(Voting (and not voting) your conscience. – promoted by eli_beckerman)

My Green-Rainbow Party voter registration is a stronger statement on the issues that I care about than are the votes that I cast for various candidates.  My Green-Rainbow Party affiliation is a public record and is in effect every day.

So what does that mean for the Democratic Party primary on Sep 9, 2014?  It means that I will not vote in it.

Not very many other voters will vote in the primary, either.  The Lenox Town Clerk predicts an extremely slow day (less than 20% turnout).  In my case, I do not participate in that primary because I am not a Democrat (and I would not be given a ballot to cast even if I showed up).  Not participating in other parties’ primaries is one of the statements that I made with my registration as a Green-Rainbow Party voter.

For the 2014 state elections it’s too bad that a Green-Rainbow Party gubernatorial candidate did not surface, although the party has nominated three fine candidates running statewide for the offices of Treasurer, Auditor and Secretary of the Commonwealth.

Our small party does sometimes have primaries of its own, which voters registered in other parties may not vote in.  When we have had primaries our voter turnout is much higher than it is for other parties.  

In 2012 the Green-Rainbow party had two primaries.  I was elected as a Green-Rainbow Party State Committee representative on a primary ballot that the Commonwealth administered in March of 2012 (40% voter turnout).  I was also on the Green-Rainbow Party primary ballot when I ran for State Representative that same year (60% voter turnout).  As we grow the Green-Rainbow Party will have more candidates and more primaries.

We greens only need to grow by a few percentage points in order for the voter shift to be noticed.  Many voters who care about ‘green’ issues but have not yet made the political statement of Green-Rainbow Party affiliation very much want the Green-Rainbow Party to become stronger.  They may not yet realize that the achievement of party growth starts with voters like them.  The power will emerge from bold voter action and increased Green-Rainbow Party voter registration – when voters become politically disobedient to what the mainstream tells them they have to be or have to accept.

I appreciate the dialogue taking place among various other partisans, recently online chatter among anti-pipeline activists supporting the various candidates in the Democratic Party primary.   Some activists suggest that Green-Rainbow Party voters should leave their party so that they may cast a primary vote in the party where their ‘good’ candidates are.  I don’t take them up on the offer because my party affiliation is a stronger political statement than a vote in a Democratic Party primary.  If these ‘good’ candidates want my vote they can petition directly to be on the general election ballot as a non-party candidate or they can seek Green-Rainbow Party nomination and appear on the ballot of a Green-Rainbow Party primary.

I will vote for the best candidate on the November 4 general election ballot and work to see that more of these good candidates in future elections are Green-Rainbow Party candidates who owe no political debts to those whose institutions and practices should be opposed.

Most Democrats who are closet greens become angry when their ‘good’ candidates turn out to be ‘not so good’ [Obama], or when their party leadership silences or subverts their ‘good’ candidates and elected officials [Kucinich].   Anger is not part of my politics.   I choose, instead, to allow my party affiliation to be something positive and loving, something I celebrate, to offer new solutions that established institutions do not seriously debate or proffer, to be an invitation to attract and welcome ‘good’ candidates, and to be a springboard for real change.  I became a Green-Rainbow Party voter in 2008 and have never looked back.  It has been a stronger statement than any primary vote I have cast.