Some members of the Manhattan Greens compiled the comparative issues checklist below. I have also included thereafter some platform stances made by Howie Hawkins in 2008 while running for Governor, a statement taken off the national Green Party website about the profound economic inequality in America, and a list of the 10 key values of the Green Party.
Howie Hawkins (who ran against the craven Democratic winner, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who is every bit as seemingly Republican as Obama) recently revealed at a Manhattan forum that he achieved 60,000 votes in New York State. 50,000 were from Westchester County and above. Only 10,000 votes from beneath Westchester County. This includes Manhattan, mind you. HOW SHAMEFUL for this city's residents, so many who consider themselves sophisticated and educated. Progressive? HAH!!!
I remember as we passed out flyers last November before the election, there was a lot of disdain for us Green Party members. There was a lot of mumbling of "but you won't win" as an explanation for the unwillingness to vote Green. "Pragmatic" Democrats who were willing to, maybe hold their noses, but still vote for the sell-out Dems with their clear corporate, anti-humane values.
I see a Green Wave ultimately happening. It will take serious time but I will work for it. Focus my activism in this direction henceforth. I will work for it primarily among the just above 18 year old crowd and hope the ripples of their Green Party committed passion will emanate out.
I am ashamed of my boomer generation. We had such a consciousness raising education with the Vietnam War experience and so many of us did exercise our consciences then. Yet now so very many of us have betrayed this constitutional republic by not staying committed to truth, justice and the -- jingoism aside --American Way. The Democratic Party has bottomed out on that proverbial lobbied slippery slope. WTF? Every time Laurence O'Donnell refers to the liberals supporting Obama I want to throw my shoe at the TV. You do not represent liberalism if you support Obama and the Dems.
Now our country is captured by full-out sociopathic, corporatist-cronied leadership of the two-headed MONEY PARTY.
I just paid my taxes with a heavy heart. Those taxes will go toward death, destruction, corruption and an agenda contrary to my own welfare and that of my loved ones -- of my fellow men and women. I wasn't courageous enough this year not to pay them as a protest.
Okay, let me share the CLEAR, OPEN, HONEST, FIRM platform of the Manhattan Greens as opposed to the stance of BOTH DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS, along with some of Howie Hawkins stances and a few Green Party quotes.
Empathy, integrity and legality should matter!!!!! They do to the Green Party.
_______________________________________DEMOCRATS &
ISSUES:_______________________GREENS______REPUBLICANS
Restore higher taxes on the
super rich to eliminate the budget
deficit_________________________YES_____________NO
Retain public employee jobs
and benefits_____________________YES_____________NO
Enact stronger rent controls
and stop home foreclosures___________YES_____________NO
Pass state-wide single payer
medicare for all___________________YES_____________NO
Repeal the racist drug laws____________YES_____________NO
Ban hydrofracking for gas
and close Indian Point Nuclear
Power plant______________________YES_____________NO
Elect and empower public school
community boards and end
funding for chart schools______________YES____________NO
Restore tuition free state and
city colleges_______________________YES____________NO
Enact a publicly elected MTA
board and restore full bus and
subway service_____________________YES_____________NO
Extend marriage equality
to the LGBT Community_______________YES____________NO
Establish public control of
NYPD, end stop and frisk raids
and racial profiling___________________YES____________NO
Here are some stances Howie Hawkins expressed pre-election:
1) TAX THE RICH! Hawkins wants a tax like the 1970s progressive income tax that would release for the state $8 billion from the wealthy and give the citizens a 95% tax break. He also wants to end the rebate of $16 billion to Wall Street speculators of the Stock (transfer) sales tax (something Wall Street friendly legacy party representatives won’t communicate about).
2) WPA-STYLE JOBS PROGRAM! Massive public jobs program. Hawkins supports direct government employment in public works and services on the model of the 1930s Works Progress Administration (WPA).
3) STATE SINGLE PAYER MEDICARE FOR ALL! Hawkins wants New York to be the first state in the country to implement a single payer Medicare for all health care program, to eliminate the waste and red tape of private health insurance. It would save New Yorkers $28 billion annually by 2019. He asserts Congressional health care reform did not go far enough and that tens of millions of Americans were left outside of the system and the “historic reform” is forcing Americans to buy expensive inadequate health care coverage. Hawkins claims 2 to 1 Americans think Obamacare does not do enough. Last year Hawkins was arrested protesting Wellpoint, the nation’s largest private health insurer, for denying care to policy holders.
4) FULLY FUNDED PUBLIC SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES, END OF MAYORAL CONTROL, PREVENTION OF PROPERTY TAX CAP (which Cuomo wants and what will dry up school funding and public services), CALL TO OPPOSE CHARTER SCHOOLS!
5) END DRONE STRIKES! Hawkins protested Hancock National Guard Airbase as proposed site to remotely control reaper killer drones in Afghanistan and Pakistan. (These unmanned suckers fly at 50,000ft, they are nearly invisible and carry missiles and bombs. The drones cost $13 million each, and up to $100,000 for each of its four Hellfire missiles, all that cash to kill a single targeted individual or, more likely and tragically, to accidentally incinerate innocent victims, radicalizing more enemies for the U.S.).
