Green Party supporters and volunteers from across the state gathered in Fort Smith on Tuesday night to discuss their opinions on American politics.

David Keith Cobb, the current campaign manager for the Jill Stein presidential campaign, met with Green Party supporters in the area. The event began with an informal gathering at 6 p.m. at the Sweet Bay Coffee Co. at 3400 Rogers Ave.

Cobb said liberals and progressives alike have been lied to and sold out by the ruling elite of the Democratic Party, who receive funding from banks and corporations to push their interests. Simultaneously, principled conservatives have also been betrayed by the ruling elite of the Republican Party, who also take funding and orders from banks and corporations.Cobb said he would like to reach out to both principled liberals and principled conservatives, as well as moderates and others who have grown weary of the two-party system, as a way to get them to vote for the Green Party, which he called a movement for real change.

In addition, Cobb said the Green Party is based around four principles. Those include ecology, social justice, democracy and nonviolence.

"The entire history of social change in this country has always been a simple-to-describe, but-hard-to-enact formula," Cobb said. "It's actually only got two steps. First, you need a social movement that is broad, deep, conscious and militant in the streets, in the pools, in the bowling alleys. ... You got to have a movement. The second thing you got to have is a political party to represent that movement at the ballot box."

Cobb said the Republican and Democratic parties have each nominated the least-liked, most unappealing candidates in American history, which is demonstrated by polling data.

"Almost every person that's voting in the general election are pulling a lever not for anybody, but against somebody else," Cobb said. "Literally, most of the folks pulling a lever for Hillary Clinton are voting against Trump. The people pulling the lever for Trump are voting against Clinton. That's just the reality, and what we are doing is saying, 'Don't waste your vote, invest your vote. Vote for what you want.'"

The event also included a more formal discussion at the Creekmore Park Center.