 "Photo: Natalie Berko")
It was fitting that the "Meet the Greens" event organized by the RU Greens was held during homecoming week.
After all, it was a "homecoming" of sorts when candidates from the New Jersey Green Party, including gubernatorial candidate Matt Thieke, addressed students Tuesday night.
Almost all of the Greens from the area are alumni the University, and Thieke himself graduated from Cook College with a degree in political science.
After a small introduction from RU Greens President Sana Hussain, a Rutgers College senior, the candidates spoke about not only their personal platforms but major problems facing the state.
In the new Raritan River Lounge in the Student Activities Center on the College Avenue campus, each candidate touched on the important issues surrounding this election such as the economy, the war in Iraq, education, corruption and eminent domain.
Two of the continuing themes of the night were energy and the importance of third-party representation.
Some of the more surprising pieces of information came from the energy side of the Green Party's platform.
Stu Kautsch - who is running for assemblyman in Bergen and Passaic counties, -addressed the world's serious energy crisis. He spoke about energy being harder and harder to obtain as the earth's resources are depleted.
"There is no way out of this without conservation," Kautsch said.
He also mentioned some ways to produce energy without extracting it from the earth, such as windmills and solar paneling.
Greg Orr, the Assembly candidate in Middlesex and Monmouth counties, also spoke about a simple process to break down materials instead of recycling them.
The two agree these ideas aren't a cure, but they can help reduce the dependency on energy such as fossil fuels.
Many spectators found these ideas interesting because they weren't life altering, but could make a definite impact.
"Any reasonable person knows there needs to be changes," Livingston College junior Alex McKnight said. "What surprised me was how easy it would be to change things that would affect everyone."
The other prevalent theme was the need for more political parties to be a part of the democratic process in the United States.
"It is vitally important to have third parties in democracy," Thieke said. "If neither candidate is good, then why vote for a party you don't believe in?"
He also reaffirmed the importance of the Green Party itself.
"The other two parties don't represent most people," Thieke said. "The Green Party represents the public interest."
Although the Greens realize their political aspirations are far-fetched, they still believe they are making a difference.
This is our soapbox, Orr said. "Someone has to listen to us even a little bit."
Thieke also addressed the popular idea that voting for third-party candidates, who have no chance of winning, is useless.
"Don't be afraid of wasting your vote on a third-party candidate," Thieke said. "Every single vote the Green Party gets sends a message, 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore!'"
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