You joined the Green Party because you were inspired by Ralph Nader's politics. Yet you've said "you're not sure what an independent run [by Nader] would accomplish." Why?

I joined the Green Party in order to build a genuine citizens' party that would not be controlled by the corporate fat cats. That is the goal -- continuing to build this party as the electoral arm for the growing movement for peace, racial and social justice, economic democracy, and ecology is the entire reason to participate in Green Party politics.

Ralph Nader has name recognition. But candidates will come and go; the Green Party is here to stay. At the end of the day, the Green Party needs to run its own presidential candidate.

The real question is, "Why is Ralph Nader creating the Populist Party?" I don't understand what we would hope to accomplish by supporting Ralph Nader's independent candidacy. Ralph Nader has refused to participate in the Green Party's democratic process. He has the right to run as an independent, he has the right to create the Populist Party, but it does not help to build the Green Party.

Do you think Nader's decision to choose Camejo is related to the difficulty of running his campaign without the backing an organized third party?

Yes. I think that Ralph miscalculated the degree of support his independent campaign would get from Green Party members.

You know, in '96 and 2000, it was Green Party organizers and activists who worked their hearts out for no pay to get Ralph on so many ballots. This time, he has to hire people not just to coordinate and manage efforts, but literally to go out and do the work.

That's not because people don't respect Ralph Nader. It's that so many people were committed to the idea of building a genuine alternative political party. And this time, there's just not the same willingness to campaign for him.

I don't believe the Nader campaign can get on the ballot in California without the Green Party. It'll take, I forget the exact number, but it's like 150,000 signatures, and I don't think they'll be able to do it.

On your Web site, you've reprinted an essay questioning whether Nader and Camejo are more interested in punishing Democrats or getting Bush out of office. Are you concerned that the Nader-Camejo campaign might alienate progressives?

It depends on how they run their campaign. From what they've said so far, I am not hopeful that they'll avoid alienating progressives.

Do you think the choice of Camejo as a V.P. makes it more likely that Nader will get the Green Party's endorsement?

I don't think it has changed any minds that were already made up.

Out of the undecided people I've talked to, interestingly enough, some people think it helps to "Green" Nader's campaign. For other people, it's driven them away from supporting the Nader independent candidacy because they find it an insult to the democratic decision-making process of the Green Party.

But Peter Camejo doesn't own the Green Party; nor does David Cobb or Ralph Nader. The nomination decision will be a result of a democratic process that began nine months ago, and we'll find it out on Saturday.

You spent many years campaigning for progressive Democratic candidates before going Green. What convinced you there was no future in building a progressive base capable of muscling the Democratic Party?

In 1984 and 1988 I worked on Jesse Jackson's campaign seeking the Democratic nomination. In 1992 I worked on Jerry Brown's campaign. Those campaigns taught me a lot of the things, but the essence of what I learned was that the Democratic Presidential Primary is the place where genuine progressive politics goes to die.

On the floor of the Democratic Party's convention in 1992, we were driven out. The progressive constituency that had almost won the party's nomination was shut out of the party platform, and then shut out of the Clinton administration, the same administration that brought us "welfare de-form," that brought us the selling out of gay rights in the military, and of course, NAFTA, the GATT, and the WTO.

Trying to work within the Democratic Party and doing really well -- much better, it should be noted, than [Dennis] Kucinich or [Al] Sharpton did this time around -- had no effect whatsoever, because corporatists and militarists completely controlled the Democratic Party machinery. All that building we had done, it didn't ultimately change anything.

You've said the Green Party will elect a president by 2016. There are obviously a lot of problems, from an entrenched two-party system to a rift with progressives over the outcome of the 2000 election. What does the party need to do?

The solution includes Greens electing more people to local office, it includes Greens getting elected to higher and higher office, and it includes the electorate witnessing elected Greens championing real-world solutions to the problems that vex us.

For example, we know that Greens typically win 40 percent of the races in which they run. We know that when Greens get elected, they have a very high reelection rate. So I'm giving my best guess that, given where we are now, by 2016, the Green Party should be electing a president.

Recent Stories