I would like to return to the question of the Green parties.

The Green party in the UK is, in comparison to the (apparent) position in the US, more organised and effective, positioning itself as the “real opposition” to the governing coalition. Its ambition is to replace Labour as the left-wing opposition, and members attack the Labour Party for failing to challenge the government’s “slash and burn approach to public spending”, its creeping privatisation of the National Health Service, its policies on education, immigration rules, bailing out of the UK’s privatised rail network and the insertion of the establishment of secret courts as part of the recent justice and security bill. “This government”, said Caroline Lucas, Green MP, “has allowed giant, tax-dodging, low-paying, exploitative multinational companies to act at the direct expense of individual workers and communities.” Labour, having lost its old working class support, and highly vulnerable in Scotland, should be a soft target.

So the British Greens are trying to move into the mainstream, barely mentioning the environment. Yes, they oppose fracking and both nuclear power and weapons, but they know that the electorate has its head buried in the sand when it comes to global warming, and that that is not a vote winner. They have only 1 MP at the moment (in the constituency I once used to live in), but may pick up five or 6 seats in the election next year. But it will be hard to outdo the United Kingdom Independence Party – anti everything, especially the EU and immigration, and appealing to the worst, and most self-defeating of human instincts.

Regrettably the British Greens have a long way to go before they emulate their German counterparts, who are an active force in politics and who have their act together better than either their US or UK counterparts.

The Brits took my personal voting rights away after 15 years overseas, and, since I live in the District of Columbia, I have no vote for Congress either. So much for vaunted democracy. But were I able to vote in the UK, voting for the Greens would be tempting because they represent a lot of things Epicurus supported (and they haven’t yet had to make the disagreeable compromises required for power): equality of opportunity, indifference to color and class, equality of the sexes, non-violence, de-centralization of power, a desire to enjoy life, care of the planet, and an aversion to consumerism.

My view? Where I live and should vote, we never hear from the Greens. One supporter stood for Mayor recently and lost, but otherwise they seem to be thin on the ground, cannot even target the people who are likely supporters. They are drowned out by the radio bullies and loud-mouth TV disinformers. The Republicans have been extraordinarily clever in persuading the American working classes to vote for them, despite the fact that they do not support their interests–seducing them with guns, religion, and hope of unlikely wealth. This section of the population gets poorer and poorer, but still votes for its tormentors. The Greens are a rational alternative, but at the moment they are too weak to make a difference.