Saturday, January 27, 2018

Why The Left Must Stop Playing Defense On Ideas

A recent Jacobin article articulated a point that has been kicking around in my head a lot lately: that we are shooting ourselves in the foot by trying to pretend that people with different ideological goals are good allies. For a bit of a sports metaphor, we too often "play defense" and not enough "offense". We too often use the appearance of compromise and agreement to defend our thoughts and actions, which sets us up for long range failure as we imply that we generally agree with their worldview.

The article is effectively a caution against being too closely associated with capitalists and business owners that have come out in favor of some form of single payer healthcare. The initial reaction is to do much like Bernie Sanders did in his recent townhall: highlight "See, it's good for business!" as a major reason we should adopt a single payer healthcare system. It appears like a moment of non-partisanship, of agreement between two different people that shows hey, we can compromise and make good ideas happen. On the surface, that seems like a winning move at swaying opinion, and perhaps it is... for this particular idea. The problem is that we may be setting back the larger movement in doing so.

The key word here is compromise. By pulling in these capitalist leaders as endorsements for single payer, we are implicitly saying yes, we agree with these people that business comes first. It just so happens that single payer is great for business (at least, everyone except the health insurance companies themselves that will be cut out of the loop!) and there's a lot of economic reasons why it saves a lot of money for both business and government.

However, by highlighting the fact that single payer makes economic sense, we are implicitly agreeing with that worldview. We suggest to all those listening that yes, making economic sense for business is a key factor in any policy we decide. It sets the precedent that good policy requires the agreement of business leaders, that good policy must be good for business... or maybe, just maybe, it's not a good policy if capitalists and business leaders don't endorse the plan.

This is a huge risk for the movement, by tying us to the exact system we are trying to combat. Single payer for me is primarily a moral argument. Yes, there's fantastic economic arguments, and we tend to get much better healthcare results for treatment under a single payer system, and those facts should definitely be included in any discussion, but the major focus and argument is a moral one: that our society does not let anyone die in vain. We never turn our backs on someone in need. We do everything we can to help anyone, because it is the right thing to do and the right way to live our lives. That we become a cold, callous civilization in decay every time we shrug and look away when we see suffering, particularly suffering we know how to treat and cure with our modern technology. Every person suffering is someone's parent, child, sibling. How civilized of a society can we be if we are willing to turn our backs on our community's family and sneer Well, they should have had a better job to pay for it, not my problem? (As if jobs fall out of the sky and people can completely control what happens, but that's a discussion for another day.)

Can we save everyone? No. Can we immediately fix all problems with a single law? Of course not. But we can declare that our goal is progress, that our eternal quest is to improve the human condition. We will never be satisfied until we can help everyone, and if we can't do it yet, we keep working toward it. Every time we encounter a failure, we at least step back and mourn, we don't pass around blame, but simply ask ourselves "What can we do to be better, to prevent this in the future?"

By relying solely on the business and economic argument, we are ceding the moral argument. We are preemptively deciding that people don't matter unless someone can make a profit first, and setting that viewpoint into law with things like Affordable Care Act (which relies on private for-profit insurance to provide "coverage" -- you can only get healthcare after insurance takes its cut for their profits!). On some level, we are complicit unless we call out such moral injustice, otherwise we are capitalists ourselves putting corporate profits over -- or at least with equal standing to -- real people. In fact, it's almost a more sinister form of capitalism that has realized it can exploit more profits by going after the very social systems that protect us. This isn't just ripping people off on big screen TVs, it is ransoming people for their health and their very lives. Is that really the attitude we want to acquiesce to?

We can no longer play defense in a game with rules made by the capitalists themselves. By defending ourselves with "well, capitalists support it!", we're actually giving them the credibility to later down the line take other actions that harm us: further tax cuts, further government budget cuts, etc.

We cannot endorse and welcome this behavior, we have to take a firm stand and go on the offense. We need to start changing the conversation toward our vision, not just the corporate vision. It means when they talk tax cuts, we talk tax increases to address rising inequality. It means when they talk private sector growth and the government deficit, we talk about the need for a government jobs program that ensures everyone is fed and everyone has a job contributing to renewing the country in some way -- infrastructure, education, etc. It means when they talk about freedoms and the rights of business, we talk about freedoms and human rights of individuals over business. When they talk about the need for ever-increasing growth for their insatiable demand for profits, we talk about the need for a society founded on conservation of resources and sustainability. When they talk about the need for centralized power, whether in business or government, we respond with a demand for more democracy and decentralization.

