The Green Party: United Front

By Josh Fitzgerald

After a beautiful rendition of the National Anthem by members of WIU’s Chorus, the Green Party convention was ready to get started with their convention -- a convention that was smaller, but appeared to be much better organized than the Republican and Democratic conventions last week.

The keynote speaker, Farheen Hakeem (left), got on stage and was incredibly enthusiastic about the Green Party as a whole, as well as the Green Party’s position on important political issues.

Hakeem made it impossible for everyone in the audience to remain uninterested about what she had to say. Although King’s vocabulary may have been over the heads of some students, her energy was contagious.

After every sentence, the audience cheered in support of Hakeem’s love for the Green Party. With all the cheering and excitement, the mock convention sounded more like a sporting event.

"We want a world that is free," she said, "a world that is equal, and a world where everyone’s voice is heard!”

After the loudest cheer from the audience it was time to “rock n’ roll,” as Hakeem put it.

The same topics of discussion were on the platform that the other parties considered at their conventions, but unsurprisingly the Greens' positions differed significantly from the other parties.

However, the passion Hakeem brought to the audience did not carry over to the platform discussion. There were no motions to discuss any of the topics on the platform, and the proposed platform was adopted with no discussion whatsoever. As the convention continued, this appeared to be a testament of how united the Green Party is.

After the platform was accepted without conflict or repetitive discussion, presidential candidacies were addressed. One passionate speech was followed by another passionate speech, and all the campaign managers were received with rousing support from the crowd.

Ultimately, the “state delegates” voted almost unanimously for Jill Stein, most likely due to her free-tuition position.

In the end, the Green Party’s convention was definitely the most fun and interesting. However, not only was it the most entertaining, it was easily the most united. There was no conflict at all in the entire convention. If by some miracle Jill Stein were to win the election, it would appear that the United States of America would be a more unified and conflict free country.

Photo by Chelsea Crawford