wiki.occupyboston.org - User contributions [en]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-09-20T22:15:41Z

Briancady413: updated re-direction link

This page is superceded by:
http://grp.kingpine.info/mediawiki/index.php/Fundamental_Platform
---------------------------------------------------

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer @ occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Notes and discussion are on the discussion tab above. If you want a discussion on a topic, please install a new discussion topic on the discussion tab and install a link on this page to the topic. You can get the link by choosing "edit" for that topic and then "save" and then the link will be in your browser window.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

The Ten Key Values of the Green Party rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. The Green Rainbow Party, formed in 2002 by merger* of the Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition on the basis of shared values and aspirations, is the Massachusetts affiliate of the Green Party of the United States.

Ecological wisdom recognizes that living systems thrive with diversity and complexity, as does human society, which evolves with conscious attention. The Green-Rainbow vision rejects the mythology of imperialist economic globalization. A healthy economy is not the product of a separate business sector seeking short term profit. A sustainable economy results when people meet their needs wisely and equitably. Conservation of resources enables healthy economies.

To counter exploitation and waste of Earth and human resources, driven by the dominant economic system, the expanding human population, and dilution of reason by mass propaganda, the Green-Rainbow Party proposes to institute measures which will give the people power over our future. This is achievable only when some humans stop treating others as prey and we recognize that we all are in it together.

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

I. Healthy Communities

Healthy communities, enriched by diversity, are places where people grow up and find meaning in their lives, where, empowered by equality and opportunity for all, each may thrive. Growing income inequality and excessive transfer of wealth to the already wealthy undermine our society and the shared understandings on which it is based. We propose measures to restore vitality to Massachusetts communities, to be funded by savings from superseded programs and shifts in sources of revenue. To these ends we propose to:

* institute universal minimum income for all Massachusetts residents, to enable effective social participation,
* prioritize measures to meet basic needs: facilitating local food production and sale of healthy food in all communities, assuring adequate and affordable housing, enacting universal health care for all.
* provide for well-funded outreach and enrichment services to strengthen communities, such as early childhood education, day care, street programs, after-school programs, adult education, attending to particular needs, and support for the arts.
* reform public education to assure that all schools are funded equitably, run democratically, staffed with individuals who nurture students to develop autonomy, competence, cooperation, critical thinking, caring, and an appreciation for diversity.
* stop running schools by corporate agendas and measuring success by standardized tests. Instead, schools should be integrated into their communities for wider experiential learning.
* replace teaching schoolchildren to be blindly patriotic and glorifying war, militarism, hyper-competitiveness, and greed with the teaching of humility and non-violent conflict resolution. End schools’ participation in military recruitment.
* provide public higher education, without incurring indebtedness.
* reform the criminal justice system so that misfortunes and addictions are addressed rather than punished, giving priority to prevention and rehabilitation, not incarceration.

We must ensure that these provisions apply to all people residing within the Commonwealth, without discrimination on the basis of sex, color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, language, immigration status, criminal record, religion, belief system or political orientation.

II. Ecologically Sound Economies

Ecologically sound economies are systems devised to meet human needs with cooperation, caring, and foresight in a mix of enterprises based on local and regional potential, in touch with other regions, thinking globally and acting locally. In seeking competitive advantage in the arena of global capitalism by favoring a limited set of businesses as employers, Massachusetts fails large sections of its population. We propose to develop an ecologically sound economy.

The Commonwealth is obliged to protect the commons, the fundamental necessities of life, land, water, air, ecosystems and the enjoyment thereof. Fulfilling this obligation requires generous funding of environmental research at state universities, education, outreach, regional planning, vigorous programs for ecosystem maintenance, and application of precautionary principle, especially to new technologies. We reject the belief that other life forms exist only for our use and enjoyment.

Given its responsibility for protecting natural resources, the Commonwealth should work towards a steady state economy, rejecting the ideology of wasteful growth, encouraging enterprises based on ecological principles, meeting human needs in a sustainable manner, with emphasis on cooperative processes and local decision-making. Reducing use of energy from fossil fuels and developing alternative energy sources needs the highest priority. Rather than relying solely on private enterprise to offer employment opportunities, the Commonwealth should maintain programs entrusted with nurturing conversion to a sustainable economy by a mix of enterprises—private, public and cooperative--rooted in and responsive to their communities. The Commonwealth should offer employment in projects beneficial to communities and ecosystems, providing training, experience, and wages.

Wage labor in the Commonwealth must be compensated with livings wages adequate for a worker and dependents, while allowing for apprenticeships and entry level jobs to introduce young people to employment. Rights of workers to organize and union contracts must be protected. Introduction of a universal minimum income will likely reduce the distinction between remunerative labor and socially desirable work, and facilitate introduction of a 30 hour work week, allowing residents more time to spend with family and community and to make choices which best correspond to their aspirations.

To eliminate the transfer of wealth from the taxpayer to privately owned banking corporations, the legislature must create a publicly owned state bank. The resulting savings can serve as the basis for a sovereign wealth fund--a source for community and ecosystem maintenance investments. A state-owned bank can also support local private banking; the economy of the Commonwealth benefits by investing funds locally. Local economies benefit from local currencies.

The Commonwealth must assume an appropriate level of responsibility for enterprises which serve the general public, such as communications, utilities, transportation networks, in all cases where the long range public interest is served thereby. Public ownership, state or municipal, should be enabled, when indicated by the public interest.

The Commonwealth charters corporations and allows them to do business here; it should regularly review corporate charters and exercise its powers to assure that they act in the public interest—in Massachusetts and world-wide.

International treaties, negotiated by the federal government, such as the WTO, NAFTA and prospective TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), can affect the economy of Massachusetts adversely. An International Trade Commission to study such effects was enacted, but no commissioners have been appointed. When appointed, the commission must advise the state and federal governments about the harmful effects of such trade treaties, which override labor and environmental protection.

III. Democratic Governance

Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men: Therefore the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity and happiness require it.

The Commonwealth must protect the civil liberties of all residents, whatever their legal status. People require easy access to information, the opportunity to assemble in public spaces, and to exchange opinions. Voting rights should be broadly extended and must respect integrity of voter choice, as best assured by traceable ballots, and the careful auditing of election results.

Representative government requires that candidates for elected office have reasonable access to the ballot. The greatest assurance of honest representation demands voter rights for residents, state financing of candidacy for public office, election by majority, and preferential/ranked choice for all candidates in primary and general elections. In a bicameral legislature, it should be possible to represent both the interests of local communities and also the broad range of opinions on conduct of state-wide affairs. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared concerns of these populations.

Transparency in government operations relies on open hearings, legislative procedures which can be followed by the public, official reporting of legislative actions, and easy access to records. Continuous auditing of government expenditures can enable critical scrutiny, reducing waste and providing evidence for improvement. Instituting Full Cost Accounting, where applicable, will assist decision-making by indicating long term effects on the environment and population. Continuous tracking of policies, assessment and revision where indicated, are essential.

Holding to the principle of subsidiarity, democratic deliberation and decision making must be carried out as close to the people concerned as possible, and conducted in a manner to assure that all perspectives are heard. Citizen assemblies, chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in outcomes, should exercise appropriate powers, in coordination with representative assemblies instituted as governments. Participatory budgeting and economic development councils should be open to all affected sectors of society.

The Commonwealth maintains a militia, the national guard, which could best serve by being prepared to respond to emergencies such as hurricanes, floods, heat waves, and epidemics. Given that government has not the capacity to deal adequately with severe emergencies, resources should also be directed to training citizen volunteers in every community to help with emergency response.

~ END ~

********************

Links we need:

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]].

[[Full Cost Accounting]]

[[poverty]]

[[rational taxation]]

[[sovereign wealth fund]]

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]].

[Danny: Some other topics that deserve mention of at least a sentence each: 1)Respect for diversity both in our society and within the party. 2)Feminism, in our society and in political representation. [[Feminism]] 3)Support of workers rights and unions 4)A plan to to encourage use of renewable resources 5)The closing of nuclear power plants and biolabs in Massachusetts. 6)Ceasing the production of weapons in Massachusetts. 7)Bringing the National Guard home from deployment abroad. 8)Rights of immigrants, specifically Massachusetts law enforcement should refuse to cooperate in the enforcement of federal racist anti-immigration law, including arrests and raids.]

JH: Can we use this summary of ecological design?
waste equals food,
use only available solar income,
respect diversity,
love all the children?

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]].

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision, e.g. Brian on economy, and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-09-18T17:38:17Z

Briancady413: link to new home

This page is superceded by:
http://www.kingpine.info/mediawiki/index.php/GRP_Fundamental_Platform
This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer @ occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Notes and discussion are on the discussion tab above. If you want a discussion on a topic, please install a new discussion topic on the discussion tab and install a link on this page to the topic. You can get the link by choosing "edit" for that topic and then "save" and then the link will be in your browser window.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

The Ten Key Values of the Green Party rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. The Green Rainbow Party, formed in 2002 by merger* of the Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition on the basis of shared values and aspirations, is the Massachusetts affiliate of the Green Party of the United States.

Ecological wisdom recognizes that living systems thrive with diversity and complexity, as does human society, which evolves with conscious attention. The Green-Rainbow vision rejects the mythology of imperialist economic globalization. A healthy economy is not the product of a separate business sector seeking short term profit. A sustainable economy results when people meet their needs wisely and equitably. Conservation of resources enables healthy economies.

To counter exploitation and waste of Earth and human resources, driven by the dominant economic system, the expanding human population, and dilution of reason by mass propaganda, the Green-Rainbow Party proposes to institute measures which will give the people power over our future. This is achievable only when some humans stop treating others as prey and we recognize that we all are in it together.

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

I. Healthy Communities

Healthy communities, enriched by diversity, are places where people grow up and find meaning in their lives, where, empowered by equality and opportunity for all, each may thrive. Growing income inequality and excessive transfer of wealth to the already wealthy undermine our society and the shared understandings on which it is based. We propose measures to restore vitality to Massachusetts communities, to be funded by savings from superseded programs and shifts in sources of revenue. To these ends we propose to:

* institute universal minimum income for all Massachusetts residents, to enable effective social participation,
* prioritize measures to meet basic needs: facilitating local food production and sale of healthy food in all communities, assuring adequate and affordable housing, enacting universal health care for all.
* provide for well-funded outreach and enrichment services to strengthen communities, such as early childhood education, day care, street programs, after-school programs, adult education, attending to particular needs, and support for the arts.
* reform public education to assure that all schools are funded equitably, run democratically, staffed with individuals who nurture students to develop autonomy, competence, cooperation, critical thinking, caring, and an appreciation for diversity.
* stop running schools by corporate agendas and measuring success by standardized tests. Instead, schools should be integrated into their communities for wider experiential learning.
* replace teaching schoolchildren to be blindly patriotic and glorifying war, militarism, hyper-competitiveness, and greed with the teaching of humility and non-violent conflict resolution. End schools’ participation in military recruitment.
* provide public higher education, without incurring indebtedness.
* reform the criminal justice system so that misfortunes and addictions are addressed rather than punished, giving priority to prevention and rehabilitation, not incarceration.

We must ensure that these provisions apply to all people residing within the Commonwealth, without discrimination on the basis of sex, color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, language, immigration status, criminal record, religion, belief system or political orientation.

II. Ecologically Sound Economies

Ecologically sound economies are systems devised to meet human needs with cooperation, caring, and foresight in a mix of enterprises based on local and regional potential, in touch with other regions, thinking globally and acting locally. In seeking competitive advantage in the arena of global capitalism by favoring a limited set of businesses as employers, Massachusetts fails large sections of its population. We propose to develop an ecologically sound economy.

The Commonwealth is obliged to protect the commons, the fundamental necessities of life, land, water, air, ecosystems and the enjoyment thereof. Fulfilling this obligation requires generous funding of environmental research at state universities, education, outreach, regional planning, vigorous programs for ecosystem maintenance, and application of precautionary principle, especially to new technologies. We reject the belief that other life forms exist only for our use and enjoyment.

Given its responsibility for protecting natural resources, the Commonwealth should work towards a steady state economy, rejecting the ideology of wasteful growth, encouraging enterprises based on ecological principles, meeting human needs in a sustainable manner, with emphasis on cooperative processes and local decision-making. Reducing use of energy from fossil fuels and developing alternative energy sources needs the highest priority. Rather than relying solely on private enterprise to offer employment opportunities, the Commonwealth should maintain programs entrusted with nurturing conversion to a sustainable economy by a mix of enterprises—private, public and cooperative--rooted in and responsive to their communities. The Commonwealth should offer employment in projects beneficial to communities and ecosystems, providing training, experience, and wages.

Wage labor in the Commonwealth must be compensated with livings wages adequate for a worker and dependents, while allowing for apprenticeships and entry level jobs to introduce young people to employment. Rights of workers to organize and union contracts must be protected. Introduction of a universal minimum income will likely reduce the distinction between remunerative labor and socially desirable work, and facilitate introduction of a 30 hour work week, allowing residents more time to spend with family and community and to make choices which best correspond to their aspirations.

To eliminate the transfer of wealth from the taxpayer to privately owned banking corporations, the legislature must create a publicly owned state bank. The resulting savings can serve as the basis for a sovereign wealth fund--a source for community and ecosystem maintenance investments. A state-owned bank can also support local private banking; the economy of the Commonwealth benefits by investing funds locally. Local economies benefit from local currencies.

The Commonwealth must assume an appropriate level of responsibility for enterprises which serve the general public, such as communications, utilities, transportation networks, in all cases where the long range public interest is served thereby. Public ownership, state or municipal, should be enabled, when indicated by the public interest.

The Commonwealth charters corporations and allows them to do business here; it should regularly review corporate charters and exercise its powers to assure that they act in the public interest—in Massachusetts and world-wide.

International treaties, negotiated by the federal government, such as the WTO, NAFTA and prospective TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), can affect the economy of Massachusetts adversely. An International Trade Commission to study such effects was enacted, but no commissioners have been appointed. When appointed, the commission must advise the state and federal governments about the harmful effects of such trade treaties, which override labor and environmental protection.

III. Democratic Governance

Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men: Therefore the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity and happiness require it.

The Commonwealth must protect the civil liberties of all residents, whatever their legal status. People require easy access to information, the opportunity to assemble in public spaces, and to exchange opinions. Voting rights should be broadly extended and must respect integrity of voter choice, as best assured by traceable ballots, and the careful auditing of election results.

Representative government requires that candidates for elected office have reasonable access to the ballot. The greatest assurance of honest representation demands voter rights for residents, state financing of candidacy for public office, election by majority, and preferential/ranked choice for all candidates in primary and general elections. In a bicameral legislature, it should be possible to represent both the interests of local communities and also the broad range of opinions on conduct of state-wide affairs. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared concerns of these populations.

Transparency in government operations relies on open hearings, legislative procedures which can be followed by the public, official reporting of legislative actions, and easy access to records. Continuous auditing of government expenditures can enable critical scrutiny, reducing waste and providing evidence for improvement. Instituting Full Cost Accounting, where applicable, will assist decision-making by indicating long term effects on the environment and population. Continuous tracking of policies, assessment and revision where indicated, are essential.

Holding to the principle of subsidiarity, democratic deliberation and decision making must be carried out as close to the people concerned as possible, and conducted in a manner to assure that all perspectives are heard. Citizen assemblies, chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in outcomes, should exercise appropriate powers, in coordination with representative assemblies instituted as governments. Participatory budgeting and economic development councils should be open to all affected sectors of society.

The Commonwealth maintains a militia, the national guard, which could best serve by being prepared to respond to emergencies such as hurricanes, floods, heat waves, and epidemics. Given that the government alone has not the capacity to deal adequately with severe emergencies, resources should also be directed to training citizen volunteers in every community to help with emergency response.

~ END ~

'''I. Healthy Society/Communities'''

We see Society as the place where people grow up and find the meaning of their lives, enriched by diversity, empowered by opportunity for all--a setting where each may thrive. Growing income inequality and transfer of wealth to the privileged, while blame is placed on the disadvantaged, are undermining our society. We propose measures to restore vitality to Massachusetts communities. These measures can be funded by savings from programs such as prisons, and by taxes on resource use, pollution, [[land value]], and/or wealth accumulation.

1. Institute universal minimum income for all Massachusetts residents to meet basic needs (food, water, housing, utilities, health care and education), so that all may participate effectively in society. This program could be administered by the Department of Revenue and funded by a more progressive state income tax, supplemented by other designated taxes. After universal minimum income is phased in, remaining safety net services should operate on a more flexible emergency response basis.

2. Prioritize measures which provide ways to meet basic needs:

a) facilitate local food production and retail sales of healthy food in all communities.

b) assure adequate affordable housing, using regulations, rent control and eminent domain where indicated.

c) enact state managed single payer health care system.

3. Provide well-funded outreach and enrichment services to strengthen communities, such as early childhood education, day care, street programs, after-school programs, cultural programs, adult education. Some of these programs could benefit from liaison with ecological education and employment in II. 1) and 2) and emergency response programs in III. 5).

