Greens get down to the nitty gritty

By Caitlin Barrett

Green Party activist Sheldon Schafer looked out at about 250 people crowded into the Union Lamoine Room on Thursday evening and said, “Ask not what your world can do for you, but what you can do for your world.”

That made perfect sense in the keynote address by the Peoria Greens’ treasurer and secretary, who told Mock Presidential Election delegates that John F. Kennedy inspired him to join the Peace Corps and become politically involved.

Schafer encouraged students to get involved, too -- early in the presidential race.

“If you want change you have to start somewhere and if the Green movement is going to take effect, [our efforts] have to start now,” he said.

Schafer received a standing ovation for his speech, which included a listing of the 10 key values of the Green Party. Also listed on the U.S. Green Party’s website (http://www.gp.org/), the values were first ratified at the Green Party National Convention in Denver, Colo., in 2000.

Schafer emphasized the party’s attempts to promote equal opportunity, non-violence, decentralization, gender equality, diversity and community-based economics.

However, true to its name, the Greens’ key values tackle ecological issues, too – 30 percent of them, including environmental sustainability (protecting valuable natural resources with long-term goals in mind), personal and global responsibility, and overall ecological wisdom.

Besides being wide-ranging, the platform adopted is also passionate. Of 20 planks presented by Robert Casey -- MPE committee chairman for the Greens and president of WIU’s Campus Greens -- most either strongly-favored or strongly opposed an issue.

Planks such as “taxes on gas guzzling vehicles,” “government regulation of the oil companies” and “immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq” all were strongly favored. But the party strongly opposed such things as “vouchers for children attending private and parochial schools,” “extension of the Patriot Act” and “expansion of nuclear energy.”

As weighty as these issues seemed, the issue that evoked the most enthusiasm was the legalization of marijuana.

The last task at hand was the Green Party’s nomination of a Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate to represent them at Monday’s Electoral College vote at Western Hall. Instead of having students speak on behalf of the candidates, there was video of three diverse Green candidates: a woman, Kat Swift; the pony-tailed Kent Mesplay, and an African-American, Jared Ball. Unfortunately, the audio of Swift and Mesplay’s speeches, recorded from the Green Party National Convention, was hard to hear, although Ball’s dialogue about his “hip-hop” approach to campaigning was audible.

In the end, the vast majority voted for Ball as President and Mesplay as Vice President.

However, if the Mock Presidential Election plays out anything like the real things, Green supporters may be disappointed Monday. That’s too bad, said WIU political science professor and third-party expert Jeff Taylor.

“It’s a shame that the U.S. government is so dominated by two parties.” he said.

“Since the beginning of our government’s history, it has been winner-takes-all,” Taylor said. “Other countries have numerous parties and practice proportional representation.”

“Until the United States embraces proportional representation, Taylor said, third parties won’t be successful other than at state and local levels.”

Still, the optimistic, peaceful ways of the Green Party are enticing. But one wonders whether the party’s rejection of corporate funding and pursuit of a grassroots democracy works out for the idealism they embrace.