[Peace-discussion] Counterpunch.org: Greens Gone Wild by John Murphy

[henry duke]

Toward a Militant Populism
Greens Gone Wild
By JOHN MURPHY

'But I don't want to go among mad people,' Alice remarked. 
'Oh, you can't help that,' said the Cat, 'We're all mad here. I'm mad.
You're mad.' 

'How do you know I'm mad?' said Alice. 

'You must be,' said the Cat, 'or you wouldn't have come here.' 

--Lewis Carroll

When Congress came into session with a Democrat Party majority, left leaners
of every stripe and not a few conservatives hoped that, at the very least,
the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq would come to an end and the more egregious
assaults on our civil liberties like the USA Patriot Act would be repealed.

After one year of a Democrat Congress we are still in Iraq and Afghanistan
and the Democrat Party gives every indication that that our stay will be
indefinite. Instead of repealing egregious pieces of legislation like the
USA Patriot Act even more brutal attacks on our civil liberties have been
passed by the Democrats through such legislation as the Military Commissions
Act which actually undercut one of the cornerstones of Western democracy;
habeas corpus.

With the Democrats showing themselves to be as bloodthirsty and as cavalier
as the Republicans in destroying our civil liberties the American voter
might want to begin looking for an alternative to the Democrats. The Green
Party has maintained, on paper, that it has been opposed to the invasions of
Iraq and Afghanistan since those invasions began and that it is similarly
opposed to any legislation which restricts our civil liberties. But what
exactly is the Green Party doing to advance this agenda?

Instead of preparing to deal squarely with the problem of the Democrat Party
through a fission strategy, tragically the Green Party is setting itself up
to run a presidential campaign modeled on the mindless strategy of 2004. By
any measurement, the Green Party's 2004 strategy to run an unknown
candidate, who had no funding, nor any way to raise significant funds, and
to run him in only those states where he would not present a threat to the
Democrat's candidate was a disaster. The Green Party's candidate, David Cobb
got 100,000 votes (as opposed to their 2000 presidential candidate Ralph
Nader who got 3,000,000 votes) lost its ballot status in nine states; it
lost 50,000 members; its rate of growth has now become a rate of decline;
its treasury is empty and it has gone from running 400 candidates a year
down to running 100 candidates a year.

Any normal organization would have gotten rid of the officers responsible
for such a devastating strategic failure. But the Green Party is not just
any normal organization! Not by a long shot! Not only have they kept all of
the failed officers in place but they have even promoted one of the leading
demogreens, Phil Huckelberry, to its Steering Committee. In fact Jim Coplen,
Budd Dickinson, Jason Nabewaniec, Jody Grage, and Holly Hart all worked hard
to destroy the independence of the Green Party in the 2004 election and were
rewarded by the members of the National Committee for this horror show by
being elected to the Steering Committee and now remain in total control of
which proposals the National Committee will consider and whether those
proposals will require a simple majority threshold for passage or a
supermajority threshold of 66.6%.

As if that weren't sufficiently suicidal, the National Committee has put the
entire electoral process of the Green Party into the hands of a man with the
highest record of failure in the entire party; Greg Gerritt. Mr. Gerritt is
in charge of what the Greens call their "CCC" Coordinated Campaign Committee
and their "PCSC" Presidential Campaign Support Committee. The Green Party's
failure over the last four years can be laid at the feet of David Cobb, John
Rensenbrink, Ted Glick, Ben Manski, Dean Meyerson, Jody Grage and Greg
Gerritt. While Cobb may have been the only one who understood the entire
mechanisms that segregated the party's membership from its decision-making
processes, we have Gerritt to thank for the continued decline of the party
without any effort to bring this decline to a halt. He even mismanaged a
major contribution which cost the Coordinated Campaign Committee $25,000.

The Demogreens

Every party has factions. The Green Party is no exception but the factions
in every other party, especially the Democrat and Republican Parties manage
to put their differences aside in favor of one key value "party unity".
Neither the Democrat Party nor the Republican Party has a faction which
actually wants to bring about the end of that party in favor of
strengthening some other political party. Not so the Green Party. 

One of the major factions in the Green Party is called the "demogreen
faction". It is also referred to as the "lesser-evil-greens faction". A more
lengthy but rather more descriptive title would be "Democrat Party
Accommodationists". These are the people in the Green Party who believe that
the function of the Green Party is to improve the Democrat Party and by all
means to avoid hurting Democrat Party candidates. Phil Huckleberry, one of
the leaders of this faction, made this demonstrably clear at the 2005 Green
Party convention when he stood up and screamed while pounding the table: "I
did not join an independent party, I joined the Green Party; I did not join
the Green Party to fight the Democrat Party". Huckleberry continues to warn
Green Party members not to criticize "progressive" Democrats.