4. Reform public education to assure that all schools are democratically run, equally funded and staffed with qualified individuals who
nurture students to the best of their ability to develop autonomy, competence, cooperation, critical thinking and caring. Public higher education should be available for all, without incurring indebtedness. The teaching of schoolchildren to be blindly patriotic and to glorify war, militarism, hyper-competitiveness and greed should be replaced with the teaching of humility, non-violent conflict resolution, acceptance of all types of peoples, and the ending of schools participation in military recruitment. The Government should not encourage private education nor should it allow public charter schools run by corporate agendas. The practice of standardized tests being a primary source of evaluation and a graduation requirement should end. Instead, schools should be intergrated into a community that supplies students with experiential learning.

5. Reform criminal justice system so that misfortunes and addictions are addressed rather than punished, so that priority is placed on prevention and rehabilitation, so that violence is not met with violence.

6. Assure that the above protections are extended to all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth, who are also to be protected from discrimination on the basis of sex, color, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, language, immigration status, criminal record, religion, belief system, criminal record or political orientation.

'''II. Ecological/Sustainable Economy''' [details in this section from wiki below & googledoc]

We see Economy as the way people use the gifts of nature to meet their human needs with cooperation, caring, and foresight in a mix of enterprises based on local and regional potential, in touch with distant regions, thinking globally and acting locally. The current strategy of seeking competitive advantage in the arena of global capitalism by favoring a limited set of businesses as employers is not achieving this. We propose reconsideration of how to develop sustainable economies. Measures taken can be funded by savings from superceded programs such as corporate tax breaks and shifts in fiscal management to public banks and sovereign wealth fund.

1. The Commonwealth is entrusted with protecting the commons [link to Article VII of the Massachusetts Constitution], the fundamental necessities of life, land, water, air, ecosystems and the enjoyment thereof and must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. This obligation implies generous funding of environmental research at state universities, education, outreach programs, vigorous projects for ecosystem maintenance, regional planning for ecologically sound settlement patterns, and application of the precautionary principle, especially to new technologies.

We reject the belief that other life forms exist only for our use and enjoyment. Our species does not have the right to exploit and inflict violence on other animals. We uphold not only the value of biological diversity and the integrity and continuity of species, but also the value of individual lives and the interest of individual animals. For example, the existing practice of conducting medical experiments on primates should be banned. Methods of treatment of farm animals need close attention to determine acceptability.

2. Given its responsibility for protecting natural resources, the Commonwealth should work towards a steady state economy, rejecting the necessity of wasteful growth, encouraging enterprises based on ecological principles, meeting human needs in a sustainable manner, with emphasis on cooperative processes and local decision-making. Reducing use of energy from fossil fuels and developing alternative energy sources needs the highest priority. Rather than relying solely on private enterprise to offer employment opportunities, the Commonwealth should maintain agencies entrusted with nurturing conversion to a sustainable economy via a mix of enterprises—private, public and cooperative--rooted in and responsive to their communities. The Commonwealth should institute ongoing programs which provide temporary employment in projects beneficial to communities and ecosystems, providing training, experience, and wages.

3. Wage labor in the Commonwealth must be compensated with wages adequate for living expenses for a worker and dependents, while allowing for apprenticeships and entry level jobs to introduce young people to employment. Rights of workers to organize and union contracts must be protected. Introduction of a universal minimum income will likely reduce the distinction between remunerative labor and socially desirable work, and facilitate introduction of a 30 hour work week, allowing residents more time to spend with family and community and to make choices which best correspond to their aspirations.

4. The Commonwealth should create one or more public banking entities, saving expense on interest while managing revenues, disbursements, and pension funds. The latter can serve as the basis for a sovereign wealth fund--a source for community and ecosytem maintenance investments. A state-owned bank can also support local private banking. Local economies benefit from local currencies. State economies benefit by investing state funds locally.

5. The Commonwealth should take an appropriate level of responsibility for enterprises which serve the public, such as communications, utilities, transportation networks, in all cases where the long range public interest is served thereby. If federal law is a limitation, it should be challenged, for example, by local ordinance. Public ownership, state or municipal should be enabled, when indicated by public interest, e.g. municipally owned utilities.

6. The Commonwealth charters corporations and allows them to do business here ; it should regularly review corporate charters and exercise its powers to assure that they act in the public interest—here and world-wide. For example, the Commonwealth should not allow production of weapons of mass destruction.

7. International treaties, negotiated by the federal government, such as the WTO, NAFTA and prospective TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), can affect Massachusetts adversely. An International Trade Commission to study such effects was enacted, but no commissioners have been appointed. If appointed, the commission could advise the state and federal governments about the harmful effects of such trade treaties, which override labor and environmental protection.

'''III. Participatory Democracy'''

We see Government as delegated by the people to assure equality and opportunity for all and to safeguard the commons--the gifts of nature and humans in community, using processes, structures, and programs designed to engage wide popular participation and to perform tasks entrusted to it responsibly. Democracy depends on participation of the people, directly or through their representatives.

1. The Commonwealth should set a high standard of civil liberties for all residents, whatever their legal status, for example, refusing to collaborate with federal anti-immigration laws and homeland security surveillance. The people need open sources of information and the opportunity to assemble in public spaces and exchange opinions. Voting rights should be broadly extended and should include the integrity of voter choice, best assured by traceable ballots, and regular auditing of election results.

2. To ensure the most representative government requires reasonable access to the ballot for candidates, voter rights for residents, state financing of candidacy for public office, election by majority, and preferential/ranked choice for all candidates in primary and general elections. In a bicameral legislature, it should be possible to represent the interests of local communities and also the broad range of opinions on conduct of affairs. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared concerns of these populations.

3. Transparency in government operations depends on open hearings, legislative procedures which can be followed by the public, official reporting of legislative actions, and easy access to records. Continuous auditing of government expenditures can enable critical scrutiny, reducing waste and providing evidence that changes are needed. Instituting [[Full Cost Accounting]], where applicable, will assist decision-making by indicating long term effects on the environment and population. Continual assessment of policies and revision where indicated are essential.

4. Democratic deliberation and decision making should be conducted at a level as close to the people as appropriate (subsidiarity), whether neighborhood, town, region, or world, and conducted in a manner to assure that all perspectives are heard. Citizen assemblies, chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, should exercise appropriate powers, in coordination with representative assemblies instituted as governments. Examples: participatory budgeting [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]].
and economic development councils assembled from all affected sectors of society.

5. The Commonwealth maintains a militia, the national guard, whose activities should serve the interests of the people of Massachusetts. Rather than sending this militia overseas to engage in national wars, it should be employed in the direct interest of the people. The national guard could best serve by being prepared to respond to emergencies such as hurricanes, floods, heat waves, and epidemics. Given that the government does not have the capacity to deal adequately with severe emergencies, resources should also be directed to training citizen volunteers in every community for such emergency response. Such organization will help communities respond with the greatest levels of competence, caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

********************
[Earlier version of proposals follows]

Links we need:
[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]].

[[Full Cost Accounting]]

[[poverty]]

[[rational taxation]]

[[sovereign wealth fund]]

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]].

[Danny: Some other topics that deserve mention of at least a sentence each: 1)Respect for diversity both in our society and within the party. 2)Feminism, in our society and in political representation. [[Feminism]] 3)Support of workers rights and unions 4)A plan to to encourage use of renewable resources 5)The closing of nuclear power plants and biolabs in Massachusetts. 6)Ceasing the production of weapons in Massachusetts. 7)Bringing the National Guard home from deployment abroad. 8)Rights of immigrants, specifically Massachusetts law enforcement should refuse to cooperate in the enforcement of federal racist anti-immigration law, including arrests and raids.]

JH: Can we use this summary of ecological design?
waste equals food,
use only available solar income,
respect diversity,
love all the children?

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]].

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision, e.g. Brian on economy, and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-09-08T18:17:50Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer @ occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Notes and discussion are on the discussion tab above. If you want a discussion on a topic, please install a new discussion topic on the discussion tab and install a link on this page to the topic. You can get the link by choosing "edit" for that topic and then "save" and then the link will be in your browser window.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts recognizes the interdependence of all beings on earth and the role of local self-reliance, cooperation, and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable. [JH: see Discussion TF: it's not clear to me which discussion on the discussion tab is related to this sentence.]

We recognize that the [[precedence]] of citizens, in duty to their national and local interests, have risen up to challenge what they consider an unjust government... and form legitimate and just governments.

We seeks vital societal structure to ensure fairness and to nourish feminism and diversity. The Green-Rainbow party believes that this structure is impossible when:

* illegitimate imperialist and colonist governments subjugate human, ecological, and democratic rights to the "rights of commerce";

* governments are strangled by special interests;

* economies suffer from excessive speculative risk and centralization of power;

* financial systems and democracies are controlled by the monied elite;

* social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence;

As such, we seek ways to...

* reach out to the legitimate threads within all governments and weave from them a fabric of civility and peace

* bring the wisdom and energy of all living beings and their cultures together to help us evolve our systems to be socially, fiscally, and environmentally sustainable.

* enable all to thrive together in peace.

* shift from taxing income and sales to taxing resource use and [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]]. [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Talk:Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group#Preamble.2C_Taxation.2C_Accumlated_Wealth See discussion]]

* establish a strong "commons" to protect public assets from being used for excess profit. [[Green Party Discussion About Commons]] [what does this mean? Isn't "commons" a set of things which are shared? Does "strong commons" mean significant public management?]

In summary, Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. Our [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. Formed in 2002 by the merger of Massachusetts Green Party and the Rainbow Coalition on the basis of their [Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations, (footnote on merger statement of 2002?)The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts supports the values espoused by the Green Party of The United States. (dated xyz_).[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Talk:Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group#Preamble.2C_Endorsing_National See discussion]]

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Talk:Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group#Preamble.2C_Mentioning_Commons_in_Preamble See discussion]]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

Few conditions inhibit the liberty and opportunity of individuals and cause more suffering to people than the blight of [[poverty]] and the excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income. We seek legislation needed to achieve the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are: [[rational taxation]] which includes the taxing of wealth, land value tax (see GPUS platform, Fair Taxation 14), and tax on pollution and non-renewable resources; the institution of a state-owned bank; [the establishment and funding of independent ecological research. JH: this item repeated later;] the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]] which only invests sustainably and; providing each and every individual in the commonwealth guaranteed income to meet basic needs.

In order to meet people's basic needs [JH: is this phrase needed?] and reduce [JH: drop tis adjective: ecologically] destructive waste of natural resources, our State government must require [[full-cost accounting]] for all government projects. This continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent. Full Cost Accounting takes the potential harmful effects of policies into account, and places a limit on that which may be appropriated or owned. Air, drinkable water, and the greater area of the earth's crust are the commons of all living things independently of human ownership, and any taking or damaging of this 'natural capital' is required by ecological accounting.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological effect is largely regional, requires the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted as local governments. for example: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize their own monetary gains.

[Joanna try at above paragraph: Effective democratic deliberation and decision making should be conducted at a level as close to the people as appropriate (subsidiarity), ranging from neighborhood to town to region to world. Citizen assemblies, chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, should exercise appropriate powers, in coordination with representative assemblies instituted as governments. Example: participatory budgeting.]

Our obligation to protect the commons as embodied in Article VII of the Massachusetts Constitution (footnote or link to Article VII here) obliges us to protect the fundamental necessities of life, land, water, air, ecosystems and the enjoyment thereof and must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. [JH: The previous sentence might be formulated differently. The following sentence might go elsewhere. A participatory Government encouraging local initiatives, and local markets, and cooperatives, must replace the subsidization of large corporate enterprises.] This obligation to preserve our common resourses implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies.

We reject the belief that our species is the center of the world, and that other life forms exist only for our use and enjoyment. Our species does not have the right to exploit and inflict violence on other animals simply because we have the desire and power to do so. Our ethic upholds not only the value of biological diversity and the integrity and continuity of species, but also the value of individual lives and the interest of individual animals. The existing practice of Massachusetts universities conducting medical experiments on primates should be banned.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination, whether it be on the basis of sex, color, national origin, illness or disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, language, immigrant status, criminal record, religion, belief system or political orientation. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to do so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that creates waste by jeopardizing social liberty or inhibiting the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of this waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources and is cruel and inhumane. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious practice that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self-governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universally available health care at no cost to the patient remains one of the chief tools to reduce human suffering and reduce ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

[[Elie: Perhaps the following editing clarifies the intent:
Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of income and expenditure. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste that results from habits of commercially educed consumption. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provide a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.]]

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve, that critical thinking and conflict resolution is encouraged and not stifled, and that teachers and staff are compsenated as valued professionals. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied. The Government should not encorage private education nor should it allow public charter schools run by corporate agendas.

To ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. Corporations that produce harm to people such as polluters and military contracters shall have their charters revoked.
The utilization of the noted social resources [fossil fuel?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters. MA should be good citizen of the world. MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties on MA and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint members so that Int'l Trade Commission enacted to do this (Chapter 23A, Section 13S) can function.

[Danny: Some other topics that deserve mention of at least a sentence each: 1)Respect for diversity both in our society and within the party. 2)Feminism, in our society and in political representation. [[Feminism]] 3)Support of workers rights and unions 4)A plan to to encourage use of renewable resources 5)The closing of nuclear power plants and biolabs in Massachusetts. 6)Ceasing the production of weapons in Massachusetts. 7)Bringing the National Guard home from deployment abroad. 8)Rights of immigrants, specifically Massachusetts law enforcement should refuse to cooperate in the enforcement of federal racist anti-immigration law, including arrests and raids.]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]

[Joanna: I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

JH: Can we use this summary of ecological design?
waste equals food,
use only available solar income,
respect diversity,
love all the children?

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [T: this is Terra's comment moved from the Preamble, as suggested by JH] [JH put this in body of text as example of citizen's assembly.]

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision, e.g. Brian on economy, and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Talk:Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-09-08T17:59:02Z

Briancady413: added note

BrianC:
Wikipedia worked when the people who made the changes weren't trained or oriented ahead of time, nor did they have to agree together on what should be said before editing, so we really don't need to, and shouldn't say:

:Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer @ occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. ...
[[User:Briancady413|Briancady413]] ([[User talk:Briancady413|talk]]) 13:59, 8 September 2012 (EDT)

Thanks for setting up discussion page, Brian.

Joanna: I hope that the thrust of the preamble will be argument that GRP approach works better than status quo, assuming that readers already want a just society and sustainable economy. Platform did agree that we want the platform to be concise, readable, interesting, understandable, and attractive to potential members, voters and candidates, and provide elucidation of rationale for a Green-Rainbow program… So how can we say how GRP would work?

I'm still attached to a simpler preamble format which we could polish, in case we want that:

"Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. Our Ten Key Values (link) imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance for the pathway.

"Formed in 2002 by the merger of Massachusetts Green Party and the Rainbow Coalition on the basis of their shared values and aspirations, (footnote/link to merger statement of 2002), the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts supports the values espoused by the Green Party of the United States and Green parties worldwide.

"While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek ways for all residents of the Commonwealth to bring their reason, wisdom and energy to work towards a sustainable future.

"When economies are staggering from speculation in a worldwide financial system controlled by a powerful few, we recognize the interdependence of all on Earth and the role of local and international cooperation in safeguarding the ecosystems on which life depends.

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, discouragement, and violence, we seeks mean to enable all to thrive by providing for basic needs and nurturing healthy communities."

Notes moved from end of text:
"[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy, and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.] [BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]"

Joanna : Do you see how we could group paragraphs under three categories. I gave up trying to, but don't think that we should use 10 Vaules or topic summaries, such as you supplied.

== Regarding "NOTES to Wiki participants" ==

When it comes to commenting on wiki articles, I think you try the `Discussion' tab, like this :)

[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Talk_pages Talk_pages] gives an outline of how discussion pages work, but for the most part, it's just like editing any other wiki page.

It's a good idea to end your comments with four tildes "<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>" (sans quotes). This will get converted into a wiki signature.

[[User:Srevilak|srevilak]] ([[User talk:Srevilak|talk]]) 11:36, 26 August 2012 (EDT)

== Preamble, Endorsing National ==

[Joanna: no qualification?] [Danny: I think we need to discuss this more. For example, does this mean if the GPUS platform gets amended that we automaticallly endorse?] [Terra: Occupy groups, in my observation] tend to endorse "actions" or "principles", rather than groups, for this very reason...that groups tend to change what they stand for over time without notifying you, so that you can pull your support, if you don't like the change.][At our 8/26 meeting, there seemed to be agreement that it would be o.k. to step back from a formal endorsement of the GPUS platform and instead say something to the effect that we agree with the values espoused in the GPUS platform. I will be making an edit accordingly. Feel free to revise.]

