Looking for a political home

It’s Not Easy Being Green

Abandoned by the Democrats, I took the #DemExit and looked for a home in the Green Party. It did not work out as well as I had hoped.

“I’m not even really a Democrat, I just vote not Republican.”

- Michael Che, SNL

My current disillusion with the Democratic party began as the establishment did everything possible to undermine the 2016 Bernie Sanders campaign for president. My confidence in the party was further eroded when instead of trying to keep Bernie’s supporters in the fold by addressing their concerns, the Democrats told them to get in line and blindly back Clinton. Unsurprisingly, the strategy did not work and enough of an unenthused electorate stayed home on election day to allow Donald Trump to occupy the White House. At this time Berniecrats were forced with a choice — either leave the Democratic party that had abandoned them or stay and fight against the party’s slide towards the right.

I watched the results on election night in the isolation of a room that I had just rented in East Los Angeles. My family had made the sacrifice of having me move there so that I could run in the LAUSD School Board election against Monica Garcia that would take place the following March. Facing an uphill battle in attempting to force the well-financed incumbent into a runoff, I could not concern myself with national-level party politics. I ignored my inner complaints about the national organization and made the rounds to the various Democratic clubs and the county organization seeking party support for my candidacy.

During this time I also started to meet with local Greens, including the Eastside Greens of Los Angeles County. Coalescing around the upstart campaign of Kenneth Mejia in the special election to replace newly appointed California Attorney General Xavier Becerra in Congress, the Greens were active on…