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A great many people out there are (sadly) predisposed to the idea that Greens are nothing more than a “second” Democratic Party that exists for no purpose except to gratuitously spoil races and ensure the Republican will win. Every time a Green runs for office, the same tired question is asked. “Aren’t you worried that you will suck votes away from the Democratic candidate?”

The sad reality is that the modern Democratic Party is every bit as far from the Green Party as the Republicans. Now that the Democrats have been hit hard in the 2014 midterms, it’s reasonable to take a step back and see just how different the two parties are.

On foreign policy, Democrats embrace the military-industrial complex and prosecution of whistleblowers. On the environment, they favor an “all of the above” (ie, dirty energy and fracking) policy that won’t do anything remotely serious to combat climate change. On the issue of free trade, they join Republicans in making us all compete for crumbs while CEO bonuses explode.

Instead of single-payer healthcare—the Green position—they favor the expensive, bureaucratic, corporatized mess known as Obamacare. Incredibly, it is being labeled “socialist healthcare.” If only! Dropping low-income, part-time workers off of their healthcare plans is as un-socialist a measure is as anyone could come up with.

On the most important issue of all—the economy—Democrats have no jobs plan comparable to our Green New Deal. To them, the economy is a side issue…perhaps worthy of lip service during election time, but ultimately less important than patronizing their big-money contributors (Greens want ALL money out of politics and call for publicly financed elections). It’s no wonder that corporate profits have been doing swell under Obama.

The bottom line is that people’s lives weren’t improving under the do-nothing Democratic leadership. So they were voted out, plain and simple. The Republicans won’t be any better, but it shows the public is desperate for change without knowing where to turn.

Greens are the real alternative to the corrupt American duopoly. If we fight hard enough, Americans will begin to see it.