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August 26, 2004
Divided We Stand Apart
I wish the election would just happen and we can move on with our lives. I'm tired of talking about it.
I registered to vote as a Green back in 2000, as soon as I realized that John McCain wasn't going to get the Republican nod. I couldn't stand Gore, and couldn't stomach Bush. I had no other option than to vote Green. Incidentally, I don't regret my decision to vote for Nader. Al Gore was not a choice, and he was certainly not my choice. George W. Bush was bad, but had not yet become as awful as he has become. I got in touch with some other people who felt the way I did and the Broward Greens was born. I am still one of the founders of the organization, however less involved I became with it as time went on.
Is the party over?
The Green Party voted to support David Cobb at their annual convention, but there's been people in various local organizations that said that they were not adequately represented at the convention or that David Cobb kind of railroaded the decision at the expense of the Nader campaign. In fact, there has been this big thing that the Broward County Greens put forward to put “nobody” on Florida's ballot for the Green Party because of the theoretic indecision with the candidates, but that was soundly defeated by other parts of Florida. It looks like Nader and Cobb will both be running in Florida.
Frankly, I don't think Nader was really pushing for the Green nomination anyway, and I don't believe that he really represents the Green party's ten values. He's more specifically against corporatism and that's what he represents. I've seen Nader do a couple interviews lately, however, and he's really getting past it. I don't have the faith that I had before.
I haven't seen Peter Cobb, or his running mate, Pat La Marche, interviewed. Maybe if I were able to see that, I might change my mind and vote for him. I don't like to see the liberal vote all torn apart, however. Whoever I vote for, however, I'll be voting for that candidate and not to “get George W. Bush out of office.” I wasn't ashamed of voting for Nader in 2000, and I won't be ashamed of voting for someone besides Kerry in 2004.
I do, however, like enough of what I've seen of John Kerry to say that I might actually vote for him in November. It might be that I've seen him compared to Bush so often that he looks so much better. Benito Mussolini would look good compared to George W. Bush.
It's the Green Party's responsibility to get more candidates on smaller ballots, not to concentrate one big effort on the presidential race. Once people start seeing we can win seats in State Legislatures, then we can move on toward bigger and better things.
Posted by Bastique at August 26, 2004 11:59 PM