Why
you should join the Green Party rather than Greenpeace
(or any OTHER GROUP !)
I have often been asked the question - Why should
I join the Green Party instead of Greenpeace or another
ecological pressure group? To which my answer was
something like - I don't know! As long as you are
supporting the Green Consciousness, it doesn't much
matter.
My experiences in fighting two General Elections
have changed my thinking, to the extent that there
is one very good, important and over-arching reason
why it is crucial that you (and lots of others)
support and join the Green Party.
The reason is the British Political System. My entire
life has been governed by either the Conservatives
or the Socialists; as a teenager I used to pray for
a hung parliament, because all the problems seemed
to be generated by the Government. I hoped desperately
that the Liberals could get enough seats to outweigh
any governmental majority. Alas, they never have, and
I do not think they ever will. They also have a tendency
to sit on any fences they can find, eventually jumping
down on the Safe side and claiming some moral superiority
in their actions.
This means that we have a two party system that acts
as if they were children in a playground fighting over
the ball. Gimme back our ball! They yell. - Nah, come
and get it then; it's our ball anyway! No it ain't - Yes
it is! Meanwhile the ball (which is actually the State
of Britain, its present and future wealth and fortune)
is losing air and will soon become unplayable).
Between these two ideologies there can be no progress
towards a happy future, and our democratic system dictates
that there is a change of rulers every four years,
so that the nation is either thrust in one direction,
or turned round and charged off in another. In recent
years, however, the electorate has become so nervous
that it is only when the Government is shown up to
be totally threadbare, corrupt and shabby that it will
vote for a change of ruler. |
When this happens the electorate is so disillusioned
that they give a huge majority to the ruling party;
the worst option! Alvin Toffler, in his important 1970's
book - Future Shock, explained that it was not Change
itself that undermined people, but the pace of Change.
Margaret Thatcher in her time, and Tony Blair in his,
has enjoyed the power to do anything he or she felt
like, and they have ruined the services on which they
promised action: Education, Transport and Health particularly.
In fact, apart from the ideological differences you
might not be able to tell the two Parties apart, as
they vie for the central ground, resisting all pressure
from the right or left wing.
In short, Government over the last fifty years has
been appalling, and since this was the wealthiest nation
on earth fifty years ago, I don't think it was much
good before that.
To come at last to the point, the Green Party is the
only organisation that is intent on breaking that mould:
it is challenging the Government by putting itself
forward as a genuine alternative. It is trying to change
the way this country's political system works, and
no other Ecological Organisation does this. Jonathan
Porritt is now Tony Bair's advisor on ecological matters.
Should he not be empowered to do something directly?
Should we not all be empowered to act directly? Let's
face it, if the Government do not provide the wealth,
the electorate will vote them out. In that case the
only way anyone can deal with the ecological problems
is to get their own say in the House of Parliament.
You cannot trust anyone else to do this.
That is why it is vital that aware people join the
Green Party (which still does not have one Member of
Parliament, although proportionately it should have
at least thirty!) THAT would cause a shift in direction!
Malcolm Victory, chair of MHGP (November 2005) |
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