Big difference between criticizing Obama and registering Declined to State, as Matt Gonzalez did, and supporting Obama and then registering Democrat now that Obama has more troops and mercenaries on the ground than Bush ever did, as Ross did.

Big difference to anyone who follows Africa as I do and thus understands that Bill Clinton has more blood on his hands than George Bush and we just don’t know about it because it’s African blood, shed in a covert U.S. war fought by the Pentagon’s paid African proxies.

I can’t help thinking that Matt Gonzalez was driven out of the party by a prominent member of the San Francisco Greens who so hates Matt Gonzalez that he attacked him verbally on e-mail lists, news websites, and blogs whenever possible. I never understood why, having joined the party after they fell out.

A close friend of mine who changed his registration to DTS after the last election is still so bitter about his interactions with the SF Greens that I have to hear about it way more often than I’d like, but I listen ’cause he’s a close friend, and it makes me think that the SF Greens probably have a lot to learn about outreach and inclusion.

As a journalist, I’ve been reporting on the Rwanda Greens, admiring their discipline, strategy, and unity with Rwanda’s other opposition parties and I’m learning quite a bit by observing this.

Final note: I really think this is the consequence of problems within the San Francisco party, not with the party beyond its bounds. The Marin Greens are doing well, as are the Mendo and Humboldt Greens. I don’t know about how Greens are doing in the rest of the U.S. besides what’s posted here, but the Global Greens, and especially the European Green Free Alliance, have turned more attention to the Rwandan situation than journalists and human rights investigators have been able to for the past 16 years. That’s a big accomplishment. I’m about to post a clip of Christiane Amanpour on the Rwanda Greens, on CNN, to We Support the African Greens on Facebook.

But there is a large part of the problem that rests within our party as well, and it would serve us well to address it frankly. For the past few years, we have not done a creditable job representing the wishes of the American people. We’ve been too concentrated on internal ideological purity and issues which haven’t been at the forefront – some for good reason, and some not – and voters haven’t responded. Cynthia McKinney’s campaign sadly reflected that: while she was speaking solely to small Black Panther luncheons and spewing baseless conspiracy theories, Americans were losing their jobs and their savings. She offered some interesting alternatives, such as public management of the Federal Reserve, but really, it was too little, too late.

Fortunately, we still have local elections where committed and savvy Greens can make a difference. Contrast Rich Whitney to the above; he’s got fully developed platform planks on real-world issues, and he takes full advantage of current events and the missteps of his opponents.

Even at that, we still have the challenge of less-than-democratic behavior by the duopoly, and the equally poor behavior of ideologues and egoists within our own ranks. (We can see where the latter philosophy goes: just look at the dozens of parties on the Left calling themselves some variety of the “People’s Revolutionary Socialist Labor Workers’ Party for Socialism”, or whatever. Couldn’t govern a luncheon, much less a country.) Greens should no more allow these obstructions to stop them than a pebble stops a stream. We should learn from the lesson of nature and simply go (and grow) around them.

I agree that it’s hard work building a party, and no one can accuse me of not putting in enormous effort from 2000-2008, from volunteering (most of the time) for Gonzalez when a supe on a daily basis to serving on the Green county council in SF.

Why do Greens lose people, and why do I call for a “real” opposition party? Some like Ross is a career move; Matt going independent was necessary because running w Nader he needed to be for Utah rules. Could have gone to court of course, but one more costly court battle taking time and money away from campaigning. When the left has all the money to fight every court battle then we will have won already.

Why have I left the Green Party? I left because this old 60s guy felt unwelcome. I left because I believe one of the biggest mistakes the Greens have made is being able to work with the left. The left has always been part of any signficant shift in political or economic structure in this country, and somehow way too many Greens think they can do it without them. They rely on creating barriers rather than outorganizing them which I think is preferable. It’s a tough fight in SF because the Left is better organized here than other places. The second major flaw with the Ca Green is hanging onto consensus. It slows thing down way too much to be effective as a quick reacting opposition party. It is a luxury that most Green Parties don’t operate with.

I will be delighted to be proven wrong but I begin to think that organizing in the the “belly of the beast” is different from organizing in other countries which are either running dogs with the beast or the food of the beast.

I think Ross still wants to fight that fight but to chose to fight it as a Dem is a big disappointment. If he had gone independent I would have been a lot more supportive.

for a Green Future,

Ed Bortz
Green Party candidate for Congress,
14th District, Pennsylvania

My apologies Matt!

Matt Gonzalez is a registered Democrat. He will not run against Pelosi in 2012. I’m not sure if Matt Gonzales will ever run again. I will continue to respect him if he makes that decision.

The Founding Fathers envisioned citizen legislators, serve your term(s), then go home and back to work, congress is NOT a career.