We've heard it many times: There is a lot at stake in the 2004 elections. For most of us, the biggest stakes involve removing the Bush cabal from the White House.

But there are other very big stakes in this year's election. Don't let Fear of Bush distract you from what else is at stake.

Most progressives I know agree that Kerry comes nowhere close to representing our views on the war and many other vital issues. When Daniel Ellsberg, Medea Benjamin, and Norman Solomon were in Seattle recently to underscore the high stakes in this election, they acknowledged the importance of organizing grassroots pressure against Kerry as soon as he gets elected. They were stumping for Kerry, not because they agreed with his positions, but because they believed Kerry would be more susceptible to progressive grassroots pressure than Bush is.

One of the biggest challenges progressive activists face is to keep mobilizing against the bad policies of a Kerry administration just as vigorously as we've mobilized against the bad policies of the Bush administration.

I argue we should start now. That means not giving Kerry our vote where it's not needed to help defeat George W. Bush.

Let's be clear: Our political system is not so much a democracy as it is a plutocracy, in which major corporations and wealthy individuals use their wealth and influence to limit political options and maintain their dominance. The 2004 presidential race presents us with a choice between two plutocrats who both support the war and occupation in Iraq, the Patriot Act, and corporate globalization, and who both oppose universal, single-payer health care, a living wage, and marriage equality.

Is this what real democracy looks like? Where is the voice of the millions of us who support peace, civil rights, social justice, and grassroots democracy? Not in the two-party system.

It's not that there are no good individual Democrats--there are plenty, especially at local levels and in the grassroots of the party--the problem is they are marginalized within the party establishment. Decades of effort at progressive reform of the party have proven futile.

I know that we Greens are sometimes accused of not being realistic, but let's get real here: the Democratic Party is where progressive movements go to die. The Democratic Party is not our friend. It is not our future. It does not embody our values or aspirations for a better world.

The 2004 election is a poster child for the failure of the two-party system and the need to build a real multiparty democracy in America that represents all of us. We need to reform our system to permit more voices, more choices, and less corporate control, and we need to build a political party that represents our highest values and aspirations.

That's what's truly at stake in this year's election, and that's why I urge you to vote to build the Green Party in 2004 by voting for its little-known but nonetheless excellent candidate David Cobb (http://www.votecobb.org).

As an aside, I need to point out that here in Washington state, the most important vote you can cast for the future of the Green Party and any other progressive parties that may emerge is to vote against Initiative 872, which would destroy the chances of most Greens and other minor party candidates to ever get on the November ballot. (See main endorsement article.)

Other important votes for building the Green Party would be to vote for one or both statewide Green Party candidates--Mark Wilson for US Senate or Bern Haggerty for Lt. Governor. If either of them receive 5% or more, the Green Party will cross the threshold into major party status according to state election law, which has some advantages.

Now back to the Big One--the presidential race. Before you allow fear of Bush to push you into voting for a candidate who does not represent your values, consider this:

As most of us have come to understand, the undemocratic Electoral College makes the presidential race a state-by-state affair in which many people's votes literally do not count. If your vote merely increases the margin by which Kerry wins in Washington state, your vote will not change the Electoral College outcome or help to defeat Bush. The only way your Kerry vote may count is as an endorsement of Kerry's policies and an inducement to the Democratic Party to continue to ignore its progressive wing and continue its rightward march. Is that the vote you want to cast?

If you're concerned about "wasting your vote," voting for a guy you don't agree with when it won't help defeat the "Greater Evil" seems like the biggest waste of all. Better to invest your vote in something you believe in.

But isn't Washington a battleground state where every vote matters? There has been much confusion about this point this year. Months ago it was open to question, but as November 2 nears it's becoming clear that Kerry will win our state by a comfortable margin. Don't take my word for it--look at the polls yourself (which, if anything, are likely undercounting the multitudes of newly registered voters for Kerry). One useful place to look is http://www.realclearpolitics.com, which averages recent poll results. Kerry's lead in Washington has been increasing as the election nears.

Unless you're the type of person who dons a plastic raincoat and galoshes every time there is a 10% chance of rain forecast, you can feel safe voting for a candidate who truly represents your values in this race, rather than the "lesser evil." Don't wait till next year to begin pressuring a Kerry administration to move in a more progressive direction; start now by supporting the Green Party and its anti-war, anti-corporate, pro-justice candidate David Cobb.

Our political system is designed to prevent the success of any third-party effort, yet the Green Party continues to grow larger, stronger, and better organized in every election cycle. To continue on that trajectory, we need the support of all people who believe that a more peaceful, just, democratic, and sustainable world truly is possible.

If politics is, as they say, "the art of the possible," then Green politics is "the art of expanding what's possible." Vote to expand what's possible--vote Green this year!

Full disclosure: I've been a Green Party activist for nearly 20 years and currently serve as Facilitator for the Green Party of Seattle. This article has been adapted from a longer "Open Letter to Progressive Voters in Washington State." To see the full original, visit http://www.seattlegreens.org.