The party of the people.

When Hank Chapot copied Sam Smith's Rafting Down America's Real Mainstream to an email list today, I had to admit that I did not know Sam Smith from Samuel Adams. However, after reading it, I have to say that it says a number of things that I feel, but he is much more direct and clear about it.

It is common rhetoric these days to talk of two americas, as does Smith.

There are two Americas: the televised America, known and hated by the world, and the rest of us. The former is a factitious creation whose strange gods include HBO, accentless TV anchor people, Dick Cheney, reruns of Friends, and the National Endowment for Democracy.

Maybe is is leftover rhetoric from a John Edwards speech. Still, everyone can understand that as long as you can see youself in the good one.

It is also common to talk about the fact that many people have given up voting. Smith does it.

"But there's a big America out there without any party that gives a damn about its concerns. Many of these Americans have given up voting."

So does Christine Todd Whitman in an essay written for the Hall Institue of Public Policy.

The great majority of voters is dissatisfied with the direction of the country and is skeptical of either party’s ability to provide positive, ethical, and effective leadership. Faced constantly with ideologically sensitive issues such as, immigration and gay marriage, many voters are losing faith in their government, and even more are simply “tuning out.”

One thing that I am concerned about as a Green is the fact that that there seems to be an effort to position the Greens to the left, progressive side of the Democrats. Note, I did not say liberal, since that has become a life-style rather than a political philosophy. In any case, this is exactly what the Democrats would like to see; a small, vocal party of the far left, so that they can position the Republicans to the far right and have the middle ground all to themselves. Were that to become the reality, then the Greens would no longer serve any useful purpose other than to perpetuate the ties between big corporate America and politics as usual.