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The annual Green Party of Hawai'i State Convention is being held at the Kona Elks Lodge in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii Island, beginning at 11 a.m. on June 10. State party officers, delegates and alternates to the Green Party of the United States National Committee plus delegates to the annual National Convention, being held this year in Newark, N.J., in July, will be elected.
The current political reality, both locally and nationally, shows more than ever that voters demand a choice for a truly progressive, grass-roots, social justice and environmental political party to challenge the two entrenched major parties.
Locally, we have a lifelong Republican who suddenly is now a Democrat and plans to run for state office. Over 90 percent of our state Legislature is controlled by one party, with many members who would be Republicans in most other jurisdictions. Therefore, there is no real choice for the voters of Hawaii.
Over 3,000 bills were submitted this year in our Legislature, yet most of the environmental, progressive bills were killed by the entrenched forces which, sadly, control many of our elected officials. There is no incentive to be responsive to the majority of the voters, thus little progress is being made on crucial issues. It is also true with our local government, where all 18 candidates for our County Council in 2016 were members of the same political party, even though our local races are nonpartisan.
On the national level, a majority of those voting in our state primary preferred the more progressive candidate, yet most of our federal delegation and elected officials moved in lockstep to support the moderate candidate, who eventually lost the national election. Now we have an unqualified, compulsive, pathological liar as president, who is an existential threat to our survival on numerous levels.
After the defeat of the more progressive candidate, many sought out an alternative, and former Bernie Sanders (who is not and has never been a member of the Democrat Party) supporters and those who were part of the Demexit movement have found their way to the Green Party, both nationally and locally.
The Green Party of Hawaii first successfully obtained a ballot line in Hawaii for state and national partisan races in 1992 and has secured a place on the ballot through 2022. The national party has 10 key values and stands on four pillars of grass-roots democracy, nonviolence, social justice and ecological wisdom.
On the Big Island, seven times three members of the Green Party have been elected to their County Council. In many jurisdictions around the United States, Greens have successfully stood for office and won. Contests for mayors, city and county councils, boards of supervisors and in numerous other partisan and nonpartisan contests, members of the Green Party have been elected. In a few communities, Greens actually have a majority on their local governing body.
The Green Party is growing, both around the world, and in the United States, as voters demand elected officials who are accountable to their growing progressive and social justice agenda. Throughout the world, Greens are members of parliaments and national governments, while in Austria, the current president was the leader of the Green Party.
In recent national polls, 60 percent of those surveyed felt that the United States needed a third party, with only 26 percent of those responding feeling that the Democrat and Republican parties adequately represent Americans.
When voting, people deserve to have as many choices as possible. Hawaii is one of only five states in the United States that does not allow "write-in" voting. Often voters are limited to only two individuals with insignificant differences between them.
Fundamental modifications are needed to the method by which we hold elections; otherwise there will be little chance for meaningful change in who ultimately wins in our current electoral system. Campaign finance reform, public financing, clean elections and preferential (instant runoff/ranked-choice) voting are the beginning of any discussion. Limit the influence, as much as possible, that money has in politics. The Green Party does not accept any corporate or super PAC funds.
It is time for those who feel they have been marginalized and excluded to join with the Greens and form a truly viable, innovative and alternative political party which stands for accountability, sustainability and transparency.
• Nikhilananda is a Huelo resident and Hawaii delegate to the Green Party of the United States. To learn more about the GPH, visit www.greenpartyofhawaii.org/, send an email to gpofhawaii@gmail.com or call 572-8787.