Abstract

Medea Benjamin

The article focuses on the political activism of the Green Party in the United States. Many of us in the Green Party made a tremendous compromise by campaigning in swing states for such a miserable standard-bearer for the progressive movement as presidential candidate John Kerry. I plan to work with the Greens to get more Green candidates elected to local office. Regardless of our party preferences, Democrats and Greens must build strategic alliances on two key issues of our day: electoral reform and ending the occupation of Iraq. Let us jointly promote a Voters' Bill of Rights that includes standardized voting machines with paper trails, nonpartisan administration of elections, instant-runoff voting, a national election day holiday, an end to felon disenfranchisement and others changes outlined in our ten-point Voters' Bill of Rights. Strengthening the framework of our internal democracy (count every vote, every vote counts) and fighting against empire (money for jobs, not for war) are strategies that will resonate with the vast majority of Americans and set the stage for future electoral victories.