Following my previous post on Election Night, I'd like to extend my gratitude to all those who ran for office on the Green ticket and other states, as well as everybody who assisted them in their campaigns.
We still have a long way to go, educating people that the Green Party even exists as well as what it stands for, but we have also come a very long way, as evidenced by our percentages of the vote. When there is no Democrat running in a statewide race, liberal and progressive Texans will vote Green: 8 to 10 percent in the three statewide judicial races, almost 15% for Antonio Diaz in the District 21 Congressional race, and 16.62% in the race for Harris County Judge.
Now Texas Greens can boast about Judith Sanders-Castro polling over 10% in her Court of Criminal Appeals race with no Democrat, and Martina Salinas over 2% in a four-way race (Democrat included) for a Railroad Commission seat. Both of those results are firsts for the Texas Greens.
Public perception of the Green Movement in the US, among those who even know we're here, seems to be stuck at the 2000 general election. But the 2000 Nader/LaDuke ticket was not a one-off, flash-in-the-pan campaign: It was the culmination of 20 years of local organizing. Even though the various states' Green Parties have encountered some setbacks since 2000, they thrive, they raise consciousness, and sometimes they get their candidates elected.
An Appeal to Millennials: Take Over!
To no one's great surprise, those of us who have been active in the Green Party since 2000 have aged. Those 14 years have been long and eventful ones. Even if our energies have waned, our passion for the Movement and its values has not. If you can imagine 14 years, now imagine those who have kept the Green Movement alive since 1980. Imagine the changes to the social and political landscapes those people (the ones still around) have seen.
Coincidentally or not, the generation known as Millennials started appearing just after 1980.
Millennials, the Greens need you—a lot of you: young, dynamic, values-driven organizers who want to change the world for the better. Our Millennial comrades have a reputation for spurning partisan politics, but that's mostly because they know how the major parties have screwed things up for the people and the planet. The Green Movement and its political wing were formed with you in mind, even though you did not exist then.
It would be most helpful if we could get a Millennial to administer some of our websites:
Texas Greens, GPTX Nationbuilder, Harris County Green Party. The pay is nonexistent, spelling and punctuation count, and you'll need to leverage all your social networking skills just to get people to look at your work. But it's oh-so-rewarding. Come to a meeting if you have a county party organization nearby. If not, get some friends together and form one. We'll help.
We still have a long way to go, educating people that the Green Party even exists as well as what it stands for, but we have also come a very long way, as evidenced by our percentages of the vote. When there is no Democrat running in a statewide race, liberal and progressive Texans will vote Green: 8 to 10 percent in the three statewide judicial races, almost 15% for Antonio Diaz in the District 21 Congressional race, and 16.62% in the race for Harris County Judge.
Now Texas Greens can boast about Judith Sanders-Castro polling over 10% in her Court of Criminal Appeals race with no Democrat, and Martina Salinas over 2% in a four-way race (Democrat included) for a Railroad Commission seat. Both of those results are firsts for the Texas Greens.
Public perception of the Green Movement in the US, among those who even know we're here, seems to be stuck at the 2000 general election. But the 2000 Nader/LaDuke ticket was not a one-off, flash-in-the-pan campaign: It was the culmination of 20 years of local organizing. Even though the various states' Green Parties have encountered some setbacks since 2000, they thrive, they raise consciousness, and sometimes they get their candidates elected.
An Appeal to Millennials: Take Over!
To no one's great surprise, those of us who have been active in the Green Party since 2000 have aged. Those 14 years have been long and eventful ones. Even if our energies have waned, our passion for the Movement and its values has not. If you can imagine 14 years, now imagine those who have kept the Green Movement alive since 1980. Imagine the changes to the social and political landscapes those people (the ones still around) have seen.
Coincidentally or not, the generation known as Millennials started appearing just after 1980.
Millennials, the Greens need you—a lot of you: young, dynamic, values-driven organizers who want to change the world for the better. Our Millennial comrades have a reputation for spurning partisan politics, but that's mostly because they know how the major parties have screwed things up for the people and the planet. The Green Movement and its political wing were formed with you in mind, even though you did not exist then.
It would be most helpful if we could get a Millennial to administer some of our websites:
Texas Greens, GPTX Nationbuilder, Harris County Green Party. The pay is nonexistent, spelling and punctuation count, and you'll need to leverage all your social networking skills just to get people to look at your work. But it's oh-so-rewarding. Come to a meeting if you have a county party organization nearby. If not, get some friends together and form one. We'll help.
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