No Green Pawns
- Image by Cornell University Library via Flickr
The Green Party is growing in size. If it wants to beat the two major parties in their game of Monkey in the Middle, it still has a bit of growing to do. One of the biggest challenges facing the Green Party is its own level of success. As it becomes larger, the major parties attempt to manipulate the Green Party’s mass to affect election outcomes in their own favor.
Take the Texas tussle to get the Green Party on the ballot. To break into the two party system, a party must pass a petition with over four thousand signatures. The Green Party mobilized a drive garnered twice the necessary forty thousand signatures necessary to allow their candidates to appear on the 2010 November ballot. This was a significant victory for the party—this year, there would be a viable third contender in the usual two-party race.
Yet in June 2010, the party found itself suddenly banned from the ballot it had worked so hard to attain. The state served the Green Party a restraining order as if it was a stalker ex-boyfriend. The reason? Republicans contributed funds to the petition drive.
The Democratic Party uncovered that one of the petition drive’s biggest contributors was an out-of-state corporation with ties to the current Republican administration. This was considered an ethical violation because the Republican Party was hardly contributing altruistically—- they intended to use the Green candidates to siphon votes from the Democratic challengers.
The state supreme court overturned the restraining order. This decision was based partly on the grounds that once access to the ballot had been granted it should not be unduly rescinded. Henceforth the Green Party campaign bore a slightly darker cast for their involvement in the whole affair.
This debacle made one thing clear—now that the Green Party carries more weight, the two major parties are both looking to brandish it like a mace. Until the Green Party reaches the critical mass it needs to throw the two-party system out of balance, it must be vigilant to avoid being the pawn of other parties.
Community Involvement in the Green Party: Why Small Scale Can Make an Impact
- Image by The U.S. Army via Flickr
Imagine if government only worked on the large scale—if the only people who cared about keeping an eye on their elected officials and making their country better did so just from within the boundaries of Washington, D.C. What would happen is that the community structure on smaller governmental entities—counties, cities and regions—would fail to thrive as they do now. In fact, what keeps America’s communities successful is talented, educated leaders who choose to make a difference on the small scale. It’s the pastor in a rural country church who oversees the only Alcoholics Anonymous meetings in a 100 mile radius. It’s the schoolteacher who has made it her goal to eradicate illiteracy among adults in her town. It’s the network of hospitals and clinics that join together in a city to say, “We are not waiting on the federal government: we are going to make a difference in getting health care to those who cannot afford it.” The Green Party has always believed that change, and thus government, starts at home, on the small scale. That’s because each community knows it people better than any outsider ever will. Local grant-making initiatives are likely to go to the places that need the money most. Individuals volunteering in a community are likely to spend their time where helps is needed most. While communities no doubt benefit from outside forces;federal and state grants, the services of national watchdog agencies, and more;the true power still rests in the hands of locals. It’s everyday workers, parents, and retirees who can make a difference in making their communities better. And if that is done in communities across the nation, it completely revolutionizes the need for jobs traditionally provided by the federal and state governments. In the end, the people on the ground who know their communities are likely to pour more passion into making their areas better, because it’s ultimately helping the people and places they have come to know and love.