Hello Bartcop, I've been a long time reader and this is my first letter to your site.
I believe in what you are doing to further the Progressive agenda in America.
I am a loyal Democrat but I am very troubled by the ongoing feud within the
progressive community between the Greens and the Democrats. The division is
very clear on your web site when you post the e-mails of Greens and your responses.

I believe the best way to breach this division is through a reconciliation with the Greens.
It is time to make an impassioned appeal to the Greens that we progressives must all
hang together, or we will all hang separately (literally). Today, Liberals in this country
are split as the conservatives once were. The Christian right was and still is the bedrock
base of the GOP. There was a time when this group considered bolting the party however
they did have the intelligence to realize that doing so would only serve to marginalize their
positions on major issues. Their solution was not to start their own party, but to change
the party they were loyal to from the inside. Much to my dismay, the Christian Right
has successfully transformed the GOP in their facist, theological image.

The Greens I know are highly idealistic folk, as a progressive Democrat I understand the
importance of idealism however that idealism must be tempered with realism, something
I feel many Greens lack. It is up to you, Bartcop, to bring that realism to the Greens and
bring them back into the progressive fold. A vast majority of Democrats share the same
beliefs as Greens: the belief that there is too much corporate influence in government,
not enough protections for our precious environment, that all Americans should have
access to basic health care, the Drug War is insane, etc. The problem with the Greens
is that they were fooled into thinking that there was no difference between the Democrats
and the Republicans. That lie can be easily debunked by asking questions like:

Would Al Gore give away our national parks and forests to Big Oil like Bush II has?
Would Al Gore have rolled back the ergonomics regulations for workers as Bush II has done?
Would Al Gore have raided Social Security to pay for a massive tax cuts for the wealthy?
Would Al Gore have cut off funding for international family planning clinics?
Would Al Gore have shunned Kyoto?
Would Al Gore abandon the ABM treaty that has kept stability between nuclear powers for the last 30 years?
 

I could go on forever, but the point I want to make is that the Greens must be shown the light
that they must work together with their less liberal brethren in the Democratic Party in order
to further their agenda. Being a minority party that only represents 3-5% of the vote will do
absolutely nothing to further their agenda and it will only serve to hurt the progressive movement
on a larger scale. The Greens need to understand this reality. I hope you can convey that reality
to the Greens without alienating them. Good luck.

Scott German