The Green Party of Michigan is running candidates in many statewide and local elections this year and is consequently offering a number of opportunities for voters to vote for candidates that seek an actual shift in the direction of both Michigan and the United States. The Green Party of Michigan is an affiliate of the national party and runs candidates that have a commitment to the Party’s “Ten Key Values”. These values and the Green Party of Michigan’s platform, unlike the platforms of the Democratic Party or the Republican Party, embody the values of a variety of movements for social change and include the idea of “ecological wisdom” and that a healthy society cannot exist without a healthy environment, “social justice” and the idea that the worldwide system of poverty and injustice must be replaced by one free of oppression, “grassroots democracy” and the idea that people should have involvement in all decisions that directly affect their lives, “nonviolence,” “decentralization” and the shift towards a system that is more democratic, “community-based economics” and a valuing of people over profits and basing policy on the limits of the earth, “feminism,” “respect for diversity,” “personal and global responsibility” through political solidarity and personal lifestyles of self-sufficiency, and “future focus/sustainability” that assures that decisions are responsible to future generations and not simply profits. These values are embodied in the platforms of the Green candidates on the ballot for voters in West Michigan, with a Green candidate running in the gubernatorial race, in the United States Senate race, in the 3rd United States Congressional race, the Michigan Secretary of State race, and in elections for a variety of educational posts including the Michigan Board of Education, the Michigan State University Board of Trustees, and the Wayne State Board of Governors.
Despite running in one of the most covered races in Michigan, Green Party gubernatorial candidate Douglas Campbell has received little coverage in the corporate press. Campbell, an engineer and activist with a variety of organizations including the American Civil Liberties Union, Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, and Americans United for Separation of Church & State, offers a unique platform when compared to that of Democrat Jennifer Granholm and Republican Dick DeVos, as well as a different idea about how to campaign. Whereas Granholm and DeVos are supported by a host of corporate and individual wealthy interests, Campbell does not accept any political action committee (PAC) money and advocates for a lessening of the influence that lobbyists and PACs. His platform of “Peace, Jobs, and Justice” touts a substantially different agenda for Michigan, one in which government is more transparent, people have control over their own lives, and where the earth is something to be protected. Campbell calls for “peace abroad, peace at home” and advocates for an immediate end to the occupation of Iraq and a return of Michigan National Guard members to the state, in addition to calling for state divestment from funds supporting the occupations of Tibet and Palestine. Campbell supports “stable jobs with living wages” while arguing that they can only exist within an economy that is self-sufficient. He is urging the development of a state-wide local currency to develop the state’s economy by keeping wealth in the state, while also supporting a tax on non-Michigan goods to encourage local production and promote organic community-supported agriculture as “an optimal and sustainable food system.” He also is opposed to corporate tax breaks. Environmental policy would be significantly different under Campbell, with Campbell promoting the creation of 1-million acres of “true wilderness” (no paved roads, no permanent structures, free-burning fires, and limited human presence) within the next four years as well as reducing the state’s ecological footprint while assuring a sustainable standard of living for everyone in the state.
The alternatives offered by the Green Party are also quite clear in the race for United States Senate, where the Democratic Party candidate, incumbent Debbie Stabenow, has taken a variety of positions in recent months that make her a pro-war candidate. Stabenow has supported the militarization of the United States-Mexico border and recently voted in favor of military tribunals and denying Geneva Convention protection to detainees in the "War on Terror." Additionally, she supports the ongoing occupation of Iraq, voting in favor of every funding request for the Iraq War while supporting the draconian USA PATRIOT Act when she voted to reauthorize it in March of 2006. She is also a corporate candidate, being one of the top ten PAC recipients in 2006 and voting to make harder for individuals to erase their debt by filing for bankruptcy, according to The Green Light’s Fall 2006 issue. As an alternative, Green Party candidate David Sole, a long time activist in the Detroit area, is running as part of the “Stop the War Slate” of Michigan Green Party candidates who oppose the war in Iraq. The Stop the War Slate calls for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and the use of the money being spent on the war from Michigan—$8,999,654,000 as of October 31 according to the National Priorities Project—for social programs including a public works program providing jobs to those that need them, supporting and expanding affirmative action programs, quality health insurance, quality education for all children at neighborhood schools, subsidized college tuition to all residents wanting a college education, and a moratorium on all utility cut-offs. As a longtime participant in social justice movements, Sole sees his candidacy as part of the antiwar movement and as an opportunity to vote against the Iraq War.