Do not misconstrue this argument for saying we can never compromise. Rather, it is a caution about what sorts of compromises should be made. We must obviously welcome everyone that wants to put human rights and dignity first. If you agree the economy needs to become more focused on sustainability and harmony with nature, I definitely want to talk to you. There's a lot of room for ideas: how do we become sustainable? What is the best, fastest path to get there? How can we create better democratic systems, especially in the economy? There is a lot of detail to work out, and we should absolutely be willing to discuss and negotiate and even compromise on those details. We'll probably sometimes have very heated disagreement about the best path forward, but as long as we remember we all have the same goal, we can defuse the situation and arrive at agreement. We are true allies, and the debate helps us sort out the big questions and find the best solution.

Where we cannot compromise is in our values. Plans and details change, but our values cannot. We must always stand for human rights and freedom first. We must stand for democracy, not dictatorship or oligarchy. We must stand for a sustainable economy and a healthy planet we can pass down to our descendants, not exploit resources and people mindlessly until we drive ourselves extinct. We must stand for a life focused on finding meaning in family, community, education, and personal and community achievement, so that we may all have the opportunity to pursue happiness, not argue for a life of economic slavery for the benefit of only the wealthy few. These fights are too important. We cannot compromise on those values.

Be careful that your "allies" actually share your values and are not simply temporarily cooperating on a single goal. Otherwise, you may find the long-term fight compromised. But by the same token, be open to working with others you merely disagree with on details, but share the same values and overall vision, for only together can we win.

I think this is the message the Green Party needs to share more often. Lately I have heard many say "Well, many progressive Democrats agree on many of the same policy positions -- universal healthcare, debt-free college, etc. -- so why be Green? Why not just fight with progressive Democrats?" The argument irks me, but it does have a kernel of truth, though not in the way the questioners usually mean it.

Nancy Pelosi in a somewhat recent CNN townhall told constituents that "We're capitalists, and that's just the way it is." Ultimately, she sums up the difference between Democrats and Greens in this one sentence.

Democrats are capitalists, pro-business and generally right-wing in the sense of their neoliberal push that the "free market knows best". We saw this in action with the ACA, with the assumption that "competition" between health insurance providers would give us the best healthcare system, or at least better than a government-backed program could. While the GOP is often more extreme, to the point that Democrats seem "moderate", the truth is both parties have a tendency to put business rights and needs over individual rights and needs.

When Democrats say "we want universal healthcare", they mean they want everyone to have access to a market to purchase healthcare from for-profit business. Perhaps the feel slightly bad for poorer people and are willing to throw in some small subsidies or help, but overall it is a very right wing "free market" stance. When they say they want "debt-free college", they mean they're open to the idea of helping out really poor people in special circumstances, but they generally feel everyone should purchase education -- often from private colleges, or at least public colleges that "partner" with the private sector -- from a "free market" of colleges.

Notice the underlying concept in their message -- "We're capitalists", as Pelosi said. Democrats' policies do not help people near as much as many believe, because even when they do some small amount of good, their world view is that it was necessary to keep the "free market" and "competition" working. We give some small aid only to the poorest of people to try to the grease the gears of the "free market", then we let business do its thing and let people fight for their share of the profits. That's the world view, that's the mindset.

The Green world view is different. We want universal healthcare -- in the form of a single payer system -- because it is the right thing to do and we have the technology to do it, so why not? We believe health and life are human rights. Similarly, we want not just debt-free college, but tuition-free publicly-run colleges that are operated to benefit people -- not just for jobs, but for life. We value education because education is important to democracy. Again, education is a human right in a free society. Notice the huge difference in viewpoint - we want to do these things because they are human rights that improve the lives of everyone and society as a whole, not just because we want to keep the "free market" going for profit.

