Make the Greenleap!

[Newtopia]

Hey DU,

I'd be interested in opinions on the ideas presented in this article.




Make the Greenleap
by Charles Shaw, Editor-in-Chief

Green politics & policies are about much more than just ecology and Ralph Nader. They are about replacing wasteful consumerism and a passive system of governance with a holistic, sustainable approach that incorporates social and environmental demands into national security and global trade policies.

http://www.newtopiamagazine.net/content/issue17/features/greenleap.php

(ADVANCE DISCLAIMER: None of this is meant to be statement on voting in the 2004 election. This article is educational and provocative)

[Newtopia]

1. Advance suggestion

There is a "Print this page" option that reformats it for 8.5x11.

[SlingBlade]

2. Not an ICE CUBES chance in hell

I Vote for Nadder again,Or any other 3rd party choice, Go to the freepers, Thier the ones who need a cadidate.
If he had any conviction at all he would drop out.

My opinion

[newsguyatl]

3. nah, not now

i'm going to give the dems another chance to show us what they got... and if they don't straighten up in the coming year or two, i'll think very hard about making the switch.

but now, we, the democratic party, need to unite -- get kerry elected -- and keep on his ass once he's in office. i have a feeling we might be pleasantly surprised.

[Newtopia]

4. Yes

Of course I understand and respect all the people who view Nader's or a Green candidacy as a threat. I am not asking you to change that thinking. I am curious what you think about the ideas discussed in this article. It states clearly in the article that this is not about trying to get poeple to vote Nader in 2004, it's about a different approach to policy. There's some really interesting stuff in there. And DU is by and large a very intelligent forum, so perhaps this is as good a place as any to discuss these ideas.

It's more about sustainability, which is a non-partisan issue.

[kwolf68]

5. I like the Green Policies

The Greens are a "wing" of the Democratic Party in much the same way Libertarians are a "wing" of the Republican Party (at least in economic terms).

I'd love to vote for a Green who had a viable chance to win, but for me (a sure vote for Senator Kerry) to vote Green in 2004 is a vote for Bush, plain and simple.

I think the sustainable policies advocated by the Greens are an ideology ripe for a rise in this nation and the world. The Greens are now 10%> in the German government so the movement is there.

Many Democrats in the Congress are very green and the Greens should work to lobby and influence and educate in an effort to counter-attack the blatant right-wing propaganda that permeates our media culture.

Globalization is nothing more than economic cost externalization, which is now in vogue because developed nations won't allow their workers and their environment to be exploited for corporate profits. However, the 3rd world doesn't have the political power to stand up against egregious corporate practices. From the devastation of local environmental communities (poor) to the exploitation of child and slave labor it’s all worth it hey? We get cheaper tie racks.

This is part of my problem with Clinton’s policies. His rabid free-trade with little concern for local labor and environmental laws really bothers me in much the same way John Kerry’s pro-war vote bothers many Democrats.

Now we are seeing the fruits of NAFTAs labor as the Chimpanzee at 1600 has said Mexican trucks can now come into our nation and pollute, because they aren’t subject to our environmental regulations as it is “against NAFTA” and America could potentially be sued. Not to mention American trucking companies that ARE beholden to our laws...this will drive them out of business and put truck drivers out of work. This is the same bullshit practice that is happening with “Dolphin Safe Tuna” where companies importing Tuna into our nation don’t have to be truthful about what is in their product, because following our “truth in advertising laws” would be contradictory to freaking NAFTA.

Clinton can take NAFTA and shove it up his ass and so can Mr. Gore. I love President Gore for so much of his values and damnit he should be our President right now, but I can’t see why he bent over for this shit bill. I am all for free-trade and yes we need to expand boundaries and borders, but this was nothing more than a giant boondoggle for industry and dimbulb consumers who don’t give a shit what their insidious purchases do to little Indonesian children or our environment.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Great article!! The DLC apologists will be flaming you.

"But what is slightly harder for Americans to swallow is Democratic Party complicity. The Democratic Party rewrote the party rules in 1975 to prevent any grassroots, progressive candidate within the party from ever repeating what the McGovern campaign did by capturing the 1972 nomination. Combined with the ascendancy of the influence of corporate donors, who all but control the party now, the rule change led to the creation of the Democratic Leadership Council and the "New Democrats". This is something that American Liberals, who still permit themselves to be in the Democratic Party largely through sheer opportunism, stubbornly refuse to acknowledge, instead opting to craft elaborate apologias which blame the 2000 election on Ralph Nader, and go to elaborate, often hypocritical ends to justify why their white middle-aged Yale millionaire is somehow different from the Republican Party's white middle-aged Yale millionaire."

I'll be voting Green/Dem this time around. Green for prez and Dem for Senator and Rep.

[Newtopia]

7. Many thanks

Well, the truth is sometimes unpleasant I suppose.

[Speed8098]

9. "Green for prez " ?!?!?!

Please explain to me what you hope to accomplish by voting Green for President.

This is not a flame. I agree with the Green Party on many issues, but with an election as important as this one, why would you put your vote down for a guaranteed loser?

In most elections, I agree, vote your ideals, but this one is just too critical to take that chance.

Please share your thought process with us.

[Newtopia]

8. In Enviro thread...

...someone said the words "crackpottery". I disagree.