Now is not the time to go Green (Party)

by Friends of the Earth Action President Erich Pica

Friends of the Earth Action endorsed Sen. Bernie Sanders for president a year ago but today we are encouraging our members and supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton for president. While we align with many facets of the Green Party platform, we do not support Green Party candidate Dr. Jill Stein for president.

We have vigorously disagreed with Sec. Clinton on many issues. We have fought over the Keystone XL Pipeline, the Trans Pacific Partnership, her interventionist foreign policy, her support for fracking, her ties to fossil fuel lobbyists and her neo-liberal economic platform. Yet without equivocation, we would rather have Hillary Clinton in the White House and push like hell for her to create better policy than fight Donald Trump to save basic human rights and centuries-old social agreements.

Urging our members and supporters to vote for Hillary Clinton does not constitute what Dr. Stein describes as being trapped in the two-party “duopoly.” Our assessment comes from a deep political and strategic analysis: Dr. Stein and the Green Party are not credible standard barriers for the progressive movement or Sen. Sanders’ Revolution.

Sen. Sanders’ campaign did not create the energy that fueled his spectacular campaign. Rather, Sen. Sanders tapped into a present and growing vein of populism and channeled it electorally. His historic presidential run helped strengthen the progressive movement, giving a voice to the deep concerns we have about equal rights, justice, corporate power, climate change and a capitalistic winner-take-all economic system that is undermining our democracy and the health of our planet.

This gets to our first critique of the Green Party. Where were Dr. Stein and the Green Party during all the big fights? Where was she during the battle against the Keystone XL pipeline, the Keep It In The Ground movement, the Fast Track Trade Promotion Authority battles, the fight for a $15 dollar minimum wage, same-sex marriage and all the other major progressive gains over the past several years?

They did not take part. The Green Party is a political organization in name only, though we wish it were much more.

This gets to our second critique. A viable political party must prove that it can govern before actually running the country. The Green Party has been around in various forms for more than 40 years and currently claims to have more than 100 elected officials. This sounds impressive until one realizes that there are more than 500,000 elected offices in the United States. In states where the electoral “duopoly” is being challenged by fusion voting, instant run-off election and other reforms that should favor the Green Party, they are not making progress.

In endorsing Sen. Sanders, Friends of the Earth Action was supporting someone who inspired and rallied new people to our democracy and could accomplish change as president. In Hillary Clinton, while we disagree with many of her positions, we see someone who will be very capable running the government. In Dr. Stein, we see someone who shares our values on important issues, but has absolutely no track record.

The progressive movement is beginning to change the national dialogue on many issues. Now is the time to consolidate our movement’s power — marshal our energies to elect Hillary Clinton and then hold her accountable. This is the strategic way forward for all of the issues we care about.