The Green Party is....

[Kaleva]

Using where you see yourself on the linear political spectrum, choose one of the options as to how you see where the Green Party stands in relation to your overall views on the issues.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

1. ...full of shit. n/t

[Tesha]

26. That was a clever comment. Is that the sum total of your thoughts on the matter? (NT)

[Greyhound]

35. Were you expecting substance? n/t

[Tesha]

36. No, but I thought I'd give them the chance. ;-) (NT)

[saltpoint]

2. ...far more effective in Europe but

marginal and clumsy stateside.

Their decision to nominate Cynthia McKinney, IMO, was not an argument in favor of the Green Party as a viable political entity.

[Ghost Dog]

25. Works some in Europe but needs much work. Should improve.

Danny Cohn-Bendit makes a lot of difference (helps a lot).

Stateside? You're behind the times.

[stray cat]

3. Its a party and is where it should be but not one I would vote for

[arbusto_baboso]

4. Pretty much a non-issue in American politics.

[Taverner]

8. +1

[philly_bob]

31. This could change. /nt

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

5. A welcome alternative to the "one party, two wings" status quo.

[Stevenmarc]

6. The what party?

[morgan2]

7. the asian equivalent of the boston tea party?

[Naturyl]

9. Poised for rapid growth if Democrats don't change course...

[Kaleva]

10. Link to my earlier poll about the Democratic Party

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7025434&mesg_id=7025434

[skids]

11. ...better in some states than in others.

Unfortunately while there are lots of terrific people involved in the GP
in some states, other states have been overrun by gadflies and in some
cases even political operatives using it as a electoral tool for two-party
politics.

Know your locals.

[saltpoint]

12. ...unestablished.

There is no sense on the part of the electorate that this is a political organization with the capacity to represent them effectively.

Political parties come and go and even more, they migrate from one way of thinking to another. Among party members the view changes dramatically over time and certainly over regional boundaries.

Thus we have Bill Nelson of Florida and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, both in the same political organization but by no means representative of the same electoral issues or values or points of emphasis on those issues and values.

And Bill Nelson, if he is no Russ Feingold, is also no Lester Maddox, also a Democrat.

The Green Party has gone national in recent elections to no great advance or benefit of the ideals which define it.

Until that occurs, they will remain ineffective and marginal, drawing a tiny statistical percentage of U.S. voters.

[Kaleva]

13. +1

[YOY]

14. Would be wonderful to have if we had a pluralistic political system...

n.t.

[Cleita]

15. ...what the Democratic Party used to stand for.

You forgot that one.

[hfojvt]

16. too unelectable

especially away from the coasts.

[johnaries]

17. Ineffectual, except to siphon votes away from Dems. nt

[lonestarnot]

29. Thank you.

[mmonk]

18. We live in a two party corporate dictatorship.

To ask such a question is useless.

[MineralMan]

19. Other: Of no interest to me, due to its extreme minority

status. Its only function in elections is to take votes from viable Democratic candidates.

See the 2000 Presidential race in Florida. I rest my case.

[cali]

20. you forgot "irrelevant".

[Kaleva]

21. That would be an option for another poll question.

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Obviously I voted for the last one. ;^)

[amborin]

23. a great party; i might switch over to it in fact.

[Maat]

32. I did ...

and I've been very happy. I went to the California state convention, and had a blast. If nothing else, I really enjoyed conversing about vital issues with like-minded individuals. One thing that was very impressive was that consensus is achieved on every move (great efforts at consensus must be made before votes are taken, if possible), and consensus is always achieved. The people there were VERY well-informed, and no one had to try to defend the policies advocated by the corporatocracy.

[Douglas Carpenter]

24. right on almost every issue but still bad for the country and dangerous for the human race

If we had a system such as proportional representations where one could support one consistently progressive party without empowering the most reactionary political movement in American history - I might very well support them. But we do not have such a system and there is not a snowballs chance in hell that the United States is going to acquire such a system prior to the total collapse of the current order - not a good thing to wish for either.

The fact is, under the system as it exist and will continue to exist for some time to come - a significant increase in support for the Green Party will not move policy in a more progressive direction - it will unfortunately do quite the opposite. It will result in putting in power a government run by people who think exactly like Rush Limbaugh, Pat Robertson, Glen Beck. Michelle Malkin, Bill O'Reilly, Ann Coulter and the rest of the lunatics on Fox News. That would be the real life - real world consequences of a significant increase in support for the Green Party - down here on planet earth in the United States of America. It is not how things should be - it is how things are.

[Vidar]

27. A thousand times better than the two corporate parties.

[G_j]

28. has a great platform

http://www.gp.org/platform/2004/

[Maat]

33. Hi, G_j!

I'm very happy being a member of the party. See you over at You-know-where.

;-)

[dionysus]

30. you forgot the "about 300 douchebags" option. I'm sure Skinner appreciates you pimping them here.

:puke:

[Kaleva]

34. Pimping who?

I think the results of this poll so far compared to the earlier poll I posted about the Democratic Party are quite interesting. DU could be called Green Party Underground.

[conflictgirl]

37. what the Dems should be paying attention to right now

...since I think they're alienating a lot of their base, who will be finding a new home in the Green party if they haven't already.

People always say "oh, the Greens are unelectable and a vote for them will mean the Republicans get elected" but honestly at this point I am so disgusted that I see almost no difference between Dems and Republicans in the way they actually vote. Is Stupak a Republican? He's not? Could've fooled me! Which party is pushing mandatory health insurance as "reform"?

The registered voters in this household are voting Green in the next general election if the Democrats continue moving right. As my 12-year-old said this weekend, "It doesn't matter who's President, they're all puppets. Whoever has the money pulls the strings." I want an alternative.

[dana_b]

39. your 12 y.o. said that

You all must have some good discussions. :) I talk with my 19 y.o. quite a lot and we also have some really good discussions. She gets overwhelmed with some of it though.

I was a Green for a while and then decided that I didn't want to go along anybody's party lines so I re-registered as an independent (I was a Dem for many years too).

[dusmcj]

38. irrelevant ?/nt

[Ganja Ninja]

40. Non-existent for all practical purposes.

And that's too bad because we could sure use a left wing alternative right about now.