Letter to the Editor in response to "Invitation to a Dialogue: Time for a Third Party?", Dec. 27, 2011

(NY Times)

From: Scott McLarty

To the Editor,

Instead of illusory centrism, America needs a permanent alternative party that rejects corporate campaign checks and instead represents We The People -- the 99 percent. The Green Party matches this description. Two candidates are competing for the 2012 Green presidential nomination, Jill Stein and Kent Mesplay.

There is no centrist gap between Democratic and Republican, just an overlap at the points where the parties have the most in common. We have two factions competing over how best to serve the one percent, with Democrats capitulating and adopting G.O.P. ideas (e.g., the 2010 health-care reform bill mandates, originally a Republican proposal), and Republicans sinking into extremism.

Democratic and Republican leaders measure the health of the U.S. economy according to Dow Jones, the G.D.P., corporate profit margins -- how the rich are getting richer. Greens judge our economy by the number of working Americans who enjoy financial security and good health care, the number of people lifted out of poverty, and the number of jobs created (potentially millions) in the effort to reduce fossil fuel consumption and stem global warming.

The survival of our democracy depends on the right of voters to vote for whichever candidates best represent their needs and ideals, without being told that the only viable choice is between Big Mac and Whopper.


Scott McLarty

Washington, DC

Note: I serve as media coordinator for the Green Party of the United States (www.gp.org).