| AUSTIN, TX
- May 29 - The Green Party and their presidential
candidate Ralph Nader have staked
their claim in Texas. Laying a cornerstone for their national campaign,
Mr. Nader and the progressive party he’s
helping to build have earned a ballot line in Texas with a grassroots
drive that in 75 days produced more than
60,000 petition signatures of registered voters who had not voted in
this year’s primaries.
“Over the past twenty years, big business has increasingly dominated
our political economy,” said Ralph
Nader. “This control by the corporate government over our political
government is creating a widening ‘democracy
gap.’ My campaign will challenge all Americans who are concerned with
systemic imbalances of power and the
undermining of our democracy. Presidential elections should be a time
for deep discussions among the citizenry
regarding the down-to-earth problems and injustices that are not addressed
because of the gross power mismatch
between the narrow vested interests and the public or common good.”
The Green Party of Texas says that it seeks to “build a just and sustainable
society through education, direct
action, and inclusive electoral politics.” Founded on March 20, 1999,
the party joins 28 state Green Parties
across the United States and a growing international movement.
The Green Party of Texas, a member of the Association of State Green
Parties, has chapters in Bexar County,
Dallas County, Denton County, El Paso County, Grayson County, Harris
County, Lubbock County, Tarrant
County, and Travis County. More than 200 Greens serve in national assemblies
in 21 countries. Green Parties
are junior partners in governing coalitions in six countries. More
than 60 Greens hold elective office in the U.S.
Greens worldwide share the values of grassroots democracy, social justice,
ecological wisdom, and nonviolence.
By handily meeting the state’s draconian ballot-access requirements
– among the harshest in the nation – the young
Green Party of Texas and presidential candidate Ralph Nader, have passed
a critical early test of their
organizational capabilities and of public response to their message
that it’s time for citizen activists to reclaim
democracy.
Given the state’s 32 Electoral College votes and its reputation as a
bastion of support for Republican Governor
George W. Bush, the Green Party’s success is expected to energize efforts
to get Mr. Nader and other Green
candidates on state ballots around the country. They’re already guaranteed
ballot lines in 14 states, including
California, New York and Florida.
Mr. Nader, America’s best-known advocate for consumer and citizen rights,
is running an aggressive
presidential campaign that takes aim at the insidious effects – on
workers’ rights, on citizens’ health, on
the environment, on democracy itself – of concentrated corporate wealth
and power.
“Even in conservative Texas, that message has struck a responsive chord,”
said Beverly Hayes, co-chair of
the Green Party of Texas, founded barely more than one year ago. “The
state regularly ranks near the bottom
on quality-of-life issues such as the environment and delivery of social
services, and petitioners found strong
public support for an alternative party favoring stricter pollution
controls, universal health insurance and full
public funding of elections.”
“With the Democratic Party here reduced to waiting for a turn at the
corporate trough, Texans know we
desperately need an alternative on the ballot,” Ms. Hayes said. “We
represent people who’ve been shouted
down by corporate money, whether the issue is clean air in Houston,
health insurance in San Antonio, the
corporate hustling of our schoolchildren in Dallas or a living wage
in El Paso.”
David Cobb, secretary of the Green Party of Texas, noted that while
Republicans and Democrats host $20
million fund-raisers and Pat Buchanan had to rely overwhelmingly on
hired petitioners to get him on the Texas
ballot as an independent candidate for president, the Green Party’s
success was the result of daily
pavement-pounding by dedicated citizen activists.
“There are two sources of power in this country: money and people,”
Mr. Cobb said. “The major parties
have the corporate money – and the corporate agenda. The Green Party
is a party of ‘We the People.’”
The Green Party is expected to field candidates in four statewide races:
for U.S. Senate, attorney-mediator
Doug Sandage; for two seats on the Texas Railroad Commission, which
regulates oil and gas, Gary Dugger,
a UPS pre-loader and union steward, and Charlie Mauch, a retired petroleum
and environmental engineer;
and for Texas Supreme Court, former appeals court judge Ben Levy.
All four offices are held by Republicans, and only one is contested
by a Democrat, a dramatic illustration of
what Green Party officials are calling “democracy in decline.”
Combined with Deomcratic presidential
candidate Al Gore’s apparent willingness to concede the state to Bush,
this presents Texas progressives
with a unique opportunity to “vote their hopes, not their fears,” David
Cobb said.
“I’ll tell you why a lot of Texans are going to cast their votes for
Nader in November,” said Mr. Cobb.
“Because they know that a vote for Al Gore in Texas is a wasted vote.
This is our chance to send a strong,
clear message that we the people are fed up with the corporate takeover
of our politics, our institutions, our
government our very culture.”
For more information on the Green Party of Texas, visit the Web site,
www.txgreens.org.
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