Election Night Thanks to the Nebraska Green Party by Steve Larrick, Nebraska Green Party Candidate for U.S. Senate November 4, 2008.

On this election night 2008, I want to give thanks to all the friends of the Nebraska Green Party for your support. We are small in number but big in spirit.

We Greens are big in spirit because we stand up for the best in the American spirit. Since announcing our campaign for Chuck Hagel’s seat in the U.S. Senate 51 weeks ago, we have been standing up and speaking out for the highest ideals of: (1) peace; (2) social and economic justice; (3) grassroots democracy; and (4) a healthy environment for future generations.

In our campaign for PEACE, we seek to end the war in Iraq. From the beginning, this war has been based on misinformation and lies. Iraq had nothing to do with the attacks on 9-11. Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction. Iraq had no significant ties to Al Qaida. Iraq was no threat to its neighbors or to the United States. It is long past time for us to honor the desire of the Iraqi people for occupying U.S. forces to leave their country. It is time for the international community to help the Iraqi people restore sovereignty and peaceful co-existence.

For SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE, we seek to restore the U.S. Constitution and civil rights in America. We would rescind the Patriot Act, restore habeas corpus, end the use of torture by U.S. forces, and end the growing practice of big government and corporations spying on the American people. We would bring tax reform to counter the growing disparity of income in the United States, which is worse now than at any time in American history.

For GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY, we support campaign reforms to give more power to the people and less power to wealthy corporations that currently control our media and political system. We advocate for Instant Runoff Voting, which would empower Americans to vote their conscience without throwing away their vote. Instant Runoff Voting would make our political system more democratic and end the spoiler effect in American politics.

For a HEALTHY ENVIRONMENT, we seek to redirect national resources away from wars over oil to investing in a revolution for clean, renewable energy. We seek to retool our educational system to teach our young people the science of renewable energy from the sun, wind, geothermal, and other clean sources of energy. This would empower our youth to invent the technologies of a Green Energy Economy that would eventually bring America and the rest of the world into harmony with the natural environment.

Regardless of how this election turns out, the Nebraska Green Party is proud of standing up and speaking out for peace, social justice, grassroots democracy, and a healthy environment for future generations. We will continue to work for these ideals with Green Party members in over 80 countries around the world. Let it be so.