I’ve made a commitment — to myself really — to do a monthly blog. It started almost 4 years ago because things had gotten pretty bad in the US, across the board: peace, environment, justice, education, healthcare, and democracy. People’s expectations about what beneficial changes were even possible in the US were low, even though many other countries had what the US lacked. Expectations have only deteriorated since then.
But I don’t want to give up! Right now, when the end-of-the-month deadline is looming, it seems like it would be so easy to say, “Laura, give up the monthly blog. Make your life easier!” But I don’t want to. Or I can’t.
Another thing I can’t quit is the Green Party. I’ve stayed with it since 1992 when it became an official political party with ballot access in California. I am as proud as I can be of the fact that despite the entrenched political system trying for 30 years to kill us off — as it tries to do with any independent alternative to the two big “parties of War and Wall Street” — the Green Party has survived. The number of people marking Green Party on their voter registration forms has sometimes shrunk and then grown back again.
One of the reasons the Green Party has survived is that our key values — peace, environment, justice, and democracy — are the values most people agree with, and our commitment to not taking corporate money means that when we’re elected, we do not serve campaign contributors at the expense of regular folks. Richmond Progressive Alliance in Richmond, CA, a city with Chevron oil refineries, is a great example of how corporate-free politics can benefit a place.
Another reason the Green Party has survived is that we do run for president. While many people believe it sounds logical to “start local and build up” rather than run for higher level offices, the Green Party has to run nationally in order to survive locally! Ballot access state-by-state is one key reason. Anyway, the system tries to kill off alternatives at the local level just as it does at state and federal levels!
Now that Cornel West has announced his run for the presidency, we are hearing more about ballot access. Despite long-standing voter disenchantment with the two parties, they stay entrenched. Both the Democratic and Republican Parties are automatically on the ballot of all 50 states, and they are in the debates. Other national parties like the Green Party or Libertarian Party must achieve ballot status by jumping the different states’ legal hurdles that often require expensive gathering of a daunting number of signatures. As to debates, why not at least include all parties that have achieved enough ballot access to conceivably win? That would likely open up the debates to four parties — Democratic, Green, Libertarian, and Republican — and to more ideas and solutions. While we’re at it, let’s upgrade our outdated democracy and implement a proportional representation system like 90+ other countries in the world.
PROBLEMS & SOLUTIONS
Bernie Sanders, a presidential candidate who tried twice to run in the Democratic primaries of 2016 and 2020, has done a short video that is jam-packed with information about the $886,000,000,000 defense budget. Sanders points out that this massive budget is unnecessary, especially since there is so much waste and fraud in this program of “corporate welfare,” duly paid for by the corporations’ campaign contributions.
I am sure we can all imagine better uses for a good chunk of this money, like meaningful benefits that other major nations take for granted, such as healthcare, housing, and no student debt. How about the US becoming a leader in improving rather than destroying our environment? All these benefits and more would make for a much better world than the world presented by this Marines recruitment ad. In a movie theater this past week I was shocked to see the ad making war look like a blockbuster movie or a video game.
Some good news to end with! As mentioned, Cornel West is running for president with a focus on poor and working people. He is reaching out to groups of people who have been deliberately divided. Also, in California the Green Party and the Peace and Freedom Party are continuing to work together for our shared values as a Left Unity Slate. More good news: younger people are stepping up to work both behind-the-scenes as organizers and out-front as candidates. While you’re checking out Cornel West, also check out congressional candidate Sean Dougherty of Santa Cruz.
In summary, never give up! I still believe that every step each one of us takes — toward the world we want for ourselves and our next generations — is of value.