GREEN PARTY PLATFORM
Proposed Key Area Revisions and Amendments
Part I, PKA/RA 1 to 4

The proposed revisions/amendments listed below have been submitted over the past two and a half years to the Platform Committee. Most of the submissions have been distributed previously to Greens and state Green party representatives to encourage and facilitate further discussion/debate. Suggestions and comments that have been received from state party representatives in response to the distributed proposals have been included below, as well as several proposed position papers in the form of resolutions. Where proposed language duplicates existing Platform language, or other proposed revisions/amendments language, it has been as much as possible condensed or edited to avoid duplication.

All proposed revisions/amendments are identified where the Platform language would be changed, according to the Keywords Index of the re-formatted Green Platform document (at http://www.gp.org)

Proposed Key Areas of Discussion/Debate

1) THE GREEN KEY VALUES:

Proposed Key Area/Revision Amendment - PKA/RA-1



RE The Ten Key Values of the Green Party (Replace the existing "key value" language with the following language to recreate the 'original Green key values' language circa 1986)

ECOLOGICAL WISDOM

How can we operate human societies with the understanding that we are part of nature, not on top of it?

How can we live within the ecological and resource limits of the planet, applying our technological knowledge to the challenge of an energy efficient economy?

How can we build a better relationship between cities and countryside?

How can we guarantee the rights of non-human species?

How can we promote sustainable agriculture and respect for self-regulating natural systems?

How can we further biocentric wisdom in all spheres of life?

GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY

How can we develop systems that allow and encourage us to control the decisions that affect our lives?

How can we ensure that representatives will be fully accountable to the people who elected them?

How can we develop planning mechanisms that would allow citizens to develop and implement their own preferences for policies and spending priorities?

How can we encourage and assist the "mediating institutions" - family, neighborhood organization, church group, voluntary association, ethnic club - to recover some of the functions now performed by the government?

How can we relearn the best insights from American traditions of civic vitality, voluntary action and community responsibility?

PERSONAL AND SOCIAL RESPONSIBITY/SOCIAL JUSTICE

How can we respond to human suffering in ways that promote dignity?

How can we encourage people to commit themselves to lifestyles that promote their own health.

How can we have a community controlled education system that effectively teaches our children academic skills, ecological wisdom, social responsibility and personal growth?

How can we resolve personal and intergroup conflicts without just turning them over to lawyers and judges?

How can we take responsibility for reducing the crime rate in our neighborhoods?

How can we encourage such values as simplicity and moderation?

NONVIOLENCE

How can we develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence at all levels, from the family and the street to nations and the world?

How can we eliminate nuclear weapons from the face of the Earth without being naive about the intentions of other governments?

How can we most constructively use nonviolent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and in the process reduce the atmosphere of polarization and selfishness that is itself a source of violence?

DECENTRALIZATION

How can we reduce power and responsibility to individuals, institutions, communities and regions?

How can we encourage the flourishing of regionally-based culture, rather than a dominant mono-culture?

How can we have a decentralized, democratic society with our political, economic and social institutions locating power on the smallest scale (closest to home) that is efficient and practical?

How can we redesign our institutions so that fewer decisions and less regulation over money are granted as one moves from the community to the national level?

How can we reconcile the need for community and regional self-determination with the need for appropriate centralized regulation in certain matters?

COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS

How can we redesign our work structures to encourage employee ownership and workplace democracy?

How can we develop new economic activities and institutions that will allow us to use our new technologies in ways that are humane, freeing, ecological and accountable, and responsive to communities?

How can we establish some form of basic economic security, open to all?

How can we move beyond the narrow "job ethic" to new definitions of "work, "jobs" and "income" that reflect the changing economy?

How can we restructure our patterns of income distribution to reflect the wealth created by those outside the formal monetary economy: those who take responsibility for parenting; housekeeping, home gardens, community volunteer work, etc.?

How can we restrict the size and concentrated power of corporations without discouraging superior efficiency or technological innovation?

FEMINISM/POST PATRIARCHAL VALUES

How can we replace the cultural ethics of dominance and control with more cooperative ways of interacting?

How can we encourage people to care about persons outside their own group?

How can we promote the building of respectful, positive and responsible relationships across the lines of gender and other divisions?

How can we encourage a rich, diverse political culture that respects feelings as well as rationalist approaches?

How can we proceed with as much respect for the means as the end (the process as much as the product of our efforts?

How can we learn to respect the contemplative, inner part of life as much as the outer activities?

RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY

How can we honor cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity within the context of individual responsibility toward all beings?

How can we reclaim our country's finest shared ideals: the dignity of the individual, democratic participation, and liberty and justice for all?

GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY

How can we be of genuine assistance to the grassroots groups in the Third World? What can we learn from such groups?

How can we help other countries make the transition to self-sufficiency in food and other basic necessities?

How can we cut our defense budget while maintaining an adequate defense?

How can we promote these ten Green values in the reshaping of our global order?

How can we reshape the world order without creating just another enormous nation state?

SUSTAINABILITY/FUTURE FOCUS

How can we induce people and institutions to think in terms of the long-range future, and not just in terms of their short-range selfish interest?

How can we encourage people to develop their own visions of the future and move more effectively toward them?

