war. Douglas Hurd, foreign secretary under Margaret Thatcher, opposed the war, as did one of her chancellors, Ken Clarke. The Chirae government in France opposed the war, and its foreign minister (later Prime Minister) Dominique de Villepin made one of the most eloquent UN speeches against it. Vladimir Putin was against the war and still is.
Of course, no one is comparing Ken Livingstone to any of these figures; but it does demonstrate that the war cannot be the single or even the predominant criterion of judging political support. There has to be a wider judgement made on the basis of an all-round assessment of his policies and in particular of his actions.
Calling for a first preference vote for Ken Livingstone does not in any case sit well with the need to build a political alternative to new Labour. This requires a sharp line to be drawn against New Labour politics. It also means an organisation like Respeet Renewal taking every opportunity to present its politics to the widest possible audience and in the most effective way.
page 30 of the scan
26 Steffie Brooks, member of the Green Party of New York State
The Green Party of the United States is a young party, but with 21 state ballot lines, 200 or so local elected officials, 46 organized state parties and several hundred thousand members it is the most significant national electoral formation to the left of the Democrats and Republicans.
It has staunchly opposed U.S. military interventions abroad and the USA Patriot Act. It is pro-environment and for a thoroughgoing electoral reform, including proportional representation in multi-seat bodies, instant run-off voting for singleseat elections, public campaign financing, and easier ballot access for independent candidates and third parties. The party's eco-populist programme is broadly defined by the Ten Key Values adopted in 1984 by green activists meeting at the first North American Bioregional Congress :
Grassroots Democracy 2 Social Justice and Equal Opportunity
Ecological Wisdom Non-Violence
Decentralization
Community-Based Economies and Economic Justice 7 Feminism and Gender Equity 8 Respect for Diversity
Personal and Global Responsibility 10 Future Focus and Sustainability It's not easy being Green The geographical and numerical reach of the Green Party is more impressive when we consider that the United States has the most restrictive ballot access laws of any so-called democracy.
In Britain, for instance, all candidates for Parliament face the same ballot-access requirement -a simple filing fee. Candidates, regardless of party affiliation, get two free mailings to all the voters and a certain amount of free TV and radio time if their party fields enough candidates.
In the United States each of 50 state legislatures determines requirements for ballot access. These laws vary in their details but all require third parties to gather high numbers of petition signatures, and often place strict deadlines for gathering them. Meanwhile the Republican and Democratic parties are guaranteed a ballot line in the general elections. Even so, the signature requirements to compete in the Democratic or Republican party primaries are so high in some states that incumbents run unopposed in about onequarter of all state legislative races.
Voter discouragement, if not outright suppression, is another problem for third parties trying to find their constituencies. Voting is just plain difficult. Election day is not a legal holiday but a regular work day. There is no same-day voter registration In most states, Several states have recently passed laws requiring voters to produce photo identification in order to cast their ballots, discriminating against the young, the elderly, and the poor—who do not own cars or possess drivers licenses. According to the Sentencing Project of Human Rights Watch, an estimated 4.4 million U.S. citizens are disenfranchised due to a past or current felony conviction, including over one million who have fully completed their sentences. The racial impact of felony disenfranchisement is breathtaking, with 13 percent of African American men-1.4 million people disenfranchised, representing over one-third of the disenfranchised population.
It is not surprising, then, considering all these restraints on choice and on suffrage in the United States, that only 55 percent of the eligible population voted in 2004, compared to 80 percent in the late 19th century, according to Census Bureau figures,
The monopoly on ballot access is paralleled by a monopoly over media coverage and public political debate. As a result, the Democrats and Republicans are able to define the terms of political debate around a narrow consensus set by themselves. Other ideas, even those held by a majority of Americans-such as the desire for single payer health care or a rapid withdrawal of troops from Iraq are painted as unreasonable or unachievable, two far away from the "centre" which is defined by the orchestrated "realistic" choices at the ballot box.
So why bother? The myth of the two-party system The notion that U.S. polities is inherently a two-party system is commonly repeated, but vigorous third parties have existed and have helped shape American history.
Prior to the late 19th century, ballot requirements were minimal and third party formations were regular features of political life. Voters replaced major parties on three separate occasions in the first 100 years of the country's history. The National Republican Party replaced the Federalists in the 1820s. the Whig Party replaced the National Republican Party, and the Republican Party replaced the Whigs in 1854. That year the newly founded Republican Party elected more governors and congressmen than did any other party. Four years later the Republican Party sent Abraham Lincoln to the White House.