The faction in opposition to the demogreens is usually called the
Independent Greens. These are Greens who see the Green Party as independent
from both of the corporate owned parties. They do not see the role of the
Green Party as having anything to do with helping the Democrat Party. The
Independent Greens also insist that the Green Party be democratically
organized. They want each state to be proportionately represented with
respect to the number of Greens in each state. The demogreens, which are the
right wing of the party, reject the concept of "one person one vote" which
is the very cornerstone of democracy. In essence they would favor a system
whereby a Senate would be given legislative power instead of a House of
Representatives. The logic of the demogreens emerged in the 18th century and
gave rise to the Electoral College and the United States Senate. 

The demogreens have actually taken this antidemocratic philosophy further
than the landed aristocracy which gave us the United States Senate. The
demogreens seek to bar democracy of any kind within the Green Party. They
seek to keep the membership fully divorced from the decision-making process
of the national party leadership. The disproportionate size in state
delegations is the mechanism by which this system is created and
perpetuated. 

Green Party Corruption

One of the paid administrators in the Green Party is Brent McMillan whose
history of failure as Political Director goes hand in hand with the failure
of his supervisor Greg Gerritt. Simply being a failed Political Director
however, is not the end of McMillan's difficulties. Recently McMillan (a
demogreen) insisted that Elizabeth Arnone, the only Independent Green who
sits on the steering committee with eight demogreens, and John Murphy,
delegate from Pennsylvania were heading up a "fifth column" effort to
destroy the Green Party! 

Continuing in this insane vein, McMillan then, in a state of prejudicial
rage writes a letter to the Green Party's steering committee slandering one
of its presidential candidates, Elaine Brown, by writing that she "is
paranoid delussional (sic) and is also a late stage alcoholic". Ms. Brown is
a long time activist, a former leader of the Black Panther Party, a Green
Party candidate for mayor of Brunswick, Georgia in 2005, an author and
college lecturer, a community organizer and an incredible asset to the Green
Party. This is how she is maligned by a Green Party hired gun!

Most normal organizations would have thrown McMillan out on his butt for
making such a groundless, prejudicial statement before getting sued for
libel, slander and defamation of character. But the Steering Committee,
eight of whom are demogreens, has come to his aid and instead is calling for
the resignation of Liz Arnone for blowing the whistle on McMillan.

Adding injury to insult, John Murphy who has been working for four years in
the Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition to help rid Pennsylvania of the
egregious ballot access laws which prevent minor party candidates like the
Greens from running for election was, himself, actually denied the ability
to run for election to a position on the Coordinated Campaign Committee in
an effort to ride herd on Gerritt. 

Murphy's own state party chair, ignoring the rules, would not even permit
him to run for election to obtain a seat on this committee. There was only
one criterion for evaluation: did Murphy have campaign experience? But
instead of simply writing a note to the party secretary, demogreen Holly
Hart, informing her that Murphy indeed had the required experience, the
Pennsylvania chair set up her own version of the Star Chamber and, after
receiving a communication from Greg Gerritt begging her not to permit Murphy
to run, Murphy was denied ballot access! Denied the very ability to run for
office within his own party!

Preventing worthy candidates from running for office is as grievous a sin
against democracy as preventing people from voting. But acting in an
antidemocratic fashion has never bothered the leaders of the Green Party. It
was precisely that kind of behavior which gave the Green Party the strategy
failure of 2004.

The corruption continues with delegate Hugh Esco from Georgia. Georgia is
the former home state of Cynthia McKinney. As it turns out Green Party
National Delegate Esco was on the payroll of the Democrat Party. Apparently,
this delegate from Georgia may not even reside in the United States! He
appears to hold an administrative position in the Green Party of Canada.
Curiouser and curiouser! 

The Arrival of Cynthia McKinney

The best thing to happen to the demogreens since the safe state strategy is
Cynthia McKinney. The former congresswoman from Georgia is a great asset to
the Green Party and with a bit of luck could be our vice presidential
candidate but not if the demogreens get their way. While Cynthia may have
name recognition with many members of the Green Party and the Progressive
Democrats of America (PDA) she is virtually unknown to 98% of the voting
public. At a press conference earlier this month in Madison, Wisconsin which
has over 600,000 voters, only 30 people turned out to hear her. She got
almost no press coverage at all. Tragically, when she does get any press
coverage she is smeared by the corporate media as a "cop slapper",
"conspiracy theory nut" and has even been accused of anti-Semitism.

The demogreens plan to use Ms. McKinney as a surrogate for safe states.
Unlike Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney has no national constituency; no
ability to raise significant funds. This makes her virtually another David
Cobb minus the devious intentions. The Green Party has only 19 ballot lines
remaining. McKinney may be able to pick up another half dozen but after
that, there is little she will be able to do with no name recognition, no
money and no loyal following to build organizations in states where the
Green Party has no ballot line.

The Paper States

To ensure that McKinney becomes the presidential candidate of the Green
Party the demogreens under the leadership of Greg Gerritt engineered the
failure of a recent proposal which would guarantee that the apportionment of
delegates to the national convention would be at least a rough approximation
of the concept of "one-person one-vote" or in this case "one green
one-vote". It is very likely that we will go into the convention with states
like Indiana which has a total of 47 Greens (yet Jim Coplen of Indiana
managed to engineer himself a seat on our steering committee) getting eight
delegate votes along with a group of 16 other states known as "paper
states".

