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An Open Letter to the Progressive Community

Greens look to the future with renewed strength and no regrets

It's been quite a year for the Green Party. We grew tremendously in breadth and depth of support, and in public recognition. We found inspiration in working for candidates we truly believe in, rather than just the lesser of evils. And we lost our innocence amid attacks from liberal media pundits and erstwhile progressive allies.

We are happy to address any criticisms among the progressive community, and to help advance respectful dialogue among progressives regarding political strategy. This letter contains a few initial responses. But first, a few words about our gains this year.

Thanks to Ralph Nader's inspiring presidential campaign, the Greens are now the third largest party in America. Closer to home, Joe Szwaja's 20% of the vote in the 7th Congressional race puts the Greens in the running for the second party in the Seattle area. (Republicans only garnered 18% last time they ran a candidate against Jim McDermott.)

Membership has doubled in the Green Party of Seattle in the last six months. Statewide we've gone from two local party organizations to 20, with Green Party contacts in all 39 counties.

The Nader campaign turned out over 10,000 paid supporters at its rallies locally, mobilized hundreds in volunteers through its Seattle office, and strengthened many alliances within the progressive community. And, despite being shut out of the national debates and dismissed by the media, the Nader campaign helped expand the scope of political discourse well beyond the anemic debate between major parties.

Thanks to the Nader and Szwaja campaigns, many issues not on the agenda of the major parties received attention:

• reclaiming democracy from corporate corruption,

• promoting fair trade over free trade,

• guaranteeing universal health care,

• ensuring a living wage for all workers,

• ending the death penalty,

• reforming a criminal justice system that imprisons a greater share of the population than any other industrialized country, many for nonviolent offenses as a result
  of a failed War on Drugs,

• redirecting military spending to social needs,

• removing Snake River dams to protect salmon, and

• achieving zero-cut old-growth forest policies.

If politics is the "art of the possible," Green politics is the "art of expanding the possible."

Greens are birthing a new kind of politics in America, but the birthing process is never painless. The Green Party and the Nader campaign has been attacked (sometimes viciously) for playing a "spoiler" role in the election.

This criticism was not unexpected, but it was misplaced, for several reasons.

First, let's recognize that our electoral system is the real spoiler by creating a dilemma where voting for your favorite candidate can help your least favorite candidate get elected. That's just plain wrong. A simple reform called instant runoff voting would solve this problem. Instead of pointing fingers at each other, let's join together to change the system. Greens are busy building a coalition to make this happen.

Second, there is the question of technical accuracy. It is widely assumed that Nader and the Greens must have spoiled the election for Gore, at least in Florida if nowhere else. But is it true? According to CNN exit polls, 13% of self-identified Democrats in Florida voted for Bush; only 1% voted for Nader. In fact, Nader also drew 1% of the Republican vote, drawing the bulk of his support from independents, and making his overall impact on the Bush/Gore balance of votes negligible.

Third, the impact of Nader voters was likely greater in races other than the presidential race. Nader received 103,000 votes in Washington state--a large portion (perhaps a third) of those were from people who would not have voted had Nader not been in the race. It's safe to assume that these voters also voted for the more progressive candidates and issues on the rest of the ballot. Maria Cantwell defeated Slade Gorton--thereby preventing a Republican majority in the Senate and ridding Congress of one of its most powerful anti-Indian and anti-environmental voices--by a mere 2,200 votes. Do the math.

Fourth, the Greens give more leverage to the progressive wing of the Democratic Party by giving them somewhere else to go as the Democrats lean ever more to the right. One of the more quixotic arguments from the anti-Nader camp was that Nader voters should be "pragmatic" and vote for Gore. But how pragmatic is it to pledge your undying allegiance to a political party for nothing in return? The Democratic Party has repeatedly sold out its progressive wing on key issues because it knows they have nowhere else to go. Well, now they do, and the Dems have got to pay attention. Gore took stronger stands for corporate accountability and environmental protection in the final weeks of the campaign specifically because of Nader.

Fifth and finally, criticism of the Nader campaign misses the primary reason the Greens exist: We need a third party because the two-party system has become irretrievably corrupted by monied interests. If Greens believed it was possible to advance social justice, ecological balance, grassroots democracy and other key values through the Democratic Party, we would all be enthusiastic Democrats. If we believed that the two-party system in America could possibly serve the democratic process, rather than thwart it, we would be happy to work inside that system.

Building a third-party alternative in America is bound to be a long arduous process, with little hope for large-scale victory in the short-term. It can't wait till some mythical future time when major-party candidates are "equally evil," or until some heroic third-party candidate suddenly has a "realistic chance of winning" before any kind of base has been built. We can't harvest the crop until after we've tilled the field.

This year Greens have done much to prepare the soil for healthy growth in the future. We have deepened our roots in the progressive community and will continue to do so in the coming year. We're also branching out into new areas.

Seattle Greens are currently engaged in a process of reassessment and reorganization that will enable us to grow into a stronger, more resilient, more effective political force in the coming years. We are working to reach out to constituencies currently underrepresented in the Green Party and build the broadest base possible. We aim to make the 21st century a Green century.

We deserve candidates we truly believe in and a party we truly believe in. If the Green Party sounds like a party you can truly believe in, we urge you to join us.

If you disagree with the Green Party's strategy, we urge you to debate us. But please keep the dialogue constructive and respectful. Thank you.

In Solidarity for a Better Future for All,
Lansing Scott
Green Party of Seattle staff