[Platform] campaign planks

[BillCunningham]

Thank you, David. This is quite moving, in more than one sense....

-----Original Message-----
>From: david rolde <davidrolde at yahoo.com>
>Sent: Mar 1, 2006 6:09 PM
>To: platform at green-rainbow.org
>Subject: [Platform] campaign planks
>
>The campaign platform sub-committee of expcom has been
>working on a campaign platform or campaign focus
>document to be presented to this Saturday's nominating
>convention.  The document will take the form of a list
>of focus areas or planks, each of which will be as
>succinct as possible - preferably two sentences each. 
>At the convention there will be discussion of this
>document in small groups. There will be suggestions
>for additions or changes from the small groups. Then
>there will be a call for concerns. Then there will be
>a call for a consensus to adopt the document as a work
>in progress that will serve as a basis for the issues
>that the slate of candidates campaign will talk about
>and run on.  So far we are thinking that 14 planks
>will be presented. Roughly titled  these 14 planks are
>healthcare, abolish poverty, equal marriage, women's
>rights and abortion, elections,  taxes, housing, fair
>employment, criminal justice reform, empire & war,
>immigrant rights, ecological justice, public
>transportation,  and public education.
> 
>Drafts of 11 of these planks, that have been agreed to
>by members of the subcommittee, are below. I will post
>again with drafts of the remaining three planks
>(women's rights & abortion, criminal justice reform,
>and empire & war) as soon as I can pending further
>consultation.  
>
>Please post comments to this list as soon as you can.
>We need to get this printed up before the convention. 
>I volunteer to get this printed so that we don't have
>to meet Ron's printing deadline.
> 
>* Healthcare is a right not a commodity. The
>Green-Rainbow Party supports single-payer healthcare
>for everyone. 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 income for everyone.
>
>* The Green-Rainbow Party strongly supports equal
>marriage rights for same sex couples. A majority
>cannot be allowed to take away the rights of a
>minority. 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 participatory, 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
>which fusion voting would undermine.
>
>* 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, fees and the lottery as sources of public
>funding. Tax profits not wages.
>
>* Housing is a right, The Green-Rainbow Party supports
>all programs that would make decent universal
>affordable housing a reality.   We support rent
>control, appropriation of unused buildings to be used
>for housing, and sufficient funding for housing while
>phasing out shelters and prisons. 
>
>* The Green-Rainbow Party supports workers rights
>including the right to organize, living wages for all,
>and a shorter work-week.   We support local economies
>and worker-run businesses, and we oppose the growth of
>corporate monopolies.
>
>* The Green-Rainbow Party supports immediate full
>implementation of equal rights, including the vote,
>for all immigrants in Massachusetts regardless of
>citizenship or visa status.
>
>* All children and adults must be supported in
>achieving their fullest individual potential, and
>resegregation in the schools must be reversed. Free
>public education at every educational level should be
>funded on a per-student basis through statewide
>progressive taxation. Democratic local control of
>curriculum and standards should be strengthened. The
>Green-Rainbow Party opposes mandated graduation
>requirements such as the MCAS, and we seek to end
>military recruiting and militaristic education in
>public schools.
>
>* The government must rebuild the public
>transportation infrastructure and develop it to the
>point where people will use public transportation
>instead of private cars. Public transportation must be
>affordable and available in all communities.
>
>* The Green-Rainbow Party is gravely concerned about
>global warming and ecological destruction, which first
>threatens the survival of those most marginalized, but
>ultimately all of us and all life on the planet. We
>support unilateral action to reduce emissions and all
>forms of pollution, increase conservation, greening of
>our communities, and shifting the burden of pollution
>away from communities in poverty.
>
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Bill Cunningham