November 24th Assembly Meeting

The Green Party of Alaska held a statewide meeting Tuesday to discuss the problems the indigenous people of Alaska face. One of the top issues discussed was the problem of land management with concern of not only the government withholding things people have earned but also look to take away with the use of eminent domain. Social Justice is one of the pillars of The Green Party and as stated by the party “All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment.”

A growing concern is mining projects and opening ANWR for oil exploration. While The GPAK doesn’t oppose mineral extraction outright we believe that the decision should ultimately if that should happen are the people who live in these areas. We know the government can and has mucked up things but can be effective playing a role as a referee in situations where companies decide they want prioritize profits over doing right by the people who live in Alaska. All that needs to be done at time is simply enforcing the rules that are currently on the books. Sadly thanks to dirty money our current political system is a muck; although with the passage of Ballot Measure 2 we can at least reveal some of the dark money that has been influencing the elections in our state.

Jesse Ventura placed 4^th on the presidential ballot in Alaska, obtaining over 2,500 votes. While this isn’t the result we wanted we’re happy that we were able to do this well without an active candidate. This result is better than how The Green Party’s nominee Howie Hawkins did in most states around the county. Firstly we see this as a yearning by Alaskans for an outsider not bought off by lobbyists and pay masters. A person who is socially libertarian and believes the government shouldn’t step in the way of living the best possible life you can, who is economically responsible and can perhaps throw a wrench into the wild spending done currently by our government.

Secondly we feel the socialist experiment of the national Green Party has been a failure. Like we’ve said without even being a candidate Ventura was able to get a higher percentage of votes in Alaska being on the ballot than Hawkins was able to in most other states. We don’t mean that we want to drive people out of the party; rather we feel The Green Party should be a big tent party that invites people of all ideas. Most people if not all became a Green because we believe we’re stewards of The Earth. People are seeking a party that doesn’t have its head in the clouds up atop an ideological ladder; rather they want a party that deals with the facts on the ground.

We look to moving forward with growing our party and increasing involvement in 2021. While we have many registered members few actually are involved in our meetings. You can see this as a chance to get involved in a party and influence it into an organization that can help your local community.