6) END SPYING, END CRIMINALIZATION OF POLITICAL DISSENT, END ATTACKS ON CIVIL LIBERTIES! Hawkins condemned 9/24/10 FBI raids on antiwar groups conducted in six states. He stated, “The FBI is criminalizing antiwar activism while failing to address the corporate crime wave at the root of the banking crisis that has caused the worst crisis of unemployment and home foreclosures since the Great Depression.”
7) FULLY END THE ROCKEFELLER DRUG LAWS, INVOKE LEGALIZATION AND TAXATION OF DRUGS AND END MASS IMPRISONMENT OF NON-VIOLENT OFFENDERS! According to Alice Green, exec director of Center for Law and Justice in Albany, there are 12,000 nonviolent offenders in NY jails, 55% of them should have avoided jail time except for the draconian Rockefeller laws. These laws disproportionately affect people of color. Black men are incarcerated six times more than whites. Latino men twice as often as whites. Hawkins calls it a “phony” war on drugs, a "phony moralism", a failed “prohibitionist” policy. The Powers that Be are toying with taxing non-diet soda in NY. What about really making a difference morally and economically? A really brave and just choice?
8 ) END TORTURE!
9) END THE SCAPEGOATING OF MUSLIMS!
10) RAISE MINIMUM WAGE TO $12 AN HOUR! Generate public living wage jobs for the unemployed.
11) BAN ON HYDRAULIC FRACTURING!!! End hydrofracking.
12) FOCUS ON CLEAN ENERGY PROGRAMS! While doing my research on the Green Party, I remember reading America’s present “energy policy” bluntly described as “war for oil.” Hawkins wants secure investments in alternative energy and mass transit.
13) BAN ON GENETICALLY MODIFIED FOODS! Also referred to as “Frankenfoods”.
14) STRONG TENANT RIGHTS AND AFFORDABLE HOUSING!
15) BRING THE TROOPS HOME! END THE WARS NOW! CUT THE MILITARY BUDGET 50-75%! END ECONOMICALLY FORCED MILITARY ENLISTMENT! Hawkins explains that this peace dividend can be used to “rebuild America, pay for a WPA style jobs programs for the unemployed, and finance a rapid transition to a carbon free economy.” Here is a powerful quote from Hawkins (a former Marine who at one point organized opposition to the Vietnam War) on what he calls the military-congressional-industrial complex:
“The two major parties are always so willing to send our young men and women to die in foreign lands to protect the oil and gas companies under the guise of creating democracy, but they fight as hard as they can to prevent a real multi-party democracy here in America.”
--------------------------
Here is an enlightening quote I found on the Green Party of the United States website:
There are many things that will have to be changed before a truly democratic and Green society can exist but one is the tremendous and unfair gap today between the rich and the poor; in fact even between the very rich and the average person.
Today in America the best paid one-fifth of the population receives about one half of all national income, while the bottom one-fifth receives less than 4 per cent. The distribution of wealth in America is even more unfair. Here, the top one-half per cent of all property owners control over 25% of all wealth; while the top 5% sit on nearly 70% of wealth and property. What chance does the average person have for exercising his or her democratic rights under these conditions!
Behind this unfair distribution of wealth and income stand a few giant corporations who own or control nearly all newspapers, television networks and radio stations, movie companies, book publishers, and other sources of information and means of communication. Both of America's major political parties, the Republicans and the Democrats, are dependent on these corporations and the few super-rich individuals and families associated with them. In fact, nearly all major offices in the US government, whether elected or appointed, are filled by individuals from this corporate network. What chance does democracy have under such conditions? What chance does nature and the environment have.
Hip-hop activist, real community organizer Rosa Clemente who ran on the national Green Party ticket with Cynthia McKinney in 2008 asserts: “The Green Party is no longer the alternative, the Green Party is the imperative”!
Finally, here are the 10 Key Green Party values:
1. GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY -
Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives and not be subject to the will of another. Therefore, we will work to increase public participation at every level of government and to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We will also work to create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.
2. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY -
All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large, barriers such as racism and class oppression, sexism and homophobia, ageism and disability, which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.
3. ECOLOGICAL WISDOM -
Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society which utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end we must practice agriculture which replenishes the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.
4. NON-VIOLENCE -
It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society’s current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize, and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, without being naive about the intentions of other governments. We recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace.
5. DECENTRALIZATION -
Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and economic injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. Therefore, we support a restructuring of social, political and economic institutions away from a system which is controlled by and mostly benefits the powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system. Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local level, while assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.
6. COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE -
We recognize it is essential to create a vibrant and sustainable economic system, one that can create jobs and provide a decent standard of living for all people while maintaining a healthy ecological balance. A successful economic system will offer meaningful work with dignity, while paying a “living wage” which reflects the real value of a person’s work.
Local communities must look to economic development that assures protection of the environment and workers’ rights; broad citizen participation in planning; and enhancement of our “quality of life.” We support independently owned and operated companies which are socially responsible, as well as co-operatives and public enterprises that distribute resources and control to more people through democratic participation.
7. FEMINISM AND GENDER EQUITY -
We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want.
8. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY -
We believe it is important to value cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, and to promote the development of respectful relationships across these lines.
We believe that the many diverse elements of society should be reflected in our organizations and decision-making bodies, and we support the leadership of people who have been traditionally closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms than our own and the preservation of biodiversity.
9. PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY -
We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal well-being and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.
10. FUTURE FOCUS AND SUSTAINABILITY -
Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing of or “unmaking” all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions.
[cross-posted on correntewire]
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