[Peace-discuss] Pull a Green Party Ballot Today!

Thu Feb 4 10:35:00 CST 2010

I can't speak for the Greens, but I share Bob's analysis of this point of view.  

The only thing I'd add is that, as an anarchist myself, I don't think it's necessary to boycott elections in every context, to prove that you're a real anarchist.  (Some anarchists I've known won't even vote Green based on this, what I'd call a mistake.  By the way, I also don't think you've somehow betrayed your principles if you vote for someone you don't entirely agree with.  Your vote is just not 'all that'.  It's a vehicle, a tool, a means to an end, and it's the kind we shouldn't get too worked up about in my view.)

But just on the one point, I'm an anarchist because I believe that  we'd be better off doing things a different way, and I want to work toward that goal.  It does not necessarily follow that ignoring the existence of the very real power dynamics in our society (e.g. by boycotting elections) is that way to change that gradient.  I think it is not clear at all that this position even makes sense.  

I do not recognize the 'legitimacy' of capitalism, either, but I am forced to acknowledge its presence and power, if only to struggle against it, but also and very frequently in order to put food on the table.  Is there another way to accomplish this?  Perhaps, for some.  But if the solution begins, "Just buy yourself a piece of land ..." you begin a circular argument, as well as cutting out most of us who don't have that extra cash, to speak of.

No, these systems of power accumulation - state power, corporate power, etc. - are insidious precisely because they tend to restructure every environment to suit them (sort of reverse terraforming), cut off avenues of escape, leave no stone unturned.  Some people like to 'drop out' or just submerge themselves in their jobs and such, maybe buy a house in a cul-de-sac neighborhood with a big fence around it or a cabin in the woods and think they're safe.  But no one is safe.  Because if there is a dead man with pennies left on his eyes, 'they' are not done yet.

Likewise, in my view, if we try too hard to avoid the taint of association with The Man, it's possible to wind up just avoiding the nitty-gritty of the practical work that needs doing - something of course The Man may worry a bit over, on the theory of the dead man's eyes above, but it doesn't really make that much difference.

My 2c -
Ricky

"Speak your mind even if your voice shakes." - Maggie Kuhn

--- On Thu, 2/4/10, Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com> wrote:

From: Robert Naiman <naiman.uiuc at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Pull a Green Party Ballot Today!
To: "Peace-discuss List" <peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net>
Date: Thursday, February 4, 2010, 8:57 AM

I find Matt's argument here quite striking. I wonder how many
activists in the Illinois Green Party share the views that Matt
expresses here. If it turns out that these views are widespread in the
Illinois Green Party, I think it should affect the calculation of
folks who are interested in promoting progressive change in the world
in which we actually live about whether the Illinois Green Party is an
institution whose influence in public affairs they want to promote.

Matt argues that it actually doesn't matter who Cheryle Jackson is or
what views she espouses:

"If Cheryle Jackson or anyone else on the corporate ballots was
actually any good, then they had no realistic chance of winning in
this rigged election."

Presumably, Matt is acknowledging here that he actually doesn't know
anything about and doesn't care to know anything about Cheryle
Jackson, a remarkable position for someone who presumes to educate
others on public affairs. But in Matt's worldview, that information is
irrelevant, so why bother acquiring it? All you need to know about the
world is that you should vote for the Green Party.

Furthermore, one presumes that according to Matt's logic, so long as
the election remains "rigged," no Green Party candidates will ever
have a realistic chance of ever winning any election.

Therefore, in Matt's worldview, the call to vote for the Green Party
is essentially a call for a boycott of the election. The only
difference between voting for the Green Party and staying home is that
if you vote for the Green Party, there is an official record of how
many people participated in the Green Party-initiated boycott.

Note the similarity between Matt's argument and the old anarchist
slogan, "if voting changed anything, they'd abolish it." Of course,
anarchists with this view are generally electoral abstentionists. The
only difference is that the anarchists generally don't exhort you to
go the polling place on election day and vote anarchist.

Other folks here are more familiar with the Illinois Green Party than
I am. Are these views widespread in the Illinois Green Party?

On Wed, Feb 3, 2010 at 3:35 PM, Matt Reichel <mattreichel at hotmail.com> wrote:
> Of course, I couldn't disagree more with the analysis that it is worthwhile
> pulling a corporate party ballot. If Cheryle Jackson or anyone else on the
> corporate ballots was actually any good, then they had no realistic chance
> of winning in this rigged election.
>
> The act of pulling a Green ballot in itself was a vote against the system of
> corporate bribe-taking candidates.
>
> In the end, over 5,000 people in the state pulled a Green ballot: a 60%
> increase over 2008 numbers, despite turnout being about 1/3rd of 2008 across
> the board. (Champaign County was the only major county that saw a decrease,
> in large part due to the graduation and relocation of several active GP
> activists from there)
>
> Most of the increase occurred in inner-city Chicago, where residents have
> the benefit of clarity that those of you in the cornfields might not have:
> choosing among corporate bribe taking candidates in one of the corporate
> bribe-taking parties is an act of futility. In the land of Blago, Rahmbo,
> Stroger, Daley, Burke I and II, Dick Mell, and so on, this couldn't be
> clearer.
>
> Solidarity,
>
> Matt
>
>> Date: Tue, 2 Feb 2010 15:39:31 -0600
>> From: galliher at illinois.edu
>> To: kmedina67 at gmail.com
>> CC: Peace-discuss at lists.chambana.net
>> Subject: Re: [Peace-discuss] Pull a Green Party Ballot Today!
>>
>> My experience exactly. Without the kiss.
>>
>>
>> Karen Medina wrote:
>> > Election judge to Karen: "Would you like a Democrat or a Republican
>> > ballot?"
>> >
>> > Karen: "You are not offering a Green ballot?"
>> >
>> > EJ: "Would you like a Green ballot?"
>> >
>> > Karen: "No. But aren't we offered a Green ballot?"
>> >
>> > [... ] [Karen was voter 110 at her precinct at 10:30am today.]
>> >
>> > Karen to 3 EJs in an otherwise empty poling place: "Have a wonderful
>> > day! Hope you have a great turnout!"
>> >
>> > EJ1 blows a kiss. A heartfelt good-bye.
>>
>>
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-- 
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org
naiman at justforeignpolicy.org

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Timeline for Withdrawal and Political Negotiations
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