By Richard Gomez
A person who has taken a bold step forward and out of the wreckage that is considered politics by registering with the Green Party generally identifies with Green values. That person is usually horrified with the two corporate parties but still needs to be convinced that working for the Green Party or giving money to it will in fact lead to a thriving oppositional party to the two political elites. This year the presidential primary election in California has five Green Party members running for office. Which members will be chosen depends on the party’s decision in the convention in August. (See ad) Personally, I believe that we have the best five candidates in the country. Of course, election seasons are never without their problems.
First, I have to acknowledge that Bernie Sanders has surpassed most expectations of his Presidential campaign. I, like many others, thought his candidacy would feel the fate of Julius Caesar and fail to get beyond the Ides of March. I was wrong but I am grateful that his message of health care as a human right, commitment to holding Wall Street accountable for its greedy corporate money laundering and immoral operations, as well as other forms of corruption is resonating with so many people.
The Green Party for years has fought the political power elites who control both major parties with these same messages that today bring crowds to see, hear, and cheer Senator Sanders. Many Greens who have supported these very ideas have been punished, ridiculed, and ignored when running for political office to get that message out to the public. It is interesting that it now comes relatively easily to Senator Sanders who, by choosing to run as a Democrat, has found the media more benign. What little face time he has had on television is much greater than all the third party candidates.
Those of us who are working for the Green Party find the values it espouses to be pretty much what we personally believe. We do not feel those values should be compromised for the sake of expediency. We believe that there is no other choice but to build this Green Party up. In general, we see the Democrats/Republicans as bankrupt and as part of the shell game that keeps the autocrats in power. I also fear that in this country the population in general has been conditioned to believe that it is up to someone else to be part of building something, rather than that the party must come to them. As we all know by now, our laws were made to prevent people and organizations like the Green Party from making the changes necessary to prevent horrific catastrophes from happening to the environment and humanity. Protecting the profit has become more important than a thriving Earth where the people thrive, too. Your vote can begin to make that change but you must believe that you can make that vote.
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Richard Gomez is a council member of the Fresno County Green Party. Contact him at 559-408- 3320, richardgomez136@yahoo. com, richard.gomez.9843@facebook.com or via the Green Party Web site (http://FresnoGreens. localgreenparty.org).