== Preamble, Mentioning Commons in Preamble ==

[Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?] [T: It's core to the root of what I think David's point is...the illegal government subjugating the rights of humans and eco-systems to profit]

== Preamble, Encouraging local economies ==

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

== Preamble, Peace ==

[Joanna: Who added 'together in peace'? That carries the idea away from what government can do to help all to thrive, aside from reforming law enforcement, maybe. The intro can't have many specifics or it loses its pace.] [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase][Danny: I didn't add it but I think placing of 'peace' is appropriate; it relates to mention of 'violence' 8 words earlier.],

== Preamble, Taxation, Accumulated Wealth ==

[Joanna: If we think gov't has role in equalizing income and enriching opportunity, there is need for revenues to do it with, but maybe we can leave that unsaid. Alternative sentence: "WHERE SOCIAL RELATIONS ARE BLIGHTED BY INEQUALITY, ALIENATION, AND VIOLENCE [changed back to unfairness?], WE SEEK TO BUILD HEALTHY COMMUNITIES WHERE ALL MAY THRIVE."]

[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. [Joanna: Specific types of taxation should go in body of text under 'rational taxation'.] [Brian: Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality]. [Joanna: This paragraph was not intended to be about peace and equality, but about what government can do for society to which it answers.] [Danny: I think that 'peace' and taking care of the vulnerable need to be a part of the preamble. 'A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.' The concept of 'self reliance' does not make sense to the most vulnerable: prisoners, many hospital patients, etc.]
BrianC: I vote we wait to mention taxation until after the preamble, and so urge us to delete from 'Shift... through the line.

== Preamble, Fairness ==

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]
CLOSED DISCUSSION
== three realms of wealth ==
John Michael Greer, in his _Wealth of Nature_, separated things of value into three groups:
1) Natural Capital: Things we value that nature provided.
2) Human-created Capital: Things we value that we made.
3) Financial Capital: Promises and other imaginary forms of paper wealth.
He shows how the first is plundered and the last, inflated beyond any ability to repay, and how just measuring overall wealth obscures flows between these three forms of capital.
Is this anything we want to address?

Poverty

2012-08-28T20:01:15Z

Briancady413: various

Poverty is the absence of wealth. Wealth comes in three forms; Natural Capital, Built Capital and Promised Capital; as in a growing tree, sawn lumber and an IOU for wood. We've not kept track of the conversion of the first and second into the third; as a result our world is poorer in Nature and Artifice, yet richer in Finance, in paper wealth. We're so rich overall, financially, that there's not enough natural or built reality to keep those promises with. Furthermore, this financial wealth keeps sloshing around the world's banking system to receive the maximum financial return, in an unseemly, but unseen process that makes good real world planning difficult. And the threat of capital flight to some other region of the world undercuts attempts to build commonwealth and to pay fair wages, since Finance's flightiness inspired workers and communities to bid against each other in a race to the bottom that only Finance wins. It doesn't have to be this way.

So, what's the problem? Can we fix this if I put it on my credit card? <cough> So what's to be done? One small step we can take is to discourage the sloshing with a financial transaction tax, by applying sales tax to financial sales. Another is to recognize piracy and theft for what it is.

Finance that reproduces itself at the cost of natural or built value is not a just imaginary gain, it is actually a real loss. If you chop down a cherry tree, breaking the axe, but get a paper promise of ten cherry trees, you didn't really gain. If most people get their cherry trees chopped, and their axes broken, but a few get handfuls of cherry tree certificates, we haven't succeeded in managing our affairs well. We can do better.

But how? Capital Flight only happens when there's somewhere else to flee to. If all communities act in unison to set fair workable limits to returns for Finance, and all workers in unison insist on fair wages, there won't be anywhere else for financial Capital to flee to, and this tragic game will finally end. The we can get back to building real wealth together, and to living well together.

Poverty

2012-08-28T14:43:05Z

Briancady413:

Poverty is the absence of wealth. Wealth comes in three forms; Natural Capital, Built Capital and Promised Capital; as in a growing tree, sawn lumber and an IOU for wood. We've not kept track of the conversion of the first and second into the third; as a result our world is poorer in Nature and Artifice, yet richer in Finance, in paper wealth. We're so rich overall, financially, that there's not enough natural or built reality to keep those promises with. Furthermore, this financial wealth keeps sloshing around the world's banking system to receive the maximum financial return, in an unseemly, but unseen process that makes good real world planning difficult. And the threat of capital flight to some other region of the world undercuts attempts to build commonwealth and to pay fair wages, since Finance's flightiness inspired workers and communities to bid against each other in a race to the bottom that only Finance wins. It doesn't have to be this way.

So, what's the problem? Can we fix this if I put it on my credit card? <cough> So what's to be done? One small step we can take is to discourage the sloshing with a financial transaction tax, by applying sales tax to financial sales. Another is to recognize piracy and theft for what it is.

Finance that reproduces itself at the cost of nature or artificial value is not a just imaginary gain, it is actually a real loss. If you chop down a cherry tree, breaking the axe, but get a paper promise of ten cherry trees, you didn't really gain much. If most people get their cherry trees chopped, and their axes broken, but a few get handfuls of cherry tree certificates, we haven't succeeded in managing our affairs well. We can do better.

But how? Capital Flight only happens when there's somewhere else to flee to. If all communities act in unison to set fair workable limits to returns for Finance, and all workers in unison insist on fair wages, there won't be anywhere else for financial Capital to flee to, and this tragic game will finally end. The we can get back to building real wealth together, and to living well together.

Poverty

2012-08-28T14:39:54Z

Briancady413: Capital flight Draft

Poverty is the absence of wealth. Wealth comes in three forms; Natural Capital, Built Capital and Promised Capital; as in a growing tree, sawn lumber and an IOU for wood. We've not kept track of the conversion of the first and second into the third; as a result our world is poorer in Nature and Artifice, yet richer in Finance, in paper wealth. We're so rich overall, financially, that there's not enough natural or built reality to keep those promises with. Furthermore, this financial wealth keeps sloshing around the world's banking system to receive the maximum financial return, in an unseemly, but unseen process that makes good real world planning difficult. And the threat of capital flight to some other region of the world undercuts attempts to build commonwealth and to pay fair wages, since Finance's flightiness inspired workers and communities to bid against each other in a race to the bottom that only Finance wins. It doesn't have to be this way.

So, what's the problem? Can we fix this if I put it on my credit card? <cough> So what's to be done? One small step we can take is to discourage the sloshing with a financial transaction tax, by applying sales tax to financial sales. Another is to recognize piracy and theft for what it is.

Finance that reproduces itself at the cost of nature or artificial value is not just an imaginary gain, it is a real loss. If you chop down a cherry tree, then break the axe, but get a paper promise of ten cherry trees, you didn't really gain much. If most people get their cherry trees chopped, and their axes broken, but a few get handfuls of cherry tree certificates, we haven't succeeded in managing our affairs well. We can do better.

But how? Capital Flight only happens when there's somewhere else to flee to. If all communities act in unison to set fair workable limits to returns for Finance, and all workers in unison insist on fair wages, there won't be anywhere else for financial Capital to flee to, and this tragic game will finally end. The we can get back to building real wealth together.

Poverty

2012-08-28T14:27:34Z

Briancady413: made poverty and the three capitals page

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-28T14:22:35Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */ added poverty discussion link

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer @ occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==
* Whereas illigitimate governments have subjugated human, ecological, and democratic rights to the "rights of commerce";

* Whereas governments are strangled by special interests;

* Whereas economies are staggering from speculative risk and its centralization of power;

* Whereas our financial systems and democracies are controlled by the monied elite;

* Whereas social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence;

We, the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the role of local self-reliance, cooperation, and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable.

We recognize that the [[patriotic precedence]] whereby citizens, in duty to their national interests, have risen up to challenge what they consider an unjust government...

As such, we seek ways to...

* bring the wisdom and energy of all living beings to evolve our systems to be socially, fiscally, and environmentally sustainable.

* enable all to thrive together in peace.

* shift from taxing income and sales to taxing resource use and [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]]. [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Talk:Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group#Preamble.2C_Taxation.2C_Accumlated_Wealth See discussion]]

* establish a strong "commons" to protect public assets from being used for excess profit. [[Green Party Discussion About Commons]]

In sum, Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. Our [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. Formed in 2002 by the merger of Massachusetts Green Party and the Rainbow Coalition on the basis of their [Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations, (footnote on merger statement of 2002?)The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts supports the values espoused by the Green Party of The United States and Green parties worldwide.
(dated xyz_.[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Talk:Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group#Preamble.2C_Endorsing_National See discussion]]

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Talk:Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group#Preamble.2C_Mentioning_Commons_in_Preamble See discussion]]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==
[JH NOTE: CAN ANYONE SEE HOW TO GROUP THESE UNDER GO'VT, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY?]

Few conditions inhibit the liberty and opportunity of individuals and cause more suffering to people than the blight of [[poverty]] and the excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income. We seek legislation needed to achieve the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are: [[rational taxation]] which includes the taxing of wealth, large parecels of land, and polluting and non-renewable resourses; the institution of a state-owned bank; the establishment and funding of independent ecological research; the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]] which only invests sustainably and; providing each and every individual in the commonwealth guaranteed income to meet basic needs.

In order to meet people's basic needs and reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resourses, our State government must require [[full-cost accounting]] for all government projects. This continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent. Full Cost Accounting takes the potential harmful effects of policies into account, and places a limit on that which may be appropriated or owned. Air, drinkable water, and the greater area of the earth's crust are the commons of all living things independently of human ownership, and any taking or damaging of this 'natural capital' is required by ecological accounting.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological effect is largely regional, requires the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted as local governments. for example,
[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize their own monetary gains.

Our obligation to protect the commons as embodied in Article VII of the Massachusetts Constitution (footnote or link to Article VII here)obliges us to protect the fundamental necessities of life, land, water, air, ecosystems and the enjoyment thereof and must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. A participatory Government encouraging local initiatives, and local markets, and cooperatives, must replace the subsidization of large corporate enterprises. This obligation to preserve our common resourses implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies.

We reject the belief that our species is the center of the world, and that other life forms exist only for our use and enjoyment. Our species does not have the right to exploit and inflict violence on other animals simply because we have the desire and power to do so. Our ethic upholds not only the value of biological diversity and the integrity and continuity of species, but also the value of individual lives and the interest of individual animals.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination, whether it be on the basis of sex, color, national origin, illness or disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, language, immigrant status, criminal record, religion, belief system or political orientation. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to do so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that creates waste by jeopardizing social liberty or inhibiting the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of this waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources and is cruel and inhumane. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious practice that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self-governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universally available health care at no cost to the patient remains one of the chief tools to reduce human suffering and reduce ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

[[Elie: Perhaps the following editing clarifies the intent:
Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of income and expenditure. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste that results from habits of commercially educed consumption. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provide a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.]]

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve, that critical thinking and conflict resolution is encouraged and not stifled, and that teachers and staff are compsenated as valued professionals. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied. The Government should not encorage private education nor should it allow public charter schools run by corporate agendas.

To ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. Corporations that produce harm to people such as polluters and military contracters shall have their charters revoked.
The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
[Joanna: I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

JH: Can we use this summary of ecologica design?
waste equals food
use only available solar income
respect diversity
love all the children

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [T: this is Terra's comment moved from the Preamble, as suggested by JH] [JH put this in body of text as example of citizen's assemblly.]

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision, e.g. Brian on economy, and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Talk:Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-28T13:51:51Z

Briancady413: /* Preamble, Taxation, Accumlated Wealth */

Thanks for setting up discussion page, Brian. I'm kind of confused. Most of the discussions are empty. I respond here about more than preface, because I see no entries on what is noted as {edit} by main text.

It takes a lot of steps to do this, but seems better than obscuring flow of text by entering comments on text in [].

Regarding the preamble, my intent was that it carry the idea of three realms of human endeavor and measures relevant to a political party in those realms. Following, I post original paragraph from preface and comments:

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace [Joanna: Who added 'together in peace'? That carries the idea away from what government can do to help all to thrive, aside from reforming law enforcement, maybe. The intro can't have many specifics or it loses its pace.] [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]]. [Joanna: If we think gov't has role in equalizing income and enriching opportunity, there is need for revenues to do it with, but maybe we can leave that unsaid. Alternative sentence: "WHERE SOCIAL RELATIONS ARE BLIGHTED BY INEQUALITY, ALIENATION, AND VIOLENCE, WE SEEK MEANS TO ENABLE ALL TO THRIVE."]
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. [Joanna: Specific types of taxation should go in body of text under 'rational taxation'.] [Brian: Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality]. [Joanna: This paragraph was not intended to be about peace and equality, but about what government can do for the society to which it answers.]

See my note at end of current text + Brian's note, looking for 3 way division:
"[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy, and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.] [BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]"

Joanna : Do you see how we could group paragraphs under three categories. I gave up trying to, but don't think that we should use 10 Vaules or topic summaries, such as you supplied.

== Regarding "NOTES to Wiki participants" ==

When it comes to commenting on wiki articles, I think you try the `Discussion' tab, like this :)

[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Talk_pages Talk_pages] gives an outline of how discussion pages work, but for the most part, it's just like editing any other wiki page.

It's a good idea to end your comments with four tildes "<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>" (sans quotes). This will get converted into a wiki signature.

[[User:Srevilak|srevilak]] ([[User talk:Srevilak|talk]]) 11:36, 26 August 2012 (EDT)

== Preamble, Endorsing National ==

[Joanna: no qualification?] [Danny: I think we need to discuss this more. For example, does this mean if the GPUS platform gets amended that we automaticallly endorse?] [Terra: Occupy groups, in my observation] tend to endorse "actions" or "principles", rather than groups, for this very reason...that groups tend to change what they stand for over time without notifying you, so that you can pull your support, if you don't like the change.][At our 8/26 meeting, there seemed to be agreement that it would be o.k. to step back from a formal endorsement of the GPUS platform and instead say something to the effect that we agree with the values espoused in the GPUS platform. I will be making an edit accordingly. Feel free to revise.]

== Preamble, Mentioning Commons in Preamble ==

[Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?] [T: It's core to the root of what I think David's point is...the illegal government subjugating the rights of humans and eco-systems to profit]

== Preamble, Encouraging local economies ==

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

== Preamble, Peace ==

[Joanna: Who added 'together in peace'? That carries the idea away from what government can do to help all to thrive, aside from reforming law enforcement, maybe. The intro can't have many specifics or it loses its pace.] [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase][Danny: I didn't add it but I think placing of 'peace' is appropriate; it relates to mention of 'violence' 8 words earlier.],

== Preamble, Taxation, Accumulated Wealth ==

[Joanna: If we think gov't has role in equalizing income and enriching opportunity, there is need for revenues to do it with, but maybe we can leave that unsaid. Alternative sentence: "WHERE SOCIAL RELATIONS ARE BLIGHTED BY INEQUALITY, ALIENATION, AND VIOLENCE [changed back to unfairness?], WE SEEK TO BUILD HEALTHY COMMUNITIES WHERE ALL MAY THRIVE."]

[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. [Joanna: Specific types of taxation should go in body of text under 'rational taxation'.] [Brian: Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality]. [Joanna: This paragraph was not intended to be about peace and equality, but about what government can do for society to which it answers.] [Danny: I think that 'peace' and taking care of the vulnerable need to be a part of the preamble. 'A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.' The concept of 'self reliance' does not make sense to the most vulnerable: prisoners, many hospital patients, etc.]
BrianC: I vote we wait to mention taxation until after the preamble, and so urge us to delete from 'Shift... through the line.

== Preamble, Fairness ==

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]
CLOSED DISCUSSION
== three realms of wealth ==
John Michael Greer, in his _Wealth of Nature_, separated things of value into three groups:
1) Natural Capital: Things we value that nature provided.
2) Human-created Capital: Things we value that we made.
3) Financial Capital: Promises and other imaginary forms of paper wealth.
He shows how the first is plundered and the last, inflated beyond any ability to repay, and how just measuring overall wealth obscures flows between these three forms of capital.
Is this anything we want to address?

Talk:Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-28T13:47:17Z

Briancady413: 3 Capital forms

Thanks for setting up discussion page, Brian. I'm kind of confused. Most of the discussions are empty. I respond here about more than preface, because I see no entries on what is noted as {edit} by main text.

It takes a lot of steps to do this, but seems better than obscuring flow of text by entering comments on text in [].

Regarding the preamble, my intent was that it carry the idea of three realms of human endeavor and measures relevant to a political party in those realms. Following, I post original paragraph from preface and comments:

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace [Joanna: Who added 'together in peace'? That carries the idea away from what government can do to help all to thrive, aside from reforming law enforcement, maybe. The intro can't have many specifics or it loses its pace.] [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]]. [Joanna: If we think gov't has role in equalizing income and enriching opportunity, there is need for revenues to do it with, but maybe we can leave that unsaid. Alternative sentence: "WHERE SOCIAL RELATIONS ARE BLIGHTED BY INEQUALITY, ALIENATION, AND VIOLENCE, WE SEEK MEANS TO ENABLE ALL TO THRIVE."]
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. [Joanna: Specific types of taxation should go in body of text under 'rational taxation'.] [Brian: Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality]. [Joanna: This paragraph was not intended to be about peace and equality, but about what government can do for the society to which it answers.]

