[Platform] I remain without Elie's pieces , some planks so far

[Gracegrnrnbw at aol.com]

hi, everyone -

I want to apologize for not getting this done by Saturday as promised.   I 
remain without Elie's peices so I waited (Elie -please type up and send ASAP).

I have merged and somewhat editted most of the planks.   I have three more to 
go.   The ones that I got as far as I think I promised are posted below.   
Education is clearly still too long.   Good editors out there can perhaps cut 
back others as well without loosing content?

Thanks, Grace (others to follow tonight hopefully!)

Done for Now
* Healthcare is a right. The Green-Rainbow Party supports universal 
single-payer healthcare including dental care, abortions, all medications, and 
non-mainstream therapies.   Medical decisions should be made by patients and 
practitioners not by bureaucrats, and money should go to treatment not to corporate 
profit.

* The Green-Rainbow Party is part of a movement to abolish poverty in 
Massachusetts and worldwide. We support economic human rights including living wages 
for all jobs and a guaranteed minimum income.

* The Green-Rainbow Party strongly supports equal marriage rights for same 
sex couples.   Gays, lesbians, bi-sexual, and transgendered people should not be 
discriminated against in any area.   The Green-Rainbow Party supports 
economic human rights, open immigration, and the legalization of communal households 
so that people won't be trapped into marriages by financial or legal 
necessity.

* Government should be more democratic, responsive to the concerns of 
minorities and to people of diverse backgrounds, less centralized and bureaucratic, 
and should not be controlled by corporate interests. Green-Rainbow Party 
supports government-funded clean elections, best choice/instant runoff voting, 
proportional representation and a multi-party system.

* The tax system should be used to reduce wealth inequality and to make sure 
that everyone's basic economic needs are met. The Green-Rainbow Party seeks to 
establish a truly progressive and comprehensive income tax or wealth tax, 
while phasing out regressive taxes (such as property taxes on humble residences 
and sales taxes), fees and the lottery as sources of public funding.

* Housing is a right, The Green-Rainbow Party supports all programs that 
would make decent housing a reality for all people.   We support rent control, 
appropriation of unused buildings to be used for housing, sufficient funding for 
universal affordable while phasing out shelters. 

* The Green-Rainbow Party supports workers rights including the right to 
organize, living wages for all, and a shorter work-week.   We support policies 
that increase worker-run businesses and non-profit businesses that function based 
on a broader social view rather than providing corporate profits to the few 
at the expense of the rest of us. 

* The Green-Rainbow Party supports immediate full implementation of equal 
rights for all immigrants in Massachusetts regardless of citizenship or visa 
status. They should have the right to vote and to enjoy all benefits, rights and 
privileges that native-born citizens are entitled to, including accessing 
public programs, drivers' licenses and higher education.

* Free public education should be available to everyone at every educational 
level; it should be funded on an equal per-student basis, except low-income 
communities should receive additional affirmative action funding, through a 
system of statewide progressive taxation.   At the same time democratic local 
control of curriculum and standards should be maintained and strengthened. 
Green-Rainbow Party opposes mandated graduation requirements including standardized 
testing such as the MCAS which discriminate against children with disabilities, 
low-income children, children of color, especially immigrant children.

* The Green-Rainbow Party supports greatly expanded public transportation 
which is more frequent, free or with lower fares, and runs as much as possible on 
non-petroleum fuels; government subsidies for the oil industry, building of 
roads over public transportation and private automobiles should be phased out, 
so that low-income people as well as everyone else will be able to travel as 
needed and we reduce our society's reliance on highly-polluting and r
esource-using private automobiles.