Under the radar of the national media, it looks like former congresswoman Cynthia McKinney has the inside track to the Green Party presidential nomination.  She’s already started campaigning, including a recent stop at a Green Party of RI meeting. My feelings on this endeavor, as with many third-party efforts, is mixed.

[youtube:http://www.youtube.com/swf/l.swf?video_id=03cOM9r51Nw&rel=1&eurl=http%3A//www.runcynthiarun.org/&iurl=http%3A//img.youtube.com/vi/03cOM9r51Nw/default.jpg&t=OEgsToPDskJVmTs08DBCbV7Zz6NdTqkW]

A real democracy is pluralistic, accommodating and representing a variety of view points, to the extent to which they’re held by the population.  Our government doesn’t meet that test.  The appropriate response is to try to change those structures, via a variety of tactics.

In 2004, while I was still a member of the Green Party, I chaired a federal political action committee that pushed for “safe-state” voters to vote Green, for “swing-state” voters to vote Dem, and for everybody to push for structural reforms that’d deepen our democracy and allow people to run for office without concern about “spoiling” — instant runoff voting and proportional representation, among others.

McKinney’s in a position to run a fierce and professional campaign.  (And to say many things with which I agree with, and some with which I do not.)  Depending on who wins the major party nominations, and what campaign strategy she devises, she also has the potential to win over lots of likely Dem voters — perhaps even more so than Nader in 2000.

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