Green Party Committees

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Green Party Committees: Platform

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PLATFORM COMM

ARCHIVE

THE GP PLATFORM

THE GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES

The national Green Party is a federation of State Green Parties. Greens are dedicated to social, environmental, economic and political justice. The four principles that underpin our policies are grassroots democracy, social justice, ecology and non-violence.

The Green Party is distinguished from other political parties by its independence from corporate control. We accept no contributions from Corporations and are not beholden to the corporate paymasters.

The Green Party of the United States is a partner with the European Federation of Green Parties and the Federation of Green Parties of the Americas. Green parties are the first parties to recognize that our role in the world is stewardship of Earth’s natural resources rather than domination and unrestrained consumption of the goods of the Earth. Greens recognize that human survival depends on our understanding and commitment to the role of stewardship. .

The US Green Party began as the Association of State Green Parties (1996) and was transformed to its present status in 2001.

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PLATFORM PREAMBLE

We believe that humankind is threatened by two crises

The survival of the human species, indeed, the survival of all living things on Planet Earth are endangered by over use, abuse and drain of nature’s resources which are our life-support system. Pollution of the land, the sea and the air call into question our acceptance of our obligation to ourselves and following generations.
The drift away from the rule of law by our government and the erosion of our Constitution. Government of, by and for the people depends on an educated public who do not surrender their citizen oversight when they elect candidates to office. Government accountability for its performance is a permanent obligation to retain the public trust. In contemporary times, our government has deliberately cut off access and shown indifference to the public will. It has made the rule of law a hollow promise. Furthermore our government’s defiance of international law and the UN Charter has undermined the willingness of other nations to accept the rule of law embodied in the Charter and international law.

The compass that guides our Green policies is embodied in the 10 Key Values defined below.

10 KEY VALUES

1. Grassroots Democracy

Government of, by and for the people translates into participation by all those under its rule and guarantees equal rights, equal treatment and equal opportunity to all. The interaction between citizens and government must be an open, ever-flowing channel.

2. Social Justice and Equal Opportunity

Everyone must have equal opportunity to enjoy the benefits of our society’s productivity. Government creates the setting in which all can thrive and guarantees that the rewards from the labor and invention will be distributed fairly to all persons.

3. Ecological Wisdom

We recognize that we live within a natural framework and we must protect the balance between what we derive from nature and how we replenish it. We are stewards not owners of the Earth and must pass on to the next generation the same richness of Nature that sustains us.

4. Non-Violence

A functional and enduring society aims at peace among its citizens and abjures war to solve international disputes. Preparing for war is the preliminary to declaring war. We recognize that conflict resolution in a forum of equality and cooperation is the only viable alternative to the rule of force.

5. Decentralization

In the affairs of man, power draws more power towards itself. It requires constant vigilance by local government and citizen groups to practice and retain their power to make decisions that guide their lives. Citizens who relinquish their responsibility will lose their citizen rights to the power layer above them.

6. Community-based Economics

We support employee ownership as the best model for our productive enterprises. Workplace democracy must be practiced wherever people are employed by others. The size and reach of the corporate structure is antithetic to community-based economics.

7. Feminism and Gender Equity

We have inherited a social system based on male domination of our mode of life. Although we have come a long way toward equality of the sexes, that equality is not yet secure from relapse. Equity between the sexes and interpersonal responsibility must become part of our moral code. Cooperation is the watchword that allows differences without submission of one to the other.

8. Respect for Diversity

A healthy society cannot breathe and thrive as a lock-step model. It needs to recognize and include ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity. There is no such thing as “one size fits all” in the human family.

9. Personal and Global Responsibility

Each of us is responsible to ourselves and to those around us. The well-being of our society depends on our recognition that what we do or fail to do is part of building the good will that glues society together.

10. Future Focus and Sustainability

We must direct our investment of time, energy and attention toward sustaining and enriching the life around us. We may not treat all that we use as waste to be disposed of as though there were no tomorrow. Reduce, re-use, recycle, repair are the 4 tenets of a sustaining lifestyle.

DEMOCRACY

Our nation was born as the first great experiment in modern democracy. To sustain our democracy as defined by our Constitution, we must revive citizen participation and regain citizen control of our politics and our economy. The barriers to entering the electoral arena must be removed and alternatives to the two parties must be introduced. The present narrow spectrum of parties results in a narrow spectrum of issues debated and the same narrow spectrum carried by the media. Consequently, a bare 50% of the voters actually vote.

Democracy depends on participation of all parties and debate of all points of view in the public forum.

Citizens and citizen groups must demand a widening of the range of candidate choice while they demand the restraint and encirclement of corporate power in the market place and in the legislatures.

Our government has an obligation to secure a level playing field for all groups to advocate their interests. A balance of power is something we cannot do without. In effect, government regulation is the necessary instrument to prevent exploitation by the rich and powerful who have sidelined the less wealthy into an observer status.

Control of government through financial contributions to candidates, followed by unlimited access to the elected officials has resulted in government by the wealthy with little accountability to the people. To compound the moneyed influence, the Supreme Court ruling in 1975 that equated money with speech secured the unhindered flow of money to influence politics on every level.

The Green Platform that follows offers a formula for the restoration of democracy in our fragmented and misguided nation.