“It Is Our Responsibility to Make a Third Party Viable”

Briahna Joy Gray’s words that comprise the title of this post remind me of how I’ve long been conflicted between supporting progressive Democrats determined to transform the Democratic Party (folks like Bernie Sanders, Marianne Williamson, and Nina Turner) and supporting alternative parties and candidates such as Jill Stein and Butch Ware of the Green Party; folks who make the compelling case that the Democratic Party is irredeemably corrupt.

Here’s the thing: In 2024 (and at times previously) I found myself supporting both groups at different times in the election cycle.

In a recent segment of her Sabby Sabs podcast, Sabrina Salvati shared her thoughts on a recent conversation involving Briahna Joy Gray, Marianne Williamson and Joseph Geevarghese. This conversation focused on the question: Do we continue supporting and attempting to reform the Democratic Party or do we work to form a genuine left party free of corporate control?

I found both the original conversation and Salvati’s 35-minute commentary on it (below) to be both insightful and compelling. Perhaps you will too.





Related Off-site Links:
“Democrats Are Never Coming Back After Genocide Support”: An Interview with Butch Ware – Briahna Joy Gray (Bad Faith, February 4, 2025).
Defeating the Democratic Party Elites Is Just the First Step – Joseph Geevarghese (The Nation, February 4, 2025).
What to Do – Marianne Williamson (Transform, February 3, 2025).
Democrats Elect Ken Martin, the Party Leader in Minnesota, as Their National Chair – Steve Peoples (AP News, February 1, 2025).
Jill Stein and Kshama Sawant on the Fight the Rich Movement – Sabby Sabs (January 26, 2025).
My Plan for the DNC – Marianne Williamson (Transform, January 14, 2025).
“Working People Feel Betrayed by Democratic Elites”: An Interview with Marianne Williamson – Rising (January 15, 2025).
Marianne Williamson: Democrats Need a “Radical Transformation” – Sky News (December 29, 2024).
Marianne Williamson on Why Americans are Rejecting the Status Quo – NewsNation (December 28, 2024).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “The Moment Is Ripe”: Butch Ware on Building a “True Oppositional Alternative” to the Duopoly • Democrat Talk on the Eve of Trump’s Return
• Breaking the Mold: Why Progressives Should Push for Marianne Williamson to Lead the DNC
• Inauguration Day Thoughts
• The Green Party’s Jill Stein and Butch Ware Give Their First Post-Election Interview
• Progressive Perspectives on Where Democrats Went Wrong in the 2024 Election
• “A New Chapter of the Democratic Party Needs to Begin”
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• What the Republican Party Now Stands For
• The Lamentable Legacy of the Biden Administration
• Jill Stein: “We Give Reasons for People to Come Out and Vote”
• We’re Witnessing a Liberal Meltdown Over Jill Stein
• Butch Ware: “You Can Actually Vote Your Conscience”
• Peter Bloom on the Unmasking of the “Democratic Charade”
• The “Green Smoothie” Option
• Green Party Vice Presidential Candidate Butch Ware in Minneapolis
• When Democrats Undermine Democracy
• Elise Labott on How Third Parties Can Revitalize Democracy
• Something to Think About – August 15, 2024
• Centrist/Corporatist Democrats Have Just Launched “Left Punching” Season
• “Americans Deserve Choices”: Jill Stein on Breaking Points – 4/30/24
• AOC Falls in Line
• The Cassandra of U.S. Politics on the “True State of the Union”
• Will Democrats Never Learn?
• “The Next Step Is a Green Step”: Cornel West Endorses Jill Stein (2016)
• Hope Over Fear: Voting Green