Green News and Opinion

Roger S. wrote a comment, and the question was important enough that I decided to make a post about it. The question he posed was

RogerS said...

"I don't know folks, but if we don't get some help, things don't look as good as they might. Imagine a national political party without a chapter in NY, CA, PA, VT, NY and FL.

"At a minimum we have lots of work to do in those states it seems to me."

Gregg, could you explain the last line above?

Thanks.

-Roger

My answer is behind the "Read more!" link...

Thank you Roger.

What I mean is that there is a gulf between Greens in those states and Greens elsewhere, at least at some level. I believe we must, as an entire party, try to find a way to bridge that gulf, and then close it for good.

Party unity in other words.

For example, in Charlotte the local newspaper disrespected some local union organizers who had reached out to establish some sort of communication system between local media and local labor.

When the labor leader asked for support, it was given almost uniformly, even though some of the labor leaders thought their guy was out of line.

This doesn't mean that they don't have disagreements, but when a decision is made, the decision should be supported by all, so long as principals are not at stake.

Of course, in the debate between those who voted to oust the SC members and those who did not want them removed, both sides believe that principal was at stake.

I feel like Rodney King...wishing we could all just get along. There is no doubt in my mind that the most abrasive and obnoxious Green has it all over the average Democrat or Republican, but we have so much to do and so few resources to get them done that internal disputes seem to be of little value.

But we are people and as such are going to behave like people. People can be amazing, but more often than not, pettiness and other human failings come to the fore, leaving us struggling to find a way to get from point a to point b.

For example, I ran for Steering Committee in South Carolina. There were six people running for six seats. (Correct me here Steve, if you're reading.)

The party had established a rule, which I was unaware of, that a candidate for party leadership must win a majority of the votes cast to win a seat.

In addition, the three top vote getters would win a 2 year seat, and the bottom three would win a one year term.

I was more concerned that the SC have a substantial black presence than that I serve, so I cast my votes for the three black nominees and for Bill Bobo, a sitting member of the Steering Committee here in South Carolina.

The party treasurer, David Whiteman, was fortunate enough to bring a few members of his family and their friends to the state convention. After the vote was cast they left, and I didn't get a seat on the Steering Committee.

Now, I could have raised all sorts of fuss, but why? In the end, the people who got elected have accomplished relatively little as far as I can tell, but I am not on the SC, so maybe they have done a lot, and I just don't know about it.

Instead of getting all riled up, I decided to pay closer attention to my local branch, and try to get something real going here. I began to write for YC magazine, began blogging here and elsewhere, and am offering my services to Jim Dunn and Faye Walters, two congressional candidates who want to run again, and to Arnold Karr who is running for Superintendent of Education.

I guess what I am trying to get at Roger is that I feel that I was done wrong, but instead of letting my anger take up my energy, I decided to organize. The party is not going away, and the opportunity to run for the SC will come again.

Directly to this situation I would say this.

The "winners" in this situation should reach out to the "losers" and try to find common ground that we can use to get back on track. Both sides made mistakes, and both should admit that. Both sides have made exceptionally valid points, but again, both sides must admit that the other side does have some valid points.

Final word? The "winners" need to be very gracious, and try to find ways to fix the problems the other members of the family have, and the "losers" need to be understanding that they are not in authority right now, and support the party as best they can so that they can too expect this from the other side when tables are turned.

But shit, I'm just a guy with an opinion. Ya gotsta remember, I barely made it out of high school. :-)