Democracy

No Image

Is Bernie Sanders’ Best Option to Run for President As a Green?

AlterNet December 29, 2014 by Steven Rosenfeld Bernie Sanders, Vermont’s independent U.S. senator, last week told a home state reporter that he will decide by March if he will run for president as an independent or a Democrat. But there’s a third major option Sanders hasn’t mentioned: running as a Green. “A letter was sent to Bernie Sanders about a year ago: a combination of a query—are you interested—along with some instructions about how to approach the Green Party,” said Scott McLarty, the party’s national media coordinator. “We never heard back.” “I know there are members of the party who…


No Image

The two-party duopoly is the problem

Bangor Daily News by Lauren Besanko I ran against Democratic state Rep. Diane Russell from Portland in Tuesday’s election. I’ve been asked by some voters, “Why run against Diane? She’s progressive and has done a great job!” To that I say, sure, the last thing I’d want to do is deny Russell her accomplishments. Russell is more “Green” than many of her Democratic colleagues. However, as Chris Shorr of the Portland Daily Sun said recently, she needs to give more credit to the Maine Green Independent Party for its members’ “behind-the-scenes work on issues that she has piggybacked on, such…


No Image

DC Statehood Now

Testimony on the New Columbia Admissions Act, S. 132 Tuesday, September 30, 2014 To the U.S. Senate From the D.C. Statehood Green Party c/o David Schwartzman D.C. Statehood Green Party candidate for “Shadow” U.S. Senator Washington, DC On behalf of the D.C. Statehood Party, we urge the Congress to enact the New Columbia Admissions Act, S. 132 (with counterpart bill H.R. 292 in the U.S. House), which if passed will admit the District of Columbia to the union as a new state. By granting statehood to D.C., Congress will accomplish part of the unfinished of the Civil Rights Movement. On…


No Image

The Democratic Party Dead End and the Resignation of American Progressives

Nation of Change by Michael Trudeau If you read the New Republic or receive emails from the PAC “Friends of Bernie Sanders,” you might have seen a rather strange article recently by New Republic editor Michael Kazin titled “Democrats Need Bernie Sanders to Run for President.” As perhaps the main voice on the left calling for independent progressive senator Bernie Sanders to reject the Democratic Party in 2016 in favor of a leftist coalition, I’ll offer that there’s a lot Kazin gets right but that his ultimate conclusion is vitally flawed. Namely, Sanders cannot and will not win the Democratic…


No Image

The Power and Potential of DIY Democracy

by Blair Bobier Common Dreams May 22, 2014 A seismic shift in the American political landscape has gone largely unnoticed. Yet, the implication of this political earthquake knows no bounds. On Tuesday, voters in two Oregon counties—one of them rural and conservative—voted to ban GMO’s. In 2012, voters in five states legalized gay marriage and the recreational use of cannabis. What is so remarkable about these victories is not just the incredible, rapidly shifting attitude of the electorate, but the fact that these successes came from voter-led initiatives. In other words, these independent grassroots victories do not owe their success…