It's Not Easy Being Green

by Rachel Lagodka

When he says that it’s not easy being Green, Kermit the frog is making a vast understatement: really, it’s darn near impossible. The Green Party is about values ( http://www.gp.org/tenkey.shtml ). It is about the ideals of social justice and environmental conservation. These issues have very few footings in the current political climate. Sure, there are lots of great activists devoted to various causes in social justice and the environment, but they seldom run for office, and miserably few politicians truly represent these values. The activists can’t afford to run. The big problem is that the politicians who can are beholden to corporate campaign donors who see social justice and the environment as impediments to their profit margins. These politicians hold all the power in the Republican and Democratic parties. Since a political party exists to run candidates and the system is construed to deny the Green party and other alternative parties this possibility except on a really local level, the most we can do for the higher offices is run “nuisance” or as I prefer to call them, “educational” candidates. Then of course you have the infamous “spoiler” issue. Sure as Ralph says, you can’t spoil what is already rotten, but you can make it worse. It’s worse for all of us if the Republicans win because they are generally more brazen crooks, and more despotic despoilers of the environment and human rights than the Democrats. Does that mean we should never run, or that we should only run if the statistics show that we are not at risk of “spoiling”? Does that mean we should always run anyhow because the system has to get even worse before anyone will do something about it? Personally I can’t abide by making anything worse so it gets better for any reason and nothing divided the Green party more than the last presidential election. Even in its ugly aftermath some Greens were bemoaning the fact that some of us had “stood aside” for the Democrats and had even helped the Kerry campaign in one way or another, while others complained that some of us did not help the Democrats enough. Meanwhile some Democrats blamed Ralph again for Bush’s victory even as they let the voter fraud go unchecked. I think that the election was "lost" not just because the Republicans so shrewdly controlled the media and manipulated public opinion, but in no small part because the incredibly compromised position the Democrats took failed to reach or inspire anyone. Less than a third of the American people voted. Though there are many dedicated people whom I dearly love in that generation, I have often thought that the world is in such sad shape because so many boomers sold out their hippie legacy of peace and love, leaving my generation, “the me generation” just behind them with nothing to look up to except “being me.” Unfortunately “me” turns out to have a very high tolerance when it comes to corporate and government corruption. Now that we have yet another generation being sent to war and more disparity between the rich and poor than ever, we must gather a critical mass of people who will demand justice for the victims of war and poverty. When we compromise too much, we stand for nothing. When we refuse to compromise we risk losing everything. On the one hand being Green seems darn impossible, and on the other hand it’s easier than compromising my values for temporary expedience.

There are three problems with being Green and each of them has a very practical solution.

To solve the problem of corporate dollars buying politicians:  http://www.nydemocracyproject.org/  

To solve the problem of the “spoiler” effect:  http://www.instantrunoff.com/

To solve the conflict between Environment and Social Justice vs Corporate greed:  http://www.naturalstep.org/com/Start/

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