Letters.

Hello,

I have been distressed since the conclusion of the 2000 election over the fact that there seems to be no coordinated effort to speak to the issues we stood for during the election cycle. Mr. Nader is derided in the press. Where is the stand on Medicare for all? Where is the stand on alternative energy and CAFE? Where is the stand on campaign finance reform? All in all, it seems much of the effort it took to sustain one's will to vote for Mr. Nader in the last election amounts to little more than the recognition of one's desperate personal politics, and little more. Successful politicking is not at all about desperate personal politics. Successful politicking is about desperate social action. Where are my friends in this fight?

Where are our professionals? Where is our commitment? Where is our strategy? Frankly I have no desire to sit in a room at the local library listening to the will of our grassroots constituency to overthrow the vast military industrial complex. You can't even get close to overthrowing the vast military industrial complex if you can't first win the people's confidence to look after trash collection, pothole repair, and sound local government. Of course this is nowhere near as sexy as outright revolution; but reality bites, doesn't it?

I ran for election here in Chicago as a candidate for Alderman of the 32nd Ward in 1999. Which incidentally is just the type of election the Green Party should be supporting across the United States. There are no longer any party affiliations, no primaries in local elective politics in Chicago; 51% of the vote wins the election outright. Anything short of this number results in a runoff between the two largest vote getters. Chicago has more than 1% of the entire population within its city limits. In the year 2000 the local economy of the City of Chicago attained a gross of over $330 billion in revenue within its borders, making it the 18th largest single economy in the world. Local politics is a winnable proposition here, but you need troops.

Arizona and Massachusetts will finance public elections to state constitutional offices within their states during their next election cycles. Is the Green Party training troops for these battles? Will Ralph and Winona show up to put local candidates into the news? Will the movie stars show up for the photo-ops? Will we have the necessary foot soldiers we need to combat the political patronage schemes which maintain status quo politics? Or will...