Imagining United Progressives.

• Author: Busky, Donald F.
• Position: Forum on Green Politics

Imagine if, for the 2008 presidential election in the United States, all the progressive parties and organizations in the country set aside their sectarianism and nominated a common candidate. Imagine, for a moment, such a campaign on a United Progressive (UP) ticket. Instead of the Greens, the Socialists, the Communists, the Reformers, and every other party or group that espoused progressive ideas, each of them running their own candidate who would get less than 1% of the vote, imagine them pulling together to run someone capable of making a decent showing in the election. Perhaps someone famous, who had instant name recognition but belonged to none of these parties or groups.

Imagine if all the progressive magazines in the country, instead of urging that person not to run because it might hurt the Democratic candidate's chance of beating the Republican that year, all got behind the UP campaign. Imagine if the parties and groups in the UP campaign were able to pool their fundraising activities enough that they could buy some time for spot television commercials, adding legitimacy to the campaign and winning new converts.

Imagine if the UP campaign kicked off a year before the election, and stressed issues that all progressives could agree upon, like ending wars against countries that have not attacked us or declared war on us. Getting off of imported oil and using more renewable sources such as alcohol, wind and solar power as well as conservation would be another issue we might all agree on, and opposition to nuclear power with its inherent dangers.

Maybe we could agree that there would be no more "development" in...