See my note at end of current text + Brian's note, looking for 3 way division:
"[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy, and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.] [BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]"

Joanna : Do you see how we could group paragraphs under three categories. I gave up trying to, but don't think that we should use 10 Vaules or topic summaries, such as you supplied.

== Regarding "NOTES to Wiki participants" ==

When it comes to commenting on wiki articles, I think you try the `Discussion' tab, like this :)

[https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Help:Talk_pages Talk_pages] gives an outline of how discussion pages work, but for the most part, it's just like editing any other wiki page.

It's a good idea to end your comments with four tildes "<nowiki>~~~~</nowiki>" (sans quotes). This will get converted into a wiki signature.

[[User:Srevilak|srevilak]] ([[User talk:Srevilak|talk]]) 11:36, 26 August 2012 (EDT)

== Preamble, Endorsing National ==

[Joanna: no qualification?] [Danny: I think we need to discuss this more. For example, does this mean if the GPUS platform gets amended that we automaticallly endorse?] [Terra: Occupy groups, in my observation] tend to endorse "actions" or "principles", rather than groups, for this very reason...that groups tend to change what they stand for over time without notifying you, so that you can pull your support, if you don't like the change.][At our 8/26 meeting, there seemed to be agreement that it would be o.k. to step back from a formal endorsement of the GPUS platform and instead say something to the effect that we agree with the values espoused in the GPUS platform. I will be making an edit accordingly. Feel free to revise.]

== Preamble, Mentioning Commons in Preamble ==

[Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?] [T: It's core to the root of what I think David's point is...the illegal government subjugating the rights of humans and eco-systems to profit]

== Preamble, Encouraging local economies ==

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

== Preamble, Peace ==

[Joanna: Who added 'together in peace'? That carries the idea away from what government can do to help all to thrive, aside from reforming law enforcement, maybe. The intro can't have many specifics or it loses its pace.] [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase][Danny: I didn't add it but I think placing of 'peace' is appropriate; it relates to mention of 'violence' 8 words earlier.],

== Preamble, Taxation, Accumlated Wealth ==

[Joanna: If we think gov't has role in equalizing income and enriching opportunity, there is need for revenues to do it with, but maybe we can leave that unsaid. Alternative sentence: "WHERE SOCIAL RELATIONS ARE BLIGHTED BY INEQUALITY, ALIENATION, AND VIOLENCE [changed back to unfairness?], WE SEEK TO BUILD HEALTHY COMMUNITIES WHERE ALL MAY THRIVE."]

[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. [Joanna: Specific types of taxation should go in body of text under 'rational taxation'.] [Brian: Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality]. [Joanna: This paragraph was not intended to be about peace and equality, but about what government can do for society to which it answers.] [Danny: I think that 'peace' and taking care of the vulnerable need to be a part of the preamble. 'A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.' The concept of 'self reliance' does not make sense to the most vulnerable: prisoners, many hospital patients, etc.]

== Preamble, Fairness ==

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]
CLOSED DISCUSSION
== three realms of wealth ==
John Michael Greer, in his _Wealth of Nature_, separated things of value into three groups:
1) Natural Capital: Things we value that nature provided.
2) Human-created Capital: Things we value that we made.
3) Financial Capital: Promises and other imaginary forms of paper wealth.
He shows how the first is plundered and the last, inflated beyond any ability to repay, and how just measuring overall wealth obscures flows between these three forms of capital.
Is this anything we want to address?

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-28T11:53:03Z

Briancady413: /* 1) Preamble */ editted taxation shift paragraph

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer @ occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==
* Whereas illigitimate governments have subjugated human, ecological, and democratic rights to the "rights of commerce";

* Whereas governments are strangled by special interests;

* Whereas economies are staggering from speculative risk and its centralization of power;

* Whereas our financial systems and democracies are controlled by the monied elite;

* Whereas social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence;

We, the Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the role of local self-reliance, cooperation, and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable.

We recognize that the [[patriotic precedence]] whereby citizens, in duty to their national interests, have risen up to challenge what they consider an unjust government...

As such, we seek ways to...

* bring the wisdom and energy of all living beings to evolve our systems to be socially, fiscally, and environmentally sustainable.

* enable all to thrive together in peace.

* shift from taxing income and sales to taxing resource use and [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]]. [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Talk:Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group#Preamble.2C_Taxation.2C_Accumlated_Wealth See discussion]]

* establish a strong "commons" to protect public assets from being used for excess profit. [[Green Party Discussion About Commons]]

In sum, Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. Our [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. Formed in 2002 by the merger of Massachusetts Green Party and the Rainbow Coalition on the basis of their [Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations, (footnote on merger statement of 2002?)The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts supports the values espoused by the Green Party of The United States and Green parties worldwide.
(dated xyz_.[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Talk:Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group#Preamble.2C_Endorsing_National See discussion]]

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Talk:Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group#Preamble.2C_Mentioning_Commons_in_Preamble See discussion]]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==
[JH NOTE: CAN ANYONE SEE HOW TO GROUP THESE UNDER GO'VT, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY?]

Few conditions inhibit the liberty and opportunity of individuals and cause more sufferening to people than the blight of poverty and the excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income. We seek legislation needed to achieve the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are: [[rational taxation]] which includes the taxing of wealth, large parecels of land, and polluting and non-renewable resourses; the institution of a state-owned bank; the establishment and funding of independent ecological research; the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]] which only invests sustainably and; providing each and every individual in the commonwealth guaranteed income to meet basic needs.

In order to meet people's basic needs and reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resourses, our State government must require [[full-cost accounting]] for all government projects. This continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent. Full Cost Accounting takes the potential harmful effects of policies into account, and places a limit on that which may be appropriated or owned. Air, drinkable water, and the greater area of the earth's crust are the commons of all living things independently of human ownership, and any taking or damaging of this 'natural capital' is required by ecological accounting.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological effect is largely regional, requires the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize their own monetary gains.

Our obligation to protect the commons as embodied in Article Seven of the Massachusetts Constitution obliges us to protect the fundamental necessities of life, land, water, air, ecosystems and the enjoyment thereof and must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. A participatory Government encouraging local initiatives, and local markets, and cooperatives, must replace the subsidization of large corporate enterprises. This obligation to preserve our common resourses implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies.

We reject the belief that our species is the center of the world, and that other life forms exist only for our use and enjoyment. Our species does not have the right to exploit and inflict violence on other animals simply because we have the desire and power to do so. Our ethic upholds not only the value of biological diversity and the integrity and continuity of species, but also the value of individual lives and the interest of individual animals.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination, whether it be on the basis of sex, color, national origin, illness or disability, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, spoken language, immigrant status, criminal record, religion, belief system or political orientation. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to do so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that creates waste by jeopardizing social liberty or inhibiting the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of this waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources and is cruel and inhumane. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious practice that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self-governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universally available health care at no cost to the patient remains one of the chief tools to reduce human suffering and reduce ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

[[Elie: Perhaps the following editing clarifies the intent:
Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of income and expendeture. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste that results from habits of commercially educed consumption. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provide a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.]]

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve, that critical thinking and conflict resolution is encouraged and not stifled, and that teachers and staff are compsenated as valued professionals. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied. The Government should not encorage private education nor should it allow public charter schools run by corporate agendas.

To ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. Corporations that produce harm to people such as polluters and military contracters shall have their charters revoked.
The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
[Joanna: I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

JH: Can we use this summary of ecologica design?
waste equals food
use only available solar income
respect diversity
love all the children

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [T: this is Terra's comment moved from the Preamble, as suggested by JH]

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision, e.g. Brian on economy, and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Issues with Using the words Fairness and Unfairness

2012-08-26T20:47:28Z

Briancady413: added comment

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group Back to main GRP page]]

Ideas on how to rethink "fairness":

Potential new phrases as replacement for the word "fairness":

- A strong COMMONS
- Too much control by too few people

Terra:I think we should rethink using the word fairness, so as to think of the concept of A STRONG "commons" instead, and/or shift society away from "too much to private control of too few people". I don't want to scare people who are afraid of sustainability...because they seem, in my research, to fear people taking their money, property, whatever, in the name of "fairness". Their concept of fair is that if they "work harder" (in their definition), then they own more stuff. Perhaps use teh word facilitating? encouraging fairness in all of its forms? Critics are all over the concept of "periodic wealth redistribution". I think that we should embrace that, and make references to age old texts, like the Old Testament, which encourage humans to redistribute wealth every 50 years. I think I could get the Southern Baptists to go along with that. I have connections to national level disaster relief managers in Christian networks who seem attune to the need for redistribution. It's just a matter of "how" to do it...] [TF: this is to steer away from criticism that redistribution is about "oh, they just wnat to take your money away and give it to people who don't do any work".]

Joanna: Yes to a better word. But Green-Rainboe Party has been using the word "fairness" in the opposite sense. The Better Budget group spoke of an unfair MA budget because of who it benefitted.

BrianC: Have you all heard of the concept that if one arranges agreements so that either outcome position is equally worth accepting, then an agreement is fair? I've heard that even pre-verbal infants and non-human primates have strong allegiances to concepts of fairness, in that they/we will strongly object to divisions of goods they perceive as unfair, and will give up a lot to be fair with others when making choices. This allegiance to fairness is an opportunity for us in (re-)building society. Should we not throw it away until we've something better to negotiate agreement with? I support using fairness in our outreach; fairness is fundamental to us social beings - it's the basis of how we work together.
To those who fear working with others because others may talk of fairness, one might ask, how else would we agree to work together? What other concept but fairness should, could guide our coming to agreement on how to work together?
We need not only to embrace fairness, but define it, and explain to those who fear it that, for better or worse, there is no better way to forge a social union than to base it on fairness. Isn't fairness the root of civility and siblinghood?

Danny: I agree with 100% with Brian.

Elie: The meaning of 'fair' as with many words that have no objective reference will depend on context. But properly understood I can find no reason to eliminate it from our discourse. It is easier to explain with the less loaded word, 'interesting.' The locution, "X is interesting" is grammatically correct, predicating something about X. But from a logical point of view the sentence is meaningless in that it tell the reader nothing about X. If I tell someone that a movie I saw is 'interesting,' and she has not seen it, she knows nothing more than before I said it. Saying that something is 'interesting' is not similar to saying that something is 'soft.' If the person to whom I am speaking has seen the movie, she might learn something about what I find interesting and in time on further acquaintance would learn something about my attitudes and thus about what interests me.

But using the word 'fair,' is somewhat different. It is used frequently in such a way as to beg the question, rather than to inform. But it is also used in the sense of 'proportionate,' 'reasonable,' 'just,' 'correct' and even 'pleasurable' as an easily understandable predicate. And it is precisely in these ways that Brian is using it.

The fact that it is less a theoretical term than 'justice' need not cause us to abandon it. It can be used carelessly, as a counter in a conflict or a the expression of an attitude. So in the case pointed to by Joanna; the MA budget, unfair because of who benefitted by it, we have to exercise care. Unfairness becomes a complaint and is to easily used to strengthen the authority of the State to determine what is fair. If the State as an institution -- through the actions of its legislature and its bureaucracy is made the arbiter of what is fair -- then we get situations in which public school teachers can complain that the Budget is unfair because it allocated more money to social workers than to teachers. It is this usage to which Terra might be objecting.
I am not sure.

But the idea of redistribution to maintain a balance might be taken as an instance of a sense of fairness. The acceptability of the notion of redistribution is but one cultural recognition of the notion that excess is socially damaging. After all the capitalist mode of production is ethically predicated on the notion that accumulations of wealth properly invested are beneficial to everyone, increasing the wealth of the worker who is enabled to produce more goods, not only the possessor of a greater wealth. It will be important in our Electoral Platforms to consider cultural factors at all times. Here the chief use of the principle of redistribution is limited to reversing the current transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent by the State by: the institution of a state bank, ecologically sound taxation, budgeting, and strengthening the commons.

BrianC: I think I wrote a little too hastily before. I think I see a point in, when feasible, using the concept of commons and commonwealth, before resorting to concepts of fairness, which assume division. That assumption of division might interrupt a sense of togetherness, of being in something jointly, referenced by commons and commonwealth. So now I'm not sure what to think. ;-)

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-26T20:25:40Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?] [Danny: I think we need to discuss this more. For example, does this mean if the GPUS platform gets amended that we automaticallly endorse?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the role of local self-reliance, cooperation, and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [Joanna: Who added 'together in peace'? That carries the idea away from what government can do to help all to thrive, aside from reforming law enforcement, maybe. The intro can't have many specifics or it loses its pace.] [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase][Danny: I didn't add it but I think placing of 'peace' is appropriate; it relates to mention of 'violence' 8 words earlier.],shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]]. [Joanna: If we think gov't has role in equalizing income and enriching opportunity, there is need for revenues to do it with, but maybe we can leave that unsaid. Alternative sentence: "WHERE SOCIAL RELATIONS ARE BLIGHTED BY INEQUALITY, ALIENATION, AND VIOLENCE [changed back to unfairness?], WE SEEK TO BUILD HEALTHY COMMUNITIES WHERE ALL MAY THRIVE."]

[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. [Joanna: Specific types of taxation should go in body of text under 'rational taxation'.] [Brian: Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality]. [Joanna: This paragraph was not intended to be about peace and equality, but about what government can do for society to which it answers.] [Danny: I think that 'peace' and taking care of the vulnerable need to be a part of the preamble. 'A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.' The concept of 'self reliance' does not make sense to the most vulnerable: prisoners, many hospital patients, etc.]

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==
[JH NOTE: CAN ANYONE SEE HOW TO GROUP THESE UNDER GO'VT, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY?]

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the harm caused by excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]] which only invests sustainably.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological effect is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize their own monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common [Danny: I would footnote appropriate section of Mass. Constitution here] and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to do so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that creates waste by jeopardizing social liberty or inhibiting the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of this waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious practice that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self-governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universally available health care at no cost to the patient remains one of the chief tools to reduce human suffering and reduce ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve, that critical thinking and conflict resolution is encouraged and not stifled, and that teachers and staff are compsenated as valued proffesionals. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied. The Government should not encorage private education nor should it allow public charter schools run by corporate agendas.

To ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
[Joanna: I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-26T20:24:50Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */ added bracket

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?] [Danny: I think we need to discuss this more. For example, does this mean if the GPUS platform gets amended that we automaticallly endorse?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the role of local self-reliance, cooperation, and meeting the needs of the most vulnerable.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [Joanna: Who added 'together in peace'? That carries the idea away from what government can do to help all to thrive, aside from reforming law enforcement, maybe. The intro can't have many specifics or it loses its pace.] [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase][Danny: I didn't add it but I think placing of 'peace' is appropriate; it relates to mention of 'violence' 8 words earlier.],shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]]. [Joanna: If we think gov't has role in equalizing income and enriching opportunity, there is need for revenues to do it with, but maybe we can leave that unsaid. Alternative sentence: "WHERE SOCIAL RELATIONS ARE BLIGHTED BY INEQUALITY, ALIENATION, AND VIOLENCE [changed back to unfairness?], WE SEEK TO BUILD HEALTHY COMMUNITIES WHERE ALL MAY THRIVE."]

[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. [Joanna: Specific types of taxation should go in body of text under 'rational taxation'.] [Brian: Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality]. [Joanna: This paragraph was not intended to be about peace and equality, but about what government can do for society to which it answers.] [Danny: I think that 'peace' and taking care of the vulnerable need to be a part of the preamble. 'A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link.' The concept of 'self reliance' does not make sense to the most vulnerable: prisoners, many hospital patients, etc.]

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==
[JH NOTE: CAN ANYONE SEE HOW TO GROUP THESE UNDER GO'VT, ECONOMY AND SOCIETY?]

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the harm caused by excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]]which only invests sustainably.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological effect is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize their own monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common [Danny: I would footnote appropriate section of Mass. Constitution here] and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to do so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that creates waste by jeopardizing social liberty or inhibiting the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of this waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious practice that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self-governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universally available health care at no cost to the patient remains one of the chief tools to reduce human suffering and reduce ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve, that critical thinking and conflict resolution is encouraged and not stifled, and that teachers and staff are compsenated as valued proffesionals. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied. The Government should not encorage private education nor should it allow public charter schools run by corporate agendas.

To ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
[Joanna: I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-26T12:29:51Z

Briancady413: removal of sectioning

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the role of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace [Joanna: Who added 'together in peace'? That carries the idea away from what government can do to help all to thrive, aside from reforming law enforcement, maybe. The intro can't have many specifics or it loses its pace.] [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]]. [Joanna: If we think gov't has role in equalizing income and enriching opportunity, there is need for revenues to do it with, but maybe we can leave that unsaid. Alternative sentence: "WHERE SOCIAL RELATIONS ARE BLIGHTED BY INEQUALITY, ALIENATION, AND VIOLENCE, WE SEEK MEANS TO ENABLE ALL TO THRIVE."]

[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. [Joanna: Specific types of taxation should go in body of text under 'rational taxation'.] [Brian: Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality]. [Joanna: This paragraph was not intended to be about peace and equality, but about what government can do for society to which it answers.]

