A Green Party candidate responds

Jack McMillan demonstrates a poor understanding of electoral politics when he incorrectly blames the Green Party for Republican victories.

First, our local Green Party has won an election when Anna Lempart was elected to the Champaign-Ford regional school board. Rather than spoiling that election, Anna won, reinforcing the simple arithmetic that if enough people vote for Greens, we’ll win.

Second, the Green Party’s gubernatorial candidate, Rich Whitney, is the only candidate of the three whose support is rising. It is currently at 14 percent. Among the other two candidates, the one whose support is falling fastest isn’t the Democrat – it’s the Republican.

The Illinois Green party has received numerous e-mails from self-described “former Republicans” who are planning to vote for Whitney.

Third, local politics tends Democratic and progressive to the extent that Republicans don’t even run in some races. For instance, I am running in Champaign County district 8 against two Democratic incumbents and no challenger from any other party. Without a Green in the race, voters would have literally no choice but the Democrats.

Fourth, I want to rebut the canard that Nader was responsible for Bush’s win in 2000. Gore really won that election, and only fraud in Florida and the intervention of the courts including the Supreme Court enabled Bush to steal the presidency. Without Nader, they would have had to steal more votes, but the problem wasn’t Nader’s participation, it was fraud and judicial intervention. Would more people have voted for Nader if the Democrats and Republicans hadn’t excluded him from televised debates? We’ll never know.

Finally, I want to say that I find the idea that Greens can “steal” votes from Democrats fundamentally anti-democratic, since it rests on the premise that Democrats are entitled to a certain number of votes, no matter who they are and what their voting record or policy positions are. The fact is, voters can vote for whoever they want to. Third parties know that, and when people vote for us it proves that we represent a choice that’s not available from the two-party monopoly.

Joe Futrelle

Green Party candidate

Champaign County Board