While we have similar goals on these particular issues, our values are vastly differently. This is why it is so important to resist not just the Republicans but the Democrats too, because even when small policy victories occur, the mindset of economy and profits over people and planet is advancing further to victory. This is the reason to be a Green rather a Democrat. (Although that said, while there is some policy overlap, Green policy tackles significantly many more issues than the Democrats, including student debt relief/bailouts, fighting climate change, recognizing indigenous peoples' rights, etc., which is all in keeping with our values and why Democrats have never adopted those policies into their own platform.)

Now I'm not saying all Democrats are "free market" capitalists. A good chunk of them, including Bernie Sanders, are much more rooted in the Green world view than the capitalist Democratic view. The question is always: is it enough of them -- and in positions of power -- to remake the Democratic party into one that fits our Green values? My suspicion is that the answer at this time is "No", as evident by the fact that most party leaders seem to agree with Pelosi's take time and time again, and we continue to see party leaders like Perez purging progressives from leadership roles and fighting reform at every turn. Sanders, despite doing a lot of good by raising good issues and points, is trapped playing "defense" within the party, and it often hurts his arguments and therefore sometimes the movement as a whole. We saw this in the healthcare townhall where he made the argument that single payer is good for business, likely to counter a point Clinton and Democrats hammered during the 2016 primaries: "How are you going to pay for that?". By allowing the conversation to be pulled toward profits and taxes rather than morals, the Democrats' capitalist values are winning the debate, and it makes Bernie look inconsistent to voters that have generally not studied leftist ideology as extensively as many of us have.

We must stop playing defense from within the Democratic party, which is what we are doing every time we try to influence policy without confronting the warped capitalist "values" and ideology. I call on all like-minded individuals to stop supporting the Democratic party, and work to change the debate. I personally believe the Green party has the right values and the right platform to win, and it's the largest leftist party in the country, and so invite you to join us. But even if you feel your home is better with DSA, Socialist Alternative, The People's Party (Draft Bernie), the Progressive Independent Party, or other organizations, that's fine too. As long as we recognize we are related by our values, even if we disagree a bit on policy, and the important thing is that we oppose the capitalist values within the Republican and Democratic parties together as a unified coalition. Republicans and Democrats generally don't share our values, and can never be true allies. We must stop pretending that they can be allies if we want to make real progress. We must reach out directly to citizens -- around party leadership and the system they have built -- and win them with our values. I think it will take a third major party to rally the people and break the current system and replace it with better values.

Monday, January 15, 2018

Race Matters and the Neoliberal Dilemma

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr., Day, I was interested in reading more about racism and race relations in America. Recently Dr. Cornel West's book "Race Matters" was re-issued as a 25th anniversary edition with a new introduction, so it seemed an appropriate book to read for the occasion. I had heard of Cornel West in the past but only became more familiar with him as he campaigned for Bernie Sanders and then Jill Stein in the 2016 elections. I was impressed that, despite his affection for Bernie, West decided to back the Greens and Jill Stein rather than assist Bernie in campaigning for Clinton and the Democratic Party in order to keep with his values and resist neoliberal policy that enabled someone like Trump to be a serious competitor. I've been looking forward to reading more about his thoughts and finally did so with "Race Matters."

"Race Matters" is a short book at about 100 pages long, but it is a well-written and interesting read. It is divided into a few sections on different topics that need to be addressed to lift the Black American out of poverty: the spreading of nihilism, racial reasoning that covers up real problems with identity politics, and the lack of Black leadership and general support of neoliberal policies that lead to a Black conservative counter-culture instead of more progressive policy that would address the problems.

While the entire book was interesting, the first few chapters on nihilism really resonated with me. Nihilism is the philosophy that life is essentially meaningless and without hope, that all actions are pointless in the grand scheme of things. West describes a Black culture that in recent years has been attacked by a capitalist mentality of consumption and pleasure, that the most important thing in life is making money. This has caused the Black community to begin to abandon its sense of community and seek out a more "rugged individualism" that is glamorized by the corporate media and neoliberal politics. Rather than working together to build communities to help each other through tough times, we have fallen apart into individuals working alone against an unfair and unjust racist system, further pushing individuals into depression and nihilism.

