Looking more at the future of the Green Party

Yes, the party in its various state incarnations faces hurdles such as ballot access issues.

But, many of its problems are self-inflicted.

Bruce Dixon of Black Agenda Report looks at one set of them.

He mentions two main issues.

One is lack of organization. He doesn't specifically mention the decentralization plank of the party, one of its Ten Key Values. For me, he doesn't have to. It's obvious to me that it contributes to lack of organization. He does mention different state parties doing different things, which is a "tell" about that decentralization plank.

Among those things is rapid promotion of 90-day GP wonders. I'll go beyond Dixon and wonder if, in parties that don't have dues-paying members, but are semi-feudal, if some of this isn't deliberate.

The other big issue with him is "tokenism." I don't totally agree, no more than I totally agree with the likes of Doug Henwood and Adolph Reed that all race issues ultimately reduce to those of class. But, I do halfway agree, and as Henwood is fond of saying, have no white liberal guilt about that.

Behind the first point, he calls on the party to be more "leftist." That itself is an issue, as many Greens reject the idea, and some still dream of a Green version of red-brown alliances.

There's also this:

(T)he Green Party’s vague and wooly politics actually inhibit attempts to do political education beyond the simple notion that there are bad people in office and electing good ones will make things better.

Totally agreed there, whether it's wooly-headedness on alt-med, or lack of focus, or whatever.

And, that leads to the North Star, which recently tried to persuade DSAers to move beyond Democrats.

Let's start here:

Decentralization and localism operate in contradiction to serious and viable political organizing

 Indeed, and this ties with Bruce's pull quote in part, plus my own feelings on that issue.

It's part of a bigger issue, and the second sentence in a paragraph, actually.

TNS's board says Greens need to run fewer candidates. Stop spreading resources thin. Send donations to GP national and let it make the call of "picking winners." This would also bypass more feudal state Green parties, like the Ohio one with which Lause is stuck.

Next, this whole paragraph needs quoting:

There needs to be rules and accountability in any new political party:  The New York State Green Party, arguably the best Green Party in the entire country, passed a resolution in the mid-2000s banning the state party from supporting Democrats and Republicans. A similar proposal came before the national party and it was not adopted. All of this occurred after the disastrous 2004 Cobb “safe state” campaign. Partly because the New York State Greens were not fearful to actually lay down a political identity and impose some actual rules on who their party can support, they have run some of the strongest campaigns in the country. Compare this to the South Carolina Green Party that runs Democrats on their ballot line and openly advertises this. One of the South Carolina delegates attempted to raise funds for a Democrat running on a Green ballot line on the Green National Committee forum over a year ago. Would such be tolerated in the Democratic or Republican parties? Would Debbie Wasserman Schultz allow Democrats to raise funds for Republicans or Greens? Such is tolerated in the Green Party, where there is really no accountability on any level.

That's AccommoGreens Cobb, and Stein, in action for you. And it's still a problem. 

Finally, TSN attacks the focus issue:

While there needs to be rules and accountability, a new political party should not have a position on every single issue.

 Agreed; again, similar to Bruce. Stein was bad at this as a prez candidate, pandering all over the place, IMO.

Both Dixon and the Black Agenda Report, and North Star members, were at the Left Forum.

David Bruce Collins offers his own take on both pieces.

Finally, speaking of Stein, I've already noted that her lack of transparency and lack of accountability on her no-longer-a-recount are troubling. But not totally surprising. I'll speak more in the future about her possible end game/next move.

Also, please read this blog post of mine about the need for third parties, which takes a look at the SPUSA as part of that.