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

To ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
[Joanna: I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Full-cost accounting

2012-08-25T19:08:40Z

Briancady413: editted alternate paragraph

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group Back to main GRP page]]
BrianC: Hi Terra, I think others, when saying 'Full Cost Accounting' mean something different. Below I'm pasting two paragraphs on it.
Terra: I can work on this with detail/references (or anyone else can). But until we get detailed references, here is my take on the need for "full cost accounting", which I view as both "cash flow detail" AND "balance sheet reporting".

CASH FLOW DETAIL

Full-Cost-Accounting, in the cash-flow sense, IMHO, is to make sure that we (the public) can "drill down" to all and any government expenditure. To the checking account "check-level". In a format that's easily "managable" and "analyzable". Like Excel files.

Many government people (and legislators that go around saying that we should "trust our people" and not push for this) think that full-cost accounoting is already "done" now. Yes, they are right in the sense that we, you and I, can walk up to any Town Hall or state finance clerk and ask to see the records.

BUT what is missing is both online accounting and "real time" accounting, line item accounting, and check level reporting.

So what we get with this current system are these unbelievably convoluted paper copy or PDF reports that are impossible to decifer. Yes, SOME agencies have gone to Excel. But this is far and few between. AND it's only for some budgets, etc.

This lack of transparency/accessibility is to the advantage of many insiders.

The reports are so far past the point in time that you can actually DO anything about the expenditure or potential expenditure that it takes YEARS to dig through the mess, making it extremely easy for sneaky people to put one past the public.

I have a LOT of experience digging through this type of mess. My collaborators and I have long lists of successes uncovering nonsense that the public was outraged about.

So yes, full cost accounting, but in a way that allows the public to be able to monitor on a real time basis what the heck is going on. I don't mean real time, like every second. But yes, when a check is cashed, that should show up on an excel sheet somewhere, where we can analyze. Yes, the public should be able to see "actuals", as the budget-year progresses, so that we can see where money is "not" being spent...which are opportunities to re-examine budget priorities.

Ideally, and someday, I'd like actual "dashboards", which are super easy to create and modify, to allow online/real analysis by "regular people". Right now, I have to download unbelievably stupid messy Excel sheets IF I CAN GET THEM...or hand load paper copy or PDF info into Excel to be able to analyze stuff. Yes, I end up getting the info that I want. But it's a HUGE struggle and I have to torture people to get what I view as basic budget detail. I have a Masters in Finance, and years of public financial analysis experience. And I have tenacity and the "dangerous" lack of fear when it comes to getting the data. Those skills should NOT be required to get basic info. ANYONE...everyone should have access to the info. I post that kind of info onto my lists, when I do the analysis, but it really should come from the source...our government, our employees...

There is NO EXCUSE. It's cheaper to do it right. I could go on and on about this. the point is that we need this NOW.

BALANCE SHEET REPORTING

A basic financial tool for managing organizations is "the balance sheet". The balance sheet shows "assets" and "liabilities". As one looks over time, and at public policy shifts, the way that assets and liabilities are calculated changes. EACH DECISION that your legislator votes on shifts the balance sheet. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW both before and after, how these shifts will and did work.

Assets include everything that the organization considers "financial positives". For example, cash in the bank. Investments. And in the public realm, assets like "the commons"...land, paintings, etc.

Liabilities are "financial obligations". These include everything from future obligations for "existing debt", as well as things unique to the government realm. For example, future obligations for water infrastructure. Every time someone proposes a housing project, the future obligation for new populations increase...roads, water, etc. These future obligations are NEVER included in planning docs, except as "imagined increases". So the "imagined increases" are assumed as a "natural progression of growth", rather than as an "option" in our policy making. In this way, growth will NEVER be reconciled. We are just digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a debt and eco-disaster hole. [side note, we could develop a new balance sheet method, something akin to an eco-balance sheet, with measurements toward a healthy eco system, to show how votes either contribute to assets (healthy eco system) or detriment (toxins set loose in environment)]

Yes, we need to be "efficient" in how we calculate these "balance sheet" numbers, because we don't want to weigh down our government to "over report". But I believe this can be done efficiently, with most of it done automatically. Companies do it every day. The Government Financial Officer's Association has experts that know how to do these things. And I can help. The expertise exists to do this right. Voters need to know how the votes impact the dollars. We can't reconcile policy with finances, and thus our environmental/eco-systems, if we don't understand how the shifts are made relative to the voting. Currently, what happens is that we don't see the shifts years after the vote. This is sloppy policy making.

Further, where we DO get balance sheet impacts before the vote, they are NOT reconciled in a holistic fashion. So for example, where a developer proposes a shopping mall. The traffic engineer, paid for by the town planner who wants development (another story), says "no impact" to the traffic situation. BUT that is "FOR THE PROJECT", not including all projects currently on the table or allowed by zoning. Slopping planning. Allowed, encouraged by property/profit-oriented society.

Full Cost Accounting:
The dependence of human activity on the total environment places a limit on that which may be appropriated or owned. Air, drinkable water, and greater area of the earth's crust are the commons of all living things independently of human ownership, and any taking or damaging of this 'natural capital' is required by ecological accounting.
Treated as 'externalities' in current economic practice, and as the source of all wealth by classical economics, the full cost can be measured by the economic activity required in the absence of expropriation by the use of private capital. And taxed accordingly for the common good, except where the activity is declared unlawful.

Alternate: Full Cost Accounting takes externalities into account. Externalities are costs like the damage from pollution that can be avoided by some producers, but should be included in prices so that buyers face the economic cost of their actions as they decide to buy. For example, most automobile exhaust worsens asthma. If the price of treating that asthma were incorporated in the price of fuel at the pump, then a step toward full cost accounting would be completed.
Full Cost Accounting strives to include environmental, social and economic costs and benefits into our governmental and individual decisions.

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T15:45:53Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */ still more on sectioning

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==
DISCUSSION: [BrianC: I've sectioned the platform for ease of editing and scannability - Is that an improvement? Should we just use the [[Green Party Ten Key Values]] headings, instead of these eleven, below, and write with in those ten key value topics?
=== Fiscal Reform ===
At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

=== Inequality ===
To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

=== Democracy ===
Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

=== Commonwealths ===
Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

=== Fairness ===
The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

=== Public Investments ===
All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

=== Peace, Crime and Civil Order ===
Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

=== Measuring Success in Governing ===
Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

=== Education ===
A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

=== Electoral reform ===
to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

=== Utility Governance ===
Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

=== Future Focus ===
Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

=== Protect and Grow the Commons ===
Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

=== Encouraging Employment ===
incorporate something like: Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T15:42:32Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */ even more sectioning

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

=== Fiscal Reform ===
At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

=== Inequality ===
To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

=== Democracy ===
Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

=== Commonwealths ===
Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

=== Fairness ===
The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

=== Public Investments ===
All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

=== Peace, Crime and Civil Order ===
Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

=== Measuring Success in Governing ===
Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

=== Education ===
A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

=== Electoral reform ===
to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

=== Utility Governance ===
Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

=== Future Focus ===
Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

=== Protect and Grow the Commons ===
Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

=== Encouraging Employment ===
incorporate something like: Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T15:41:06Z

Briancady413: yet more attempts at sectioning

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

==== Fiscal Reform ====
At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

=== Inequality ===
To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

=== Democracy ===
Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

=== Commonwealths ===
Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

=== Fairness ===
The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

=== Public Investments ===
All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

=== Peace, Crime and Civil Order ===
Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

=== Measuring Success in Governing ===
Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

=== Education ===
A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

=== Electoral reform ===
to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

=== Utility Governance ===
Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

=== Future Focus ===
Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

=== Protect and Grow the Commons ===
Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

=== Encouraging Employment ===
incorporate something like: Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T15:38:09Z

Briancady413: further sectioning attempts

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

== DRAFT Green-Rainbow Party Platform==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

=== Fiscal Reform === At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

=== Inequality === To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

=== Democracy === Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

=== Commonwealths === Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

=== Fairness === The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

=== Public Investments === All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

=== Peace, Crime and Civil Order === Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

=== Measuring Success in Governing === Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

=== Education === A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

=== Electoral reform === to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

=== Utility Governance === Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

=== Future Focus === Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

=== Protect and Grow the Commons === Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

=== Encouraging Employment === incorporate something like: Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T15:34:58Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */ fixed sections

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

==THE DRAFT DOCUMENT==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

===Fiscal Reform=== At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

===Inequality=== To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

===Democracy=== Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

===Commonwealths=== Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

===Fairness=== The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

===Public Investments=== All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

===Peace, Crime and Civil Order=== Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

===Measuring Success in Governing=== Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

===Education=== A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

===Electoral reform=== to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

===Utility Governance=== Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

===Future Focus=== Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

===Protect and Grow the Commons=== Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

===Encouraging Employment=== incorporate something like: Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T15:32:14Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */ Dividing platform into secctions Good??

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

==THE DRAFT DOCUMENT==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

==Fiscal Reform== At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

==Inequality== To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

==Democracy== Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

==Commonwealths== Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

==Fairness== The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

==Public Investments== All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

==Peace, Crime and Civil Order== Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

==Measuring Success in Governing== Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

==Education== A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

==Electoral reform== to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

==Utility Governance== Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

==Future Focus== Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

==Protect and Grow the Commons== Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

==Encouraging Employment== incorporate something like: Why should we in Mass. use revenues to solicit relocation of big enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers, when most new jobs are created by small businesses? What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]
[BrianC: One of the decisions we did come to was to use the three-part division of the platform when writing. I realize, with curiousity, that we're neglecting that decision.]
I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Full-cost accounting

2012-08-25T15:05:58Z

Briancady413: added full cost acccouting descriptions

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group Back to main GRP page]]
BrianC: Hi Terra, I think others, when saying 'Full Cost Accounting' mean something different. Below I'm pasting two paragraphs on it.
Terra: I can work on this with detail/references (or anyone else can). But until we get detailed references, here is my take on the need for "full cost accounting", which I view as both "cash flow detail" AND "balance sheet reporting".

CASH FLOW DETAIL

Full-Cost-Accounting, in the cash-flow sense, IMHO, is to make sure that we (the public) can "drill down" to all and any government expenditure. To the checking account "check-level". In a format that's easily "managable" and "analyzable". Like Excel files.

Many government people (and legislators that go around saying that we should "trust our people" and not push for this) think that full-cost accounoting is already "done" now. Yes, they are right in the sense that we, you and I, can walk up to any Town Hall or state finance clerk and ask to see the records.

BUT what is missing is both online accounting and "real time" accounting, line item accounting, and check level reporting.

So what we get with this current system are these unbelievably convoluted paper copy or PDF reports that are impossible to decifer. Yes, SOME agencies have gone to Excel. But this is far and few between. AND it's only for some budgets, etc.

This lack of transparency/accessibility is to the advantage of many insiders.

The reports are so far past the point in time that you can actually DO anything about the expenditure or potential expenditure that it takes YEARS to dig through the mess, making it extremely easy for sneaky people to put one past the public.

I have a LOT of experience digging through this type of mess. My collaborators and I have long lists of successes uncovering nonsense that the public was outraged about.

So yes, full cost accounting, but in a way that allows the public to be able to monitor on a real time basis what the heck is going on. I don't mean real time, like every second. But yes, when a check is cashed, that should show up on an excel sheet somewhere, where we can analyze. Yes, the public should be able to see "actuals", as the budget-year progresses, so that we can see where money is "not" being spent...which are opportunities to re-examine budget priorities.

Ideally, and someday, I'd like actual "dashboards", which are super easy to create and modify, to allow online/real analysis by "regular people". Right now, I have to download unbelievably stupid messy Excel sheets IF I CAN GET THEM...or hand load paper copy or PDF info into Excel to be able to analyze stuff. Yes, I end up getting the info that I want. But it's a HUGE struggle and I have to torture people to get what I view as basic budget detail. I have a Masters in Finance, and years of public financial analysis experience. And I have tenacity and the "dangerous" lack of fear when it comes to getting the data. Those skills should NOT be required to get basic info. ANYONE...everyone should have access to the info. I post that kind of info onto my lists, when I do the analysis, but it really should come from the source...our government, our employees...

There is NO EXCUSE. It's cheaper to do it right. I could go on and on about this. the point is that we need this NOW.

BALANCE SHEET REPORTING

A basic financial tool for managing organizations is "the balance sheet". The balance sheet shows "assets" and "liabilities". As one looks over time, and at public policy shifts, the way that assets and liabilities are calculated changes. EACH DECISION that your legislator votes on shifts the balance sheet. YOU HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW both before and after, how these shifts will and did work.

Assets include everything that the organization considers "financial positives". For example, cash in the bank. Investments. And in the public realm, assets like "the commons"...land, paintings, etc.

Liabilities are "financial obligations". These include everything from future obligations for "existing debt", as well as things unique to the government realm. For example, future obligations for water infrastructure. Every time someone proposes a housing project, the future obligation for new populations increase...roads, water, etc. These future obligations are NEVER included in planning docs, except as "imagined increases". So the "imagined increases" are assumed as a "natural progression of growth", rather than as an "option" in our policy making. In this way, growth will NEVER be reconciled. We are just digging ourselves deeper and deeper into a debt and eco-disaster hole. [side note, we could develop a new balance sheet method, something akin to an eco-balance sheet, with measurements toward a healthy eco system, to show how votes either contribute to assets (healthy eco system) or detriment (toxins set loose in environment)]

Yes, we need to be "efficient" in how we calculate these "balance sheet" numbers, because we don't want to weigh down our government to "over report". But I believe this can be done efficiently, with most of it done automatically. Companies do it every day. The Government Financial Officer's Association has experts that know how to do these things. And I can help. The expertise exists to do this right. Voters need to know how the votes impact the dollars. We can't reconcile policy with finances, and thus our environmental/eco-systems, if we don't understand how the shifts are made relative to the voting. Currently, what happens is that we don't see the shifts years after the vote. This is sloppy policy making.

Further, where we DO get balance sheet impacts before the vote, they are NOT reconciled in a holistic fashion. So for example, where a developer proposes a shopping mall. The traffic engineer, paid for by the town planner who wants development (another story), says "no impact" to the traffic situation. BUT that is "FOR THE PROJECT", not including all projects currently on the table or allowed by zoning. Slopping planning. Allowed, encouraged by property/profit-oriented society.

Full Cost Accounting:
The dependence of human activity on the total environment places a limit on that which may be appropriated or owned. Air, drinkable water, and greater area of the earth's crust are the commons of all living things independently of human ownership, and any taking or damaging of this 'natural capital' is required by ecological accounting.
Treated as 'externalities' in current economic practice, and as the source of all wealth by classical economics, the full cost can be measured by the economic activity required in the absence of expropriation by the use of private capital. And taxed accordingly for the common good, except where the activity is declared unlawful.

Edited Full Cost Accounting:
The dependence of human activity on the total environment places a limit on that which may be appropriated or owned. Air, drinkable water, and the greater area of the earth's crust are the commons [cut: of all living things] independent of human ownership, and any taking or damaging of this 'natural capital' must be included by ecological accounting in prices.

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T14:59:29Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */ comment

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

==THE DRAFT DOCUMENT==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

[Joanna: want to add these ideas: (need work on language later)
* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ][BrianC: this is a wonderful topic for inclusion in the platform; it has the general principal and some arenas where it applies.]

* incorporate something like: MA should not use revenues to solicit relocation of enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers. What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]

I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T13:18:42Z

Briancady413: /* 1) Preamble */ social relations edit

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

==THE DRAFT DOCUMENT==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive together in peace. [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].
[BrianC: the phrase 'taxing accumulated wealth' isn't specific enough, as I see it. We should shift taxes from wages and sales to polluting resource use, specifically. Let's leave taxation out of this paragraph on peace and equality].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

[Joanna: want to add these ideas: (need work on language later)
* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ]

* incorporate something like: MA should not use revenues to solicit relocation of enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers. What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]

I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T13:07:35Z

Briancady413: /* 1) Preamble */ edit

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

==THE DRAFT DOCUMENT==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive. [BrianC: following phrase doesn't connect with preceding phrase], shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

[Joanna: want to add these ideas: (need work on language later)
* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ]

* incorporate something like: MA should not use revenues to solicit relocation of enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers. What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]

I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T12:55:41Z

Briancady413: /* 1) Preamble */

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

==THE DRAFT DOCUMENT==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive, shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

[Joanna: want to add these ideas: (need work on language later)
* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ]

* incorporate something like: MA should not use revenues to solicit relocation of enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers. What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]

I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-25T12:46:12Z

Briancady413: /* NOTES to Wiki participants */

This page is for developing the Green Party Platform. Before participating in the edit, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. It's important for the editing group to have read through the background info and be up to speed on what the group is going. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance. We anticipate publishing an invitation for others to participate within a couple of weeks.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, please contact Brian or Terra. or write to volunteer@occupyboston.org to set up a phone tutorial time. Most lessons take about 5 minutes. Also, you can get "real time" help from the Occupy Boston techs, by choosing "Working Groups" on the left, choosing "OBIT" and then going to the online forum. They are speedy and great.

