Another world is not only possible, she’s on the way and, on a quiet day, if you listen very carefully you can hear her breathe.” — Arundhati Roy

In 2008, Green Party Vice Presidential candidate Rosa Clemente said the Green Party is no longer the alternative, the Green Party is the imperative. Just under 162,000 Americans voted for her and the party’s Presidential candidate, former U.S. Representative Cynthia McKinney that November. While diehard Greens were moved by the slogan, it is safe to say that neither the campaign nor the party convinced the American voter that this was the case.

Eight years earlier, the Green Party had been reborn, of sorts, when its Presidential ticket of Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke received 2.8 million votes or 2.7% after polling as high as 7% nationally. Indeed, much like Bernie Sanders did in 2016, he filled arenas — even New York’s Madison Square Garden — with enthusiastic supporters willing to pay for seats at a political rally. But Nader’s politics — both his critique and his agenda — were more progressive than they were Green. And the volunteers and supporters flooding the Green grassroots base were largely ignorant of the party’s history, philosophy, and even relevance. I can say this endearingly because I was in this camp.