Democracy

Green Party Response to Democrats' Green New Deal

Today, New York Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez joined with Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey to announce non-binding Green New Deal legislation that would strive to “achieve net-zero greenhouse gas emissions through a fair and just transition for all communities and workers” and “create millions of good, high-wage jobs.” The Green Party of the U.S. issued this response.

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Build a new model

OK, I’ll admit it, the question of whether to resist or to build is a false choice. It is clear that we must, in Donald Trump’s Amerikkka, do both.

But where do we focus our resources, our energy, our vision? Where do we focus our efforts? And where do the various emergent people’s movements focus theirs? How do they intersect? What are their diverse purposes? And how can we find synergy between efforts? Is it through resistance alone, or is there an overlapping vision of a just, democratic, and sustainable world that we can work toward together?

Continue reading To resist, or to build?

The Green Party is the imperative for 2016 and beyond

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.

Continue reading The Green Party is the imperative for 2016 and beyond