ralph Nader's speech.  Ralph is always 
inspiring and substantive, and he was especially good that evening, 
bringing the delegates to their feet again and again.  Cynthia 
McKinney also put in an appearance after the convention adjourned, 
but Ralph was the crowd pleaser.  And well it should have been, for 
the GPUS was a largely unknown entity before 1996 and 2000 when Ralph 
lent it his good name, based on a lifetime of principled politics, 
intelligence and hard work.  (The guy seems to work like a dog and 
live like a monk.)  In my home state, MA, for example, there was no 
GP until Ralph ran.  After the 2007 convention the focus turned to 
the presidential elections of 2008, and the GPUS presidential 
nominating convention in the summer of 2008.

Democracy Defeated in the GPUS.  One Green-one vote sunk.

As the GPUS presidential nominating convention of summer, 2008, drew 
closer there was an important resolution placed before the National 
Committee, resolution #324.  It was designed to resolve a 
long-standing, contentious question: the delegate allotment to each 
state at the presidential nominating convention.  This dispute 
reflected several deeper divisions and factions.  There were pro- and 
anti-Nader groupings, the latter including many "DemoGreens" - Green 
on the outside, Dem on the inside.   These despise Nader because they 
see him as a real threat to the Dem Party, not simply a symbolic 
one.  Another division was that between states with larger active 
Green membership and others with little membership or activity, the 
so-called "paper states."  In addition there was the simple problem 
of counting the number of Greens in a state, since party registration 
laws differ from state to state.

After close to a year of effort a committee representing the various 
factions had worked out a compromise, which enjoyed the backing of 
those who very often held very different opinions, for example Cat 
Woods of CA and Phil Huckleberry of IL.  And this unusual triumph of 
compromise was supported by a very solid majority on the National 
Committee.  However, a determined minority set out to sink the 
compromise.  And when the vote was duly recorded, the measure 
received "only" 64% of the National Committee vote.  "Only," I say, 
because the GPUS demands a 2/3 vote on almost everything ? except 
candidate nomination.  (Since, however, the process of selecting 
nominating delegates demands 2/3 approval, everything depends on a 
super majority.)  The failure of #324 meant that one Green/one vote 
was abandoned in favor of a nominating representation that with a 
closer resemblance to that of the U.S. Senate, which a leader of the 
minority from RI hailed as more "American" for that reason.  After 
the defeat of #324, it was pretty much all downhill for the GPUS.

Little Ballot Access Work and Less Fund Raising.

As 2008 unfolded, it was clear to all that ballot access was priority 
number one for the GPUS and fundraising priority number two.  So I 
volunteered to be on the Ballot Access Committee, whose chair was 
also co-chair of the entire National Committee.  But the Ballot 
Access Committee was completely inactive, much to my surprise; it had 
few members, no co-chair as required, and had never held a conference 
call!  I tried to arrange a conference call, but the chair was 
clearly not eager to do so.  Another GPUS activist from CT joined my 
effort, and together we eventually managed a conference call.  But 
the talk was empty and impractical.  As it came time for our first 
ballot access effort in one Western state, we were stymied by lack of 
funds.  The fund raising effort was also non-existent.  We managed to 
raise enough money for that first effort due to a bootstrap effort by 
a CA activist and Nader supporter who was not even on the 
committee.  But it was clear that there was no meaningful fund 
raising effort.  No serious ballot access work, priority one; and no 
serious fund raising, priority two.  It became crystal clear that the 
GPUS was "not serious," as has been said so often.  Shortly 
thereafter I resigned from the NC.

Nader Decides Not to Challenge McKinney for 2008 Presidential Nomination.

As the nominating convention drew near in the summer of 2008, the two 
leading candidates were Ralph Nader and Cynthia McKinney.  Both have 
done many fine things, but Nader clearly was the better known 
candidate with more fund raising prowess and with likelihood of 
having an impact in '08.  But he scared the hell out of the 
DemoGreens who knew quite well that he would challenge Obama on many 
issues ranging from the war on Afghanistan to Single-payer health 
care in an effective way that would receive more publicity than 
McKinney, whatever her other virtues, might garner.  The DemoGreens 
wanted no compromise when it came to Nader.  And although Nader could 
surely have won the nomination, he withdrew wishing no fight with 
McKinney, which would have only exacerbated the divisions in the 
GPUS.  Here Nader was not only magnanimous, but he was right in a 
larger sense as shown below.

