Content warning: muchos F-bombs and other impolite language. It's also LMAO hilarious to those of us who have been following Green politics closely in recent years, especially in this inexplicable year 2020.
Somebody give this Howie Hawkins delegate a Snickers bar. Click the Read More to see the complete rant (author's name withheld by request). Elsewhere in this online discussion for Hawkins delegates to the Green Party's 2020 Presidential Nominating Convention, this person showed an ability to express sound reasoning in English, along with an impressive acumen for ranting. They had similarly harsh words, also in all caps, for Dario Hunter and his supporters, but I'm not going to include them here. A bit of context may be necessary from some readers: As we noted recently, Dario Hunter's challenge to some state Green Parties' delegate allocation process is getting support on Twitter from some people who call themselves Greens and want to install Jesse Ventura as the Greens' presidential nominee. Ventura did not make any noise about running for the nomination until all the filing deadlines had passed and half of the primary voting had taken place, so that's a non-starter. Ventura is no more likely than Kanye West to be elected president this year. Let it be known that I bear no hatred for Hunter or Ventura, or even for their supporters. If Ventura had pursued the nomination from the beginning, he might have garnered enough support to win the nomination, and it's possible that his name recognition would win the Greens more votes than presumptive nominee Hawkins. But seeing so much profound stupidity and ignorance (yes, there's an important distinction) from these folks on Twitter makes me queasy. Ignorance of the process is only partly their fault: Mass media outlets don't do enough to educate people about it; even if they did, the information would likely have to compete with the tsunamis of mis- and disinformation already in circulation. This is why I am keen to convince Greens and Green sympathizers to become active within the Party, so that they will understand what goes into creating and maintaining a "third-party" campaign. I hope all that context doesn't spoil the message below the fold. I wish I could just leave this alone and let the online chatter keep raising the profile of the Green Party in public consciousness. Fortunately or not, anything I say here or on Facebook or on Twitter will not put a dent in this whole "Jesse Ventura is running for president as a Green" phenomenon.
"None of the Above" will still be an option, but I doubt that any "Body" will have delegates in the GPUS Convention just two months and change from now. As of this moment, Ventura. Is. Not. A. Candidate. The rumors were flying a year and a half ago, and The Body denied that he was in the running for the GPUS nomination. He hasn't formally declared even now. If he had announced last spring or summer, put together an organization, and filed the appropriate paperwork, he would at least be a candidate. Would he be a viable candidate? Plenty of Greens said last year, via social media and otherwise, that they would not support his quest for the nomination, given his Libertarian leanings. What these people forget is how much the Green and Libertarian platforms have in common, even if the core philosophies beneath those platforms are quite different. My hope is that Ventura will meet with the candidates and head up the street team for the eventual nominee. As cool as it was to have Cornel West stumping for Jill Stein in 2016, Dr. West does not have the name recognition that Ventura enjoys. It might even lead to other celebrities helping us out, including not just occasional Green Susan Sarandon but those who have thrown their support behind the Movement for a People's Party (e.g., John Cusack). I don't foresee the Green campaign garnering as much celebrity support as Nader/LaDuke 2000 did (Eddie Vedder, Patti Smith, among many others), but, given the way 2020 has gone thus far, I may yet be proven wrong.
Wow. I'm kinda conflicted about this, and not for the reasons you might think.
Through Arlington school board candidate Hunter Crow's post on the GPTX Facebook page, I learned this morning that apparently Jesse Ventura wants to run for president as a Green. The key word is "apparently," because it isn't self-evident that Ventura had anything to do with the creation of the website. Still, The Governing Body has recently spoken in speculative terms about a presidential run. As of now, the Jesse Ventura 2020 site is a bit rudimentary:
This Facebook page looks even less legitimate. |
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