One more note on McCarthy

Myles Hoenig of Baltimore City asked McCarthy if he was registered Green. After all, he had praised the Green Party several times in his speech.

Surprisingly, McCarthy said he wasn't registered to vote. He said he would not want to vote for anyone sworn to uphold the Constitution as long as it contained the section about the government raising and maintaining a militia. Now that is an impressive stance.

After his speech, outgoing Maryland Green Party Membership Coordinator Mike Shea talked to him. By the end of the conversation, McCarthy said he'd register Green. (If you don't know Mike Shea, the guy's a wizard at getting people to register.)

Of course, for someone like McCarthy (and possibly a number of you out there as well), the obvious response is that even if you don't vote, you should register Green to show your support of Green ideals. I'd even go one step further by saying that you SHOULD vote if only to elect people that will change the Constitution to reflect your beliefs. After all, isn't that what the Christian Right are doing?

Colman McCarthy at the MGP Assembly

Colman McCarthy knocked my socks off this weekend. He gave a riviting speech that held a bunch of political noise-makers in thrall. One person told me that the speech changed her life.

I have a very poor memory and didn't take notes during the speech, so a lot of it has already vanished into the nether-regions of my brain. (To be fair to myself, I was one of the Assembly organizers and was simultaneously listening to McCarthy's speech while doing other things.)

At any rate, McCarthy gave a great blend of humor and seriousness and two things really stuck with me. The first was towards the beginning of his speech. He called for a moment of silence to remember all the people who have been killed in war, all the people who have been the victims of violence, all the women who have been battered by their significant other, all the animals who have been slaughtered for food. He said to pray if that's what you're into, but it didn't matter if you were a Christian, Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Aetheist, Agnostic, whatever...you didn't need to be religious or of a particular religion to pray or be spiritual.

That's something I've heard other speakers say, and it's something I hold true and dear.

The other thing that struck me (or stuck with me) was his comments that nonviolence starts in the home. He said that it didn't matter if you do good in the world if you treat your family poorly. He cited Martin Luther King, a known wife-beater, and Ghandi (of all people) who apparently had a very poor relationship with his son.

At the end of his talk, he received a standing ovation. And deserved it.

Maryland Greens Elect New Officers, National Delegates

Not a very personalized post, but here's our release from this weekend's Synthesis 2005:

Registered Greens from across the state gathered in Baltimore last Saturday to elect new party officers. Offices up for election were two state party Co-Chairs, Treasurer, Recording Secretary, Membership Coordinator, and two delegates to the Green National Committee (GNC).

Maryland Greens re-elected Michael Cornell (Columbia, Md.), who will serve a second term as Co-Chair. Also winning re-election for Treasurer was Beth Hufnagel (Elkridge, Md.). Hufnagel also ran for Maryland Comptroller in 2002.

Newly elected officers are Eileen Scott (Silver Spring, Md.) as the second Co-Chair position, Nathan Bahn (Silver Spring, Md.) as Recording Secretary, and Vo Cheng (Rosedale, Md.) as Membership Coordinator.

Winning the delegate seats to the GNC were Steve Kramer (Columbia, Md.) and Virginia Rodino (Baltimore, Md.). Kramer is serving his second term as delegate to the GNC and is also one of seven Co-Chairs on the national Green Party’s Steering Committee. Other candidates seeking election to Maryland’s delegation to the GNC were Brad Carlton (Baltimore, Md.) and Brandy Baker (Baltimore, Md.).

Saturday’s elections met the Maryland Green Party’s by-laws requirement of gender and minority balance for state party Co-Chairs.