The Presidential Election and the Humiliating Performance of the GPUS.

The great fear among the Naderites was that without the help of the 
GPUS, Nader could not get on the ballot in a sufficient number of 
states since the GPUS already had ballot access in many places due to 
the work of many at the grass roots (this author included) .  So how 
did the election work out?  The statistics are quite 
revealing.  Starting from scratch and raising money as he went, Nader 
got on the ballot in 45 states plus DC.  McKinney using the Green 
"infrastructure" got on the ballot in only 32 states, less than Barr 
for the Libertarians (45 states) or Baldwin and the 
Constitutionalists (37 states).  Nader did better on his own with his 
own activist following than did the Greens.  In fact he got on the 
ballot in more states than he did in 2000 when he was the GPUS 
nominee.  If one looks at fundraising the contrast is just as stark, 
with Nader raising $4,496,180 and McKinney a skimpy $240,130 which is 
not even sufficient for a decent Congressional campaign.  And the 
popular vote among third party candidates was: 736,804 for Nader, 
524,524 for Barr, 196,461 for Baldwin and 161,195 for 
McKinney.  These numbers alone are testimony to the abject failure of 
the GPUS as an electoral force.

The GPUS Demeans Cynthia McKinney.

But the behavior of the GPUS toward McKinney was downright 
insulting.  The insult to McKinney came in two ways.  First of all, 
DemoGreens went over to Obama, giving Cynthia a pat on the head as 
they went.  A good example is Green guru Ted Glick who proclaimed 
that, although he "supported" McKinney, he hoped Obama would win and 
was contributing to the Obama campaign, said dollar contribution 
being a first for him.  What kind of party i turns on its own 
candidate?  But the insult came in another way.  Cynthia McKinney 
took many extraordinarily courageous positions in Congress over the 
years.  She was an outstanding leader there on issues of peace and 
justice.  But this record was always secondary in the campaign that 
the GPUS ran.  She was first and foremost a black woman candidate 
running with another minority female candidate.  Now that in itself 
is a very good thing, although Obama upstaged them with this kind of 
Identity Politics.  But what about McKinney's other 
achievements?  Most notably she is the first major Democratic 
politician and the first Congressperson to jump ship on the Democrat 
Party.  Of course the DemoGreens wanted no such cutting edge claim to 
a GPUS campaign.  So the GPUS was happy to see the color of 
McKinney's skin as more important than the content of her 
character!  This is the road down which "gonadal politics" leads 
us.  (It is also hard to comprehend why Ralph Nader, gets no credit 
from the Gonadal Politicians for being an Arab American, perhaps the 
group suffering most discrimination these days.)

Now What?

The GPUS is very much in the hands of those who are not serious about 
elections and have little to offer other than Gonadal Politics which 
is now more or less the province of the Dems.  And given the 2/3 
voting rule, there is scant possibility of change.  But some state 
parties have done great work, for example California, where Nader's 
running mate Matt Gonzalez has made a considerable mark, and 
Massachusetts where Jill Stein ran an impressive gubernatorial 
campaign in 2002.  And then there are all the rank and file activists 
in the GPUS who have done a lot good work over the years and have run 
viable campaigns at the state level.  Add to these the hundreds of 
thousands who voted for, worked for and contributed to Nader in '08 
and before.   (Almost 1% of the electorate voted for Nader, more than 
enough to begin a serious movement.)  It seems that these strands of 
tough-minded, serious, capable, talented and committed activists 
should come together. There is no doubt that viable state Green 
parties have to break decisively with the national GPUS, the Identity 
Politicians, the various dogmatic interlopers and the DemoGreens, if 
there is to be any chance for progress.  And Ralph Nader has begun an 
effort called "November 5."  The coming years with a depression upon 
us and empire run amok offer a chance for gaining ground last seen in 
the 1930s.  We may even quote Rahm Emanuel, "Every crisis is an 
opportunity."  The multiple crises we now face offer a prospect that 
is breathtaking.

John Walsh can be reached at john.endwar@xxxxxxxxxx  In his home 
state of MA he witnessed the unseemly efforts of the Identity 
Politicians, to deprive Nader of the votes he won in the MA Green 
Party primary.  How Cynthia McKinney ended up in this crowd continues 
to mystify him.



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