Greens aren't so different from the pols they seek to replace

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | Sunday, December 7, 2003 | Jonathan Curiel

[presidio9]

Considering it's still in its infancy as a political force, the Green Party has made remarkable strides and has become a kind of haven for disaffected Democrats -- even as it continues to be stereotyped as the party that derailed Al Gore's presidency.

[DeuceTraveler]

The SF Chronicle just put out an article on Memogate in what I think is a smear campaign against the democrats so that the media there can endorse the Green Party. Check here.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1036187/posts?page=8

This is scary. The Green party is called the watermelon party in Europe. Scratch the surface and you will find red. The communists are making gains.

[Nonstatist]

platform that calls for social justice, ecological imperatives, demilitarization, gender equity, and an economic system that's community-based.

IOW, the far left. Hey, anything that splits the Democrats up is a good thing, IMO

[randog]

Beyond the hyperbole, both pro and con, is a momentum that is illustrated by the more than 200 Greens who now hold elected office around the United States.

Momentum or a statistical anomaly? I don't think SF is the best example of national political trends.

[weegee]

...and has become a kind of haven for disaffected Democrats -- even as it continues to be stereotyped as the party that derailed Al Gore's presidency.

If these DemocRats did not want to go on record voting for Albert Gore Junior into the White House then their vote should not be "assumed" by the Democrats.

A third party candidate like Ross Perot (who seems to have dropped off the face of the Earth) was considered a "good" thing last decade.

The communist and socialist parties ran candidates in Flordia too and that could also have cost Algore that state. We don't hear how the Reds should have been voting for Gore. Reds/Greens/YellowDogDems; what's the difference? They all support socialism.

[weegee]

What protections are there to make sure that the global Greens don't contribute funds and publicity to the American Greens?

[weegee]

Lest anyone think that I am just throwing out a word like communist or socialist party, I present this picture of the Florida presidential ballot:

2,912,790 votes (Republican) George W. Bush/Dick Cheney

2,912,253 votes (Democratic) Al Gore/Joe Lieberman

16,415 votes (Libertarian) Harry Browne/Art Oliver

97,488 votes (Green) Ralph Nader/Winona LaDuke

562 votes (Socialist Workers) James Harris/ Margaret Trowe

2,281 votes (Natural Law) John Hagelin/Nat Goldnaber

17,484 votes (Reform) Pat Buchanan/Ezola Foster

622 votes (Socialist) David McReynolds/Mary Cal Hollis

1,371 votes (Constitution) Howard Phillips/J. Curtis Frazier

1,804 votes (Worker's World) Monica Moorehead/Gloria LaRiva

Write In candidates:

34 votes - May Chote

6 votes - Ken. C. McCarthy

When the difference is less than 600 votes (of course that tally does not include the disputed military ballots) all fringe party candidates' votes helped defeat the Democrats.

Looks like quite a few of those other parties also got votes that could have gone to the Republican candidate.

Voter turnout in the state was also around 50% meaning that there were many more potential voters. The Rats can blame the Greens but then again they can blame their own base.

[hedgetrimmer]

Greens should not be allowed to hold office. If communists are elected to the government they will make the government communist. Greens holding political office in America is technically subversion of our government.

[GSWarrior]

Greens should not be allowed to hold office.

Says who?

[hedgetrimmer]

There are law that state members of the communist party cannot hold office. Yet if the name is changed, like to the green party or whatever, its ok for a communist to hold an office in the United States? Something is really wrong here.

[mewzilla]

Wonder what the Green candidates drive? Bet it's not compacts.

[hedgetrimmer]

You think communists should run a nation that is supposed to be free?

[hedgetrimmer]

You think communists should be able to control our tax money? You think communists should be able to make laws that supposedly free people must obey? You think communists are benign and don't harm our freedom when they are elected to office?

[GSWarrior]

Let's outlaw all parties except the Republican party. All we need to do is change the law.

[presidio9]

Florida did not have a Right to Life candidate? I'm very suprised.

[hedgetrimmer]

You are being silly. How can a free people allow persons who want to subvert our form of government to a type of government that is anti-freedom and has been responsible for the deaths of over 100 million people to hold office? How can a free people allow this and stay free?

[GSWarrior]

Your suggestion to make it illegal for Greens to hold office is an emotional response and I can share some of your concerns, but do you really want the party in power to decide who can and can't hold office?

[weegee]

If there is collaboration between the US Greens and the International Greens they are not really a part of our election process. We do not permit foreign donations or non-citizen votes.

[hedgetrimmer]

The Constitution says you cannot elect certain people to office. For example it expressly states that the president cannot be foreign born. It is perfectly appropriate to bar communists from office as well, as their only purpose can be to subvert the government from within.

My response is not emotional but logical. How can a communist even take the oath of office? If they take it they are lying because being communists they do not support the constitution, or property rights or anything the country was founded on. If they don't take it, then legally they could be removed from office because the oath is supposed to make sure our elected officials remain loyal to the Constitution.

Sometimes people get confused and think freedom means anything goes. That is not true in the case of a free government. You cannot elect people to office who are philosphically opposed to our type of government. That they will try to change it to their political philosophy is a given. That is subversion.

[Stultis]

The Green party is called the watermelon party in Europe. Scratch the surface and you will find red. The communists are making gains.

But remember (and be thus reassured) that the Europeans have parliamentary systems, where third parties often join coalition governments with one or another of the major parties. Third parties cannot achieve anything like the same level of influence under the American system.

If the Green Party continues to grow it will only serve as a more effective spoiler for 'Rats. If it grows large enough it will only pull the 'Rats yet further left as they attempt to woo it's members back into the major party fold. Granted it won't be a good thing if more Americans hold to these extremist/feckless views, but the consequence will be politically painful for the left, which is a happy mitigation.