I can assure you that while the Democrats dicker over pregnant chads, the
Greens have been moving forward with, among other practical goals, candidates
for City Council seats.
I find it interesting that while the Democratic Party blames us for "this
recent unpleasantless," it is doing nothing to lure us back into the fold.
Shouldn't this be top priority if our votes mattered so much? But
apparently, the 11% of Democrats who voted for George Bush constitute a too
large and too important slice of the electorate pie to anger by blaming them.
It's an ingenous policy--point fingers at the mere 1.5% of Democrats who
voted for Nader (the other half of Nader's 3% "spoiler" vote came from
Republicans and Independents!) while wooing the much more numerous and
powerful conservative turncoat Democrats, thus moving the whole party even
further to the right.
I'm surprised that people who I respect have such a low opinion of the
Greens. I don't agree that neither the Greens nor the right wing is
interested in winning offices--the Christian Coalition exerts power over the
Republican Party way beyond its true membership due to the fact that its
candidates won seats on the PTAs, City Councils, local boards, and low-level
political positions in America. The right wing has unfortunately done a
terrific job of winning offices. Remember the recent spat about the teaching
of evolution in Kansas? Kansas is a Republican state the way Minneapolis is
a Democrat city, and only the sight of the state becoming a national
laughingstock (due to the right wing candidates' vocal ignorance about
science) kept these Christian Coalition candidates from taking important
school board positions away from more reasonable Republicans. Man, the right
wing almost took away Kansas.
The Green meetings I've attended have impressed me very much; the membership
includes a lot of my neighbors, who are over 35 and have jobs in addition to
being artists and neighborhood volunteers and all that over-age-35 stuff. I
am not vegan. (I even wore a fur-collared coat to the Nader rally; no one
even frowned.)
I would like to say in conclusion that no individual should ever be obligated
to tell someone else how he or she voted. That's private. The canvasser, in
my opinion, should have refused to answer on this point. Like one's
religious beliefs, it's nobody else's business. And as some people I respect
and care about voted their consciences for Bush, I would never judge an
individual on such a basis. That is my particular way of demonstrating
maturity, tolerance, and a willingness to compromise.
Kristine Harley
Sheridan Neighborhood
