The gross inequalities and declining standards of life in the United States are magnified by the corona crisis, pushing already marginalized populations to the brink.

There is an old saying that if America catches a cold, black people get pneumonia. The communicable disease reference is especially relevant now that the COVID-19 corona virus pandemic has created a crisis in this country. A privatized health care system worsened a medical emergency whose impact could have been mitigated if the United States was as advanced as it claims to be.

PHILADELPHIA – On Monday, March 30, the Green Party of Pennsylvania (GPPA) Steering Committee and statewide candidates demanded relief from the Pennsylvania candidate nomination procedures. In a letter to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf and legislative leaders, the Green Party asked that “the [nomination paper] signature requirement for the statewide ballot be waived or suspended for the current election cycle” for Green Party candidates in response to emergency circumstances caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

ALBANY, NY – A source tells us Andrew Cuomo has SUCCEEDED in inserting the same language into the 2020 New York State Budget to kill the Green Party that was struck down by a judge in March.

Governor Cuomo and the leaders of the State Legislature are attempting to use the current COVID-19 crisis to destroy the Green Party in New York by changing our state's ballot access requirements to be among the worst in the nation.

GRAY, Me – Lisa Savage, Independent Green candidate for U.S. Senate from Solon, launched a Congressional petition today, calling for legislation to enact forgiveness of rent payments for all residential renters and abatement of all mortgages on residential buildings with five dwelling units or fewer. While the legislation should be enacted immediately, she said, any eventual legislation should be retroactive to April 1 and last one month past any local, state, or federal declaration of emergency, shelter in place order, or widespread social distancing order that keeps a significant portion of the populace out of work.

• Why was a state of emergency declared so quickly for COVID-19, but not for the city's lead water crisis?

• Newark Water Coalition co-founder Anthony Díaz and Madelyn Hoffman, the New Jersey Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate, discussed COVID-19 in Newark last week

NEWARK, NJ – Why was a state of emergency declared so quickly for the new coronavirus, but not for Newark's lead water crisis? This question was one of several posed during a recent conversation between Newark Water Coalition co-founder Anthony Díaz and Madelyn Hoffman, the New Jersey Green Party candidate for U.S. Senate in 2020.

BALTIMORE – The Maryland Libertarian and Green Parties are calling on the General Assembly, Governor, and Board of Elections to place them on the ballot for the November general election, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Both parties have been petitioning throughout the state to each collect over 10,000 signatures to get back on the ballot, but their petition drives have ground to a halt, because of the COVID-19 outbreak.

BALTIMORE – The Maryland Green Party is calling on the General Assembly, Governor, and Board of Elections to place our party on the ballot for the November general election, due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

We have been petitioning throughout the state to collect over 10,000 signatures to get back on the ballot.

Our party's participation in the democratic process should not be made impossible or dangerous due to the declared public health emergency.

Death stalks us.

Fear Grows.

Humanity is threatened at both the micro and macro levels. Covid-19. Climate change.

Underlying all of this is inequality, fueled by robber-baron capitalism. And a lack of democracy.

By Laura Wells 

During this coronavirus pandemic, it is easy to see that many other countries have responded more quickly and with better and more available testing and treatment than the US has.

It is also easy to see that we would benefit by shifting away from acting as if the US is a world unto itself, toward an attitude of learning from other countries. Ironically, as the three examples in this post will show, even if we only consider solutions the US has practiced in history, we would be better off now.

• But Greens Demand Emergency Relief Due to Coronavirus Pandemic

WHEATON, Il (March 24, 2020) –  The Illinois Green Party (ILGP) has placed its presidential candidate on the statewide election ballot in every presidential year since 2008, with over 117,000 Illinois voters choosing Green Party Senate candidate Scott Summers in 2016. Yet oppressive ballot access laws in Illinois -- among the worst in the nation -- repeatedly force the Greens to collect tens of thousands of petition signatures from registered voters in each election cycle just to get their candidates’ names on the ballot.