Why do Greens vote Green anyway?

[thermodynamic]

Since a lot of people harass and demean the Greens by making snide comments and insults around here, I thought somebody should try to attempt to analyze the situation, especially since the Green party is so pitiful they can't even get more than 5% of the vote. :eyes:

Why are the organized and unified Greens such a threat when they can't get 1/9th as many votes as even the Democrats in disarray can get? (That's an insult, by the way. It's about damn time you Green-bashers get a taste of your own filthy medicine.)

What about why the Democratic party has disenchanted them to make them vote elsewhere? I mean, everybody has a boiling point. One's loyalty can only go so far. Surely the Dems haven't done anything stupid over the last several years in order to drive away potential voters? :shrug: (that's sarcasm, by the way. It's also ineffective sarcasm because, in Minnesota during the 2002 election, the Greens only got 2% of the vote. TWO FRIGGING PERCENT and somehow you bashers still think the Greens are a threat to anybody?!?! Man, you're either on something or you NEED to be on something!!! What next, you'll think that a colony of ants built the pyramids on Egypt single-feelerly?)

Let's stop the blaming-everyone-else shit and I'll agree I'm part of the problem as well. And I'll admit it's all too easy to make jibes at a political party that has done little in the last 2 years apart from capitulating like a gaggle of cowards. (did Al Gore spur the party on when he started jabbing President-Select Bush a few months ago, knowing it didn't matter because he knew he wasn't going to run for President again?! Heck, when a job isn't on the line it becomes clear people will speak their minds. More proof we really don't have true freedom of speech in this country.)

Let's start by addressing the failures of the Democratic party, pull its ass back up again, get a backbone for Jimminy Cricket's sake, and reclaim the whole shootin' match in 2004.

Also, the snide comments and such will do little to help anything and will likely be more detrimental. Why who knows, you might enable the Greens to get a whopping 6% in the 2004 election, Heaven forbid!!! (and YOU would still blame THEM for the loss, which would prove beyond a resonable doubt how irrational you bashers are!!!)

You Green-bashers want the Greens to vote Dem again? Then stop the badmouthing and do something positive about the situation and stop whining about a party which is obviously POWERLESS to change the political landscape, D-U-H!!!!! Trying to win their hearts back is what should be done...

The only thing relevant to American politics is the fact the Greens want to change the political landscape because they see the failures of all the other political parties. Just as you vote Dem for the SAME reasons and just as the repukes vote puke for the SAME reasons. Anything else is spin and conjecture. Nader didn't want the pukes to win, Perot didn't want Bush to lose, and so on and so on. They wanted themselves to win.

Let's UNITE for pity's sake and choose a candidate who is moderate or truly left-leaning. There seem to be at least 2 such candidates out there who are left-leaning. (Dean and Kucinich) And then there's Kerry who has a moderate approach for you moderate folks but is still Dem enough for most to enjoy. What's the problem? Do we have too many Dems who want to run for office? We all agree that Gephardt is a joke, Lieberman's a joke, 2 or three others' names aren't even mentioned so who'd take them seriously?

The Dems need to stand for something again; something that resonates with the most of us who are liberal. Will a moderate Dem vote puke just because one of those terrifying commie lefty pinkos is running?! :eyes: Maybe 1 or 2%, but in reality those amounts are nothing. And you'll always have the 1 or 2% of Greens who'll vote Green regardless of the cirsumstances, just like there are 30% of the republicans who'll never change their "minds". Is that 1 or 2% really important? Shouldn't we have a candidate who has the charisma to win over at least 50% of the population and a proper, civilized agenda?

Why am I confused?

</rant>

[jiacinto]

1. "Nader didn't want the pukes to win"

Read his statements. He clearly wanted Bush to win. That is revisionist history no matter how much you try to say otherwise.

[thermodynamic]

2. Fair enough

So my whole message was intended as revisionist history?

Then you're trying to revision history too.

If anything, I was naive and ignorant about Nader. Pity you couldn't see that. :nopity:

[LiberalLibra]

6. Read post # 5 and then......

.....when everyone gets their heads out of the clouds see if there is another choice??

[leftyandproud]

14. from my view

If the democrats don't EARN my vote, they deserve to lose. I will not vote for Bush lite, or for any candidate who sells out his principles to gain the 'moderate' vote. If the dem candidate stands on principle, he will pick up the entire green/socialist/progressive vote that WOULD have gone elsewhere...These votes will more than make up for the wishy washy center that vote independant/pub.

[KG]

3. ding-ding!

[Mel]

4. you asked

Why do Greens vote Green anyway?

They despise Repukes and for some the Democrats made them lose hope when they saw the party pulling more to the right the Greens also turned people on to politics that hadn't been before.

[LiberalLibra]

5. Regardless of who bashes who, one fact remains........

....the Greens haven't got a prayer in hell of winning a national election, like it or not, with less than 5% of the vote no Green will set in the WH. So the question bears asking, who do Greens hate the most, the Dems or the repukes?? There are no other viable choices. Greens, therefore, need to make up their minds which of the two viable parties they dislike the most and vote accordingly.

on edit: No I do not like everything the Dems have done but then on the other hand I'm realistic enough to know that humans, whether they are politicians or not, are not perfect.

[Bandit]

7. Wow Another Green vs Democrat Thread ~ Oh Boy, The Thrill the Thrill

:shrug: I'm sure everybodies mind has been changed and no more conflicts will exist. Talk about a one pony act. Is this all the usually bright and articulate people on these boards can find to talk about? I'm starting to think that GOP phrase has some merit "Get Over It"

[burythehatchet]

8. 10-4 bandit

look at the cast of characters - its a very small subset of the DU population...thankfully

[Sava]

9. re: Why do Greens vote Green anyways?

They are idealists stuck in denial over the two-party system. They believe Democrats don't represent their interests. The Dem's don't, to a certain degree, but only because they don't have the Green support. Politicians represent the people who vote for them. If Greens want Democrats to look out for their interests, they should vote for them and support the campaigns. Politics is about one hand washing the other... not sulking, acting like a crybaby and trying to change the system.

[Kellanved]

10. Things like this are what I like about the German system.

One vote for a (parliamentary)candidate and one vote for a party.
Green voter can give their first vote to a candidate they like (and one who can win her/his district ) and their second vote to their party.

[Iverson]

11. that depends

If you ask a Green or other progressive, you will get an answer that refers to representative democracy and the meaningful exercise of the vote. If you ask others, well, just look around for the quality of those answers.

[poskonig]

12. I voted Green in 2000.

I felt I was being sold out on "public-interest" style issues like the environment, corporate welfare, "free" trade, et cetera.

There are a sufficient number of candidates this time around where one can work for a guy that bests fits them. If one can't volunteer and get the candidate of their choice the nomination, there is no reason to complain. If someone can't get through the Democratic primary, what makes them think they can go up against Bushit?

[jonnyblitz]

13. why do dems vote dem?

:shrug: