Tonight, Jared Ball, a Green Party candidate, spoke at a public event held in the Casa Aztlan on the outskirts of downtown Chicago. He was formally introducing himself to the Illinois Green Party here in Chicago, which has been immensely successful in the past seven to eight years. His stop was part of his tour through America to boost support for the Green Party in America and also was a chance for a new voice to be heard and indeed it was as people walked out ready to propel the Green Party one step forward.
Jared Ball (go to JaredBforPresident.com for more info) believes that Americans should support him because he is running on the true platform of Dr. King and is the only campaign doing that in this election. His campaign focus in addition to race and equality for poor and middle class Americans is to build the Green Party and make it a viable alternative for the tens of millions who do not vote. For those tens of millions, this is THEIR campaign. And specifically, Jared is targeting women, indigenous, black, Latino, and poor Americans who are the true majority of the nation.
Ball finds his strengths lying in his connections with hip-hop and by touring America he is looking to connect with these poor folks who do not normally vote by sharing information about the “Colonial Pyramid” in America (where the ruling elite are at the top, the leisure class is just below, below that is the workers, below is the prison population, and below is the 4th world of people outside of America who want in), how corporatized hip-hop relates to corporatized politics, how Barack Obama is fundamentally flawed when he speaks about not having the baggage of slavery because he comes from an African-White heritage, and how brash and powerful aggressive politics is the answer to our two-party dictatorship.
The campaign for Jared Ball explicitly states it is a campaign that is part of a party that will not require a vote for evil even if described as “lesser” and adds to that the fact that it is the REAL Rainbow Coalition Party Fred Hampton envisioned, not Jesse Jackson.
During the presentation, the Green Party members spoke about how no matter what an individual thinks in either party the fact that they are part of that party robs them of any individuality they may have because they answer to the Democratic Leadership or Republican Leadership. Therefore, Dennis Kucinich or Ron Paul are taking the easy way out and robbing the Green Party of votes by masquerading as the answer in parties that are broken, corporatized, and morally bankrupt.
Regardless of what Kucinich or Paul have been all their life, they really should be running as third party candidates. It is nice that they have given us the privilege of seeing them on television with the ruling elite who use public service to get rich quick from corporate lobbyists, book deals, and veils of humanitarianism. But our electoral system and government are broken and 2000’s and 2004’s election proved that this ruling elite of politicians do not care because the Democratic Party that could have won chose to not challenge the official electoral ballot count in 2004. (David Cobb, a Green Party candidate, challenged it when they refused to do so because black voters who had been disenfranchised were planning on voting for him.)
Imagine a party of candidates where you don’t have to ask if so and so is for universal-free single-payer health care, imagine a party where you don’t have to ask if they reject war as an instrument of policy, imagine a party that does such things as campaigning on a promise to not send National Guard to Iraq (which is what the Illinois Green Party did in the previous election), imagine a party that stands up for poor and middle class workers universally and would end all the superstructures created to keep poor and middle class people all over down, and imagine a party that is for taking care of and respecting the Planet Earth we all walk upon.
What would we do? What would we do if we didn’t have to sit around and figure out what Democrat was for this and what Democrat was for that? Or what would we do if we didn’t have to question if that Democrat was really a liberal or progressive or if we didn't have to worry because maybe that Democrat is more like a corporate war Republican and not a people's candidate?
What if we all joined something positive like the Green Party and stopped universally rejecting a party that claims to be for the people but really is just the Anti-Republican Party?
The Green Party is absolutely progressive and for all of those things mainstream people are for and nobody has to ask if they are for this and that. All that matters is the how, which is really what should determine who wins and loses a political party's nomination. The fact that Democrats are so divided over ideology is a sign of a party rife with insecurities which are hurting Americans by stalling much needed progress.
So here’s my plan. And I am laying this out there for all you Kucinich people whom I have read comments from and left comments on articles written. And this is for people who support Dave Lindorff because what he’s doing is fantastic. Also, this is for people conflicted now as I am. I see the Green Party as the correct choice but I admire Dennis Kucinich so much for what he is doing with impeachment, single-payer health care, the Iraq War and Iran, etc. that I do not wish to abandon him.
I will be a Kucinich supporter until the end of this primary election in February. I am not a Democrat. I am not a Republican. I am voting in the Democratic Primary to vote for Dennis. And I am only going to vote for Dennis because you all are voting for Dennis and because I believe you all will pressure Dennis Kucinich to:
1) Speak up against this rigged electoral system more often and speak up more about including the Green Party and other parties in our elections. Offer to debate Green Party candidates. And also, offer to help fight for their right to be on the ballot right next to Dennis in 2008. That act will strengthen his reputation of being an honest politician who is not afraid to lose his job.
2) Target the poor, black, Latino, and indigenous poor and middle class neighborhoods that need the attention the most. Mobilize them to vote and speak out against the two corporate parties. Speak up against the injustices for them.
3) Join the Green Party if he loses the 2008 primary (or run as an Independent in 2008). If you fail to do what the Democrats aren’t allowing you to do, than join them in their struggle. Lend your voice to a party that is for everything you want. You won’t have to worry about reinventing and reviving a dead party. You can join millions of Americans in a party that stands for millions of Americans.
The Green Party equals the Peace Party. Imagine a whole party for Strength Through Peace instead of just a small sliver of the Democratic Party.
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