West points out the flaws of those on both the left and the right at tackling the problem of nihilism. The left, he says, is too quick to say social programs like welfare and education will fix everything, whereas the right is too quick to dismiss the need for social programs and call on the Black community to simply "work harder" toward a better goal. Both sides are fundamentally focused on the economic status of the Black community, and while there is a kernel of truth to both sides in order to defeat nihilism, a missing component is the psychological and emotional. West argues we don't do enough to remind ourselves that we are humans, that we need love, companionship, encouragement, and a sense of purpose in our communities beyond simply climbing the corporate ladder and making money.

This has been an idea I've been playing around with for a while in my head, but West really made the idea clear. Those of us in the political arena sometimes become too "wonkish", focused on "crunching the numbers" to find solutions. That in itself is a focus on "the numbers" -- really, money -- that is exactly what West is commenting on. Not all of our problems can be solved just with money, although that is an important aspect; we also need a change in our cultural attitudes to what it means to live and work. Again, we've lost a sense of purpose in our lives, lost a sense of meaning and pride, which has been replaced by the capitalist corporate work ethic of "if you're not always working and making money, you are a loser". Government and politics can play a strong role in setting the cultural tone and the priorities of our society, but today's politics is focused on neoliberalism and putting businesses' needs and profits before anything else. Rather than defending our need to have strong communities based on principles like peace and love, our political leaders continually harp on the need for the "free market" to fix all problems.

Throughout my life I have struggled with exactly this problem, becoming very unsatisfied with my "career path" as one that doesn't feel intrinsically rewarding. I often feel like the work isn't useful to anyone, it's just what management expects to be done to make a buck, and in that sense I get angry that my precious time on Earth is wasted all in the name of management getting a bonus. While West was speaking about the Black community specifically, I think this sense of nihilism has spread to all Americans, because it is an effect of the capitalist mindset as a whole. Most people I know are dissatisfied with their careers and lives; they're not lazy, they want to work and do more, but feel defeated in this profit-seeking-above-all-else culture. West calls for more community, for us to love each other and help each other more to break the effects of nihilism and depression that prevent us from rising up to achieve more. Specifically, he calls for the Black community to embrace its own culture, love its own culture and history, and stop trying to fit into the White mold.

Aside from nihilism, West also calls out the lack of leadership among the Black community. Specifically, he laments the lack of leaders since the powerhouses of the 1960s (Martin Luther King, Jr., and Malcolm X among many others). While MLK and Malcolm X were passionate about the plight of their brothers and sisters, West points out that today's leaders are very quick to endorse and support the establishment and act as the "spokesperson" for the entire Black community. In other words, the emphasis is more on the "leaders" themselves and self-interest than pushing for a movement to grow. As such, West expresses disappointment as the "leaders" basically sell-out the Black community to the neoliberal establishment, support policies that hurt the community or at least downplaying the impacts. West also describes how their support for these policies has caused frustration, anger, and the nihilism he mentions earlier by convincing the Black community that corruption cannot be beaten. The few that rise up against the Democratic establishment therefore do so to counteract neoliberal policy, and unfortunately often end up in the right-wing conservative camp (perhaps because of our two-party system that makes learning about other options more difficult?), arguing against the very social programs and progressive reform necessary to reverse the neoliberal policy. As West says, a desperate population will sometimes accept ideologies that do not make sense because they have nowhere else to turn. He therefore cautions greatly against teaming up with neoliberal policy as it will only push more people toward "extreme" values; we instead need to raise the progressive cause and give people hope. In fact, the new anniversary introduction discusses the 2016 election and how Obama's continued neoliberal policies and Clinton's domination of the political machine were huge contributions to Trump's win, and the Black "leaders" let down the community by rallying to Clinton early in the process rather than considering Bernie Sanders' ideas that were much more in tune with the needs of the Black community. The emphasis was on cozying up to the Democratic establishment to ask for favors, rather than speaking truthfully about the Democratic party's failures to address issues important to the Black community, and that backfired drastically in the election of Trump. Given this, it makes sense why he decided to campaign for Jill Stein in 2016, and I hope he continues to speak about the need for a Green Party and third-party movement in general.

