Nation's highest-ranking Green switching parties

[Scurrilous]

Source: Associated Press

<snip>

"The nation's highest-ranking member of the Green Party says he plans to become a Democrat.

Arkansas state Rep. Richard Carroll said Wednesday he plans to switch when the Democrat-controlled Arkansas Legislature adjourns Friday.

Carroll told The Associated Press his beliefs are "more in line with the Democrats so it was just something that made sense."

The 52-year-old lawmaker from North Little Rock was elected last year after Democrats refused to seat Dwayne Dobbins, a former state legislator who resigned to avoid a felony sexual assault conviction. Carroll beat two write-in candidates."



Read more: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation/AP/story/1024153.html

[Iliyah]

1. Is this

a trend? Would love to see more GOP get away from the darkness - LOL

[Oregone]

12. GOP isn't the same as Green

[davidinalameda]

2. good for him

just goes to show how marginalized the Greens have become

it didn't do them any good nominating McKinney for president last year

[JonLP24]

4. It wouldn't do them any good nominating anyone

We have two party system.

[DumpDavisHogg]

6. It's true, we do have a 2-party system: Democrats and Greens (n/t)

[JonLP24]

7. I don't understand what you mean

We have republicans and democrats and a couple independents in the house/senate/presidency/governorship/etc. and we have no greens anywhere on the national level, not sure about local state or city level. But only a republican or democrat can win on a national stage. A green has no chance of winning no matter who it is.

[AlphaCentauri]

17. I wish n/t

[AlphaCentauri]

16. That's what re pugs are trying to keep intact

the 2 party system in place, they don't want to dissolve their party to open the door to a third party like the green party or any other party to the left of the democratic party.

[Threedifferentones]

18. And the Democratic Party doesn't want a two party system?

I'm not a big Ron Paul fan, but even a stopped clock can be right, ya know?

Anyway, I once heard Ron Paul interviewed on NPR. He said that when he was a Libertarian candidate he worked more closely with Socialists and Greens than Repubs, even though Repubs are supposedly much more in favor of his ideal of limited government. Why? Because Dems and Repubs unite to keep other parties tiny. So, opposing parties, like Greens and Libertarians, often work together in a vain attempt to change the system so that more parties may thrive.

Correspondingly, Greens and Socialists often have better relationships with Libertarians than with Dems, because Democratic leaders know that if a genuinely progressive movement swept this nation they would be out of business. And make no mistake, that's what our government is to leaders of both big parties: a money making enterprise.

Basically, it is folly to pretend that the Democrats want more parties. They make just as much money as the other big dog on the block, and if there is one thing that brings "bi-partisan" support in Washington it is opposition to any party but the Big Two.

I am certainly not the first to point this out, but it is pretty clear that our two-party system is scarily close to a one-party system. Federal politics is played by their rules or not at all.

[onehandle]

3. Who's the next highest-ranking Green Party member? A Starbucks Barista? nt

[SoxFan]

5. Jake. He sells t-shirts at String Cheese Incident shows.

[TroglodyteScholar]

9. HAH

:D

[EFerrari]

13. Because only millionaires should ever run for office.

It's worked out so very well for us so far!

lol

[SoxFan]

15. The NH House

My mentor in the NH House was a fellow who worked as a freelance writer and communications consultant, but supplemented his income by working at an amusement park in York, Maine. He was one of the smartest, most decent, and witty people I've met, in or out of politics.

We had a neat mix up there. In most legislatures, a Gen X lawyer would be no big deal, but in NH, it's an oddity. We had a pizza shop owner, a small town police chief, a guy who worked in the civil rights movement down South in the 1960s, a factory foreman, a few real estate agents, a couple of nurses, and even a couple of college students from UNH and Tufts.

[jkappy]

8. marginalization or assimilation?

at least you can address institutional power from the Green perspective... the Democratic liberal perspective does everything but address power, so is a certain dead end.

[glinda]

10. Good! We need more of them!

[bananas]

11. The Democratic Party has become a lot more Green

in case nobody noticed.

[defendandprotect]

14. I'd also suggest that there may be a certain degree of harassment he

faces as a Green among Democrats --

All third parties are under attack by both Democrats and Republicans --

and now, more than ever, we need IRV voting --