Become An Involved Green Party Member

By Larry R. Mullen

Having apathy and a fear of repeating history are reasons to become actively involved in the Green Party. The Green Party's Ten Key Values give hope for the future.

I am running for a seat on the Fresno County Green Party Central Committee because I can no longer sit back and make excuses for accepting why our government behaves the way it does. The Green Party is the only party with a platform of justice, fairness, and morality. Please indulge me as I express some of my feelings about why I want to serve you in the Green Party.

I am upset with how I was educated about the history of America and American government. The statement, "History repeats itself", does not have to be true. I have come to realize that I was taught the "corporate" view of American History so I would be more likely to accept repeating it. As apathetic Americans we are led to believe that all we have to do is vote in every election and we will be "good Americans". Voting is good, but only voting is not enough. American apathy in politics is reflected in how little we study ballot issues before voting, the lack of time we spend discussing issues and campaigning, and how little money most individuals donate to campaigns.

ELECTORAL REFORM

Campaign finance reform is perhaps the most important single issue the American citizenry must consider. It has been brought about because of the general apathy of citizens who could vote and don't. This is not a maybe issue. It is very easy to vote the party line. It is easy to vote how the "Fresno Bee" recommends. In fact there are any number of groups and organizations who will give you a sample ballot and tell you how to vote on every issue.

Television is the most powerful media in the world. The costs and effects are tremendous. Therefore, it is possible to advertise one's way into a political office, or advertise the passage of a proposition. The deception is great. There seem to be no rules of truth in political campaigning.

Televised debates seem to influence voters. It is a sad commentary on the 2000 presidential campaign that all candidates were not included in the televised debates. There are seven parties in this election's primary voter guide. If there is a debate before the 2002 November election, will all candidates for governor be included? Why not hear from all candidates? It is amazing that the Supreme Court has yet to decide if Ralph Nader may be in the 2000 debates, but couldn't wait for all the Flordia votes to be counted to select a president. We citizens get this treatment because of our apathy. We have to vote for and demand change.

TEN KEY VALUES

I was attracted to the Green Party's Ten Key Values and the Green Party's positions on electoral reform. I am going to go into my personal views here. One may see the Party's platform and the Ten Key Values in detail at http://www.cagreens.org. For those voters who believe electoral reform is necesary, the Green Party has a lot of interesting ideas to improve participation and reduce costs.

SUSTAINABLE ECONOMY

I have come to the realization that the United States of America has a war-based economy. From the Revolution to today we have had some form of warfare fueling our economy--declared or undeclared, hot or cold. Defense corporations get huge amounts of welfare from the government as stimulus to the economy. When they loose money, taxpayers bail them out to avoid recession. The weapons manufacturers buy great influence with policy makers through campaign bribes. The changes to our rules and regulations (which have the force of law) drawn up by "revolving-door" heads of corporations (called in from the boardroom to run a government regulatory agencies) and passed on by our elected officials, should give Americans some idea that drastic change is needed. Not only does this system generate demonized "enemies" to fight, it profits by arming both sides. This is not a sustainable economy.

GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY

Our "modus operendi" for American imperialism is really pathetic. Some corporation wants to put in a "pipeline". The leader of the country resists such and infringement on his/her country's sovergnity. The leader is demonized and a rebel force is funded. The United States bombs the infrastructure and installs a puppet government. The World Bank loans the country huge sums of money to replace its infrastructure, and the country agrees to put in the pipeline to generate income to repay the loan. The "pipeline" may be hotels, timber harvesting, oil exploration, mining, pineapples, bananas, or the exploitation of labor.

Under the guise of protecting American interests abroad, which really means protecting corporate interests abroad, Americans show that they have no respect for indiginous peoples, their soverignities, or their environments. This is the same level of respect corporations have for the average American and our environment. We have a history of this. Mulltinational coroporations today operate the way Washington and Jefferson farmed. They ruin the environment and kill or enslave indiginous peoples to do the work at great profits to themselves. The Green Party is an international party and firmly stands on the side of sustainability, preserving the environment, and respecting native peoples and their right to self determination.

SOCIAL JUSTICE

We are not much better off internally. The Enron-like scandels, PG&E bankrupcy (sending huge sums of money to a parent company that isn't responsible for its child), corporate mergers (any proposed merger in the last ten years seems to be approved) which leads to relocation and downsizing, overseas child and "slave-like" labor which competes with domestic labor, and offshore banks which hide corporate profits and drug money should be scaring the heck out of Americans. The shear volumn of this "stuff" is impossible to keep up with. Changes in search and survellience rules continue to errode our personal freedoms. People need to rally around the party that promotes fairness in trade and fairness in representative government--the Green Party.

GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY

The only word for campaign contributions as they are today is "bribery". Our legislators don't write laws; they let corporations and lobbyists write loopholes. This is not democracy. There should be a base level of public funding for all elections. The public's airwaves should be open on an equal basis to all campaigns. Only individuals should be allowed to contribute to campaigns. These amounts should be tax credits and limited to an amount affordable by the average family/worker. No corporations, trade groups, or unions should be allowed to contribute to a campaign--no loopholes or exceptions.

We cannot afford to be so apathetic about our individual giving to political campaigns. It may be hard for a lot of working families to donate, but recent history shows us we cannot allow corporations and special interests to have a free hand buying political favors. It is interesting to note in the Enron case that the transfer of funds is deemed legal because of recent accounting rules changes. However, making these transactions with the knowledge that the stock's value would be harmed is insider trading and fraud. This is still against the law. Is there any wonder why the corporate heads would love to have lay people investing their social security accounts in the stock market? The Green Party is as grassroots as you can get. The Green Party needs individuals to contribute because it does not accept corporate donations. Ralph Nader made a challenge to to all progressives in the last presidential campaign--donate $100 and 100 hours to the Green Party and its candidates. The Green Party is the perfect venue to form a coalition and reform our government's way of doing business.

CONCLUSION

There is a real need for people to become personally involved in the political processes in this country. Personally involved with financial contributions to the level they can afford and with their time. Letting someone else do it for us has led us to our current situation. We are the most loved tourists, and the most despised country in the world. Our allies are realizing how vulnerable they are--if the U.S. deems they harbored a terrorist, they could be at war. It is incumbent upon ourselves to access alternative news sources, discuss issues with others, and support the party of our choice--hopefully the Green Party.

Some people think that Greens have no chance. Surely with that thinking they don't. But Greens stand for a lot of things that people, when they examine their heart, know is morally correct. The problem is that they find it difficult to act because brain knows greed and prejudice. We tend to see the "status quo" as ok because we are getting ours--that's greed. We tend to blame the have-nots for not getting theirs--that's prejudice. I believe that Greens see people as humans with basic needs that need to be taken care of in a fair and equitable way regardless of one's status in the culture. If Greens can convert enough people to register and vote Green, Greens can effect change. This is worth working for.

I am setting aside my apathy. I have donated many hours to the Fresno County Green Party and do not need to be elected to volunteer to work. I want to be elected because to me it means commitment to the Green Party and Green Party values