A Green State of Mind

Will our state government be for the people, or continue to serve the super-rich and the giant corporations? Nothing of real substance changes when Democrats replace Republicans in the state legislature, the Governor’s mansion, Congress, or the White House. Both of these parties serve the corporations that fund them. Instead we need a party that really is responsible to the voters, that takes no corporate money, and will therefore take action on balancing the budget, job creation, housing, public transit, a plan for sustainable, renewable, non-polluting energy, and similar issues. This year, you have the chance to cast a vote that counts and help initiate real solutions. Even if we do not win, a significant vote for the Green candidates sends the kind of message that politicians in Albany and Washington can understand, and will remember. Don’t waste your vote, vote Green in 2010.

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The phrase “Freedom isn’t free.” is perhaps one of the most egregious lies foisted upon the American people, and reveals a severe misunderstanding of the nature of freedom.

For the past ten years, the idea that freedom isn’t free has been greatly amplified and in its amplification no one has dared question its validity. The phrase presents a definition of freedom as something scarce and inherently fragile, and has been used by those in power to demand blind obedience during states of emergency. In other words, it is implied that freedom must be paid for by a predetermined price that includes servility to an authority that provides security. On its face, the phrase confuses security and freedom, but underneath this misstatement is a profound misunderstanding of the nature of freedom as a human phenomenon.

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The following is a series of letters to the editor that has, over time, expressed the political awakening of 2010 that can happen with the Howie Hawkins for Governor campaign in New York.

As we enter into a new decade, we must understand the great ideological divergence that occurred in the past decade. A politics of fear using patriotism as a weapon predominated, sacrificing democracy, civil liberties, and economics for the people. By last year, we reached a point where there are two mutually exclusive realities about America and the real question is not whether Obama is a dangerous radical or too liberal. He campaigned left-of-center and is now right-of-center. The vital question is whether we will see substantial change or a perpetuation of the status quo in the near future. This authentic question transcends the imaginary conflict between the Republicans and Democrats. For one thing that can not happen in our nation is a return to the past 30 years of corporate greed, environmental degradation, and weakening of democratic empowerment. Those who falsely propose that the current administration is socialist or communist are either willfully ignorant or deliberately lying. Their goal is not to save America, but condemn it to a seamless continuation of power regardless of party affiliation. The issues that people care about never went away, and the past year of business as usual proves that neither Democrats or Republicans will address those issues. This year, the Green Party in New York will run candidates for statewide offices, including Governor and U.S. Senate. Instead of doing the same thing expecting different results, voters can choose real change, new ideas, and begin to draw the line between the old America and the new America.

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