Norris Dryer, Green Party of Knox County

The Green Party of Knox County is the largest and most active among Greens in the state, working to increase public education on the party and introduce candidates to challenge Republicans and Democrats in local elections.

Coordinating chair Norris Dryer will influence the national election as one of eight state delegates attending the Green Party’s presidential nominating convention in Chicago July 10-13.  Aside from his duties with the party, Dryer also volunteers as a “self-appointed mentor” to the University of Tennessee’s Progressive Student Alliance, is a classical musician in his 30th year with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra and enjoys working on his Volkswagen Thing. Many locals will also recognize Dryer as an on-air personality and former director of local National Public Radio affiliate WUOT, a position he retired from in 2002.

Tell me about your involvement with the Green Party.

I got involved with the Green Party about six years ago. They were tabling at the Gay Pride fest on Market Square and I was not aware that the Green Party was active locally — I started talking to people and they were looking for their first opportunity to run a candidate in a city election and [after I said no a few times] they were persistent and such nice people that we met again and I decided to say yes finally. I certainly treasure the friendships I’ve made through them.

What was the outcome in 2003 when you ran as the Green Party candidate?

We were proud of what we were able to do. We ran against Chris Woodhull and Jean Teague, who we consider Republican, and Chris tries to be Independent and I think he is in a lot of ways and Alonzo Montgomery. We got 17 percent of the vote, which for our first venture, we basically lost to two Republicans but beat the Democrat.

What is the background of the Green Party and the focus of local Greens?

In a nutshell, the Green Party started in Germany in the 1960s as almost an entirely environmental movement, and I think we think we’re kind of pioneers in that respect, both in this country and in European countries — often the minor parties come up with good ideas and a good emphasis on social issues and the major parties tend to pick up on it, so I think we’ve seen a lot of progress along that line … the Greens have expanded to a lot of other areas now … and obviously we would hope to be more of an influence on the national level.

Locally, the Green Party started here in 2000 with the Ralph Nader campaign and we have 12 or 15 people that are at the core of our work. Our listserv is over 200 people who are involved in a number of ways, but like many organizations, it’s a relatively few people who really get things done.

As far as the philosophy of the Green Party locally and nationally, we have 10 key values, but basically people ask, “What is your main thrust?” and quoting Ralph Nader when he ran for president in 2000, he said, “The primary difference between Republicans and Democrats is how fast they fall on their knees in front of corporate America.”

Well, we certainly recognize there are big differences between Democrats and Republicans on social issues, but as far as being in the throes of corporate America and its lobbyists, we feel there really aren’t too many differences between [the two parties]. So grassroots democracy without accepting contributions from any businesses and political action committees has a lot to do with what we are trying to do.

Regarding the Ralph Nader candidacy in 2000 and some of the controversies that came out of that, what do you say to criticism that the Green Party could steal votes from Democrats? How can voters make the decision to vote idealistically versus realistically?

Obviously, we have fielded and still field questions about that 2000 election. No one, of course, could have foreseen how that was going to play out. An interesting thing, [in Green Party-friendly Oregon] the polls were showing Bush and Gore so close in that final weekend, the Greens sent out an e-mail to the listserv and said, “Vote your conscience on Tuesday” and it turned out Gore won Oregon by 1,400 more votes, probably because of Greens switching at the last minute. So we certainly understand people’s concern about that.

On the other hand, we don’t think it’s a democracy if we say, “Well, parties dare not run for fear they’re going to alter the landscape.” It’s a very complicated issue and of course, all the minor parties — the Libertarians are the third largest party and the Greens are fourth — it’s a question we always face and continue to face, idealism versus practicality.

We’ve got a mantra this year, when people ask, “I agree with the Green Party candidate, but I’m afraid I’m going to throw away my vote.” We say, “Well, in Tennessee, McCain is going to win, so if you vote Democratic in Tennessee you will also be throwing away your vote, so you might as well throw it away in our direction.”