Most of this podcast was recorded in 1990!
Next week I’ll be taking the train to Washington for Principles First, a conference run by conservatives, and I’m a little nervous. This is a new crowd for me, though some of the speakers are people at The Bulwark whom I listen to and read and admire. We are all, clearly, committed to fighting the Trump/Musk take-down of our system of government and I am excited. The speaker list is terrific.
We are looking for allies and fresh tactics. But one thing I don’t want to hear about is a third political party. I am in favor of multi-party systems, but I’ve seen the work of one of them here in the US, and that’s a fight for another day, another time.
Reading Discord posts from former Republicans who feel politically homeless, I remembered my time with the UK Green Party. I found a recording from 1990, when I spoke on behalf of the UK Greens at a US conference in Rocky Mountain National Park, in Colorado. As you can hear, I was very nervous indeed, speaking a mile a minute and sounding as though I’d just climbed a mountain.
You’ll also hear about some of the misjudgments that helped to derail the Greens.
Show Notes
Principles First Summit 2025: American Principles and Priorities / Speakers
US elections: European Greens call for Jill Stein to step down
Dee Berry 1926 – 2022 - www.gp.org
San Francisco Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi’s Woes Began Before Immigration Uproar – NBC Bay Area
Michael Feinstein, former mayor of Santa Monica
Conspiracy, murder, or suicide in the German Green Party: Who killed Petra Kelly? (Mother Jones)
I should note that Caroline Lucas was a long-serving Green Party leader and then MP, very professional, and in Canada there is the admirable Elizabeth May. And Jonathon Porritt, a former Green Party leader, is an influential media figure in the UK and still very much an activist. (He wrote the foreword to a couple of my environmental books, too - thank you, Jonathon!)
More of the Green Parties story in the Sage Reference Encyclopedia of Leadership: download the PDF here.
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