Why It's Time to Go Green- A Guest Post By Laurel M. Sturt

In the last decade, the Democratic party has become increasingly indistinct from the Republican, both parties in virtually impervious thrall to the siren of money. As exacerbated by the Citizens United and McCutcheon Supreme Court decisions, the--for all intents and purposes--wholesale prostitution of both parties to special interests has forced the true agenda of today’s elected officials into the light: the sacred civic duty supposedly embodied in a position called, after all, “public service,” has been exposed to be less motivational than the perks and influence inherent in a position of power. While we watch, haplessly marginalized on the sidelines of integrity, these unworthies blithely ply their incompetence--via obstructionism (McConnell), corruption (Rangel), or any number of ignominious affronts to decency, or democracy. This laser-focused drive to maintain a privileged position, moreover, comes with the most flagrant, arrogant dismissal of accountability. We came very close, after all, to electing a president with the hubris to trumpet the slogan “Country First” while simultaneously exposing us to the possibility of governance by Sarah Palin--and Rod Serling wasn’t even in the room when that decision was made! Indeed, her very choice as a running mate was a perfectly indicting metaphor for a system whose morality has gone AWOL, in a scenario increasingly where an elected official is not a bonafide public servant but simply playing one on tv.  As such, our national script has abandoned the dignified legacy of John Adams, alas, in favor of The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.

The convergence of the two political parties in a shared embrace to protect the power status quo--enabled by money overriding principle--has been nowhere more evident than in the attack on public education. No Child Left Behind, despite its feel-good soundbite of education as a civil right, has been revealed to be a privatizing agenda  from conservatives not compassionate but impassioned, in fact, by the prospect of public dollars pouring into private coffers. Indeed, the tools for this, among them a pervasive culture of high-stakes testing, have had the added bonus of busting teacher unions, the last inhibition to fully exploiting the education cash cow, a trillion dollar business opportunity here and abroad. Yet far from coming to the rescue of public education, Obama and likeminded Democrats such as New York’s Governor Cuomo have taken up their own torch and pitchfork with alarming alacrity: Race to the Top, and its proponents, have seized on the malevolent premise--and promise--of NCLB, simply ramping it up with steroids. Between the Common Core and other elements designed to privatize a public good, our education system is on the verge of devastation; incredibly, both parties have proven to be equal opportunity plunderers not just of any resource but that most precious of all, our children, the very future of our nation. We could use a Patriot Act, alright, one expressly for education.

 The bitterness over teacher tenure from pols on both sides now is funny, considering their obsessive investment in tenure for themselves. Plus, as we are seeing more and more, it doesn’t matter whom we elect, considering the elected are likely to pursue public office for self-serving ends. This state of the State has invited wholesale cynicism, not only alienating voters but in its encouragement of feelings of apathy and powerlessness, simply generating further hopelessness. Such a cyclical dynamic assures the rats on a wheel who summon the energy to vote for either party will gain nothing more than further enabling the rats driving it.

 

It’s time, then, to collectively step off the wheel. We won’t get integrity from our public servants until we ourselves muster the integrity to drive them out by voting in those who actually represent us, and not their own selfish desires. The only change we can truly believe in, at this point, is a third party, one which doesn’t pander to special interests, plutocrats or ideological agendas, just a commitment to equal opportunity, fairness, justice and health for the planet and humanity. As such, never has there been a more urgent or viable time for a breath of fresh, Green air.

 

The lesser of two evils was never acceptable, and now it’s come down to a choice between two evils. Please check out the Green party platform and register at http://www.gp.org/index.php.

 

 Laurel M. Sturt, a long time member of the Green party, is the author of the recent book Davonte’s Inferno: Ten Years in the New York Public School Gulag.