==Target Audience for this Document==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members. People interested in a sustainable future for human kind.

==NOTES to Wiki participants==
Terra: I put an inquiry in to OBIT admin to ask how to do "notes", rather than brackets, which appear to be rather cumbersome for a group this large. Please use brackets for now, or for huge notes, I'm creating a new page for each one...so debate there, and keep "the results of the debate" on the main page. If this convention doesn't make sense, please let's talk on email or something, or create a page about making huge notes.
BrianC: How about using the discussion page for dialog on the article? It's built-in; there's one for each article page - the link is in the upper menu bar, beside the 'page' tab.

==THE DRAFT DOCUMENT==

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. These values [[Green Party Ten Key Values| Green-Rainbow Party Ten Key Values]] imply a vision of the common good and offer guidance on the pathway. [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] [JH: Green-Rainbow means MA]

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States. [Joanna: no qualification?]

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Green Party Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002?). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?] [Joanna: Why here?]

While governments are strangled by special interests, we seek transparency and ways to bring the wisdom and energy of all residents of the Commonwealth to work toward a sustainable future.

As such, we seek methods to encourage and facilitate inclusiveness and transparency in government, including [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Participatory_Budgeting Participatory Budgeting]]. [Joanna: this should be item in main body of platform.]

When economies are staggering from speculation in the financial system controlled by the powerful, we recognize the interdependence of all beings on earth and the importance of local self-reliance and cooperation.

DISCUSSION: [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Favoring_Locally_Based_Economies Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies]]

Where social relations are blighted by inequality, lack of opportunity and violence, we seek means to enable all to thrive, shifting to revenues from taxing resource use and accumulated wealth. [[Taxation Based on Accumulated Wealth|taxing accumulated wealth]].

DISCUSSION:[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Issues_with_Using_the_words_Fairness_and_Unfairness Issues with Using the Words "Fairness" and "Unfairness"]] [ Joanna: unfairness gone.]

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], (JH: will shifts in taxation from income to resources, land, wealth come here?} the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, [JH:whose debt?] especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. [JH: ?] Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need [but] to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological [JH? how about drop "ecological"?] concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production [JH: and distribution] must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables [energy]. The utilization of the noted social resources [?] by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.
[How about government being prepared to take on management of such enterprises where that would benefit common good, e.g. reverse privatization? How about facilitating municipal ownership]

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

[Joanna: want to add these ideas: (need work on language later)
* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law (Article 7 of Constitution), implies generous funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives, and applying precautionary principle, especially to new technologies, e.g. nanotechnology. ]

* incorporate something like: MA should not use revenues to solicit relocation of enterprises (including multinational) in MA simply as employers. What they do and how they do it matters... MA should be good citizen of the world... MA should examine implications of US internat'l trade treaties and tell DC what it thinks, e.g appoint people so that Trade Commission enacted to do this can function... Later...]

[Joanna note: I withdraw the alternative organization I had suggested, hoping that preface can carry the ideas of ecological wisdom, respect for diversity, etc. being relevant to everything, with special attention to government, economy and society. I tried to streamline preface. Right now, links and comments need to be digested to enable flow.]

I hope the electronic text will imbed references as links (on paper in footnotes?)

Separate Platform project: Hope we can post some our our writing on vision and principles on G-R website. For sure, 2002 merger statement needs to be there to link to.]

==REFERENCE DOCS/LINKS for Participants==

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Issues with Using the words Fairness and Unfairness

2012-08-24T14:52:56Z

Briancady413:

Issues with Using the words Fairness and Unfairness

2012-08-24T14:43:10Z

Briancady413:

Issues with Using the words Fairness and Unfairness

2012-08-24T14:36:42Z

Briancady413:

Issues with Favoring Locally Based Economies

2012-08-23T12:23:47Z

Briancady413:

[[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Green_Rainbow_Party_Platform_Working_Group Back to the main GRP page]]

Terra: While I'm super in favor of and have worked to build strong, locally-based sustainable economies, we can't build everything locally. (cars/trains, for example.) So perhaps use the phrase "encouraging decentralization, where it makes sense to build strong local economies"?

Terra: At some point, I'd like to be able to tie "national defense to strong local economies". In other words, when the American Revolutionaries went to fight the Revolutionary war, they were able to do so, because they owned enough weapons and other resources, locally...strong local economies, in the hands of individual private citizens. As everythign gets federalized under the control of the 1%...it's privatized, but not for the individual.

Brian: Hi Terra, I like your point on tying defense to strong local economies. Some talk about 'Economic Civil Defense' Preparing for economic disaster on a local or regional level.

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-22T15:55:12Z

Briancady413: /* 3) Alternative Platform text */

This page is for development of the Green Party Platform. Before participating, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, including looking at revisions, please contact Brian or Terra.

==Audience==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members.

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by the Green-Rainbow [[Ten Key Values]] include a vision of the common good and are structured to enable all to realize this good.

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?]

While special interests dominate the halls of government now, we seek structures and processes to enable all residents of the Commonwealth to contribute their reason, wisdom, and energy to meet our current and future challenges.

When major economies are staggering from financial speculation in the world-wide system controlled by the powerful, we acknowledge the interdependence of all beings on earth, while favoring decentralization of decision making on government and economics, in view of the reliability of locally based economies.

Where social relations are blighted by unfairness, increasing inequality, and lack of opportunity, we look to the talents and wisdom of Massachusetts residents to rebuild the social order, shifting source of needed revenues from tax on our (diminishing) income and purchases to taxing consumption of resources, taxing advantage created by society, and taxing accumulated wealth.

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need but to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables. The utilization of the noted social resources by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels
may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

== 3) Alternative Platform text ==

Democratic Government, Sustainable Economy, Healthy Society

* To provide opportunity for MA residents to participate in their own governance, as many decisions as appropriate should be delegated to citizen assemblies at the relevant level--neighborhood, town, region-- either currently constituted (e.g. town meetings) or assembled with government support (e.g. consultative bodies).

* To assure representation of the widest range of perspectives, candidates for public office should receive financial aid. Ranked choice voting, with requirement of majority of votes for election, should be instituted to broaden participation and expression of opinion.

* Conduct of governmental affairs in the interest of the common good would benefit from measures promoting transparency, including continuous auditing of expenditures--fiscal and material. Periodic review should be built into legislation which relates to changing conditions. Special care is needed to identify legislation which facilitates transfer of wealth from the less to the more
affluent.

* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law, entails full funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives.

* The Commonwealth should reexamine the relevance of its current vision of enterprise and economic development, giving due credit to the value of locally based and cooperative enterprise, and to public management of certain services, e.g. public utilities.

* Subsidies and tax breaks for corporation on basis that they provide employment must be carefully weighed…International trade agreements which give special protection to corporations doing business in Commonwealth should be examined: EOHED should make appointments to a commission to study and enact this.

* Managing state finances with a state owned bank could cut costs of service and borrowing, infrastructure financing, and nurture strong local banks.… State and municipalities can use power eminent domain to intervene positively in bank foreclosures…

* Shifting taxation from income and sales to resource use and to wealth can assure revenues for government operations as economic patterns shift. This basis is needed to be able to enact universal basic income. [Should there be description of vision here? ]

* Civil and Personal rights, Rights of immigrants and disabled. The reason we have government is so that freedom and wisdom prevails over strength and oppression.

* Adequate and equitable funding for public schools, outreach programs and libraries so that residents may realize their potential contributions in the civic, economic and personal spheres should be assured by the state, while municipalities are responsible for their operation.

* Change current prison system and criminal law must change

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Rational taxation

2012-08-22T15:30:52Z

Briancady413:

Taxes are discouraging - We'll get less from each other of what we tax, so let's tax, not income or goods, but 'bads'; the use of non-renewable and polluting resources.

==== Jobs: ====
Each of us needs work, yet now [http://www.shadowstats.com one of five] of us is out of, or short of, work. Each willing worker should have a job open to them. This is only fair, since we generally must work for what we need.

==== Labor versus Resources: ====
We now use resources to eliminate labor via clever technology, which, in a world empty of people and full of resources, brilliantly complemented limited labor. But now we live in a world full of people eager to work, and running empty of resources. We can use more labor and less resources and thrive more. This will reduce pollution from resource use, as well as provide more equal opportunity to work for the the less fortunate among us.
==== Growth versus Maturity: ====
We relied on economic growth to provide more jobs, more opportunity for the less lucky, but now our world is full of us people, and more growth can't fit well. Like a growing child becoming adult, humanity as a species has become mature. Further physical growth of our society is unhealthy, since we must all fit together on this limited planet. We still have enough now for each of our needs, yet not enough for our greeds. And if we grow economically while not growing physically, we produce only needless inflation. Now what? And how do taxes affect jobs and resource use?
==== Fuller Employment and Tax-Shifting: ====
We can have enough jobs without unhealthy continued growth through inspiring more labor use and less resource use, via different technologies and different incentives. How can we inspire replacing resource use with labor? Now we tax labor use through income taxes, but don't tax resource use. We can switch this, taxing use of resources to cover the revenues from now-eliminated income taxes. Then labor will be cheaper for bosses. This will inspire more hiring and less buying resources, saving rare resources for our children, while reducing subsequent pollution, and inspiring creation of more of the jobs we all need. Furthermore this helps reduce costly resource imports and damaging trade deficits, all while maintaining or increasing governmental revenues.
==== In Massachusetts: ====
Not only can we shift our state taxes from income to resource use, but at a state level we can reverse federal income taxation with state rebates, and pay for the rebates out of further resource use taxation. Thus we can lead the US in building a sustainable economy here in Massachusetts, inspiring extensive hiring and resource conservation.
==== Taxing Sales: ====
Poor spend more of their income than rich, so taxing spending hits poor harder as a percentage of expenditures, which really isn't fair.

Rational taxation

2012-08-22T15:21:15Z

Briancady413: /* Jobs: */

Rational taxation

2012-08-22T15:18:00Z

Briancady413:

Taxes are discouraging - We'll get less from each other of what we tax, so let's tax, not income or goods, but 'bads'; the use of non-renewable and polluting resources.

==== Jobs: ====
Each of us needs work, yet now one of five of us is out of, or short of, work (shadowstats.com). Each willing worker should have a job open to them. This is only fair, since we must work for what we need.
==== Labor versus Resources: ====
We now use resources to eliminate labor via clever technology, which, in a world empty of people and full of resources, brilliantly complemented limited labor. But now we live in a world full of people eager to work, and running empty of resources. We can use more labor and less resources and thrive more. This will reduce pollution from resource use, as well as provide more equal opportunity to work for the the less fortunate among us.
==== Growth versus Maturity: ====
We relied on economic growth to provide more jobs, more opportunity for the less lucky, but now our world is full of us people, and more growth can't fit well. Like a growing child becoming adult, humanity as a species has become mature. Further physical growth of our society is unhealthy, since we must all fit together on this limited planet. We still have enough now for each of our needs, yet not enough for our greeds. And if we grow economically while not growing physically, we produce only needless inflation. Now what? And how do taxes affect jobs and resource use?
==== Fuller Employment and Tax-Shifting: ====
We can have enough jobs without unhealthy continued growth through inspiring more labor use and less resource use, via different technologies and different incentives. How can we inspire replacing resource use with labor? Now we tax labor use through income taxes, but don't tax resource use. We can switch this, taxing use of resources to cover the revenues from now-eliminated income taxes. Then labor will be cheaper for bosses. This will inspire more hiring and less buying resources, saving rare resources for our children, while reducing subsequent pollution, and inspiring creation of more of the jobs we all need. Furthermore this helps reduce costly resource imports and damaging trade deficits, all while maintaining or increasing governmental revenues.
==== In Massachusetts: ====
Not only can we shift our state taxes from income to resource use, but at a state level we can reverse federal income taxation with state rebates, and pay for the rebates out of further resource use taxation. Thus we can lead the US in building a sustainable economy here in Massachusetts, inspiring extensive hiring and resource conservation.

Rational taxation

2012-08-22T15:16:36Z

Briancady413: Created page with "Taxes are discouraging - We'll get less from each other of what we tax, so let's tax, not income or goods, but 'bads'; the use of non-renewable and polluting resources. ==== ..."

Taxes are discouraging - We'll get less from each other of what we tax, so let's tax, not income or goods, but 'bads'; the use of non-renewable and polluting resources.

==== Jobs: ====
Each of us needs work, yet now one of five of us is out of, or short of, work (shadowstats.com). Each willing worker should have a job open to them. This is only fair, since we must work for what we need.
==== Labor versus Resources: ====
We now use resources to eliminate labor via clever technology, which, in a world empty of people and full of resources, brilliantly complemented limited labor. But now we live in a world full of people eager to work, and running empty of resources. We can use more labor and less resources and thrive more. This will reduce pollution from resource use, as well as provide more equal opportunity to work for the the less fortunate among us.
==== Growth versus Maturity: ====
We relied on economic growth to provide more jobs, more opportunity for the less lucky, but now our world is full of us people, and more growth can't fit well. Like a growing child becoming adult, humanity as a species has become mature. Further physical growth of our society is unhealthy, since we must all fit together on this limited planet. We still have enough now for each of our needs, yet not enough for our greeds. And if we grow economically while not growing physically, we produce only needless inflation. Now what? And how do taxes affect jobs and resource use?
==== Fuller Employment and Tax-Shifting: ====
We can have enough jobs without unhealthy continued growth through inspiring more labor use and less resource use, via different technologies and different incentives. How can we inspire replacing resource use with labor? Now we tax labor use through income taxes, but don't tax resource use. We can switch this, taxing use of resources to cover the revenues from now-eliminated income taxes. Then labor will be cheaper for bosses. This will inspire more hiring and less buying resources, saving rare resources for our children, while reducing subsequent pollution, and inspiring creation of more of the jobs we all need. Furthermore this helps reduce costly resource imports and damaging trade deficits, all while maintaining or increasing governmental revenues.
==== In Massachusetts: ====
Not only can we shift our state taxes from income to resource use, but at a state level we can reverse federal income taxation with state rebates, and pay for the rebates out of further resource use taxation. Thus we can lead the US in building a sustainable economy here in Massachusetts, inspiring extensive hiring and resource conservation.

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-22T15:09:03Z

Briancady413: /* 1) Preamble */

This page is for development of the Green Party Platform. Before participating, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, including looking at revisions, please contact Brian or Terra.

==Audience==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members.

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by the Green-Rainbow [[Ten Key Values]] include a vision of the common good and are structured to enable all to realize this good.

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?]

While special interests dominate the halls of government now, we seek structures and processes to enable all residents of the Commonwealth to contribute their reason, wisdom, and energy to meet our current and future challenges.

When major economies are staggering from financial speculation in the world-wide system controlled by the powerful, we acknowledge the interdependence of all beings on earth, while favoring decentralization of decision making on government and economics, in view of the reliability of locally based economies.

Where social relations are blighted by unfairness, increasing inequality, and lack of opportunity, we look to the talents and wisdom of Massachusetts residents to rebuild the social order, shifting source of needed revenues from tax on our (diminishing) income and purchases to taxing consumption of resources, taxing advantage created by society, and taxing accumulated wealth.

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need but to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables. The utilization of the noted social resources by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels
may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

== 3) Alternative Platform text ==

Democratic Government, Sustainable Economy, Healthy Society

* To provide opportunity for MA residents to participate in their own governance, as many decisions as appropriate should be delegated to citizen assemblies at the relevant level--neighborhood, town, region-- either currently constituted (e.g. town meetings) or assembled with government support (e.g. consultative bodies).

* To assure representation of the widest range of perspectives, candidates for public office should receive financial aid. Ranked choice voting, with requirement of majority of votes for election, should be instituted to broaden participation and expression of opinion.

* Conduct of governmental affairs in the interest of the common good would benefit from measures promoting transparency, including continuous auditing of expenditures--fiscal and material. Periodic review should be built into legislation which relates to changing conditions. Special care is needed to identify legislation which facilitates transfer of wealth from the less to the more
affluent.

* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law, entails full funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives.

* The Commonwealth should reexamine the relevance of its current vision of enterprise and economic development, giving due credit to the value of locally based and cooperative enterprise, and to public management of certain services, e.g. public utilities.

* Subsidies and tax breaks for corporation on basis that they provide employment must be carefully weighed…International trade agreements which give special protection to corporations doing business in Commonwealth should be examined: EOHED should make appointments to commission to study this.

* Managing state finances with a state owned bank could cut costs of service and borrowing, infrastructure financing, and nurture strong local banks.… State and municipalities can use power eminent domain to intervene positively in bank foreclosures…

* Shifting taxation from income to consumption, resource use and wealth can assure revenues for government operations as economic patterns shift . This basis needed to be able to enact universal basic income. [Should there be description of vision here? ]

[ Where to talk about Civil and Personal rights, Rights of immigrants and disabled? Earlier?]

* Adequate and equitable funding for public schools, outreach programs and libraries so that residents may realize their potential contributions in the civic, economic and personal spheres should be assured by the state, while municipalities are responsible for their operation.

