It may not be a sleeper of a presidential election year
after all.
In a somewhat peculiar symbiosis, consumer advocate Ralph
Nader and a burgeoning Green Party solidified what they
hope will become this year's populist rallying cry for
disaffected labor union members and environmentalists
alike: Turtles and Teamsters Forever!
Four years ago, Nader only halfheartedly campaigned on
the Green Party ticket. At last weekend's national Green
Party convention in Denver, he insisted he's in it to
win.
A more realistic goal, however, is to secure that magic
5 percent voting percentage, giving the Greens a massive
boost and access to millions in matching federal funds
in the 2004 presidential race.
Or, as Jello Biafra, lead singer of the now-defunct punk
band Dead Kennedys, puts it, "Can you imagine what would
happen to American television if people like me get to
design the presidential campaign ads?"
Biafra was also drafted to run on the Green Party ticket
for president this year, as was Stephen Gaskin, who helped
found the Farm in Tennessee in the 1970s--at the time
the largest hippie commune in the world.
Not unexpectedly, Nader easily won the nomination. But
both Biafra and Gaskin say they are helping to revive
interest in politics among groups that have become disenfranchised
and have reeled in disgust away from politics.
In that effort they picked up an unlikely ally over the
weekend: the spokesman for Reform Party of America.
Don Torgersen carefully distinguished his branch of the
Reform Party--which was founded by H. Ross Perot in 1992--from
the Buchanan Brigade of 2000. Perot hasn't personally
weighed in, but Torgersen said his group's endorsement
represents 23 state party affiliates.
"Most of the traditional Reform members have walked away
from Pat Buchanan," Torgersen said. "Five weeks ago we
polled our national delegates for names, and Ralph Nader
won hands-down."
***
The embrace of trade unions and Perotites is a new move
for the nation's Greens, who did not decide to get involved
in electoral politics until after a 1991 meeting in Boston.
Now, formally organized in 38 states, with a high-profile
presidential candidate plus 78 candidates holding mostly
local public offices and 118 candidates running this year,
the Greens are on a roll.
"We've come a long way in 10 years," says Blair Bobier,
an Oregon delegate who was part of the '91 Boston Green
party. "It's exhilarating for a lot of us; this is a real
culmination of many years of efforts."
So what does Ralph Nader have in common with the Greens?
"He has an incredible connection, I can't think of a
more natural alliance," Bobier says. "He's impressed by
our dedication to civic democracy, and we're impressed
by his commitment to doing it."
A clean and safe planet is still the key issue for Greens,
but they also now agitate for universal health care, an
end to corporate welfare and legalizing hemp.
Some labor unions, angered by Gore's recent support of
trade with China, are attracted to the Greens, as are
Reform Party activists who have long derided NAFTA. And
the Greens are building on the momentum generated by last
year's widespread protests of the World Trade Organization
in Seattle and the International Monetary Fund in Washington,
D.C.
Kicking off the three-day convention in Denver, Nader
and his running mate, Winona LaDuke, blasted the Democratic
and Republican parties for bowing down to "corporate paymasters"
like DuPont, Exxon and General Motors.
The arrogance and complacency of the major two-party
system has resulted in widespread alienation in the political
democracy, Nader said. Less than 50 percent of eligible
voters turned out for the vote four years ago.
"We've got one corporate party with two heads wearing
different make-up," Nader said. "We're one choice short
of a [dictatorship]."
Radio commentator and keynote speaker Jim Hightower electrified
a packed house, blaming an exodus of would-be Democratic
voters from Al Gore's camp on a major party that has abandoned
its core values and is now indistinguishable from Republicans.
In response to Democrats' claims that Nader will steal
votes away from Gore, Hightower offered the vice president
a little piece of advice: "If you want to get rid of the
Nader problem, become a Democrat."
For his part, Nader issued a challenge to the media to
treat third-party candidates as seriously as they do the
two major parties--and to insist that he and Buchanan
not get shut out of the debate. Currently candidates must
garner 15 percent support in the polls (which neither
Nader nor Buchanan has) to be allowed to participate in
presidential debates, a system that was devised by the
Democratic and Republican parties.
Sure enough, by the end of the convention, Nader and
mainstream press were cozying up nicely with each other.
The day he accepted the nomination, Nader's press handlers
insisted that the candidate--the champion of the little
guy--would only be available for interviews with major
daily newspapers.