West ends with a short epilogue on democracy. He states that democracies in history tend to fail for two reasons, poverty and paranoia. Poverty leads to despair and nihilism, while paranoia generates mistrust that prevents cooperation required in a democracy. When much of the population is too depressed or overworked to be involved in the system, and those that are active mistrust each other to the point of considering each other mortal enemies, we are set up for a collapse of our government system. West says we need to quickly move toward fighting against racial hierarchies and wealth inequality to restore hope to those in poverty, and regain trust between sides that are deeply paranoid of an economic and political system that doesn't listen to them.

Altogether it's a great read and very short so I encourage you to read it if you'd like to see another take on how racism, poverty, and militarism are all inter-linked problems that must be solved together.


Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Nonviolent Resistance in the Neoliberal Era

In my previous post, I discussed Martin Luther King, Jr.,'s (MLK's) writings and how he identified racism, poverty, and militarism as deeply intertwined problems that needed to be resolved together. I also discussed how most of these ideas are reflected in today's Green Party platform, whereas the major parties conveniently ignore most of MLK's legacy on poverty and militarism.

Now that we know MLK's complaints and proposed solutions, the final piece of the puzzle is to ask how we fight for them. This is where's MLK's nonviolent resistance movement comes in, as a way of exerting power and influence on society to force it toward his proposed reforms. MLK in his youth was actually much closer to a violent revolutionary but was inspired by Gandhi's nonviolent resistance movement in India. A few chance encounters with activists such as A. Phillip Randolph set him on the path to learning about Gandhi and full adopting the nonviolent method as the best path forward, which sometimes put him at odds with other "black power" activists that took a much more aggressive stance.

The key to nonviolent resistance is in the combination of the two words.

Nonviolent refers to our need to unite and create a new system, rather than call for violent destruction. Violence sets back the movement by creating enemies of people affected by that destruction. We need to make allies, not enemies, and we make allies with peace and understanding, not violence and anger. Furthermore, as MLK points out, destroying the factory you want to get a job at or destroying the school you want your children to attend during a riot is counterproductive. We don't want to destroy, we want to create -- we want to create opportunity for all.

Resistance means that you resist the system fully in all ways you can, rather than simply accepting it or becoming apathetic. One does not wait around and hope for better circumstances, but actively works toward a better system by trying to jam the current unjust system. We want to become a nonviolent nuisance to the system, we want to aggravate the system until it has no choice but to respond to us. If we are not the gadfly, then we are at least partially accepting the current system and allowing it to continue.

For the most part, MLK says economic power and political power are the tools of nonviolent resistance. The current unjust system is in some sense perpetuated by us when we are complicit. Businesses have no one to sell to and make those extreme profits if we exercise our economic power, and corrupt politicians have no volunteers or voters to win election if we exercise our political power. If we recognize how much power actually exists within the people as a whole, we can accomplish a lot. The powerful are only powerful when we allow them to be so and prop them up on our backs.

So what do these two forms of nonviolent resistance look like?

MLK describes in the early chapters of the book "Where Do We Go From Here? Chaos or Community" several nonviolent resistance actions that were taken to exercise both economic and political power. Marches were a common way of showing solidarity and educating people in the community, since corporate media shut their voices out from radio, newspapers, etc. As more people were educated on the issues and joined the movement, power grew, and once it was enough, further action could be taken.

Economic power was exercised in strikes and boycotts, often planned with the assistance of sympathetic unions. MLK worked with movement and union leaders to send representatives to companies and demand better pay and equality for workers; if the business refused, the movement would boycott the products and workers would go on strike, hurting the company's bottom line until they gave in to the demands. This was a successful tactic on a number of occasions. Boycotts were also aimed at government services that did not support equality; in fact, MLK and his allies used boycotts of bus services to draw attention to racial inequality on the buses. A lesser known fact was that Rosa Parks did not act alone randomly when she famously refused to give up her seat on the bus; rather, Parks was approached by leaders of MLK's movement to perform this action as a way of generating attention and press for the bus boycott. Black people refused to ride the buses, carpooling and even walking to work for weeks until government incomes were hurt enough that leaders had to react and integrate the buses.

