States States States

With all of the talk of Red States and Blue States we should note that the other primay color is Green. One question we have is that of turning California into a Green State. After a short time in the middle of some discussions on this subject, I have come to conclude that we don't yet have it right.

Part of the problem may be the way that the concept of grasroots organizing is implemented. There seems to be a notion that the party should be reacting to aspects of organization that currently exist. This often means waiting until activists in some area organize themselves and then decide to associate with the Green Party. Often, we don't even give any signal that we are interested in having them organize as Greens.

The core of existing Greens is in the urban areas: LA County, San Francisco Bay Area. Still the success that we have had are also in smaller communties: Moro Bay, Sebastopol, Arcata, each of which has Greens on the City Council.

At the same time, the fastest growing areas in this state have relatively weak Green Party organizations. That growth also means that all political organizations are rapidly changing due to the assimilation of the growing population. The issues of rapid growth, especially where the land has ecological importance or is currently agricultural use are important issues for Greens and we should be focusing attention on these areas. I am specifically talking about Riverside / San Bernardino, Stockton / Lodi, Fresno and Bakersfield.