Dear Fellow Registered Greens,
cc: Cynthia McKinney, Farheen Hakeem, National Green Party
I recently posted a comment in a thread regarding who to push as the 2012 Green Party Presidential Nominee. From where I’m sitting, it looks like Cynthia McKinney will run again. Here is my case for why, instead of giving our Party’s 2012 Presidential Primary another thought, suggest to Cynthia a Running Mate, and shift our entire focus to Local and State-wide Elections.
Let anyone run who wants to run for the Green Party Presidential Nomination, but trying to energize a campaign to try to find someone we think will have a better chance of winning than McKinney seems like a monumental waste of time, especially when it is clear we need to focus on local races, ballot access and a state-office or congressional victory. In addition, if Cynthia is willing to run for the nomination again, which she won hands down in 2008, energizing a campaign against her would be destructive and distracting to the Party and our cause.
Cynthia has experience with D.C. She is a great representative for the struggle for Civil Rights, as I’ve documented in this article. Because of her involvement in the Gaza Conflict, I think she champions a cause that isn’t very represented by the “Liberty Movement.” With that and the need for Muslim representation in U.S. Politics, I think Farheen Hakeem would be a great running-mate. She has been involved in Green Party and Minnesota Politics for some time, participating in some of the most successful challenges to the two-party system in Minnesota. Born in 1975 in Chicago, she fulfils the legal age and citizenship requirements for U.S. President, thus qualifying her to run as Vice-President. It is my case that any energy by the Green Party leadership should be to back McKinney along with a request to have Hakeem as her running-mate.
All other creative energy should be toward these two priorities:
1. Local Elections. We are successful at the local level. We don’t need to change anything, just do more of it. More Campaigns, more candidates, more engagement. We should stimulate donations to local and state parties as a means of preparing for the 2011 and 2012 elections. Matt Reichel has already taken on an Alderman race in Chicago. His official campaign website is not up at the time of this article, but once his campaign is ready to receive donations we should do a money-bomb/fund-raising drive for his campaign. If we could find some more professional web designers (I am not one of those) to develop one, or multiple, WordPress templates for local candidates to use (even for local party affiliates), we could boost the polish on Green Party races nationwide cheaply.
2. State-wide Elections. This could also be extended to State-Representatives and Congressional seats. These elections help establish Ballot Access and a “middle-level” political victory is going to be required before we can even think about winning a Presidential Election. Presidential Campaigns should be used to trumpet our local and state-wide efforts, and have a candidate to give a Green Party perspective on national and international issues. I think Cynthia is a good representative for the Green Party in this context. And hey, if she wins all the better! Farheen will add even more insight to the ticket and make a victory even that much more revolutionary.
Take a minute to watch this Hakeem for Governor advertisement from the 2010 election:
UPDATE! 3. Green Party for Congress. 2012 as “The Year of the First Green in Congress!” – Please read the following endorsement: rp12gp.us
Jack Wagner is the Editor of The Free Independent-Sun. Born in Sonoma, California and currently residing in San Francisco, Jack set up The Free Independent-Sun on July 4th, 2009, after sleeping in and not making his usual trip up north for his hometown festivities. He figured he'd do something revolutionary to make up for it. In the Summer of 2010 Jack registered Seraf Media with the City and County of San Francisco as a Sole-Proprietorship. He is dedicated to articulating the finer points of the Revolution in order to bring about a Global Renaissance and Abundant World Economy. He also isn't afraid to get his hands dirty transplanting succulents. 
