Green Party (United States)

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One of the political parties in the United States, and similar in mission to many of the worldwide Green Parties, the Greens have been active as a third party since 2001. The party first gained widespread public attention during Ralph Nader's presidential runs in 1996 and 2000. Currently, the primary national Green Party organization in the U.S. is the Green Party of the United States, which has eclipsed the earlier Greens/Green Party USA.

The Green Party in the United States has won elected office mostly at the local level; most winners of public office in the United States who are considered Greens have won nonpartisan-ballot elections (that is, the winning Greens won offices in elections in which candidates were not identified on the ballot as affiliated with any political party). The highest-ranking Greens ever elected in the nation were John Eder, who was a member of the Maine House of Representatives until his defeat on November 7, 2006, and Audie Bock, who was elected to the California State Assembly in 1999 but switched her registration to Independent seven months later running as an independent in the 2000 election. In 2005, the Party had 305,000 registered members in states that allow party registration, as well as tens of thousands of members and contributors in the rest of the country. During the 2006 elections the party had ballot access in 31 states.

Ideology

Template:Green politics sidebar The Green Party of the United States emphasizes environmentalism, non-hierarchical participatory democracy, social justice, respect for diversity, peace and nonviolence. Their "Ten Key Values," which are described as non-authoritative guiding principles, are as follows:

1. Grassroots democracy
2. Social justice and equal opportunity
3. Ecological wisdom
4. Non-violence
5. Decentralization
6. Community-based economics and economic justice
7. Feminism and gender equity
8. Respect for diversity
9. Personal and global responsibility
10. Future focus and sustainability

The Green Party does not accept donations from corporations and the party's platform and rhetoric critiques corporate influence and control over government, media, and society at large.

History

See also: History of the Green Party (United States)

History of ballot access

Main article: History of ballot access of the Green Party (United States)

Structure and composition

Main article: Structure and composition of the Green Party (United States)

Geographic distribution

The Green Party has shown its strongest popular support on the Pacific Coast, Upper Great Lakes, and northeastern United States, as reflected in the geographical distribution of Green candidates elected [1]. Californians have elected 55 of the 226 office-holding Greens nationwide as of June 2007. Other states with high numbers of Green elected officials include Pennsylvania (31), Wisconsin (23), Massachusetts (18), and Maine (17). Maine has the highest per capita number of Green elected officials in the country, and the largest Green registration percentage with more than 29,273 greens comprising 2.95% of the electorate as of November 2006. Madison, Wisconsin, is the city with the most Green elected officials (8) followed by Portland, Maine, with (7).

One challenge that the Green Party (as well as other third parties) faces is the difficulty of overcoming ballot access laws in many states. This has prevented the Green Party from reaching a point of critical mass in party-building momentum in many states.

Office holders

The Green Party claims at least 230 party members in elected office in the U.S. as of May, 2007.

Presidential tickets

• 1996: Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke 685,128 votes
• 2000: Ralph Nader and Winona LaDuke 2,882,000 votes
• 2004: David Cobb and Pat LaMarche 119,859 votes
• 2008: Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente

List of national conventions/conferences

• 2000 - Denver, CO
• 2001 - Santa Barbara, CA
• 2002 - Philadelphia, PA
• 2003 - Washington, DC
• 2004 - Milwaukee, WI
• 2005 - Tulsa, OK
• 2006 - Tucson, AZ
• 2007 - Reading, PA
• 2008 - Chicago, IL

See also

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• Worldwide green parties
• List of political parties in the United States
• California Green Archives
• Peter Camejo
• Mike Feinstein
• Matt Gonzalez
• Daniel Hamburg
• Howie Hawkins
• Joel Kovel
• David McReynolds
• Gayle McLaughlin
• Ross Mirkarimi
• Kent Smith
• Dona Spring
• Charlene Spretnak

For comparison with other parties, see Comparison of politics of parties of the United States.

References

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External links

• Green Party of the United States (GPUS)
• Green Party Ballot Status and Voter Registration Totals
• Green Senatorial Campaign Committee (GSCC)
• National Lavender Greens Caucus (GLBTIQ)
• National Women's Caucus (NWC)
• Disability Caucus Identity Caucus of the United States Green Party
• Campus Greens
• California Green Archives
• 2004 Green Party Platform pdf
• The Real Difference - comparison of Green Party positions with other Parties

Explanations of the ten key values

• Ten Key Values of the Green Party
• Global Greens' charter
• California Green Party's Ten Key Values
• Radical Middle Newsletter's historical intro. & early version

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