Finding Greener Pastures and Greener Voters 
By Sam Smith 
(From a talk to the Green Party of Montgomery County, Md., May 14, 2005) 

Ten years ago, a small group of us staged a conference of third-party activists that culminated in this country's first Green presidential campaign in 1996 and, in suitably confused order, a few weeks later the formation of a national association of Green parties. 

Thus we celebrate with a mixture of pride and disappointment the first decade of the American Green Party. The pride includes being part of a diaspora of the first great political idea since social democracy to spread across our globe without force of arms or even supranational organization. 
While the public may not elect us, they agree with us far more than they do with the so-called major parties on a number of major issues. And as with every great cause in American history from abolition to civil rights and women's liberation, the final result is often on a time-delay fuse. Ideas ridiculed today become the accepted wisdom of tomorrow. 

Greens are on average less polluting, less violent, less authoritarian, and less myopic than are members of other parties. It is true, as the Mongolians say, that those who wish to speak the truth had better keep one foot in the stirrup. Nonetheless, it is useful to occasionally remember: whatever our failings we have tried to do right, and this is one of the great protections against doing wrong. Not a perfect protection, but infinitely better than its alternative. 

Now to offer a few disappointments and problems, not in the name of ideology or righteousness, but more in the manner of fans discussing the tactics of the last game over a beer. For example, a shocking amount of nonrenewable energy has been expended on arguing whether supporting David Cobb or Ralph Nader was the right choice. Yet together these candidates received less than one-half of 1% of the vote. Looked at another way, the candidates together received 2.3 million fewer votes than Nader had in 2000. 

Before the election campaign, I found myself a somewhat lonely voice trying to suggest that, while it was necessary for the Greens to run a presidential campaign, it was not really where their future lay. I had come to this conclusion by a close look at the history of third parties over the past 100 years. One thing I found: if you want to affect national politics with a third-party presidential run, getting over 5%-preferably closer to 10%-is a good way to start. It is also worth noting that, with the exception of Eugene Debs, all the most successful third-party presidential candidates drew primarily from disgruntled mainstream factions. Further, each of the third parties had only one opportunity to make their point in a big way in a presidential race. 

In fact, some third parties have had long, remarkably healthy lives, in large part because they were as concerned with local as with national results. Some highly successful third parties never ran anyone for president (except in fusion with one of the major parties). An example was the Liberal Party of New York, the longest-lived third party next the to the Socialists. 

My feeling is that the Greens should follow the path of the Socialists and the Populists and infuse themselves into every possible pore and precinct of this country. This is viral politics, a political tradition with deep roots. 

Consider that in recent years as many as 95 congressional races and 40% of all state legislative races have been uncontested. What if Greens all over the country had been as diligent as Maine's John Eder, who not only won a seat in the legislature but won it again after being redistricted? If we had Matt Gonzalezes and Eders all over America, people would start talking and thinking about Greens in a different way. Whatever our results in a presidential race, they would know Greens really do matter in the 'hood. 

How do we get to this point? A good place to start is to start thinking of the Greens as a community of common spirits. The Green Party, if it thought of itself as a safe-house for the idealistic, the rebellious and the active, might be surprised at how many would like to drop in. 
So the first nonlogical but necessary thing we must do to reclaim politics is to bring it back into our communities, into our hearts-to bring it back home. 

The important thing in discussing all these matters is for Greens to remember they are members of the same team, selecting the next play not to prove their virtue but to improve their mutual position. The virtue they can take for granted; the position will be determined by each day's practical choices. If there is any virtue to be consciously observed during these difficult decisions it is of kindness towards each other. 

Excerpt from an article published in the Progressive Review: www.prorev.com 

Sam Smith was one of the organizers of the Association of State Green Parties, forerunner of the Green Party of the United States, and in the 1970s was a co-founder of the D.C. Statehood Party.

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