Here we go again.

• Author: Tirado, Jose M.
• Position: Forum on Green Politics - Letter to the Editor

I believe it is time we cease looking at our present political situation through the prism of one man's (or woman's) potential impact and more through the possibilities that exist currently on the street--that is, our reliance upon one person whether that be someone we do not support (like Bush or Kerry) or someone we may support (like Nader or Cobb) is part of our long-term problem. In the Green Party's case, we remain too dependent upon our shining stars and when they flake out or disappoint us, we get depressed, lose our fighting spirit, and essentially surrender.

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I believe that if every star personality were to leave the Greens, if all our big shots up and joined the Democrats or some other party, saying that they made a mistake or wanted to "go home" I would still be a Green.

Why? Because our parties' values are right, our vision is right, and our positions are right. We cannot build the future on the backs of a few talented speakers, knee-jerk grandstanders, egomaniacal wanna-be "players" or wanna-be Democratic speechwriters. A future is built now, among the people and based on a vision of where we need to go and a consensus on how to achieve that.

Unfortunately, every time a consensus develops someone bolts with their own ideas and then everyone begins the endless self-examining that ends up splitting us into ever more fractious factions. This is no way to build a Party or a future. At some point we have to trust that those Ten Key Values we espouse are legitimate and work to convince others likewise.

Greens' opposition to unlimited growth strategies with their consumer-addicted passion for oil and cheap foreign resources seems remarkably prescient when analyzing the current state of world affairs. We have sacrificed our Republic for an empire and we are hated for it and are rapidly becoming feared as a nation. Americans rarely inspire anymore and that is soon seen as the empty promises of politicians hungry for votes and beholden to the real power brokers--the vast corporate dominators of all our lives. We remain ensnared by the same militaristic "leaders," the same moribund corporate ideology and the same...