How can we judge whether new technologies are socially useful, and use these judgements to shape our society?

How can we induce our government and other institutions to practice fiscal responsibility?

How can we make the quality of life, rather than open-ended economic growth, the focus of future thinking?

[recommend for inclusion], [not recommend for inclusion], [return to Platform Committee for further revision and development].

2) DEMOCRACY - Political Reform; Electoral Reform-Proportional Representation; Free Speech; Political Participation at All Levels PKA/RA-2 RE Political Participation

We support statehood for the District of Columbia. The residents of D.C. must have the same rights as all other U.S. citizens to govern themselves and to be represented in both houses of Congress. [recommend] [not recommend] [return]

PKA/RA-3 RE Foreign Policy

(the Platform Committee has chosen to use non-sexist language for the following proposed position, that is, 'his' has been replaced with 'their', etc)

As stated in the United Nation's "Universal Declaration of Human Rights - Article 25", the U.S. Green Party, one of more than eighty Green Parties internationally, calls for the global adoption of basic human rights. "Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of [themselves] and of [their] family, including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services, and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness, disability, widowhood, old age or other lack of livelihood in circumstances beyond [their] control". [recommend] [not recommend] [return]

PKA/RA-4 RE Political Reform

I. DEMOCRACY

A. Political Reform

1. The Green Party, proposes a COMPREHENSIVE POLITICAL REFORM AGENDA calling for real reform, accountability, and

*** replace responsibility with "responsiveness"

responsibility in government.

2. Political debate, public policy, and legislation should be judged on its merits, not on the quid pro quo of political barter and money.

3. We propose comprehensive CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM, including caps on spending and contributions, at the national and state level, and

***** in addition to caps on spending add language "and/or full public financing of elections", remove partial funding language, partial public funding to remove undue influence in political campaigns.

4. We will work to ban or greatly limit POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEES

**** add "and restrict SOFT MONEY contributions"

6. We recognize individual empowerment, full citizen participation, and PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION as the foundation of

**** add "an effective and PLURALISTIC democracy."

effective democracy. 7. We demand choices in our political system. This can be accomplished by

***** revise to: proportional representation voting systems such as: 1) Choice Voting (which is candidate-based) 2) Mixed Member Voting (which combines with district representation) ; and/or 3) Party List (which is party based), and semi-proportional voting systems such as: 1) Limited Voting and 2) Cumulative Voting. All are used throughout the free world

***** and by U.S. businesses, community and non-profit groups

to increase democratic representation. We call on local governments to lead the way toward more electoral choice and broader representation.

**** add a number here: "We believe in MAJORITY RULE. Accordingly, we call for the use of INSTANT RUNOFF VOTING in chief executive races (mayor, governor, president, etc.) where voters can rank their favorite candidates (1,2,3, etc.) to guarantee that the winner has majority support and that voters aren't relegated to choosing between the "lesser of two evils."

**** add another number here: "We believe in MULTI-PARTY DEMOCRACY (for partisan elections) as the best way to guarantee majority rule, since more people will have representation at the table where policy is enacted.

**** add another number here: "The Electoral College is an 18th century anachronism. We call for a constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College and providing for the direct election of the president by Instant Runoff Voting. Until that time, we call for a proportional allocation of delegates in state primaries."

B. POLITICAL PARTICIPATION

1. Greens advocate direct democracy as a response to local needs and issues, where all concerned citizens can discuss and decide questions that immediately affect their lives, such as land use, parks, schools and community services. We would decentralize many state functions to the county and city level and seek expanded roles for neighborhood boards and associations.

2. We call for a change in the practice of "unfunded federal mandates", and for more flexibility by states and local decision-making

3. We advocate maintaining and enhancing federal guarantees in the areas of civil rights protections, environmental safeguards, and social "safety net" entitlements.

4. We endorse and advocate citizen rights to INITIATIVE, REFERENDUM and RECALL.

**** add: "We believe that these important tools of democracy should not be for sale to the wealthy who pay for signatures to buy their way onto the ballot. Therefore we call for a certain percentage of signatures gathered to come from VOLUNTEER collectors.

5. We call for citizen control of REDISTRICTING processes and moving the "backroom"

**** change to "gerrymandering" not apportionment

apportionment process into the public light. Minority representation must be protected and secured in order to protect minority rights.

6. We will act to broaden voter participation and BALLOT ACCESS, urging UNIVERSAL VOTER REGISTRATION and an ELECTION DAY HOLIDAY.

7. We believe that a binding "None of the Above" option on the ballot should be considered.

8. We believe that providing free television and mail under reasonable conditions for every qualified statewide, congressional, presidential candidate and party can move the political process toward increased participation.

9. Individual participation in the life of our local community - in community projects and through personal, meaningful, voluntary activity - is also political and vital to the health of community.

10. We support citizen involvement at all levels of the decision-making process and hold that DIRECT ACTION can be an effective tool where peaceful democratic activism is appropriate. We support the right to non-violent direct action that supports green values.

***** add: "We call for the implementation of Children's Parliaments, whereby representatives elected by students gather every quarter to discuss, debate and propose legislation to their city councils and school boards which then must be voted upon by the respective legislative body."

[recommend] [not recommend] [return]



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