It's Not Easy Being Green.

• Author: Conniff, Ruth
• Position: Green Party convention

It ain't Hollywood, where celebrities are making the rounds of glitzy parties for the Democrats. It's sure not Philadelphia, where the Republicans are putting on a corporate-sponsored elephant parade. No, the Green Party convention, which took place June 24-25 in Denver at a strip of cheap hotels by the old airport, was more like a political open-mike night. A hodgepodge of activists and hippies with a peculiar focus on legalizing hemp, the Greens beat drums to call meetings to order, giggled at their friends in ponytails and neckties, and generally appeared not quite ready for prime time.

Still, with Ralph Nader as their Presidential candidate, the Greens are attracting major media attention and giving the professionals over at Democratic Party headquarters a scare. Nader hit 7 percent in a recent national poll, prompting The New York Times editorial page to scold him for being a potential spoiler for Al Gore. In Denver, when reporters asked Nader if he was worried about throwing the election to Bush, he replied: "Not at all."

The two parties have become nearly identical fundraising machines, Nader argues. "The only difference is the velocity with which their knees hit the floor when big business comes knocking on the door," he says. On issues ranging from fair trade to product safety to the environment and workers' rights, "only an aroused citizenry can change politics," he contends. Nader has a very specific formula for how it might be done: "A million people, putting in 100 hours a year, and raising $100 each, could form a party to challenge the major parties."

With folk-hero status and decades of consumer activism behind him, Nader is a uniquely credible candidate to try to revive civic participation and democracy. Traveling across the country this summer, he is addressing big crowds who are turned off by corporate-dominated politics and receptive to his broad populist message. He appeals not only to lefties but to the same people who cast primary ballots for John McCain.

Wherever he goes, people run up to him--from state senators and newspaper editors to students and radicals--to tell him how he's changed their lives by getting them involved in grassroots activism. He has built hundreds of citizen action groups that took on corporate power and made lasting regulatory reforms, bringing us seatbelts, air bags, nonflammable pajamas, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, and the Freedom of Information Act, to name just a few...