Wednesday, August 30, 2006

New Kids on the Ballot

Green-Rainbow and Grace Ross both start with the same capitals. Coincidence or karma?

Nuff said.

The AP reports that she got enough signatures approved yesterday by the secretary of state for her slate to appear on the November ballot. Standing and smiling in the spitting rain and mist yesterday in front of the State House, she as gubernatorial candidate and Wendy Van Horne as lieutenant governor addressed their pleased sub-throng.

It was no mean feat either. The party had to produce 10,000 certified voter sigs. The secretary accepted 14,432. We suspect they did it with fewer volunteers than any major party candidate has in a single city.

Money is, as they say, tight. Since April, the GR folk have raised $5,651 (no missing zeroes). This month, their account is about $430.

The slate also includes Jill Stein as secretary of state candidate and James O'Keefe as treasurer. They decidedly want to make a point. As Ross said yesterday, "The time for change is now and we need a government by and for the people, not by and for the rich people."

The party's platform is short on how to get there, but long on where it would like government to go:
  • Abolish poverty: Create universal health care & real affordable housing
  • Decrease global warming, Increase environmental justice
  • No one is expendable: End racial discrimination
  • Support labor struggles, living wages & guaranteed income for all
  • Take back the night, Rekindle the fight for women's rights
  • Equal rights for all residents, including marriage equality
  • Bring Massachusetts troops home, Stop contributing to perpetual war
  • Stop taxing poverty, stop corporate welfare, make taxes progressive
  • Our vote is our voice. Voting rights for all people not monied interests
  • Free education centered on each one's greatest potential
It's hard to argue with any of that. Hey, they even include marriage equality.

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1 comment:

Ryan said...

Years ago, I would have considered voting for a green candidate if the Dem was going to win in a landslide. Ralph Nader left a sour taste in my mouth, though, especially since he decided to run yet again and blindly didn't think that Al Gore was all that different than George Bush.

However, the sour taste in my mouth has been replaced with an absolute disgust after all this Santorum-Green Party nonsense (stuff in Washington too). Basically, Senator Santorum of Pennsylvania has got all his Republican friends to cough up enough cash to get the green party on the ballot in Pennsylvania as a desperate attempt to stop Bob Casey from breezing to victory.

When it was revealed who was paying for all of the ballot manuevering, the Green party was pretty enthusiastic about their republican friends. It leaves me with the distinct impression that they don't care if Santorum, one of the worst Senators around, continues on.

I could never vote green because I've seen this sort of ambivillance by ALL the people I know who still consider themselves green party members.

Basically, I've come to the conclusion that we need to change the Democratic Party from the inside to serve our needs and follow our interests. The imperfect Democratic DINOs will just have to be replaced over the next few election cycles. We're doing a good job with that endeavor so far, with Lieberman's removal from the Democratic Party.