I don't understand or trust Stein's judgement if this is who she chooses. She could have chosen absolutely anyone as a running-mate for a campaign she knew she wouldn't win. Could have sent any message, given the greens any kind of ideological framework, even just found a really good orator to amplify. This is who she chose out of anyone. And if it wasn't her personal decision alone, this is who that party chose to represent their beliefs on a national stage.
PSL remains the only national project worth investing in. Greens are judas goats for the same old slaughterhouse.
Broadly speaking, I don't think this guy matters. He's the VP side of an also-ran ticket. He's not particularly rich or influential (compared to an also ran VP like RFK Jr's Silicon Valley divorcee Nicole Shanahan). In a better world, Stein would have... idk... used Juche Necromancy to bring back David Graeber or something and put him on the ticket. But right now, her primary appeal to voters is as a protest vote and not for anything she's saying or doing beyond the generic "I think war is bad" truisms.
PSL remains the only national project worth investing in
If you've got a local chapter, that's great. If you don't, you work with what you have. But PSL isn't on the ballot in a number of bigger states. I'm not going to blame someone for voting Green simply to register their discontent with the Big Two.
He matters in that he reveals the ideological hollowness and fecklessness of the Green Party. If someone is going to function purely as a protest votes then the absolute least that can be expected is ideological rectitude. They have to at least be good in theory!
I'm not going to forgive or excuse transphobia at the top of the ticket
He matters in that he reveals the ideological hollowness and fecklessness of the Green Party.
They do that with their absolute inability to organize anything locally. They can't function as a party. They only exist as a brand.
But that's exactly why a guy like this doesn't matter.
They have to at least be good in theory!
Greens cultivate an image of "naturalist" types. And that attracts people who believe everything from plastics to nuclear energy to vaccines to hormone replacement is sinful.
That's a problem of the ideology. And it's a tough nut to crack, because there's a natural contradiction between ecological purity and industrial technology that I've yet to see a good simple way to navigate.
It's not the only natural schism I see form in left-liberal circles.
The DSA chapter I flirt with from time to time inevitably has a nasty struggle session over AES states and whether or not they're just another flavor of bourgeois imperialism. You get under the hood of these heated arguments, and a lot just ends with "Who do you believe?"
I don't think you can get a "Good in Theory" candidate unless you can find a set of facts everyone can agree on. And as America is the most propagandized country on Earth, that's a big ask.
He sucks, sure. But anyone you pick will inevitably disgust some number of Leftists for some take on a divisive issue.
I don't understand or trust Stein's judgement if this is who she chooses. She could have chosen absolutely anyone as a running-mate for a campaign she knew she wouldn't win. Could have sent any message, given the greens any kind of ideological framework, even just found a really good orator to amplify. This is who she chose out of anyone. And if it wasn't her personal decision alone, this is who that party chose to represent their beliefs on a national stage.
PSL remains the only national project worth investing in. Greens are judas goats for the same old slaughterhouse.
Broadly speaking, I don't think this guy matters. He's the VP side of an also-ran ticket. He's not particularly rich or influential (compared to an also ran VP like RFK Jr's Silicon Valley divorcee Nicole Shanahan). In a better world, Stein would have... idk... used Juche Necromancy to bring back David Graeber or something and put him on the ticket. But right now, her primary appeal to voters is as a protest vote and not for anything she's saying or doing beyond the generic "I think war is bad" truisms.
If you've got a local chapter, that's great. If you don't, you work with what you have. But PSL isn't on the ballot in a number of bigger states. I'm not going to blame someone for voting Green simply to register their discontent with the Big Two.
He matters in that he reveals the ideological hollowness and fecklessness of the Green Party. If someone is going to function purely as a protest votes then the absolute least that can be expected is ideological rectitude. They have to at least be good in theory!
I'm not going to forgive or excuse transphobia at the top of the ticket
They do that with their absolute inability to organize anything locally. They can't function as a party. They only exist as a brand.
But that's exactly why a guy like this doesn't matter.
Greens cultivate an image of "naturalist" types. And that attracts people who believe everything from plastics to nuclear energy to vaccines to hormone replacement is sinful.
That's a problem of the ideology. And it's a tough nut to crack, because there's a natural contradiction between ecological purity and industrial technology that I've yet to see a good simple way to navigate.
It's not the only natural schism I see form in left-liberal circles.
The DSA chapter I flirt with from time to time inevitably has a nasty struggle session over AES states and whether or not they're just another flavor of bourgeois imperialism. You get under the hood of these heated arguments, and a lot just ends with "Who do you believe?"
I don't think you can get a "Good in Theory" candidate unless you can find a set of facts everyone can agree on. And as America is the most propagandized country on Earth, that's a big ask.
He sucks, sure. But anyone you pick will inevitably disgust some number of Leftists for some take on a divisive issue.
Transphobes and misogynists aren't leftists
When you're in the most propagandized country on Earth, leftists are few and far between