An Interview with Dr. Jared A. Ball: Why You Should Consider the Green Party

Video by Candace Croston and Ashleigh Ingram

Even thought the elections are over, check out this interview and article about the Green Party.


(Originally recorded, interviewed, and written on Oct. 25, 2010)
By Alexandria Langston

With the November 2nd elections vastly approaching, Marylanders should keep their options open as the casts their ballots. Many people are unaware of the other political parties, such as the Green Party. Forming in 2001, according to www.greenparty.org, this political party has hopes “of a more democratic, safer, cleaner world.” Green party candidates from across the country, have those same hopes for their local communities.

2007-2008 Green party Presidential nominee Dr. Jared A. Ball, professor of Communication at Morgan State University, sat down to discuss the Green Party of the United States, how it differs from the Democratic and Republican parties, and the difference between Green Party and the ‘going green’ movement.
While sitting behind his desk, with his Mac laptop opened, Dr. Ball briefly explains what the Green Party is,

“The Green Party of the United States is apart of the Green Party movement around the world… It’s alternative or a so-called third party,” he says.

He went to on explain the differences in which separates the Green Party from the Democratic or Republican parties.

“Primarily it differs from the dominant parties (Democratic/Republican) because it not only espouses certain views in terms of how we should arrange our economy, the role of women, so-called minorities, and others, but primarily we take no corporate money which allows us, when elected, to actually act on the principles that our party is based on,” says Ball.

Those “principles” Dr. Ball mentions are The Ten Key Values of the Green Party, which include, Grassroots Democracy, Non-Violence, Feminism and Gender Equity, and Personal and Global Responsibility, just to name a few.
Dr. Ball makes the clear distinction between the Green Party and the “going green” movement. For one, he mentions the “Green” movement “is a corporate theft of our core principles,” and he points out the contradiction between the capitalist economy trying to become an eco-capitalist economy,

“The idea that a capitalist economy that is responsible for destroying the Earth, now producing eco-capitalist who would want to invest in the green technology that will not only “green” the planet, but offer jobs, etcetera, but not upset the corporate structure itself,” he says.

The Green Party of the United States seeks to empower everyday citizens can make their own decisions and not be influenced by big corporations. Although Dr. Ball stresses he’s not the spokesperson for the Green Party his point of view sheds a different perspective on the Green Party and their efforts to make our economy and environment sustainable where nature and people can co-exist harmoniously.

The Green Party needs people who think and live ‘green’ everyday so on Nov. 2nd, don’t forget to think Green! For more information on the Green Party, got to www.gp.org or www.greenparty.org.