Current Green Party Platform
I. DEMOCRACY


See: http://www.gp.org/

A. POLITICAL REFORM

1. The Green Party, proposes a COMPREHENSIVE POLITICAL REFORM AGENDA calling for real reform, accountability, and 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 partial public funding to remove undue influence in political campaigns.

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

5. We support significant LOBBYING REGULATION, strict rules that disclose the extent of political lobbying via "gifts" and contributions.

6. Broad-based reforms of government operations, with CONGRESSIONAL REORGANIZATION and TERM LIMITS at the national level and ETHICS LAWS at the state level, must be instituted. At every level we support "Sunshine Laws" that open up the political system to access by ordinary citizens.

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

8. We demand choices in our political system. This can be accomplished by proportional voting systems such as: 1) Limited Voting; 2) Cumulative Voting; 3) Preference Voting; 4) Mixed Member Voting; and/or 5) Party List Proportional Representation. All are used throughout the free world to increase democratic representation. We call on local governments to lead the way toward more electoral choice and broader representation.

9. We encourage building alternative, grassroots institutions that support participatory and direct democracy at the local level. Political reform goes beyond elected politics, ultimately residing in choices each of us make in our own lives.

10. Using our voice to help others find their voice, a national Green Party should spring from state and local Green electoral and individual efforts and through political efforts and direct action at every level. As Greens, we look toward forming bioregional confederations to coordinate regional issues based on natural and ecosystem boundaries, instead of traditional political ones.


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.

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


C. COMMUNITY


Community is the basic unit of green politics because it is personal, value-oriented and small enough for each member to have an impact. We look to community involvement as a foundation for public policy. Social diversity is the well-spring of community life, where old and young, rich and poor, people of all races and beliefs can interact individually and learn to care for each other, to understand and cooperate. We emphasize a return to local, face-to-face relationships that humans can understand, cope with, and care about. Within the Greens, as we look at community issues, it is a guiding principle to "think globally, act locally". Community needs recognize a diversity of issues, and LOCAL CONTROL recognizes a variety of approaches to solving problems, one that tends to be "bottom up" not "top down." Green politics does not place its faith in paternalistic "big government". Instead face-to-face interactions are essential to productive and meaningful lives for all citizens. The Green vision calls for a GLOBAL COMMUNITY of communities, recognizing our immense diversity, respecting our personal worth, and sharing a global perspective. We call for "A POLITICS OF 2000", which acknowledges our endangered planet and habitat. Our politics responds to global crisis with a new way of seeing our shared INTERNATIONAL SECURITY. We conceive of a new era of international cooperation and communication, a set of responses nurturing CULTURAL DIVERSITY, recognizing the interconnectedness between communities, and promoting opportunities for cultural exchange and assistance.

1. We call for increased public transportation, and convenient playgrounds and parks for all sections of cities and small towns, and funding to encourage diverse neighborhoods.

2. We support a rich milieu of art, culture, and significant (yet modestly funded) programs such as the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities.

3. We call for social policies to focus on protecting FAMILIES. The young, the citizens of tomorrow, are increasingly at risk. "A CHILDREN'S AGENDA" should be put in place to focus attention and concerted action on the future that is in our children.

4. Programs must be encouraged to ensure that children, the most vulnerable members of society, will receive basic nutritional, educational and medical necessities.

5. A universal, federally funded CHILDCARE program for pre-school and young schoolchildren should be developed.

6. Family assistance, available to working poor families in which the parent supports and lives with the children, such as the EARNED INCOME TAX CREDIT, should be maintained and increased to offset regressive payroll taxes and growing inequalities in American society.

7. We support successful PRE-NATAL programs and "HEAD START."

8. It is our realization that "a living family wage" is vital to the social health of communities.

9. The actuarial protection of SOCIAL SECURITY is essential to the well-being of our seniors, and the maintenance of the social security system's integrity is an essential part of a healthy community.

10. We support the leading-edge work of NON-PROFIT PUBLIC INTEREST GROUPS, and those individuals breaking out of "careerism" to pursue NON-TRADITIONAL CAREERS in public service.


