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  uring the past election cycle, I was polled
by some group out of Sacramento. Answering the electronic survey
was easy enough until it got to the part about political affiliation.
The last question, delivered by the canned voice, asked if I
was registered Republican, Democrat, or Independent. As if those
were the only possible options. At that moment, I realized all
this talk about independent voters was nothing more than linguistic
tyranny on the part of the establishment. Unwilling to acknowledge
other parties, those voters were lumped together like the Professor
and Mary-Ann in the Gilligan's Island theme song. "And the
rest." Ouch.
 By labeling
members of the Green Party and other "third" party
constituencies as independents, the media is treating these Americans
and the viable political alternatives they represent as something
to be overlooked. By defining these voters as independents, the
prime-time mediacracy we call government shows it's bias towards
the status quo and the republicrats they represent. And yes,
there will always be true independents.
Besides the
Greens, there are now at least five other parties vying for political
position. Reform, Libertarian, Republican, Democrat, and Jesse
Ventura are mixing it up. If only the media would recognize that
the two party system is dead, and the third party threat is multiplying.
By not calling
a Green a Green, you might as well be calling him or her a libertarian,
which couldn't be further from the truth. In regards to environmental
policy, libertarians can make even republicans look like tree-hugging
liberals. Espousing an "every man for himself" ideology,
most of the libertarians I have spoken to see environmental regulation
as unconstitutional and a threat to property rights. Which is
only true in their world.
The foundation
of the Green philosophy is based on ten key values, the first
being ecological wisdom and the understanding that human societies
are part of nature, not independent of it. With this understanding
comes the responsibility to recognize resource limits of the
planet, while applying our technological knowledge to the challenge
of establishing an energy-efficient economy. The Green party
also recognizes the rights of nonhuman species and self-regulating
natural systems, along with those of humans. In other words,
the Green Party believes that flora and fauna should be afforded
property rights as well.
Unlike the
two "major" parties, environmental justice is important
to members of the Green party. Green ideology believes that humans,
and the corporations that run them, have no "right"
to poison their neighbors. I'm sure when nonwhites were given
the right to vote they did not give up their right to clean air
and water. None of us have.
Ecologically
sound principles guarantee protection for all life on Earth.
Embracing the biocentric ethics of Aldo Leopold, Greens view
humans as just one member of the biotic community, albeit one
with a unique responsibility. With our highly prized cognition
comes the responsibility of developing sustainable ways to live
in balance with what biodiversity remains. Conservation is still
possible.
I realize
Kermit the Frog lamented that it was not easy being green, to
which I would remind everyone he said that with a man's hand
shoved up his butt. Being Green is not only easy, it is the natural
way to be. Contrary to the current duopoly running America, and
the multinationals that really run things, Green Politics offer
a vision of a society that enjoys both ecological sanity and
economic vitality.
While I am
on the subject of environmental sanity, I am proud to announce
San Diego Greens are building momentum in the county. Here in
coastal North County, the Lagoon Greens meet informally every
Thursday morning at Leucadia's Papa Gus, between 8:30 and 10am,
sometimes longer depending on how good the dialogue is.
The days of
want and waste, greed and growth are over here in the land of
sprawl and crawl. The environmental community will no longer
be ignored. Green is now the color of change. Biocentric politics
is an idea whose time has come. Earth First! and pass the sun
screen. 
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