Green Rainbow Party Platform Working Group

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.

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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.

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 taxing accumulated 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 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_).[See discussion]

[See discussion]

Joanna inserting ALTERNATE INTRO(Preamble):

Green-Rainbow Party Fundamental Platform

Green-Rainbow values rest on understanding the interconnectedness of everything on Earth, respect for life, its creativity, and the capacities of human beings. Formed in 2002 by merger of the Green Party of Massachusetts and the Rainbow Coalition on the basis of shared values and aspirations (footnote merger statement), the Green Rainbow Party of Massachusetts supports the values espoused by the Green Party of the United States.

Our key value, ecological wisdom, implies the other nine. 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. The wellspring of a healthy economy is not a confident business sector tending to its own short term profit; rather, it is a vibrant society, nurtured with expertise by its representative government, empowered to bring the people’s creativity into play. A healthy economy is not compromised by environmental protection; working with ecological principles ensures healthy economies. Far from being a problem, government itself is best able to manage many of the key enterprises on which the people's economy depends, such as public utilities, transportation networks, banking, health care finance.

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 restore power over our future to the people.

(proposals follow)

2) Proposed Platform text

[Note: Joanna reordered original paragraphs below. Here is beginning of an outline for proposals. Further details from proposals might go within this outline.]

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 equality and 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 superceded programs, e.g. welfare and corrections, and shifts in sources of revenue, e.g. more taxation of resource and land use, pollution, and wealth accumulation.

1. Institute universal minimum income administered by the Department of Revenue, for all Massachusetts residents to meet basic needs.

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 affordable housing, using rent control and eminent domain where indicated. c) enact state managed single payer health care system.

3. Provide adequate outreach and enrichment services to strengthen communities, e.g., early childhood education, street programs, after-school programs, adult education, cultural programs.

4. Reform public education to assure that all schools are staffed with and managed by well qualified teachers, able to work with parents, helping students develop autonomy, competence, cooperation, and caring, in the context of their communities.

5. Reform criminal justice system so that misfortunes and addictions are addressed rather than punished, that priority is placed on prevention and rehabilitation, 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, gender identity, age, language, immigration status, criminal record, religion, belief system or political orientation.

II. 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 to advance Massachusetts in the arena of multinational capitalism by favoring a limited set of businesses as employers is not achieving this. We propose reconsideration of how to develop sustainable economies. Measures tsken can be funded by savings from superceded programs such a corporate welfare and shifts in fiscal management to public banks and sovereign wealth fund.

1. The Commonwealth is obliged to protect 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 and education at state universities, regional planning, outreach programs, and application of 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 and livestock-rearing methods need close attention.

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, which meet human needs in a sustainable manner. Rather than relying solely on private enterprise to offer employment opportunities, the Commonwealth should maintain programs entrusted with nurturing a conversion to a sustainable economy via a mix of enterprises—private, public and cooperative--rooted in and responsive to their communities. The Commonwealth, when needed, should be prepared to provide employment in projects useful to society and the environment, 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 must be protected. Introduction of a universal minimum income will likely reduce the distinction between remunerative labor and socially desirable work, and facilitate introducation 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. Public ownership, state or municipal should be enabled, when indicated by public interest, e.g. municipal utilities.

6. International treaties, negotiated by the federal government, such as the WTO, NAFTA and others, may adversely affect Massachusetts. 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.

7. The Commonwealth charters corporations and allows them to do business here ; it should 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. Methods of raising livestock need close attention to determine acceptability.

III. Participatory Democracy [unfinished]

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 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 an open flow of information and the opportunity to assemble in public spaces and exchange opinions. Voting rights safeguarded should include the integrity of voter choice, best assured by trackable ballots, and regular auditing procedures.

2. To ensure the most representative government requires reasonable access to the ballot for candidates and to voting 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]. Ongoing accounting/auditing procedures to clarify the effects of Massachusetts legislation and programs and to inform adjustments should be a responsibility of the legislature. Instituting Full Cost Accounting, where applicable, will assist decision-making by indicating long term effects on the. environment and population. Open meetings, records, etc.

3. [participation:] 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 [Participatory Budgeting].

4. (inclusiveness and civil rights - protection for all, especially immigrants)

5. Communities where residents take responsibility will be better prepared to deal with emergencies, such as hurricanes, epidemics, droughts, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes. are no more selective in choosing their victim than a nuclear attack or accident. Healthy communities will show the greatest levels of caring and the least reliance on agencies of violence.

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

[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, 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.

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.

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.

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 encourage private education nor should it allow public charter schools run by corporate agendas.

[Economy] 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.

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.]]

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]

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.

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.

[Government] 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: [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.]

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.

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.

[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.]

[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.]

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 [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