11 September 2007

Dear Secretary,

I have been a member of The Green Party for nigh on 10 years. Joining the Party was a very big decision for me since I had hitherto regarded all politicians and political parties with suspicion and contempt in varying measure depending on the person or party. My decision to join was therefore taken only after months of deliberation and soul-searching. What eventually persuaded me to join were the core principles espoused by The Green Party which very closely mirrored my own and which I reiterate here for convenience:

• The impact of society on the environment should not be ecologically disruptive.
• Conservation of resources is vital to a sustainable society.
• All political, social and economic decisions should be taken at the lowest effective level.
• Society should be guided by self-reliance and co-operation at all levels.
• As caretakers of the Earth, we have the responsibility to pass it on in a fit and healthy state.
• The need for world peace overrides national and commercial interests.
• The poverty of two-thirds of the world’s family demands a redistribution of the world’s resources.

The set-up of The Green Party, with each member having a single vote, and all members being entitled to vote on any and every item up for decision by the Party, was another powerful attraction. The Ulster Unionist Party is the only other party that can claim such egalitarian credentials on the island of Ireland.

What distinguished The Green Party from every other party at that time was that it didn’t have a leader, which was particularly attractive to me since I believe in the primacy of the individual as espoused by Proudhon - not in the primacy of the group over the individual as enforced by the status quo, nor in the primacy of a tiny elite over the mass of humanity as vested in dictatorships, nor even in the primacy of the majority over the minority as practised by the many and varied democracies on the planet.

That all changed when the membership of The Green Party voted to have a leader. If my memory serves me correct, those who mooted the idea did so as a means to give the Party a focus with a view to making it more media-friendly and thus more likely to get attention from the media, and as a consequence be taken as a “serious party” by the hoi poloi. I, with some misgivings, was one of those who voted to have a leader. I now see I was gravely mistaken, as voting to have a party leader has proven to be the crack that let the rot in.

The recent decision taken by a minority of The Green Party membership to go into government with that Party that stands for all that is detestable and execrable in both the human person and the political entity (corruption, dishonesty, lies, deceit, greed, the nod and wink, retention of power at any cost, the One Party state - in short: the triumph of the mediocre), is proof positive that The Green Party has succumbed to that rot. And, yes, it was a minority decision by the membership - I remind you that the 86% that voted for going into government was 86% of around half the membership. I regard this as a clear disenfranchisement of those of us who absolutely couldn’t make it to Dublin mid-week to vote due to family and work commitments since no effort whatsoever was made to accommodate us.

Much soul-searching and deliberation has lead me to conclude that The Green Party which I joined all of 10 years ago no longer exists. I emphasise that I am not leaving The Green Party - The Green Party has left me. I am not resigning from The Green Party - The Green Party by its actions detailed above no longer deserves and may no longer count upon my support.

I, as sole arbitrator of my destiny, do hereby assert the primacy of the individual, and in that capacity do hereby tender notice of my intent to ritually cleanse my person of all and any vestiges of the current self-styled Green Party at a date and in a manner I deem appropriate. Therefore do I demand that you cease all communications so ever with my person and desist from plying me with Green Party literature be it by snail or electronic mail from this moment.

Yours sincerely

____________
Patrick Stack