D_Richardson wrote:
>Before we assume that the environmentalists present a viable arena, we
>should be aware that, at least in the leadership, they have been
>acquainted with socialism and have found it distasteful. The following
>is from Sam Smith, local DC curmudgeon, national Green Party figure, and
>(I had thought) one of the more important local progressive naysayers.
>I am forwarding this piece because it is so reprehensible: it says a lot
>of what is wrong with Smith and the Greens.
The value of the Green Party is that it represents a challenge to the
2-party system. Recent successes in New Mexico indicate that the
stranglehold might be broken for the first time in decades.
DSA'ers might resent the Green Party challenge because it goes against
their strategy of realignment, in other words making the Democratic Party a
social democratic institution like the British Labor Party or the NDP. The
defense of this strategy is often couched in Marxist orthodoxy.
The Greens might just decide that such Marxist orthodoxy deployed on behalf
of Bill Clinton is nothing but hot air. In any case, the Green Party is one
of the more hopeful signs in the American electoral arena despite the mixed
bag of the Nader candidacy.
Louis Proyect
