I wanted to know how people feel about working as a third party or as a party with in a party or both?

This is where many socialists divide when the problem is not from within our own ranks, but rather one which is imposed upon us. The answer is within our own respective realities, some of us can run openly as a socialist while other states have all but locked out ballot status for socialists. This means, in those places, we must run with the left-wing of a right-wing party. Sure it is easy to make personal attacks on comrades from frustration, but we need not turn on each other. What we do, we must do directly because of the cards we are dealt. We should not question, slander, or libel comrades for what they cannot control. Doing so only plays into the hands of the two capitalist parties. What we can do is show contrast in our local campaigns to project out socialism. This is why we do not have a national platform or statement of principles directly because they both have been used not to grow, but to destroy from within each organization. What we do is ask each local and campaign to tell/ask all of us, "What is socialism from your window views and kitchen table?" Then we create our own network and exchange ideas to create a unified vision from theory to reality.

... thus perpetuating the invisibility and the powerlessness of socialism as a legitimate alternative in the public discourse, and allowing the right wing to continue hammering the equation "socialism = evil" into public awareness.

I like the Green Party. I wish we had a Parliamentary system similar to many European countries where they have genuinely multi party elections and they HAVE A LEFT. We don't, we just have a crazy right and a cowardly center party, and so the issues that are presented by socialists, which are legitimate, have only been addressed by the Green Party which was denied access even to national debates on corporate-owned media.

If socialists can't pull a party together, for whatever reason, then maybe it's time to join the Greens and create a workable left party and try to have a voice.

Then you might have found the wrong group to be in, but you can have an opinion as it is cited with a creditable possibility. Hair splitting over a platform has done more harm to the left in totality when any single person disagrees on one point that is "hot button" so we find and allow those who are active make actual platforms and those who are armchair socialists or greens, not Greens, create without bias for other comrades opinions. Top down platforms have oppressed organic growth within socialism and this simply will not be part of ASP. Socialism is also more democracy and the top down controls void democracy as history can cite for us. To move towards any form of socialism on the left we must and shall have more democracy which requires activists, not just opinions on a posting board. This way we create from the bottom up what is socialism... it is something no other group has ever tried and we can see from history that top down platforms have gotten socialism no where in 100 years. IMO, it is time to try something new for the next 100 years.

But if there are any better ideas, we, I am sure would like to read more than "Green". We see the Greens have made it less further then "Red".

I feel that at this point we should work outside the existing parties. My reasoning for this is that Republicans continue to move further to the right and demanding that democrats meet them in the middle but the middle is no longer the middle. We currently have only the right wing and the farther right wing controlling American policy. The Socialist movement is the only true voice of the left remaining in America. Because the Democratic party has moved to the right under the guise of compromise I feel it is essential that we stand seperate from all other parties so as not to risk the gradual dissolution of our fundamental left wing principles thereby suffering the same fate as the Democrats. Parties such as the Green Party unfortunately do not have the noteriety within mainstream America to pose any serious threat to national policy. Sure they have Nader, but his attempt at political office wasn't even able to garner the noteriety of Perot's failed bid over a decade ago. Fortunately for us, the republicans keep erroneously referring to President Obama and his policies as Socialist thereby providing us with free press albeit in a negative light; however in a party this small all press may actually be good press. I view the Republican's public, negative connotation to Socialism as an invitation to the dance so let's get active publicly and in the media and show them our moves.

This has been the primary problem hasnt it? Infighting.

We have been unable to learn from our own past, the Dems, and now the Repubs are desperately trying to juggle internal differences in their own philosophies while fighting off outside philosophies as well. You couple that with the existing electoral process and a vast misunderstanding of Socialism thanks to all the individuals who have hijacked it over the years and you've got a certain recipe for failure.

I know the system has its issues, but we could learn a few things. We ought to have our own easy succient answers for criticisms of our movement, because we know we are going to be faced with argument and opposition. The key is expanding our numbers and we wont do that unless we know how to fight them on their level, that does not mean we have to become them and do what they do, it only means we have to know how to disarm them. Neutralize what they are saying, get them on the defensive about their practices and then be ready for the arguments they have been using for decades to do that very thing to us, to make us irrelevant. For every person who gets into a discussion truly neutral and interested in our movement only to have a well versed and prepared Repub come along and cause doubt while the individual representing Socialism to stutter, be unsure, or get upset and make missteps costs us, and we simply do not have the numbers to lose.

On top of that we have our own side of things filled with people who cant own their decisions or man up. Who refuse to be strong or take any stand. This is not leadership, and it looks sneaky to the average voter and it should, because it is. Bush kept numbers by simply brashly owning his actions and like a pack of teenage girls we dated the jerk and apparently loved every minute of it.

I am at least thankful for Germany.