• In the '80s the Dem-controlled Congress allowed Reagan to push through massive military spending which doubled the National debt in eight years, from $2 to $4 trillion.
• They also allowed banking deregulation which ended up costing the American public another $1 trillion in Federal deposit insurance payments to customers of failed savings and loans.
• They allowed Newt Gingrich to win by just 960 votes - the Dem National Committee wouldn't give a dime to the Democratic candidate because he wouldn't keep quiet about Congressional pay raises.
• The Dems squandered their position of power in '92-'94 when they controlled Congress and the Presidency - no de-escalation of the Reagan-Bush military buildup and no universal health care.
• The Democratic administration from '92-'00 gave us worker-exploiting NAFTA, cruel three-strikes sentencing laws, a doubled prison population, and illegal military strikes against four sovereign countries - 86% of Congressional Dems voted for the bombing of Serbia. They outlawed gay marriages and healthcare services for the economically disadvantaged and displayed profound arrogance by not signing onto international agreements to reduce greenhouse gases and ban land mines.
• In December of 2000 none of the 49 Democratic Senators would support motions by several Congressional Representatives who challenged the legitimacy of the presidential "election." Support by just one Senator would, by Constitutional mandate, have forced a more complete recount in Florida or a re-election.
• In 2001 Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr. introduced a bill, HR 3232, to fund voting equipment compatible with Instant Runoff Voting (IRV), a substantially more democratic system of voting which would have allowed Nader voters in Florida and elsewhere to vote for a second choice, thus virtually assuring a Gore Presidency. The hypocrisy of Dems accusing Nader of "spoiling" a Gore election, while refusing to co-sponsor this legislation, was stark.
• Another bill in 2001 authorized States to form multi-seat Congressional districts with IRV (HR 1189) - it received just three co-sponsors - it also died in committee.
• No Democrat has introduced IRV legislation in 2002 or 2003, in spite of the very real likelihood that the Green Party will run another candidate for President. Without IRV, the Greens are forced to choose between supporting their values and their party by running their own candidate, knowing that such a move will probably result in another four years of George Bush, or supporting the Democrats' very diluted facsimile of Green values, thus relegating the Green Party to the status of a feel-good social club.
• In 2001, 96% of Dems voted for the rights-muffling USA PATRIOT act.
• Over 1/3 of Congressional Democrats voted in favor of bombing Baghdad.
• Here in California, the Dems supported in 2001 a redistricting plan that split the Monterey Bay into two State Senate districts, thus insuring that the unique needs of this bio-region will be largely ignored in that body for the next ten years.

-Paul Franklin, California Member, Live Oak School Board (elected Green official)

"I wish to register a complaint about the Democratic Party: It's dead."

"Look, if the party's alive, why doesn't it insist that the budget surplus be spent on health care for the 45 million Americans without it? And child care for the millions who lack it? And good schools for all kids? Why doesn't the party say it's plain absurd to spend $300 billion on the military when the Cold War is over, and tens of billions more on a missile defense shield that won't work? Why isn't it outraged that 43 percent of the benefits of Bush's tax cut will go to the top 1 percent? Why doesn't it insist on a tax cut mostly benefiting people who earn less than $40,000 a year? Why does it play dead on the environment? Why? Because it's not playing dead! It is dead!"

- Robert Reich, (3/12/01) article in The American Prospect 

"I vote Green because I want to be able to sleep at night."

-Samuel Krakow (I couldn't help myself)