* Change current prison system and criminal law must change

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-22T15:05:08Z

Briancady413: /* 2) Proposed Platform text */ various edits

This page is for development of the Green Party Platform. Before participating, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, including looking at revisions, please contact Brian or Terra.

==Audience==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members.

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by the Green-Rainbow [[Ten Key Values]] include a vision of the common good and are structured to enable all to realize this good.

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?]

While special interests dominate the halls of government, we seek structures and processes to enable all residents of the Commonwealth to contribute their reason, wisdom, and energy to meet our current and future challenges.

When major economies are staggering from financial speculation in the world-wide system controlled by the powerful, we acknowledge the interdependence of all beings on earth, while favoring decentralization of decision making on government and economics, in view of the reliability of locally based economies.

Where social relations are blighted by unfairness, increasing inequality, and lack of opportunity, we look to the talents and wisdom of Massachusetts residents to rebuild the social order, shifting source of needed revenues from tax on our (diminishing) income and purchases to taxing consumption of resources, taxing advantage created by society, and taxing accumulated wealth.

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires [[full-cost accounting]] for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources and to increase employment. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; [[rational taxation]], the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a [[sovereign wealth fund]].

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need but to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables. The utilization of the noted social resources by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels
may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

== 3) Alternative Platform text ==

Democratic Government, Sustainable Economy, Healthy Society

* To provide opportunity for MA residents to participate in their own governance, as many decisions as appropriate should be delegated to citizen assemblies at the relevant level--neighborhood, town, region-- either currently constituted (e.g. town meetings) or assembled with government support (e.g. consultative bodies).

* To assure representation of the widest range of perspectives, candidates for public office should receive financial aid. Ranked choice voting, with requirement of majority of votes for election, should be instituted to broaden participation and expression of opinion.

* Conduct of governmental affairs in the interest of the common good would benefit from measures promoting transparency, including continuous auditing of expenditures--fiscal and material. Periodic review should be built into legislation which relates to changing conditions. Special care is needed to identify legislation which facilitates transfer of wealth from the less to the more
affluent.

* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law, entails full funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives.

* The Commonwealth should reexamine the relevance of its current vision of enterprise and economic development, giving due credit to the value of locally based and cooperative enterprise, and to public management of certain services, e.g. public utilities.

* Subsidies and tax breaks for corporation on basis that they provide employment must be carefully weighed…International trade agreements which give special protection to corporations doing business in Commonwealth should be examined: EOHED should make appointments to commission to study this.

* Managing state finances with a state owned bank could cut costs of service and borrowing, infrastructure financing, and nurture strong local banks.… State and municipalities can use power eminent domain to intervene positively in bank foreclosures…

* Shifting taxation from income to consumption, resource use and wealth can assure revenues for government operations as economic patterns shift . This basis needed to be able to enact universal basic income. [Should there be description of vision here? ]

[ Where to talk about Civil and Personal rights, Rights of immigrants and disabled? Earlier?]

* Adequate and equitable funding for public schools, outreach programs and libraries so that residents may realize their potential contributions in the civic, economic and personal spheres should be assured by the state, while municipalities are responsible for their operation.

* Change current prison system and criminal law must change

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-22T14:59:42Z

Briancady413: /* 1) Preamble */ various edits

This page is for development of the Green Party Platform. Before participating, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, including looking at revisions, please contact Brian or Terra.

==Audience==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members.

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by the Green-Rainbow [[Ten Key Values]] include a vision of the common good and are structured to enable all to realize this good.

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?]

While special interests dominate the halls of government, we seek structures and processes to enable all residents of the Commonwealth to contribute their reason, wisdom, and energy to meet our current and future challenges.

When major economies are staggering from financial speculation in the world-wide system controlled by the powerful, we acknowledge the interdependence of all beings on earth, while favoring decentralization of decision making on government and economics, in view of the reliability of locally based economies.

Where social relations are blighted by unfairness, increasing inequality, and lack of opportunity, we look to the talents and wisdom of Massachusetts residents to rebuild the social order, shifting source of needed revenues from tax on our (diminishing) income and purchases to taxing consumption of resources, taxing advantage created by society, and taxing accumulated wealth.

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires full-cost accounting for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; rational taxation, the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a sovereign wealth fund.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need but to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables. The utilization of the noted social resources by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological
means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics,
droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim
than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels
may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic
proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least
reliance on agencies of violence.

== 3) Alternative Platform text ==

Democratic Government, Sustainable Economy, Healthy Society

* To provide opportunity for MA residents to participate in their own governance, as many decisions as appropriate should be delegated to citizen assemblies at the relevant level--neighborhood, town, region-- either currently constituted (e.g. town meetings) or assembled with government support (e.g. consultative bodies).

* To assure representation of the widest range of perspectives, candidates for public office should receive financial aid. Ranked choice voting, with requirement of majority of votes for election, should be instituted to broaden participation and expression of opinion.

* Conduct of governmental affairs in the interest of the common good would benefit from measures promoting transparency, including continuous auditing of expenditures--fiscal and material. Periodic review should be built into legislation which relates to changing conditions. Special care is needed to identify legislation which facilitates transfer of wealth from the less to the more
affluent.

* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law, entails full funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives.

* The Commonwealth should reexamine the relevance of its current vision of enterprise and economic development, giving due credit to the value of locally based and cooperative enterprise, and to public management of certain services, e.g. public utilities.

* Subsidies and tax breaks for corporation on basis that they provide employment must be carefully weighed…International trade agreements which give special protection to corporations doing business in Commonwealth should be examined: EOHED should make appointments to commission to study this.

* Managing state finances with a state owned bank could cut costs of service and borrowing, infrastructure financing, and nurture strong local banks.… State and municipalities can use power eminent domain to intervene positively in bank foreclosures…

* Shifting taxation from income to consumption, resource use and wealth can assure revenues for government operations as economic patterns shift . This basis needed to be able to enact universal basic income. [Should there be description of vision here? ]

[ Where to talk about Civil and Personal rights, Rights of immigrants and disabled? Earlier?]

* Adequate and equitable funding for public schools, outreach programs and libraries so that residents may realize their potential contributions in the civic, economic and personal spheres should be assured by the state, while municipalities are responsible for their operation.

* Change current prison system and criminal law must change

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-22T14:56:48Z

Briancady413: /* 1) Preamble */ various edits

This page is for development of the Green Party Platform. Before participating, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, including looking at revisions, please contact Brian or Terra.

==Audience==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members.

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by the Green-Rainbow [[Ten Key Values]] include a vision of the common good and are structured to enable all to realize this good.

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their [[Ten Key Values|shared values]] and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?]

While special interests dominate the halls of government, we seek structures and processes to enable all residents of the Commonwealth to contribute their reason, wisdom, and energy to meet the challenges.

When major economies are staggering from financial speculation in the world-wide system controlled by the powerful, we acknowledge the interdependence of all beings on earth, while favoring decentralization of decision making in view of the reliability of locally based economies.

Where social relations are blighted by unfairness, increasing inequality, and lack of opportunity, we look to the talents and wisdom of Massachusetts residents to rebuild the social order, shifting source of needed revenues from tax on our (diminishing) income and purchases to taxing consumption of resources, taxing advantage created by society, and taxing accumulated wealth.

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires full-cost accounting for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; rational taxation, the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a sovereign wealth fund.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need but to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables. The utilization of the noted social resources by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological
means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics,
droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim
than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels
may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic
proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least
reliance on agencies of violence.

== 3) Alternative Platform text ==

Democratic Government, Sustainable Economy, Healthy Society

* To provide opportunity for MA residents to participate in their own governance, as many decisions as appropriate should be delegated to citizen assemblies at the relevant level--neighborhood, town, region-- either currently constituted (e.g. town meetings) or assembled with government support (e.g. consultative bodies).

* To assure representation of the widest range of perspectives, candidates for public office should receive financial aid. Ranked choice voting, with requirement of majority of votes for election, should be instituted to broaden participation and expression of opinion.

* Conduct of governmental affairs in the interest of the common good would benefit from measures promoting transparency, including continuous auditing of expenditures--fiscal and material. Periodic review should be built into legislation which relates to changing conditions. Special care is needed to identify legislation which facilitates transfer of wealth from the less to the more
affluent.

* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law, entails full funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives.

* The Commonwealth should reexamine the relevance of its current vision of enterprise and economic development, giving due credit to the value of locally based and cooperative enterprise, and to public management of certain services, e.g. public utilities.

* Subsidies and tax breaks for corporation on basis that they provide employment must be carefully weighed…International trade agreements which give special protection to corporations doing business in Commonwealth should be examined: EOHED should make appointments to commission to study this.

* Managing state finances with a state owned bank could cut costs of service and borrowing, infrastructure financing, and nurture strong local banks.… State and municipalities can use power eminent domain to intervene positively in bank foreclosures…

* Shifting taxation from income to consumption, resource use and wealth can assure revenues for government operations as economic patterns shift . This basis needed to be able to enact universal basic income. [Should there be description of vision here? ]

[ Where to talk about Civil and Personal rights, Rights of immigrants and disabled? Earlier?]

* Adequate and equitable funding for public schools, outreach programs and libraries so that residents may realize their potential contributions in the civic, economic and personal spheres should be assured by the state, while municipalities are responsible for their operation.

* Change current prison system and criminal law must change

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Ten Key Values

2012-08-22T14:48:30Z

Briancady413: various edits

== GREEN-RAINBOW PARTY www.green-rainbow.org==
=== Ten Key Values ===

These Ten Key Values serve as the philosophical foundation for political action for Green parties worldwide, each of which adapts and defines them according to the needs of their national, regional, and local chapters.
Grassroots Democracy: Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect his or her life. 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 that expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.
==== Ecological Wisdom: ====
Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of and not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the environmental and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society that 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 have agricultural practices that replenish the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.
==== Grassroots Democracy: ====
Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect his or her life. 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 that expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.
==== 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 heterosexism, ageism and disability, all of which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.
==== Nonviolence: ====
It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence at all levels, from the family and the streets to nations and the world. We will work to demilitarize our society 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 nonviolent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community, and global peace.
==== 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 that 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 valuing community and assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.
==== Community Based Economics: ====
We recognize that it is essential to create a vibrant and sustainable economic system, one creating enough jobs and providing 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 each person's labor. 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 spread out resources and control to more people through democratic participation.
==== Feminism: ====
We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for replacing the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting which respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want.
==== 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 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 traditionally been closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms and the preservation of biodiversity.
==== Personal and Global Responsibility: ====
We encourage individuals to improve their personal well being while enhancing 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.
==== Future Focus and Sustainability: ====
Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing or "unmaking" the waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counter-balance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are beneficial to the future generations who will inherit the results of our actions. Our overall goal is not merely to survive, but to share lives that are truly worth living. We believe the quality of our individual lives is enriched by the quality of all of our lives. We encourage everyone to see the dignity and intrinsic worth in all of life, and to take the time to understand and appreciate themselves, their community, and the magnificent beauty of this world.

Ten Key Values

2012-08-22T14:37:29Z

Briancady413:

== GREEN-RAINBOW PARTY www.green-rainbow.org==
=== Ten Key Values ===

====These Ten Key Values==== serve as the philosophical foundation for political action for Green parties worldwide, each of which adapts and defines them according to the needs of their national, regional, and local chapters.
Grassroots Democracy: Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect his or her life. 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 that expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.
==== Ecological Wisdom: ====
Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of and not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the environmental and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society that 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 have agricultural practices that replenish the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.
==== 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 heterosexism, ageism and disability, all of which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.
==== Nonviolence: ====
It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence at all levels, from the family and the streets to nations and the world. We will work to demilitarize our society 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 nonviolent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community, and global peace.
==== 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 that 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 valuing community and assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.
==== Community Based Economics: ====
We recognize that it is essential to create a vibrant and sustainable economic system, one creating enough jobs and providing 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 each person's labor. 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 spread out resources and control to more people through democratic participation.
==== Feminism: ====
We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for replacing the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting which respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want.
==== 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 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 traditionally been closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms and the preservation of biodiversity.
==== Personal and Global Responsibility: ====
We encourage individuals to improve their personal well being while enhancing 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.
==== Future Focus and Sustainability: ====
Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing or "unmaking" the waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counter-balance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are beneficial to the future generations who will inherit the results of our actions. Our overall goal is not merely to survive, but to share lives that are truly worth living. We believe the quality of our individual lives is enriched by the quality of all of our lives. We encourage everyone to see the dignity and intrinsic worth in all of life, and to take the time to understand and appreciate themselves, their community, and the magnificent beauty of this world.

Ten Key Values

2012-08-22T14:35:33Z

Briancady413:

== GREEN-RAINBOW PARTY ==
=== Ten Key Values ===

www.green-rainbow.org
====These Ten Key Values==== serve as the philosophical foundation for political action for Green parties worldwide, each of which adapts and defines them according to the needs of their national, regional, and local chapters.
Grassroots Democracy: Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect his or her life. 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 that expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.
==== Ecological Wisdom: ====
Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of and not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the environmental and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society that 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 have agricultural practices that replenish the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.
==== 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 heterosexism, ageism and disability, all of which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.
==== Nonviolence: ====
It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence at all levels, from the family and the streets to nations and the world. We will work to demilitarize our society 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 nonviolent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community, and global peace.
==== 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 that 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 valuing community and assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.
==== Community Based Economics: ====
We recognize that it is essential to create a vibrant and sustainable economic system, one creating enough jobs and providing 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 each person's labor. 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 spread out resources and control to more people through democratic participation.
==== Feminism: ====
We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for replacing the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting which respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want.

==== 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 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 traditionally been closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms and the preservation of biodiversity.
==== Personal and Global Responsibility: ====
We encourage individuals to improve their personal well being while enhancing 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.
==== Future Focus and Sustainability: ====
Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing or "unmaking" the waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counter-balance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are beneficial to the future generations who will inherit the results of our actions. Our overall goal is not merely to survive, but to share lives that are truly worth living. We believe the quality of our individual lives is enriched by the quality of all of our lives. We encourage everyone to see the dignity and intrinsic worth in all of life, and to take the time to understand and appreciate themselves, their community, and the magnificent beauty of this world.

Ten Key Values

2012-08-22T14:32:36Z

Briancady413: Created page with "== GREEN-RAINBOW PARTY == === Ten Key Values === ==== www.green-rainbow.org ==== These Ten Key Values serve as the philosophical foundation for political action for Green pa..."

== GREEN-RAINBOW PARTY ==
=== Ten Key Values ===

==== www.green-rainbow.org ====
These Ten Key Values serve as the philosophical foundation for political action for Green parties worldwide, each of which adapts and defines them according to the needs of their national, regional, and local chapters.
Grassroots Democracy: Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect his or her life. 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 that expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.
==== Ecological Wisdom: ====
Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of and not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the environmental and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society that 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 have agricultural practices that replenish the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.
==== 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 heterosexism, ageism and disability, all of which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.
==== Nonviolence: ====
It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to our current patterns of violence at all levels, from the family and the streets to nations and the world. We will work to demilitarize our society 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 nonviolent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community, and global peace.
==== 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 that 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 valuing community and assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.
==== Community Based Economics: ====
We recognize that it is essential to create a vibrant and sustainable economic system, one creating enough jobs and providing 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 each person's labor. 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 spread out resources and control to more people through democratic participation.
==== Feminism: ====
We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for replacing the cultural ethics of domination and control with more cooperative ways of interacting which respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcome we want.

==== 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 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 traditionally been closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms and the preservation of biodiversity.
==== Personal and Global Responsibility: ====
We encourage individuals to improve their personal well being while enhancing 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.
==== Future Focus and Sustainability: ====
Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing or "unmaking" the waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counter-balance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are beneficial to the future generations who will inherit the results of our actions. Our overall goal is not merely to survive, but to share lives that are truly worth living. We believe the quality of our individual lives is enriched by the quality of all of our lives. We encourage everyone to see the dignity and intrinsic worth in all of life, and to take the time to understand and appreciate themselves, their community, and the magnificent beauty of this world.

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-22T14:26:44Z

Briancady413: /* 1) Preamble */

This page is for development of the Green Party Platform. Before participating, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, including looking at revisions, please contact Brian or Terra.

==Audience==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members.

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by the Green-Rainbow [[Ten Key Values]] include a vision of the common good and are structured to enable all to realize this good.

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their shared values (footnote on 10 values, Terra: Elie...do you have a link, I can install it) and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002).

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by Green-Rainbow values [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] would include modes of operation enlightened by a vision of the common good and structured to enable all to realize this good (footnote on operating principles-our recent work). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?]

While special interests dominate the halls of government, we seek structures and processes to enable all residents of the Commonwealth to contribute their reason, wisdom, and energy to meet the challenges.

When major economies are staggering from financial speculation in the world-wide system controlled by the powerful, we acknowledge the interdependence of all beings on earth, while favoring decentralization of decision making in view of the reliability of locally based economies.