D. FOREIGN POLICY


As we look back at the wars and deprivations of the past, and set our minds to overcoming continued conflicts and violence, we realize the difficulties inherent in encouraging democracy, and of advancing THE CAUSE OF PEACE. With THE END OF THE COLD WAR has come a more complex set of challenges in how our nation defines its "NATIONAL SECURITY". Our present task is to rid ourselves of the residue of the geopolitical conflict of East versus West - with its bloated defense budgets, thousands of unneeded nuclear weapons and major troop deployments overseas. Greens support sustainable development and social and economic justice across the globe. Reduced militarism and reliance on arms policies is the key to progress toward collective security.

1. We will strive to cut the DEFENSE BUDGET by 50 percent by the year 2000, from approximately $300 billion (aggregate spending) in 1996. We must maintain a viable American military force, foreign policy doctrine and strategy that takes into account real, not hollow, threats to our people, democratic institutions and interests.

2. We call for our foreign policy establishment to engage in a national debate on how we can convert to a "PEACETIME ECONOMY". We believe our nation's ultimate strength is in its people and a healthy economy, which will best protect our national security interests over the long-term.

3. We endorse a reordering of priorities as to how our nation can best achieve "National Security." The Green Party asserts that security and liberty prosper together. HUMAN RIGHTS are the foundation of EMERGING DEMOCRACIES and international relations. We argue that the support of democracy, human rights and respect for international law should be the cornerstone of American foreign policy.

4. We endorse ending support for repressive regimes; we believe the US and all nations should abide by World Court decisions; we support the right of Habeas Corpus be available to any person, anywhere, whose imprisonment violates fundamental norms of international law.

5. It is our belief that the massive debt owed by the Third World is causing immense misery and environmental destruction. FOREIGN AID must be addressed in the context of retiring this debt and not forcing, via the INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) and WORLD BANK, "structural adjustments" on the economies of the underdeveloped world.

6. We call for a more enlightened policy on the part of INTERNATIONAL AGENCIES and their financial arms which takes into account the impact of international debt management. The US should rein in the IMF and World Bank, whose policies have wreaked havoc, and demand that loans be conditional on human and labor rights records, social and environmental impact statements, and the providing of basic health and education.

7. INTERNATIONAL LAW and INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS are inseparable. We do not support a world-view that relies on accommodation of tyranny or repressive regimes.

8. We encourage policies that work to assist the FORMER SOVIET UNION in its move toward a government based on rights and a more open political and economic system.

9. We support peace in the MID-EAST based on respect for civil liberties and human rights.

10. We endorse human rights policies in regard to relations with CHINA, SOUTH AFRICA and other nations with a history of rights violations.

11. We support the end of the economic blockade of Cuba. Unjust economic coercion by one state against another constitutes a violation of human rights.

12. We believe in the core "RIGHT OF SELF-DETERMINATION"; of the special character and needs of INDIGENOUS PEOPLES; of the essential importance of balancing economic development in the THIRD WORLD with a respect for the "old ways".

13. We trust that NON-VIOLENCE provides a road to PEACE. We understand the right of self-defense, yet believe we must move beyond behavior that perpetuates violence. We oppose structural and direct violence of all kinds - assaults against individuals, families, nations and cultures, the environment and biosphere.

14. We endorse an EXPANDED PEACE CORPS.

15. We encourage the important work of NON-GOVERNMENT ORGANIZATIONS (NGO's), much in evidence at the UN "Earth Summit" in 1992.

16. Essential in any broad definition of SECURITY, whether defined in national, international or global terms, is that we must find ways to secure and preserve our common earth which sustains all life. We must look to domestic and international regulation to protect the global ecology, utilizing the UNITED NATIONS AND RELATED AGENCIES and regional associations to advance our mutual interests.

17. We must build on the "Earth Charter" which came out of the 1992 UN environmental "Earth Summit." New definitions of what constitutes real security between nations must be debated and adopted by the foreign policy community.



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