Tag Archives: Green Party

Note to Six Senators: “Present” is not Presidential

March 27, 2019 Thomas L. Knapp Leave a comment

On February 7, US Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and US Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) released the text of a joint resolution calling for a “Green New Deal.”

Fine, said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Let’s vote on it in the Senate.

No, no, said Markey. Absent a long organizational campaign and a detailed debate, voting on it would essentially be “sabotage.” Ocasio-Cortez decried the vote as a “bluff.” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) called it a “stunt.”

In a sense, they’re right. But for at least six Senate Democrats, the “stunt” is also a “rout.”

Five of those six US Senators are Cory Booker (D-NJ), Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY), Kamala Harris (D-CA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT,), and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), all of them declared candidates for the Democratic Party’s 2020 presidential nomination and all of them declared supporters of the Green New Deal.

The sixth is Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), also seeking that nomination, who’s been lukewarm on the whole idea, calling it “aspirational” and saying she’d likely oppose specific parts of it.

They’ve all previously and publicly expressed their opinions on the Green New Deal.

But when push came to shove in the US Senate on March 26, they all voted “present” instead of casting their votes one way or the other.

It’s fairly easy to change your mind, and hopefully easy to convincingly explain why. People change their minds all the time. No biggie.

On the other hand, it’s impossible to change a recorded vote in the US Senate. Such a vote is a significant and consequential act and reversing yourself is much harder to explain. Ask former US Senator John Kerry (D-MA) how being for the Iraq war before he was against it played for him on the presidential campaign trail.

Booker, Gillibrand, Harris, Sanders, Warren and Klobuchar don’t want their positions on the Green New Deal indelibly recorded as votes in the US Senate.

They want freedom to triangulate their positions toward the desires of Democratic primary voters over the next year, and general election voters over the next year-and-a-half, with minimal explanation required.

People in hell want ice water, too.

Whatever one thinks about the Green New Deal, it’s already become a movement-defining manifesto for the Democratic Party. The party, and its presidential candidates, are going to have to decide — and forthrightly declare — whether they’re for it or against it.

Instead of strapping on the courage of their convictions one way or the other, Booker, Gillibrand, Harris, Sanders, Warren, and Klobuchar ran for cover.

Instead of telling America where they stand on the Green New Deal, they publicly announced that they stand for nothing at all.

That’s not presidential. Heck, it’s not even senatorial. It’s just cowardly.

Thomas L. Knapp (Twitter: @thomaslknapp) is director and senior news analyst at the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism (thegarrisoncenter.org). He lives and works in north central Florida.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

“Note to Six Senators: ‘Present’ is not Presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, OpEdNews, 03/27/19
“Note to 6 Democratic senators: ‘Present’ isn’t presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Richmond, North Carolina Observer, 03/27/19
“Present is not presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Elko, Nevada Daily (web and print editions), 03/28/19
“Note to six contenders: ‘Present’ is not presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Fredericksburg, Virginia Free Lance-Star [print and web], 03/28/19
“‘Present’ is not presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Hendricks County, Indiana Flyer, 03/29/19
“2020 hopefuls dodge Green New Deal vote,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Wilson, North Carolina Times, 03/29/19
“‘Present’ isn’t presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Duluth, Minnesota Superior Telegram, 04/02/19
“Note to 6 Democratic senators: ‘Present’ is not presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Mason City, Iowa Globe Gazette, 04/04/19
“Voting ‘Present’ is not Presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Columbia, South Carolina Panorama [print and web], 04/10/19
“‘Present’ is not Presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Minden, Louisiana Press-Herald [print and web], 04/11/19
“Note to Six Senators: ‘Present’ is not Presidential,” by Thomas L. Knapp, River Cities’ Reader (Iowa), 04/16/19

Op-Eds

Election 2016: Think Three’s a Crowd? Try 2,000

July 27, 2016 Thomas L. Knapp Leave a comment

RGBStock.com Vote Pencil

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump says Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson is a “fringe candidate.” I’m not sure what definition of “fringe” Trump is using. Johnson is a former governor, elected twice as a Republican in a Democrat-leaning state. Trump’s main presidential qualification seems to be his legendary skill at trolling his opponents on Twitter.

Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton hasn’t deigned to notice likely Green Party candidate Jill Stein. Instead she’s dispatched proxies like runner-up Bernie Sanders (“We have got to defeat Donald Trump. And we have got to elect Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine. … this is the real world that we live in”) to heap scorn on the practicality of a post-Philadelphia campaign from Clinton’s left.

OK, I admit it: History and money say the odds are with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton — that one of them will be the next president of the United States. The last time a third party or independent candidate really threatened to win the White House was 1992, when Ross Perot knocked down nearly 20% of the popular vote, having at one time polled ahead of both Republican incumbent George HW Bush and the eventual winner, Democratic nominee Bill Clinton.

But it’s strange year. It feels like almost anything could happen. And while Clinton and Trump are the frontrunners, the field is, well, YUGE.