Where social relations are blighted by unfairness, increasing inequality, and lack of opportunity, we look to the talents and wisdom of Massachusetts residents to rebuild the social order, shifting source of needed revenues from tax on (diminishing) income to consumption of resources, use of advantage created by society, and accumulated wealth.

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires full-cost accounting for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; rational taxation, the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a sovereign wealth fund.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need but to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables. The utilization of the noted social resources by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological
means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics,
droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim
than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels
may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic
proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least
reliance on agencies of violence.

== 3) Alternative Platform text ==

Democratic Government, Sustainable Economy, Healthy Society

* To provide opportunity for MA residents to participate in their own governance, as many decisions as appropriate should be delegated to citizen assemblies at the relevant level--neighborhood, town, region-- either currently constituted (e.g. town meetings) or assembled with government support (e.g. consultative bodies).

* To assure representation of the widest range of perspectives, candidates for public office should receive financial aid. Ranked choice voting, with requirement of majority of votes for election, should be instituted to broaden participation and expression of opinion.

* Conduct of governmental affairs in the interest of the common good would benefit from measures promoting transparency, including continuous auditing of expenditures--fiscal and material. Periodic review should be built into legislation which relates to changing conditions. Special care is needed to identify legislation which facilitates transfer of wealth from the less to the more
affluent.

* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law, entails full funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives.

* The Commonwealth should reexamine the relevance of its current vision of enterprise and economic development, giving due credit to the value of locally based and cooperative enterprise, and to public management of certain services, e.g. public utilities.

* Subsidies and tax breaks for corporation on basis that they provide employment must be carefully weighed…International trade agreements which give special protection to corporations doing business in Commonwealth should be examined: EOHED should make appointments to commission to study this.

* Managing state finances with a state owned bank could cut costs of service and borrowing, infrastructure financing, and nurture strong local banks.… State and municipalities can use power eminent domain to intervene positively in bank foreclosures…

* Shifting taxation from income to consumption, resource use and wealth can assure revenues for government operations as economic patterns shift . This basis needed to be able to enact universal basic income. [Should there be description of vision here? ]

[ Where to talk about Civil and Personal rights, Rights of immigrants and disabled? Earlier?]

* Adequate and equitable funding for public schools, outreach programs and libraries so that residents may realize their potential contributions in the civic, economic and personal spheres should be assured by the state, while municipalities are responsible for their operation.

* Change current prison system and criminal law must change

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-22T14:20:46Z

Briancady413: Various re-arrangements

This page is for development of the Green Party Platform. Before participating, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, including looking at revisions, please contact Brian or Terra.

==Audience==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members.

==1) Preamble ==

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by the Green-Rainbow Ten Key Values include a vision of the common good and are structured to enable all to realize this good.

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their shared values (footnote on 10 values, Terra: Elie...do you have a link, I can install it) and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002).

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by Green-Rainbow values [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] would include modes of operation enlightened by a vision of the common good and structured to enable all to realize this good (footnote on operating principles-our recent work). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?]

While special interests dominate the halls of government, we seek structures and processes to enable all residents of the Commonwealth to contribute their reason, wisdom, and energy to meet the challenges.

When major economies are staggering from financial speculation in the world-wide system controlled by the powerful, we acknowledge the interdependence of all beings on earth, while favoring decentralization of decision making in view of the reliability of locally based economies.

Where social relations are blighted by unfairness, increasing inequality, and lack of opportunity, we look to the talents and wisdom of Massachusetts residents to rebuild the social order, shifting source of needed revenues from tax on (diminishing) income to consumption of resources, use of advantage created by society, and accumulated wealth.

== 2) Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires full-cost accounting for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; rational taxation, the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a sovereign wealth fund.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need but to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables. The utilization of the noted social resources by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological
means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics,
droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim
than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels
may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic
proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least
reliance on agencies of violence.

== 3) Alternative Platform text ==

Democratic Government, Sustainable Economy, Healthy Society

* To provide opportunity for MA residents to participate in their own governance, as many decisions as appropriate should be delegated to citizen assemblies at the relevant level--neighborhood, town, region-- either currently constituted (e.g. town meetings) or assembled with government support (e.g. consultative bodies).

* To assure representation of the widest range of perspectives, candidates for public office should receive financial aid. Ranked choice voting, with requirement of majority of votes for election, should be instituted to broaden participation and expression of opinion.

* Conduct of governmental affairs in the interest of the common good would benefit from measures promoting transparency, including continuous auditing of expenditures--fiscal and material. Periodic review should be built into legislation which relates to changing conditions. Special care is needed to identify legislation which facilitates transfer of wealth from the less to the more
affluent.

* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law, entails full funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives.

* The Commonwealth should reexamine the relevance of its current vision of enterprise and economic development, giving due credit to the value of locally based and cooperative enterprise, and to public management of certain services, e.g. public utilities.

* Subsidies and tax breaks for corporation on basis that they provide employment must be carefully weighed…International trade agreements which give special protection to corporations doing business in Commonwealth should be examined: EOHED should make appointments to commission to study this.

* Managing state finances with a state owned bank could cut costs of service and borrowing, infrastructure financing, and nurture strong local banks.… State and municipalities can use power eminent domain to intervene positively in bank foreclosures…

* Shifting taxation from income to consumption, resource use and wealth can assure revenues for government operations as economic patterns shift . This basis needed to be able to enact universal basic income. [Should there be description of vision here? ]

[ Where to talk about Civil and Personal rights, Rights of immigrants and disabled? Earlier?]

* Adequate and equitable funding for public schools, outreach programs and libraries so that residents may realize their potential contributions in the civic, economic and personal spheres should be assured by the state, while municipalities are responsible for their operation.

* Change current prison system and criminal law must change

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-22T14:18:32Z

Briancady413: /* DRAFT DOCUMENT */ various changes

This page is for development of the Green Party Platform. Before participating, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, including looking at revisions, please contact Brian or Terra.

==Audience==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members.
==DRAFT DOCUMENT==

Here is the draft (from Elie's email of 8/20, 9:55):

1) Preamble (written by Joanna)

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by the Green-Rainbow Ten Key Values include a vision of the common good and are structured to enable all to realize this good.

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their shared values (footnote on 10 values, Terra: Elie...do you have a link, I can install it) and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002).

Green-Rainbow values embrace actions based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth; respect for life and its creativity; and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by Green-Rainbow values [Terra: is this a note to "National"? a comment about the national platform? or should it be referenced as the opinion of the state-level platform?] would include modes of operation enlightened by a vision of the common good and structured to enable all to realize this good (footnote on operating principles-our recent work). [Terra: do we want to say something about wanting a "strong [[http://wiki.occupyboston.org/wiki/Commons commons]]"?]

While special interests dominate the halls of government, we seek structures and processes to enable all residents of the Commonwealth to contribute their reason, wisdom, and energy to meet the challenges.

When major economies are staggering from financial speculation in the world-wide system controlled by the powerful, we acknowledge the interdependence of all beings on earth, while favoring decentralization of decision making in view of the reliability of locally based economies.

Where social relations are blighted by unfairness, increasing inequality, and lack of opportunity, we look to the talents and wisdom of Massachusetts residents to rebuild the social order, shifting source of needed revenues from tax on (diminishing) income to consumption of resources, use of advantage created by society, and accumulated wealth.

== Proposed Platform text ==

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires full-cost accounting for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; rational taxation, the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a sovereign wealth fund.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need but to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables. The utilization of the noted social resources by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological
means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics,
droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim
than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels
may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic
proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least
reliance on agencies of violence.

== 3) Alternative Platform text ==

Democratic Government, Sustainable Economy, Healthy Society

* To provide opportunity for MA residents to participate in their own governance, as many decisions as appropriate should be delegated to citizen assemblies at the relevant level--neighborhood, town, region-- either currently constituted (e.g. town meetings) or assembled with government support (e.g. consultative bodies).

* To assure representation of the widest range of perspectives, candidates for public office should receive financial aid. Ranked choice voting, with requirement of majority of votes for election, should be instituted to broaden participation and expression of opinion.

* Conduct of governmental affairs in the interest of the common good would benefit from measures promoting transparency, including continuous auditing of expenditures--fiscal and material. Periodic review should be built into legislation which relates to changing conditions. Special care is needed to identify legislation which facilitates transfer of wealth from the less to the more
affluent.

* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law, entails full funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives.

* The Commonwealth should reexamine the relevance of its current vision of enterprise and economic development, giving due credit to the value of locally based and cooperative enterprise, and to public management of certain services, e.g. public utilities.

* Subsidies and tax breaks for corporation on basis that they provide employment must be carefully weighed…International trade agreements which give special protection to corporations doing business in Commonwealth should be examined: EOHED should make appointments to commission to study this.

* Managing state finances with a state owned bank could cut costs of service and borrowing, infrastructure financing, and nurture strong local banks.… State and municipalities can use power eminent domain to intervene positively in bank foreclosures…

* Shifting taxation from income to consumption, resource use and wealth can assure revenues for government operations as economic patterns shift . This basis needed to be able to enact universal basic income. [Should there be description of vision here? ]

[ Where to talk about Civil and Personal rights, Rights of immigrants and disabled? Earlier?]

* Adequate and equitable funding for public schools, outreach programs and libraries so that residents may realize their potential contributions in the civic, economic and personal spheres should be assured by the state, while municipalities are responsible for their operation.

* Change current prison system and criminal law must change

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]

Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

2012-08-22T01:20:30Z

Briancady413:

This page is for development of the Green Party Platform. Before participating, please contact volunteer@occupyboston.org. The group that started this intends to work this draft on their own before asking people who haven't been participating in the meetings to have a chance.

Meeting participants, please edit at will. If you want a lesson on how to use the wiki, including looking at revisions, please contact Brian or Terra.

==Audience==
Potential and Existing Green-Rainbow Party Members.
==DRAFT DOCUMENT==

Here is the draft (from Elie's email of 8/20, 9:55):

1) Preamble (written by Joanna)

The Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts, on the 10th anniversary of its founding, endorses the platform of the Green Party of the United States.

The Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition merged in 2002 on the basis of their shared values (footnote on 10 values) and aspirations (footnote on merger statement of 2002). Green-Rainbow values imply a program based on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life and its creativity, and reliance on the humility of humans to accept their fallibility. Principles implied by Green-Rainbow values would include modes of operation enlightened by a vision of the common good and structured to enable all to realize this good (footnote on operating principles-our recent work).

While special interests dominate the halls of government, we seek structures and processes to enable all residents of the Commonwealth to contribute their reason, wisdom, and energy to meet the challenges.

When major economies are staggering from financial speculation in the world-wide system controlled by the powerful, we acknowledge the interdependence of all beings on earth, while favoring decentralization of decision making in view of the reliability of locally based economies.

Where social relations are blighted by unfairness, increasing inequality, and lack of opportunity, we look to the talents and wisdom of Massachusetts residents to rebuild the social order, shifting source of needed revenues from tax on (diminishing) income to consumption of resources, use of advantage created by society, and accumulated wealth.

2) Proposed Platform text (written by Elie)

At a time of severe cutbacks in spending, fiscal reform of State government operations requires full-cost accounting for all government approved projects to reduce ecologically destructive waste of natural resources. Continuous auditing of expenditures, both physical and monetary, must be instituted in such a manner as to prevent further transfer of wealth from the less to the more affluent.

To remedy the political (social and economic) harm that attends excessive and continuing growth in disparities of income, we seek legislation needed to achieve these goals; the eradication of poverty, the local assurance of a livelihood, freedom to pursue personal ambitions, and security of domicile. Among the means to these ends are; rational taxation, the institution of a state-owned bank, the establishment and funding of independent ecological research, and the development of a sovereign wealth fund.

Effective democratic deliberation and decision making at the local level -- town, city, ward, neighborhood, and also decisions whose ecological validity is largely regional, may require the formation of citizen assemblies in addition to those already instituted in law as local governments. Such consultative and decision making bodies should be chosen openly and freely by those most directly involved in their outcomes, protected from the undue pressure of competitive private corporations whose choices. and demands on our communities are driven by the need to maximize monetary gains.

Commonwealth law to protect the land held in common and also the fundamental necessities of life, water, air, and freedom of movement must allow for the sharing of resources within and between local polities. Encouraging local initiatives and local markets, whether cooperative or private, must replace the use of tax revenues to subsidize large corporate enterprises.

The Commonwealth, through its courts, is charged with the protections of all natural persons residing within the Commonwealth from invidious discrimination. Wherever this is in doubt, it shall be the duty of the Attorney General to conduct a thorough investigation, and failure of that office to so is an actionable offense.

All state institutions and private institutions must avoid policies that increase debt, especially debt that jeopardizes social liberty or inhibits the ability of persons to make reasonable choices as to employment, and other creative endeavors. Debt forgiveness may be necessary to protect the physical and social environment from the production of waste. The use of local scrip should be encouraged.

Criminal law requires a careful examination of the use of violence to counter violence, as well as the testing of non-incarceration in the protection of the common good. The current prison system provides a glaring instance of unjust waste of human and physical resources. Imprisonment for non-violent but legally defined offenses remains an invidious discrimination that can no longer be ignored.

Growth in GDP is not a requirement of good government. The Commonwealth and its self governing communities should be left free to innovate, and improve the quality of life of their inhabitants through social interaction rather than increase of wealth. The institution of universal health care remains one of the chief tools of reducing ecological waste in human affairs. Health care accompanied by the required freeing of medical practice from the constraints imposed by insurance corporations, and removing the burden imposed on private employers provides a powerful tool for reducing the waste of non-productive overhead.

A program of educational reform in the public school system should be pursued at the local and regional levels. The only role of State government shall be to see to it that all schools are supplied according to the needs of the children they serve. This approach will entail increasing the resources to deal with poverty and its consequences for children. The content of compulsory education cannot be fairly determined by job markets. Principles of democratic education are well understood and need but to be applied.

Electoral reform to ensure maximal choice in representative government requires State financing of candidacy for public office, majority election, and should also allow for representation of opinion at least as effectively as representation and conciliation of conflicting interest. Preferential balloting for single office in both primary and general elections allows for responsible and democratic choice in a way that the current system denies. Political diversity in the Commonwealth as a whole should be represented in its legislative bodies; and districts of roughly equal population should be drawn on the ground of shared ecological concerns of these populations.

Private corporations in the business of mass transportation, communication, and energy production must be held fully accountable for the maintenance of their infra-structure and the attendant costs, especially the wasteful consumption of non-renewables. The utilization of the noted social resources by households, government agencies, industry and commerce must be made as efficient and ecologically sound as possible.

Our politics emphasize social preparedness. No matter how advanced our technological
means, we are not in charge of all planetary or local events. Hurricanes, epidemics,
droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes are no more selective in choosing their victim
than a nuclear attack or accident. While climate change of a kind that raises sea levels
may be anticipated, there are periods when geological events may assume catastrophic
proportions. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least
reliance on agencies of violence.

3) Alternative text (written by Joanna)(explaining that this is incomplete)

We propose as our platform:

(Democratic Government, Sustainable Economy, Healthy Society)

* To provide opportunity for MA residents to participate in their own governance, as many decisions as appropriate should be delegated to citizen assemblies at the relevant level--neighborhood, town, region-- either currently constituted (e.g. town meetings) or assembled with government support (e.g. consultative bodies).

* To assure representation of the widest range of perspectives, candidates for public office should receive financial aid. Ranked choice voting, with requirement of majority of votes for election, should be instituted to broaden participation and expression of opinion.

* Conduct of governmental affairs in the interest of the common good would benefit from measures promoting transparency, including continuous auditing of expenditures--fiscal and material. Periodic review should be built into legislation which relates to changing conditions. Special care is needed to identify legislation which facilitates transfer of wealth from the less to the more
affluent.

* Obligation to protect the commons, land, air, water, ecosystems, and residents’ proper enjoyment thereof, embodied in Commonwealth law, entails full funding of environmental research and teaching at state universities, professional staff, long range regional planning, outreach programs, and local initiatives.

* The Commonwealth should reexamine the relevance of its current vision of enterprise and economic development, giving due credit to the value of locally based and cooperative enterprise, and to public management of certain services, e.g. public utilities.

* Subsidies and tax breaks for corporation on basis that they provide employment must be carefully weighed…International trade agreements which give special protection to corporations doing business in Commonwealth should be examined: EOHED should make appointments to commission to study this.

* Managing state finances with a state owned bank could cut costs of service and borrowing, infrastructure financing, and nurture strong local banks.… State and municipalities can use power eminent domain to intervene positively in bank foreclosures…

* Shifting taxation from income to consumption, resource use and wealth can assure revenues for government operations as economic patterns shift . This basis needed to be able to enact universal basic income. [Should there be description of vision here? ]

[ Where to talk about Civil and Personal rights, Rights of immigrants and disabled? Earlier?]

* Adequate and equitable funding for public schools, outreach programs and libraries so that residents may realize their potential contributions in the civic, economic and personal spheres should be assured by the state, while municipalities are responsible for their operation.

* Change current prison system and criminal law must change

[[Green Party Working Group Reference Docs]]