Green Papers – Page 35 – Diverse Views from a Green Perspective

campaign reform, Democracy, Green Party November 22, 2014

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…

Democracy, Electoral College, Green Party October 4, 2014

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…

International, Middle East, peace August 19, 2014

Palestinian/Israeli Conflict Redux

by Justine Mccabe Litchfield County Times Friday, August 01, 2014 I’m responding at length to letters of Messrs. Wilkins and Kilchevsky, who expressed similar views opposing my 7/11 letter, “Decolonization” and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. They both deny my claims: That Israel was founded by the same national formative act as the U.S.: ethnic cleansing of the majority native inhabitants; and That Israel practices apartheid within both Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). As a scholar, who has worked in the Navajo Indian Medical Center and Navajo reservation, as well as in the Middle East (Lebanon, Iran and the OPT),…

Democracy, Green Party, National Politics, occupy, Third Party June 9, 2014

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…

campaign reform, Democracy, Green Party, Labor, Marriage Equality, Third Party May 23, 2014

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…