Traditionally, the best way to get left-wing policies that support the environment isn’t to elect Republicans. However, that’s just what the North Carolina Green Party is supporting by trying to split the left-wing vote.
You may not know that North Carolina has a Green Party, because they lately haven’t had enough signatures to appear on the ballot. Right now, they are trying to get back on it by collecting 13,865 signatures by May 17. Their plan for this: paying people to canvass on UNC’s campus and elsewhere, hoping passers-by do not realize the real effect of their party.
Consequently, it’s important for students here to understand what the Green Party really stands for: letting candidates with views antithetical to theirs take office by dividing support among the left side of the American political spectrum.
For the clearest example of how the Green Party works against progressive candidates supporting environment-friendly policies, let’s look at an election in the hypothetical state of Carolina Borealis.
Here, there are two major parties: the Ovine Party and the Canine Party. 51 percent of people would rather have the policies of the Ovine Party and 49 percent would rather the Canine Party’s. So, the Ovine Party should win most elections, right?
However, there’s a twist: the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing Party is also in the elections, drawing about 3 percent of the vote, almost all from supporters of the Ovine Party. This gives the Canine Party a win with 49 percent, with the Ovine Party having 48 percent and the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing Party 3 percent.
This isn’t a ridiculous hypothetical by any means; the phenomenon of “spoiler candidates,” as the Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing Party is technically called, has been observed many times before, including quite probably in the 2000 presidential election in Florida. It’s the only real effect a third party candidate, like the Greens or Libertarians, can have in a system that rewards pluralities and the two-party dichotomy.
To get back to North Carolina, Matthew Hoh of the Green Party threatens to be a spoiler candidate in the 2022 Senate race. A Democrat, almost certainly Cheri Beasley, and a Republican will dominate the race. There is certainly a pool of voters who significantly prefer Hoh’s positions, but, if even some of them cast a vote for Hoh rather than the major-party candidate closer to their views, presumably Beasley, this poses a real threat of giving away the election to a Republican to whom they are almost diametrically opposed.
The Green Party’s counter-argument to this, as best as I can tell, is that supporting the “lesser of two evils,” which they repeatedly hint is the Democrats, still requires putting up with the supposed evil of capitalism. Even if you don’t believe that supporting the lesser of two evils is the moral choice, this is ludicrous, since there isn’t a way to opt out of having political power.
With all this, it’s clear that the real advantage offered by the Green Party is as a way for Republicans to win elections. Although I don’t know of any evidence that Republicans are directly funding them, it offers a clear target for those Republicans who don’t care much about civility and functioning politics to weaken the unity of the Democrats.
If, like many East students, you are in favor of progressive policies and protecting the environment, one of the worst things you could do is vote for the Green Party or sign their petition to appear on the ballot. Until the American election system is ready for third parties, all they can do is function as an unintentional arm of the Republican Party.
