Call for the formation of a Green committee for Democracy and Independence.

• Author: Hill, Forest
• Position: Election 2004: Green Analyses

There is real concern among many Green Party members that decisions made by the national party leadership do not reflect the major view of the membership. In particular, many believe that the voting rules developed by the national Coordinating Committee (CC) led to the nomination of a presidential candidate supported by a small minority of Green Party members. These rules created a voting system that drastically undermined the political power of the majority of registered Greens in the country in order to ensure the party ran a lower profile candidate for president in 2004.

While we support the right of Greens to hold the view that we should not run national candidates whose challenge will hurt the Democratic Party's chances of winning the presidency, we believe this current is a minority view in the party. Unfortunately, due to the fact that the number of representatives on the CC from each state is based on its Electoral College vote and not on the size of its Green membership, those supporting a lesser evil strategy currently hold the majority of power.

To counter this current in our leadership body, we are calling for the formation of a Green committee for Democracy and Independence ("GDI"). We believe that such a committee is necessary because there exist within our party conflicting views over political orientation and the role we should play in American politics. To maintain our party's unity we must ensure that all viewpoints are respected, all members can participate fully in the institutions of the party, and all decisions truly reflect the will of the Green Party membership.

To build a true alternative party for peace, social and economic justice, and the environment, we must institutionalize policies that declare our independence from the two corporate parties. We therefore call on Greens to join us in the formation of the Greens for Democracy and Independence caucus around the four points outlined below.[1]

It is our hope that at the next national conference the Green Party will overwhelmingly vote to democratize our internal policies in order to protect the rights of all our membership and maintain party unity. We ask all Greens to consider our proposals and to declare their support for internal democracy and party independence, regardless of their political views on other issues.

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