From the Preface…

This article was written with two audiences in mind. The first are the supporters of the Green Party of the United States. I hope to persuade them to (1) transform the Green Party structure into a dues-paying, mass-membership party and (2) to prioritize local organizing and elections to build its popular base and political power from the bottom up.

The second audience is the new socialist movement, many but not all of whom are orienting politically to the Democratic Party. I hope to persuade them of the necessity of an independent working-class political party for effective socialist politics. The independent working-class party we need will be much bigger than the Green Party and the new socialist movement combined are now. We need to come together to fuse the Green Party, the new socialist movement, and other working-class and progressive social movements into a major party in American politics.

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Why am I running for president in 2020 if I advocate a strategy of building the party from the bottom up? The very practical reality that makes a presidential campaign relevant to building from the bottom up is that we need ballot lines to run local candidates. Qualifying ballot lines for the next election cycle is determined by the petition signatures, votes, and political coattails of our presidential ticket in forty states. Our campaign is also supporting local candidates and grassroots party organizations as we barnstorm around the country, advocating ecosocialist solutions. The more we advance these objectives—ballot lines, local candidates, grassroots party organizations, and ecosocialist solutions—the more we win…