The "paper states" came about as an artifact of Nader's presidential
campaign of 2000. Several states across the country established Green
Parties during the Nader campaign but they fell apart soon after the
election. Those state Green Parties nevertheless remained "on the books" and
were quickly taken over by the demogreen faction. This means that 16 states
with less than a thousand Greens have 32 delegate votes in the Green Party's
National Committee enabling them to outvote states like Pennsylvania which
has 15,000 Greens yet only eight delegate votes. Those 32 delegate votes
also offset California's 41 votes yet California has 150,000 Greens -- 40%
of the total Greens in the country. The delegate apportionment rule being
favored by the demogreens will put a cap on California's delegates at 20%
meaning that 50% of California's Greens will not be represented!

The Grassroots: Now or Never

It may be too late but unless the rank and file; the grassroots Greens,
awaken and insist upon the resignation of every member of the steering
committee with the exception of Liz Arnone, the book will close on the Green
Party of the United States. Unless the rank and file Greens in Maine,
Illinois and Wisconsin ousts every member of their national delegation the
book will close on the Green Party of the United States. Unless the
rank-and-file members of the Green Party of the United States insist upon a
democratically organized political party which is completely independent of
the Democrat Party, refusing to support Democrat candidates directly or
indirectly, the book will close on the Green Party of the United States. The
time for doing this is now measured in months, perhaps even weeks. It is
likely however, that no matter how the time is measured it may have already
expired.

The Unknown Factor: Ralph Nader

If the demogreens' e-mail messages to the Green Party's National Committee
could be heard instead of read they would sound something like whining dogs,
cackling hens or screeching cats. These are the same people who have been
saying for the last four years "if only Nader had come to our convention, he
would have gotten the nomination". They behave as if they had no idea what
Manski and Meyerson did back then. Now their cackling, whining and
screeching is taking the form of "well Nader hasn't even bothered to tell us
he's a candidate". 

Any 12-year-old with a modem could've told you why Nader didn't announce a
couple of months ago. It was clear that he was about to get a tremendous
amount of publicity as a result of the movie "An Unreasonable Man" being
broadcast all over the country by PBS from December 18-24. Clearly had Ralph
announced before that time PBS would not have been able to show that movie
since it might have been considered promoting a presidential candidate. If
the whiners, cacklers and screechers had paid any attention, they would've
heard that Ralph said publicly several times he would make his announcement
around the end of December. No one would throw away the kind of publicity he
received during that week in December coupled with the publicity he received
as a result of his lawsuit against not only against the Democrat Party but
the law firm which sued him in the first place.

If the leaders of the Green Party were thinking strategically they would be
focused on one objective: obtaining 5% of the popular vote so that they
could qualify for matching funds in 2012. Certainly there are other
objectives to be achieved such as growth in membership, return of lost
ballot lines and the resulting increase of funds in the Green Party
treasury. Only Nader can get the votes required to return their lost ballot
lines. Only Nader can get the necessary 5% they need for federal matching
funds in 2012. Only Nader has the national constituency required to raise
sufficient funds to run a presidential campaign. Only Nader as the
infrastructure already in place to organize those states where the Green
Party has no ballot line. While there are indeed many well intended Greens
supporting Cynthia McKinney, the real support for McKinney is steeped in
corruption and driven by the desire to do minimal damage to the Democrat
candidate as in 2004.

The Horizon: Militant Populists

As the tidal waves of history come crashing down on the crumbling walls of
the Green Party washing away even the stains of Cobb, Gerritt and
Huckleberry, a new movement is already beginning to take shape. As the
bearded, braided, crystal gazing, alternative dress,
let's-everyone-make-nice, politically-correct-language-obsessed Greens are
reabsorbed into the political environment, a militant form of populism is
beginning to make its voice heard. A zeitgeist, if you will, spreading
slowly but inextricably from the south is taking hold of the angry,
frustrated, politically and economically disenfranchised Americans who long
to make their voices and their will heard in the United States. This spirit
is beginning to embody not the doctrinaire Democrats of The Nation Magazine
bellowing the trite catch phrases of a hollow liberalism but the tens of
millions of Americans who know only intuitively that something has gone very
wrong and that if there ever was an "American Dream" it could only come with
the futile purchase of the next lottery ticket. 

John Murphy was the 2006 independent candidate for House of Representatives
in the 16th Congressional District of Pennsylvania. He was endorsed by
Michael Berg, Peter Camejo, Noam Chomsky, Ralph Nader and Howard Zinn. He
was endorsed by two county level Green Parties, two county level Libertarian
Parties, the Pennsylvania Reform Party, the New American Independent Party
of Pennsylvania and the GDI among others. He will be running again for House
of Representatives in 2008. Currently he is a National Delegate from
Pennsylvania to the Green National Committee (GNC). He is also one of the
founding members of the Pennsylvania Ballot Access Coalition , working to
change ballot access laws in Pennsylvania. He can be reached at:
johnamurphy@comcast.net