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It is not unusual in the United States to hear people speak generally of the "Green Party," but there is actually more than one national-level Green political organization in the United States. Probably the two best-known national "Green Party" organizations in America are the Greens/Green Party USA and the Green Party of the United States (G/GPUS).
Although, as of 2004, the Green Party of the United States has for several years been a much larger and more visible national-level organization and has been recognized since 2001 by the Federal Election Commission as a national committee of a political party, the smaller Greens/Green Party USA (a name adopted in 1991) can claim to be the lineal successor to the original American Green organization founded in 1984. At various times, a so-called "Green Clearinghouse" has been the central administrative organ of G/GPUS. The Clearinghouse has operated from various locations, including Blodgett Mills, New York; Lawrence, Massachusetts; and Chicago, Illinois. Sometime after 1991, legal documents were filed under Missouri law to form the Greens/Green Party USA as a Section 527 organization. Despite the development of national-level organization, the G/GPUSA has always emphasized that the "Green Local" is the primary organizing unit. Some members of G/GPUSA resisted efforts to organize Green parties at the state level, on the theory that state bureaucracy was inimical to the organic and democratic nature of autonomous Green locals. Other Greens pointed out that, in most jurisdictions in the United States, political parties gain recognition at the state level, so that, without state-level organizations, it would be difficult for Greens to participate in election activities.
The newer organization, Green Party of the United States, was originally organized as the "Association of State Green Parties" (ASGP) between 1996 and 2001 and is now called Green Party of the United States (GPUS), a name the party adopted in 2001. An early organizational meeting of the ASGP was held in Middleburg, Virginia (shortly after the 1996 election); other early ASGP meetings were held in Portland, Oregon (1997), and in Topsham, Maine (1997).
The Green Party of the United States and Greens/Green Party USA have no organizational connection. The Greens/Green Party USA is often said not to be an electoral party, although some of its members point to many examples of G/GPUSA participation in elections and insist that the characterization as "non-electoral" is not entirely accurate. The name "G/GPUSA" is said to have reflected a compromise or a synergy between Greens who emphasized the primacy of non-electoral movement building, and those who sought to participate actively in elections. It is generally the view within the Green Party USA that until a widespread grassroots base of active Greens exists, the conditions will not be ripe for successful Green electoral activity, except at the local level. This was the philosophy of the original American Greens.
The Greens/Green Party USA is an educational, grassroots organizing, advocacy group based on the 10 Key Values. The journal Synthesis & Regeneration, published in St. Louis, Missouri, is associated with the G/GPUSA. This journal publishes articles by writers with a wide range of Green viewpoints.
Some Greens believe that, despite the antagonists' rhetoric, the tensions that led to a rift within the Greens at the national level had less to do with lofty differences of political philosophy, or differences about the proper structure of the party, or attitudes toward elections, than with personality conflicts, turf struggles, and poor communication leading to concerns about financial and political accountability. Some Greens observed that it was not at all rare for individuals with a relatively high sense of self-importance, zealous self-righteousness, and a tendency to confuse intransigence with principle, to "promote" themselves to the national level and to exert a disruptive effect, often after having failed to get along with other Greens within their own local or state Green organizations. Despite prolonged and often hostile debates between a handful of highly visible national Green figures, most Greens were not interested in the dispute at the national level, except to hope that the unpleasantness would disappear. The fuss that was waged for several years at the national level (and among Greens within a few states, such as New York, Missouri, and New Jersey) seemed largely irrelevant to the vast majority of grassroots Greens, who preferred to devote their energies to local organizing.
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