Political power often came in the form of opposing unjust police action and the criminal justice system itself. Court cases were filed against unjust policing and inequality in government services, sometimes winning, but always being used to draw more public attention to their demands. Police were often used to break up marches and protests as a way of silencing the movement. To combat the silence, MLK and leaders would purposely become jailed and try to remain in jail even when friendlies would attempt bail in order to keep pressure on the police and government; in fact, they would call on others to join them in jail. A constantly growing stream of peaceful protesters would overwhelm the jails (which didn't enough room or manpower to process and house the large groups) and start grabbing headlines and attention, to the point that the police would actually beg them to leave jail (even attempting to coerce them to leave!) in order to stop the headlines.

Even when the KKK or Nazis would form counter-marches against MLK and his movement, civil rights leaders would sit outside and laugh and joke and wave to the marchers, treating it as a fun parade (despite being afraid on the inside, they would not show it) as a way of disarming the hostility. Often, the racist marches would be so embarrassed by the lack of fear that the march would break up without major incident.

MLK also exercised political power by backing political candidates that promised to back government programs to tackle inequality and poverty. MLK and leaders often talked with high level officials, including the President, to push their agenda. Threats of marches on Washington or backing of political rivals was often enough to force their hand. Many of MLK's mentors were active in the 1940s, and used similar tactics to get President FDR to sign executive orders that required integration in the military and other places, for example. While some progress was made, many movement leaders often felt betrayed by political candidates that would turn on the movement once becoming elected, with MLK specifically describing in his books how Democratic politicians would often let him down. This experience lead him to start calling for support for independent and third party candidates to challenge those disappointing politicians where possible.

In summary, MLK and his movement would exercise peaceful power by countering whatever issue was at hand. If business wouldn't pay fair wages in order to keep more profits, they would ruin their profits by refusing to buy the products. They would refuse to pay for government services like buses that did not treat them equally. If KKK wanted fear, they'd give them laughter. If police wanted to jail them to silence them, they'd rush the jails to bring more attention. If today's politicians won't support us or go back on their word, we support candidates that will. The idea was always that one couldn't simply ask nicely, one must force their hand with nonviolent action.

So what does nonviolent resistance look like today? The situations are not the same as the 1960s, so simply relying on all of the old methods I think won't be successful on its own, but it is certainly instructive to look at what they did for inspiration and so we know what will not work to prevent wasted effort.

Unfortunately, the nonviolent resistance movement today appears much more fragmented than it was, as it appears that even the word "resistance" has been co-opted by the establishment. The "hashtag resistance" (#resistance) for example is a great illustration of the establishment's use of the term. Despite all of the talk about resistance, Democrats have been largely complicit with many of Trump's actions. Last year at about this time were a number of marches and actions to "resist" Trump: the Women's March, the March for Science, and more. All of those events left me very unimpressed for the lack of true action and resistance. The marches all followed about the same format in Pittsburgh: the march was perhaps an hour long at most, in the rich part of town (Oakland, which is the university town and a very expensive gentrified area), a few speakers talked about how terrible Trump is an abstract way (very little discussion of actual policy), we marched a few blocks around the Cathedral of Learning with police escort, and then everyone left. Where was the call to bigger action? To hold sit-ins in elected officials offices? To boycott the corporations funding America's ongoing wars? Where was the call for average Americans to run for office? There was none of this type of resistance.

It is no wonder elected officials ignore the "protests" and carry on with their neoliberal policies when there is no "teeth" in such actions. I think many of these actions are more "for show" than for real policy change. The events are meant to keep everyone occupied and busy with ineffective action to prevent us from uniting and mobilizing into real action. In other words, I believe many of these events are meant to be more public relations for the Democratic party than to actually achieve any policy objectives. MLK expressed much disappointment in the 1960s for the Democratic party doing exactly this (claiming to support reform and resistance, and yet rarely doing anything substantial), and so it is clear the party has not changed much in the last 50 years. My understanding is the marches are coming back for 2018, and so we will know how serious any of these marches are this year. If they talk about larger action and running for office, terrific, but my guess is it will be more of the same non-action.

So where do we go if our political parties are failing us and we cannot find real action to participate in?

