-2
Green Party: The two-party system is failing us. Trump escalates nuclear threats against Iran, Dems leadership refuses to take action. (lemmy.wtf)
submitted 7 months ago by to c/greenparty@lemmy.today
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The two-party system is failing us. While Trump escalates nuclear threats against Iran, Democratic leadership refuses to take real action. We’ve seen this cycle before—funding conflict instead of demanding peace.

There is another way. The Green Party takes $0 from the military-industrial complex. We stand for international law and human survival.

Stop the warmongering. Join the movement for humanity. Join the Green Party 🌍🕊️

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] 3 points 6 months ago (1 child)

It looks to me that the Green Party has consistently failed to understand how to gain power in the US electoral system.

There are several issues. One is the repeated nominations of woefully underqualified candidates for president. Another is the focus on presidential races rather than congressional, state legislative and municipal elections.

And then there's the history of Russian funding of the Green Party, using them as spoilers to help fascists win office.

If you're serious about gaining political power, you need to get qualified candidates to run in local elections. Imagine if the Green Party held 15 seats in the house right now. They would be the power brokers. Nothing could get done by the plurality party without them.

A small minority can get big things done. The temperance movement was a minority movement with a single issue. They were willing to throw their support behind anyone who would support a constitutional amendment to ban alcohol. Because they prevented any major party from having a majority, they were able to get their agenda through by trading their support for just about anything in exchange for support for the 18th Amendment. The Green Party could do something similar.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
    •
  • [–] [S] 1 point 6 months ago*

    The Green Party’s challenges in the U.S. system are def real, but to clarify:

    First, the implication that they ignore everything except presidential races is false. 62% of all Green candidates since 1985 have run for county, municipal, school board, and special-district offices — not president or Congress. They have run over 7,100 candidates total and won at least 1,679 elections. As of late 2025 they held ~159 elected offices nationwide, almost all at the local level (city councils, mayors, school boards, etc.). In recent cycles they win 50–65% of the local races they actually contest. They do run down-ballot and the data is public.

    Second, “woefully underqualified” presidential nominees is subjective. Jill Stein is a Harvard-educated physician; Ralph Nader built a national consumer-protection movement. It's not so much candidate quality as it’s that third-party presidential runs are one of the only ways small parties can secure ballot access and media attention in dozens of states.

    The Russian-funding claim is crap, brother. There was interference aimed at boosting Stein in 2016, but no credible evidence of direct Russian funding of the Green Party itself. Think about that, if Russian really funded the Green party, it would be front page news. Instead we have Lemmy whining about it because they don't like third parties.

    If the goal is building a real alternative to corporate capture and endless war, running visible national campaigns while grinding out local wins is a rational (tho hated on Lemmy) strategy.

    The system, not incompetence or foreign cash, is the main reason third parties stay small.

  • permalink
  • fedilink
  • source
  • parent