Rosa Clemente, the Green Party’s 2008 Vice Presidential candidate, declared during her campaign that “the Green Party is no longer the alternative, the Green Party is the imperative.” Events since then have not really borne her out. Was she wrong? Was she just using hyperbolic rhetoric? Or was she simply ahead of her time?

In the eight years since Clemente’s proclamation, the Green Party has not successfully made the case that it represents a vitally necessary new direction for American politics. At a time when the warning signs are starker than ever, it seems like a reasonable challenge to put to the party and its supporters — IS the Green Party indeed the imperative? Is it fundamentally or uniquely important? Why or why not?

Green Mass Group wants YOU to rise to this challenge. We encourage writing submissions of all types – from naysayers to diehard Greens, from one sentence answers to 5,000 word essays. We will publish the best submissions as standalone pieces. Feel free to create an account here so you can create your own post and comment on others. Or simply email us with your submission. We may lightly edit for grammar and other corrections.

As 2016 shapes up to be a critical election year for the United States and the world, it is important to come to grips with the implications of the Greens influencing the results of the presidential election and tinkering with the U.S. political system.  That said, we hope this challenge is not confined to the 2016 elections.