Leaders of tomorrow, are you satisfied with the John Kerry strategy?

It should go without saying that John Kerry is pro-war (both in the general and in the "on Iraq" sense), voted for the global trade agreements which prop up corporate globalization, voted for the PATRIOT Act (supports only a revision, not a repeal), lives in the pocket of the media conglomerates and even voted with Bush on No Child Left Behind, the long-term plan to end public education. If corporate candidates are one thing, they are predictable. John Kerry's past will be his future, with some exceptional leeway granted during severe, unexpected (by the public, anyway) events like 9/11.

It's not that I think voting for Kerry should be out of consideration in the realm of legitimate political tactics. In fact, I think that projects for social justice, nonviolence and ecological restoration would do better in terms of organizational growth with Kerry on the throne rather than Bush. Whether you vote for Kerry in the wan shade of the voting booth or not matters little. More important is how the vote figures into a larger strategy to organize some way out of the violence and destruction that has been carried out for centuries by the government of the United States.

The fact is that there are many ways to run a campaign. There is a large set of possible actions that Kerry, the Democratic National Committee, America Coming Together, and other vote-for-Kerry surrogate organizations could encourage folks to take. These groups don't have to pursue the shortsighted, mouths-shut wagons-circled reporting-for-duty plot played out at the Democratic National Convention.

Minneapolis artist and activist Ricardo Levins Morales articulated the most effective alternative to lockstep that I've read in an article called “The Lizard Strategy: How to Defeat Bush Without Losing Our Souls.” He cites as a model the strategy employed by folks during the 1991 Louisiana governor's race, in which former Ku Klux Klan Imperial Wizard David Duke won the Republican slot on the ballot. On the other hand, the Democratic candidate for re-election was a “corrupt, scandal-ridden machine politician.” Since it was apparent that getting folks excited about voting for the Democrat was impossible, organizers against David Duke claimed the slogan “Vote for the Lizard, Not the Wizard.” It worked to prevent the election of the Devil without encouraging anyone to support the Devil Jr. You should google the Lizard Strategy article and give it a read. Who among the significant get-out-the-vote/anti-Bush groups is pulling something like the Lizard Strategy? This is an honest question. Where among the vote-Kerry strategies on the ground can I find a project that is opposing the re-election of Bush and building a truly independent political movement willing to challenge the two-party corporate system?

There is no question that, after November 2, supporters of a just, democratic, peaceful and healthy world will continue to face enormous challenges from the White House. Contributing to an independent political movement that is not hamstrung by agreeing to publicly assert support for perpetrators of global violence (in the form of Democratic Party candidates for national office, for example) is then of paramount importance and lasting significance. The Green Party and this year's independent (meaning not endorsed by the Green Party) Nader campaign have been much more effective in walking the line between participating in the horrific U.S. electoral system and building an independent movement than MoveOn.org or PunkVoter.com. Instead of making critical political imagination more popular, the Anybody But Bush mantra has made it permissible in so-called liberal circles for Democratic Party operatives, state Democratic Party officials and Democratic Party-aligned political slush funds to attack the cash-strapped Nader campaign more viciously than ever before, especially through the already stupid ballot access process. That a handful of Republicans have tried to manipulate Nader's campaign as well only strengthens a critical assessment of duopoly politics.

As a Green, I voted at our Minnesota convention to support nominating no one for President so that we could focus on movement-building efforts in a year when many organizations are turning their efforts towards electing a bad candidate. Here in St. Paul, two Macalester students, a law school dropout and a jazz snob put together a project to ban further big box development in the Twin Cities metro area. It's been done by dozens of cities around the nation, and I hope that, if you're sick of Wal-Mart, you'll send me an e-mail and help out. Over in Minneapolis, we have two great candidates for State House of Representatives (Tom Taylor and Becki Smith) who are knocking on thousands of doors. They need help too.

If you feel that you've got to vote for Kerry, fine. But don't just vote, contribute meaningfully to a larger strategy for systemic change.