As of July 27, the Federal Elections Commission lists 1,814 candidates for president on its web site.

It’s true that some of them have dropped out, or have been eliminated in party nomination processes, or haven’t done anything EXCEPT file an FEC “statement of candidacy.” Most of them won’t appear on any state ballots, or even register themselves with election authorities as write-in options.

On the other hand, some candidates who haven’t submitted FEC statements may show up on your ballot this November. Candidates are only required to file an FEC Form 2 once they’ve raised or spent $5,000. In some states, ballot access doesn’t cost that much.

If you’re an American voter, you have options. Republicans and Democrats will tell you that you’re “wasting your vote” if you don’t pick one of the two leading brands. I don’t think they’re right — what’s the point of voting if you’re not voting for who or what you actually support? — but even if they’re right, well, it’s your vote to waste, isn’t it?

For once I agree with Ted Cruz: If you vote, vote your conscience.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

“Think three’s a crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, St. George, Utah Spectrum, 07/27/16
“Election 2016: Think Three’s a Crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Ventura County, California Citizens Journal, 07/27/16
“Election 2016: Think Three’s a Crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, OpEdNews, 07/27/16
“Election 2016: Think Three’s a Crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, CounterPunch, 07/28/16
“Election 2016: Think three’s a crowd? Try 2000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Pahrump Valley, Nevada Times, 07/29/16
“Election 2016 — Think three’s a crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Newberry, South Carolina Observer, 07/29/16
“Election 2016: Think three’s a crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Dover, New Hampshire Foster’s Daily Democrat, 08/01/16
“Election 2016: Think three’s a crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Fayette, West Virginia Tribune, 08/01/16
“Think 3’s a crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Orangeburg, South Carolina Times & Democrat, 08/02/16
“Election 2016: Think three’s a crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Montgomery, West Virginia Herald, 08/02/16
“Election 2016: You have more than two choices,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Columbia, South Carolina Panorama, 08/02/16
“Think three’s a crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Pacific Daily News [Guam], 07/28/16
“Think three’s a crowd? Try 2,000,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Green Bay, Wisconsin Press-Gazette, 07/28/16

Op-Eds

Election 2016: Wherever You Go, There You Are

May 5, 2016 Thomas L. Knapp 8 Comments

Six months ago, who would have bet on Donald Trump as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, even given juicy odds? But here we are.

Who would have predicted the last two Republican presidents, the immediate past GOP presidential nominee, and the Republican Speaker of the House declining even lukewarm endorsements for their party’s horse? Yet that’s what’s happening.

Over on the Democratic side, who expected Bernie Sanders to erase Hillary Clinton’s 50-point leads and go toe to toe with her — or for that matter to win a single primary other than perhaps his home state of Vermont’s? Well, guess what?

And then there’s Clinton herself, not just continuing to run but continuing to win. This, even as she faces possible compelled deposition relating to her use of, and an ongoing FBI criminal investigation into mishandling of classified information via, a non-secure, privately owned mail server — a server allegedly hacked by, probably among others, now-incarcerated Romanian hacker Marcel Lehel Lazar, aka “Guccifer.” A confidential source that I just invented tells me Clinton shot a man in Reno just to watch him die. I’m skeptical. But not as skeptical as I would have been a year ago.

Over in third party territory where I live, some activists are convinced that all this #NeverTrump #FeelTheBern #WhichHillary stuff portends a breakout year for the Libertarians or the Greens. Again, I’m skeptical. Again, not as skeptical now as last Christmas.

There’s a major crackup/realignment going on in American politics, from the parties’ rank-and-file all the way up to leadership. The nation’s transpartisan ruling class is in the throes of something approaching civil war. Maybe, hopefully not, one as dangerous as the crackup preceding the REAL Civil War.

The pundits, myself included, have been churning out novel theories to make sense of all this for as long as it’s been going on. Each theory enjoys a half-life of a week or so as it decays into the next. Those of us who arrogate to ourselves the job of explaining stuff to the rest of you are at least as lost at sea as you are. Not, as you’re no doubt noticing, that it shuts any of us up.

It’s going to be a long six months between now and the election. Maybe at the end of it we’ll have some kind of epiphany or valuable takeaway to show for it. But I wouldn’t bet on that either.

PUBLICATION/CITATION HISTORY

“Election 2016: Wherever You Go, There You Are,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Key West: The Newspaper [Florida], 05/06/16
“Election 2016: Wherever You Go, There You Are,” by Thomas L. Knapp, OpEdNews, 05/06/16
“Election 2016: Wherever You Go, There You Are,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Ventura County, California Citizens Journal, 05/07/16
“A long six months,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Orangeburg, South Carolina Times & Democrat, 05/11/16
“Election 2016: Wherever you go, there you are,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Montgomery, West Virginia Herald, 05/11/16
“Election 2016: Wherever you go, there you are,” by Thomas L. Knapp, Fayette, West Virginia Tribune, 05/12/16