A similar situation exists in the 3rd United States Congressional District, where Republican candidate Vern Ehlers has been an enthusiastic supporter of the Iraq War. While Democratic Party challenger James Rinck has stated that the United States must get out of Iraq, Green Party candidate Rodger Gurk supports “bringing the troops home now” while offering a host of other “progressive” positions that have not been taken by Rinck. Gurk supports “global health care” as a means of addressing the health care crisis and developing a system of publicly funding elections. Whereas Rinck supports “safe nuclear energy,” Gurk promotes only “eco-friendly” energy sources such as wind or ethanol.
Of course, while all of the aforementioned candidates represent an alternative in the upcoming election, the election system in Michigan and the United States is structured to promote the interests of the wealthy and their candidates. The political process of winner-take-all voting process can dissuade people from voting for the candidates with whom they most agree, instead promoting the idea of “lesser evil” voting for the “realistic” alternative to the worst candidate running. To combat this problem, Green Party candidate for Secretary of State Lynn Meadows is offering a platform designed to introduce a variety of electoral reforms that would make substantive participation in the political process easier in Michigan. Meadows supports a variety of options designed to make voting easier, including making election day a holiday or placing it on a Saturday or Sunday as well as automatically registering anyone with a driver’s license or Michigan ID as a voter on their 18th birthday. She also supports Instant Runoff Voting (IRV) to allow for people to vote for the candidates that truly represent them. IRV would allow voters to rank the candidates by their preference and with a series of “rounds” held instantly until a candidate gets over 50% of the vote. Meadows is also proposing substantive changes to how campaigns are run, aiming to publicly fund campaigns and to require that television stations give an equal amount of air time to all candidates and hold inclusive debates as part of their “public service” obligation.
The Green Party’s Stop the War Slate is also running a variety of candidates for posts overseeing the state’s educational institutions. Laid-off Detroit public schools teacher Kevin Carey is running on a platform calling for the end of “apartheid education” and is demanding equal funding for all school districts in Michigan and special funding for districts previously under-funded. He believes that this funding can be increased by ending the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan as well as US support of Israel’s occupation of Palestine as Michigan’s share of the Iraq War was $8.4 billion. He also supports an more multi-cultural classes and the introduction of Gay and Lesbian Studies classes in the schools to stop the harassment and stigmatization of students based on sexual orientation. Green candidate and student Lauren Spencer is running for the Michigan State University (MSU) Board of Trustees with a platform calling for an end to the Iraq war as the money that Michigan has spent on the war could have provided 410,000 4-year scholarships, opposing the Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) and enhancing affirmative action to increase diversity at MSU and other state colleges, adding gender identity and expression to MSU’s anti-discrimination policy, and continue providing domestic partner benefits at MSU in light of attacks by the supporters of the Michigan campaign to ban same-sex marriage. Another student activist, Michael Merriweather, in running for the Wayne State Board of Governors, on a platform of expanding the value placed on education beyond simply being a step before getting a job and emphasizing the value of knowledge and learning. As an example, he has proposed moving away from “pageantry” textbooks celebrating the accomplishments of great white men and replacing them with primary and secondary documents providing an honest view of history. Additionally, Edward Morin is running for the Board of Regents of the University of Michigan. Morin is a former professor who has a four point platform of making the University’s campus culture more hospitable to students of “moderate means,” increasing faculty participation in university governance, assuring transparency by requiring a state audit of academic research and performance, and reducing the university’s support of advanced weaponry and surveillance technology.