Perhaps the most important lesson of MLK is that we all hold the power ourselves. MLK's nonviolent resistance was all about showing the power of the people in economics and politics, and we can do that again if we form new organizations to replace those that have failed us. As I previously said, MLK specifically called for support of independent and third party candidates if the major parties do not take us seriously, and for a long time we have needed that new voice. It is clear we need to grow the Green Party into a force to be reckoned with, both in the economic activism space as well as the electoral politics space. The Green Party was actually originally formed as a combination activist and electoral politics organization, so we already have this in our heritage; our major difficulty until today has always been a lack of volunteers and candidates. Activists and political candidates today have often been drawn into attempting to work from within, by joining corporate-backed "activism" organizations and being talked into supporting the Democratic Party, rather than forming organizations outside of the system. They mean well, but corporate talking points and propaganda have convinced them working from within is the only way to get what they want, when usually it is actually the place "where ideas go to die". Greens need to reassess how to reach out to these activists and organizations, talk about their concerns, and work to building the party and a new movement. We need outreach and education to build a movement that will adopt these nonviolent resistance techniques from outside of the current electoral system.

As Frederick Douglass said, "Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will." Power will not concede anything until it has to, and voting Green tells the establishment exactly what our demand is. We want the Green New Deal, with renewable energy, an end to wars, and an economic bill of rights, and we *WILL* elect Greens to take your jobs if you do not give it to us. There *WILL* be fair elections because if there is any hint of electoral shenanigans against Greens, we will take further actions including boycotts and strikes that will hurt your bottom line. Establishment politicians and their corporate donors will feel the financial sting one way or another unless they come to the table to discuss our demands as equals. THAT is nonviolent resistance and why I believe it is so important to build the Green Party into a strong political force at all levels of government.

We cannot play their games, or participate in their rules for the economy and the two-party political system, for every time that we do we are reinforcing our subservient attitude toward them. Every time an activist says "Well, Greens can't win", they are betraying their fears that the establishment has already won. Every time we say "You have to run as a Democrat to have a chance", we are only admitting that the establishment holds the power instead of us. Of course they make it easy to run as a Democrat, because either you will support them in the long run with persuasion or they can use the party structure to control you and stop your message, or quickly rollback changes if necessary (look how quickly the GOP rolled back many policies this year). That is not what MLK stood for. MLK stood for the people rising together and demanding change, and taking action until we received it, no matter how difficult or hard it became in the process.

We are not slaves to the economic and political system; it is the system that must answer to the will of the people. We must build a new political party -- and more generally, a new political system -- that calls for a radically different approach to politics and how we think about power in a democracy. We must build a movement that utilizes our economic power to confront inequality and injustice in our capitalist economic system and call for a completely new democratic approach to an economy, one that works for all of us. The more we get caught up in trying to work within the current systems, the more we get bogged down, and that's on purpose: bureaucracy is antithetical to true democracy, because it puts more power in the process and structure than into the people.

Winning takes struggle. Power won't concede easily. Power is not afraid of people marching in an orderly fashion once a year for an hour. It MUST be backed by real action. We can take economic action with boycotts or strikes, or we can take political action by forming political organizations and parties like the Green Party that support candidates against the status quo, but those are our only real options in the struggle. Any other action can be co-opted by power, or easily reversed. We must build a completely new alternative to be a true threat to the current power structure. I don't think there is any easier way to do so if we want long-term reform, and we delude ourselves if we think we can walk into today's power structures and win without a fight (again, today's propaganda makes it sound like the fight is "winning elections" as a Democrat, but that only covers up the real fight with the internal party structure once you win; we must develop a whole new structure if we want to both win and retain those victories long into the future).

We therefore need a strong Green Party as an umbrella for this combined nonviolent resistance from outside of the system. We need new organizational motion on economic action outside of today's "non-profit industry" that simply makes money on protests by selling t-shirts and hyping people up (but not enough to do real action), and we need a new political party that stands for a bold platform centered on establishing grassroots democracy, ecology, peace, and social justice over corporate profits. Activists or political candidates that want to see real change need to support growing the Green Party, and it is our jobs as Greens to reach out to those people and organizations and build coalitions around nonviolent resistance. It is our only way to break today's power structures and achieve significant reform.

If you are one of those activists or a member of an activist organization, please reach out to me and how we can collaborate and build a coalition. We need to work outside of the system and set our own rules. Please come join us in the Green Party and help build a new future.