Reply #101: It's not a label

[Polemonium]

I'm green through and through, I recently lived in a town with a green mayor and many green council members. It was easy to be green there, and I think that is where we need to focus our efforts. If we were better organized we could have defeated Newsome easily in San Francisco. Anyway, recent events have led me to believe that we need to focus on the small races and stop wasting effort going after the big ring when we know it is currently out of reach. We also need to fight for IRV and proportional representation of some kind. I voted strategically for Nader last time in a state that Gore had easily. That obviously was not enough, so I'm working hard to see that Bush gets out of office, and Dean a candidate that is listening to the grass roots, and is supported by record amounts of small donations stands to take us in the right direction. Kucinich is great, I love his platform but ideas are not enough to win this election. Arnie was just elected governor; something a few years ago I would have argued was not a possibility. A green candidate was not even able to win in San Francisco against a near republican. Let's stop spitting in the ocean, get organized, and focus on the races we can win. Remember the Perot supporters that got Clinton into the White House, how far did that federal money get them when they pulled the magic percentage in the presidential election. Change comes slow; lets work the long-term plan. The alternative is another 4 years of Bush*. Green for Dean is far from an oxymoron, but greens doing anything that might help the snot nosed kid occupying the White House is more damaging. Dean is looking to get corporate taxes increased, and corporate control out of politics, and this campaign has the potential to allow him to avoid paying back all those big donations that paralyze so many other candidates in office. I'll go for the Kucinich or whomever when we have built a strong grass roots organization that is made up of 20-30% of the Americans, until then I'm going to help build a green house one brick at a time, and try to ensure that the whole house is not blown down by shrub in the meantime.