Revy
20th September 2009, 20:08
Link (http://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/58435-green-party-courts-van-jones-for-future-run)
Another example on how the Green Party seeks out celebrity Democrats to run on its ticket?
Although the petty-bourgeois Green Party has ensnared many socialist groups in the past and present, under the convoluted idea of it being a reformist progressive alternative to the two bourgeois parties, we see connections being made between the Greens and the Democrats.
In 2004, the Cobb/LaMarche campaign openly declared its "safe state" strategy. This strategy was articulated as voting for Kerry in swing states, or heavily Republican states, and voting Green in states where Kerry's win was "safe". This idea of voting for Kerry to prevent Bush from being re-elected was promoted by a vast number on the left, notably Noam Chomsky, and was known by the popular slogan, "Anybody But Bush". Pat LaMarche, the Green candidate for Vice President, even went so far to say that if the race was tight, she wouldn't even vote for herself.
On the opposition during the 2004 Convention were the Naderites, who wanted to nominate Ralph Nader again. Although Ralph Nader represents a more potent alternative, and continued to place 3rd in every election including 2008, his ability to build an alternative was questionable at best, laughable at worst. But the Naderites counterposed themselves as the left wing of the Green Party, since they did not support the Democrats in such a blatant way.
Nader was an unbearably egotistical pseudo-left populist who refused to support an open immigration policy. So he nonetheless, despite his presence being more potent, does not represent any kind of alternative. Rather, his movement which continues to this day is based on personality politics. In so doing, a movement coalesces around a person, instead of people coalescing around a movement. This is messianic politics, it is what drove the Obama campaign and it is what is driving the Green Party now.
In 2008, the Green Party puts its hopes behind Cynthia McKinney, a former Democratic member of the House of Representatives. Cynthia McKinney, seen as too radical by her party, was overthrown in the Democratic primary and replaced with another Democrat candidate for Congress. But the progressive alternative McKinney claimed the Green Party would become, never happened, and while her vote total was marginally better than 2004, the Green Party had long by that point been deprived of its own potential by its leadership.
The Green Party now seems to believe any Democrats that are considered too left for their party are left enough for them. In so doing the Green Party, proletarian at its base, but dominated by petty-bourgeois at the top, gives its allegiance to the political left wing (and its own aspirations of becoming) of the American bourgeoisie. The Green Party is becoming exactly like the German Greens, who became the SPD's lapdog.
The Green Party could not need any celebrity Democrat. If they truly cared about being an alternative, actual Greens from the grassroots, perhaps even proletarians, would have a chance. Instead they want Van Jones, who became part of the imperialist Obama administration to promote the absurdity that Obama is going to give us a "green economy". In his book The Green Collar Economy, Van Jones writes that the "business community" will be the driving force behind that economy. Van Jones pins "our success and survival as a species" on the work of the new "eco-entrepreneurs", the goals of the working class is reduced to footsoldiers as consumers to build green business, and the green movement and its voters are encouraged to build a strong alliance between themselves and the "business world".
No doubt the same socialist groups (or elements within them) that support the Greens will trot out his alleged socialist background as a reason to support him, ignoring his current conciliation with capitalism.
Another example on how the Green Party seeks out celebrity Democrats to run on its ticket?
Although the petty-bourgeois Green Party has ensnared many socialist groups in the past and present, under the convoluted idea of it being a reformist progressive alternative to the two bourgeois parties, we see connections being made between the Greens and the Democrats.
In 2004, the Cobb/LaMarche campaign openly declared its "safe state" strategy. This strategy was articulated as voting for Kerry in swing states, or heavily Republican states, and voting Green in states where Kerry's win was "safe". This idea of voting for Kerry to prevent Bush from being re-elected was promoted by a vast number on the left, notably Noam Chomsky, and was known by the popular slogan, "Anybody But Bush". Pat LaMarche, the Green candidate for Vice President, even went so far to say that if the race was tight, she wouldn't even vote for herself.
On the opposition during the 2004 Convention were the Naderites, who wanted to nominate Ralph Nader again. Although Ralph Nader represents a more potent alternative, and continued to place 3rd in every election including 2008, his ability to build an alternative was questionable at best, laughable at worst. But the Naderites counterposed themselves as the left wing of the Green Party, since they did not support the Democrats in such a blatant way.
Nader was an unbearably egotistical pseudo-left populist who refused to support an open immigration policy. So he nonetheless, despite his presence being more potent, does not represent any kind of alternative. Rather, his movement which continues to this day is based on personality politics. In so doing, a movement coalesces around a person, instead of people coalescing around a movement. This is messianic politics, it is what drove the Obama campaign and it is what is driving the Green Party now.
In 2008, the Green Party puts its hopes behind Cynthia McKinney, a former Democratic member of the House of Representatives. Cynthia McKinney, seen as too radical by her party, was overthrown in the Democratic primary and replaced with another Democrat candidate for Congress. But the progressive alternative McKinney claimed the Green Party would become, never happened, and while her vote total was marginally better than 2004, the Green Party had long by that point been deprived of its own potential by its leadership.
The Green Party now seems to believe any Democrats that are considered too left for their party are left enough for them. In so doing the Green Party, proletarian at its base, but dominated by petty-bourgeois at the top, gives its allegiance to the political left wing (and its own aspirations of becoming) of the American bourgeoisie. The Green Party is becoming exactly like the German Greens, who became the SPD's lapdog.
The Green Party could not need any celebrity Democrat. If they truly cared about being an alternative, actual Greens from the grassroots, perhaps even proletarians, would have a chance. Instead they want Van Jones, who became part of the imperialist Obama administration to promote the absurdity that Obama is going to give us a "green economy". In his book The Green Collar Economy, Van Jones writes that the "business community" will be the driving force behind that economy. Van Jones pins "our success and survival as a species" on the work of the new "eco-entrepreneurs", the goals of the working class is reduced to footsoldiers as consumers to build green business, and the green movement and its voters are encouraged to build a strong alliance between themselves and the "business world".
No doubt the same socialist groups (or elements within them) that support the Greens will trot out his alleged socialist background as a reason to support him, ignoring his current conciliation with capitalism.