Green Party looks to future of Mississippi

Blake Aued
DM opinion editor

As elections approach, it seems like the same old apathy is overtaking the American people. Voters see Democrats and Republicans as being too similiar to tell apart, and Reform Party members as a bunch of brawling anti-Semites, eccentric billionaires and pro wrestlers.

There is an alternative that many people haven't heard of, and whose views I respect as being sensible policies for our future.

It's called the Green Party, and they're here in Mississippi.

The Green Party operates not on a dogmatic platform, but on ten key principles to change government, shift power back to the people and improve our nation in the long term.

The ten principles can be boiled down to one phrase: Power to the people. The Green Party calls for equality for all races, genders, ages and sexual orientations, and cuts across the traditional liberal/conservative lines.

They support government decentralization by returning to grassroots democacy and putting power into the hands of local govrnment, as opposed to state or federal government, a stance that appeals to conservatives.

Their other main concern is the environment, a popular issues for liberals. Instead of being a "hippie" issue, as many conservatives believe, protecting the environment benefits everyone. As evidenced by the attendance at a recent Green Party forum in Oxford -- about 50 people, a mix of old and young, students and town residents -- this is an issue that all sorts of people in rural Mississippi care about.

The main topic of discussion was deforestation. The U. S. Forest service is compelled by law to open up many national forests to logging at absurdly cheap prices. Even though 63 percent of Americans disagree with this policy, it continues, in large part because the timber industry donated $4.3 million to campaigns last year, mostly to Republicans.

Mississippi's national forests include Holly Springs National Forest and Delta National Forest. Like the rest of the nation, most of the rest of Mississippi has been deforested. Only about 3 to 4 percent of the forests that were here 500 years ago still exist, and only 6 percent of those forests are protected.

I was unable to ascertain if the Green Party is running any candidates for office in Mississippi, but the group currently has four candidates for president. Among them are consumer advocate Ralph Nader (the man responsible for seat belts, among other things) and punk rocker Jello Biafra, former singer for the Dead Kennedys.

Biafra made a run for mayor during the 1980's in San Francisco, and actually finished fourth in a crowded field. Part of his platfom was to require all businessmen to dress in clown suits. He has apparently mellowed out over the years, now calling for more sedate reforms such as the destruction of all nuclear weapons and the U.S.'s withdrawal from the World Trade Organization.

Nader ran on the Green Party ticket in 1996, garnering 700,000 votes. That's pretty good, considering he spent only $50,000 on his campaign. Nader, as usual, is calling for government regualtions to reign in the power of the corporation.

In a world where people demand instant gratification in sex, money, and everything else, it's refreshing to see a party that can look to the long term. American corporations, and many people, only look at last quarter's profits. What we need is planning. The Green Party understands this, and even if they can't get themselves elected, perhaps they can make the major parties understand too.

Blake Aued is a junior English and journalism major from Birmingham, Ala.