Greens Want To Grow
Looks like we might be seeing a little more of the Green Party around here soon, assuming they can get some volunteers to help in their recruiting campaign. They certainly have more local activists than the Libertarian Party does, but I think it will be as difficult for them to really get the ball rolling on this project as it is for anyone. Might not be too bad in Arcata or Southern Humboldt. They could probably just set out in front of a few stores like the Co-Op and do well, but I suspect they've already been there and done that.
Biggest problem is they want to go after the higher hanging fruit rather than the low hangers by, apparently, making a blind approach to "Joe and Jill Sixpack" on the assumption that the average person is in sympathy with Green values. First, I'm not so sure that the "average person" is so sympathetic to Green values, but even if they were, I've never known of that approach to work or, if such projects bear fruit at all, it's usually not worth the effort in gains received.
The Greens are bit too Authoritarian for me, or at least I think their hierarchy is- maybe not so much with the mainstream Greens. If the Libertarian Party disappeared tomorrow, I'd still stay registered as LP, if that was possible. If it wasn't, I'd register Decline To State, not Green Party. Seems my idea isn't too outside the mainstream since the fastest growing voting group in California is Decline To State.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 8:45 AM
5 comments
5 Comments:
Asking everybody to join is the best possible approach to increasing their membership. The only people who will register green are those who are thinking about it anyways. I doubt they'll convert anybody. Third party seems dumb to me. Greens should try to take over their local democratic machine. Libertarians would probably do best taking over the republican party.
I don't see anything wrong with trying to influence the two major parties, but trying to "take them over" seems like a waste of time to me. That's not an uncommon line of thought, though, amongst traditionalists.
The only way a third party could have any real political power is if it replaces one of the two parties. We're a two party system. If the people who are trying to establish a green party really want power to advance their agenda, the only real chance they have is to become the leadership of their local democratic party. By "taking over" (probably not the best wording) of the local chapter, you can then "influence" the state and national parties.
That might well be true although third parties often influence major parties simply by their existence and major parties wanting "their votes". The example I've seen offered most often being the U.S. Socialist Party, which was the largest third party in the country back in the early twenties (possibly in U.S. History?)
The Democrats eventually absorbed the Socialist Party's platform so as to get their votes. As a result, the Socialist Party became a shell of what it once was. No need for it, though, since the Democrats were promoting the Socialist Party's agenda.
Unfortunately, the Republicans also ended up absorbing that agenda as well, as we see the results of today.
there is no democracy in the democratic machine, that's the whole point, its pointless, best to start fresh
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