…posted below.
Of course, if you’re gonna see it anywhere, it’s likely to be GMG. So, ’twas even better to see it posted by a serious candidate for US Senate on his public FB page–Somerville’s Bob Massie. How many mainstream candidates do you see touting McKibben? And how many mainstream candidates do you see McKibben showing up to endorse?
Eli wrote some time ago that “Bill McKibben has accepted that the time for individuals acting on their own has past, and that it is time for collective (i.e., political) action.” He seems to be embracing this with a vengeance now. I know that his decision to actively fundraise for a Democrat will be disappointing to some–Eli’s point, of course, was that Bill should be actively working to promote a party/parties that share an ecological vision as opposed to a growth-oriented economy.
But simply deriding or dismissing individual candidates because they’ve opted for a different strategy gets us nowhere.
So, with, so far as I can tell, no GRP candidates prepared to take on Scott Brown, I’d urge all Greens to have a look at Massie. I’ve come out about as publicly as possible noting that I’m very much liking what I’m seeing.
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I can start with one shared truth: anyone is better than Scott Brown. So whoever happens to be in the D slot will almost certainly get my vote.
Nothing about US Senate races suggest a third party breakthrough, a means of leverage (educational or pressure wise around issues), or any other net positive of strategic worth for third parties like the GRP. So if a Green was contemplating it I would urge them to do something else.
I am not much for the purely testimonial campaign, electoral action has to achieve some kind of power or leverage even in the absence of victory. Arguably this applies just as much to politics internal to the major parties. And Massie does not sound or look like a testimonial candidate.
I am not really a McKibbenite, he could be supporting eco-Republicans and I would not be phased (that might actually not be a horrible strategy…)
To me its about building individual and collective power. Ultimately people gaining some kind of greater control of their own lives and circumstances, socially and ecologically, because that is what I think is necessary. Candidates and campaigns have their own dynamics, and to steal the line from that conference, what matters is the power shift. If a campaign does that all the better.
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“I would rather vote for what I want and not get it, than vote for what I don’t want and get it.” — Eugene V. Debs
Bob Massis is still a Democrat. If he is as “good” as Michael thinks he is, he should leave that party and join us. I would then be excited.
Some of my best friends are Democrats. Some Democrats are very good people.
One of the functions of “good people” who run as Democrats is they keep other good people in the Democratic Party.
Let us imagine that the Bob Massie’s of the Democratic Party work become “serious” candidates. Do you think they will become and be treated “serious” if they don’t raise a lot of $ (and the “right” kind of $)? And, if they became “serious”, don’t you think they would become less likely to represent anything close to the values of the GRP?
And don’t you think that the Bob Massie wing of the Democratic Party will end up endorsing whatever Corporate Democrat wins the Democratic nomination. What will be the fear for not supporting the Democratic candidate? “We” might loose control of the Congress to the Republicans? Same old fear!
If the Democrats loose the White House and Congress in 2012, it will be because they are what they are!
Should we forget what happened in November, 2008 when “we” won the Presidency when “African-American, We Have Hope, I Ain’t Bush” was elected, and when “we” won control of a veto-proof Senate and strong control over the House? The Democrats acted the way that they are — that is who they be!
I ain’t gonna play this game anymore.
I don’t know if a GRP candidate will emerge to run for the Senate. Meanwhile, Peter White, who has been a “Green” for decades, is running for the US Senate as an Independent.
Mike Heichman