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Posted in Democracy, Ecology, peace, social justice, Uncategorized | Tagged Democracy, Ecology, military, peace, renewable, safety net, social justice | Leave a comment

Democracy

Posted on March 18, 2020 by mekorganic

Think of American democracy as an ongoing, unfolding project that is dynamic and creative in nature.

We must be committed to the strengthening of our civil society, including the many mediating institutions at the community level that have always characterized our democracy.
We must seek to heal the alienation and apathy that has been cultivated in the citizenry by the power brokers of the status quo. Righteous anger about the crippling of our democracy is rising in the land. We need constructive alternatives.
In addition, we must seek to repair the plummeting opinion of the United States in the international community resulting from our arrogant, narcissistic foreign policy of recent years. A growing and grave imbalance between the citizens of this country and the interests that extract power from the citizens is an imminent danger to our security and national and global social stability.

Our country should view itself as a member of the community of nations… not above it. The United States could well play a leadership role in that community but only if we become committed to an eco-social vision of peace, national self-determination, and international cooperation.

We challenge that tactic by calling on all Americans to think deeply about the meaning of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. In a democracy, individuals come together to form structures of governance that protect and advance the common good. We the citizens are the government, and we the citizens can direct it to fulfill its finest goals and purposes.
Our citizens must not permit usurpation of their authority by acts of individuals and government agencies that isolate or insulate government from their oversight and control. We, the People, have a responsibility to participate in self-government through all the means that our Constitution provides.
Citizens of a democracy must have the information and ability to determine the actions of their government.

Vast concentrations of wealth and power that have occurred in recent years are inherently undemocratic. The deregulation of corporate activity and the decentralization and underfunding of the regulatory structures that remain—accompanied by the centralizing of big money —has been a disaster for our country.

The true owners of the public lands, pension funds, and the public airwaves are the American people, who today have little or no control over their pooled assets or their commonwealth.
The power of civic action is an antidote to the corporate control of so much of our lawmaking and regulating.
The pervasive abuse imposed by corporate power increasingly undermines our democracy, but the Green Party seeks to rekindle the democratic flame.
As voting citizens, taxpayers, workers, consumers, and stakeholders, we unite to exercise our rights and, as Thomas Jefferson urged, to counteract the “excesses of the moneyed interests.”

Toward this end,

We consider serious reform of campaign funding to be essential, as well as curbs on the influence of corporations on lawmakers and regulatory agencies.
We should consider the American democracy to be an ongoing, unfolding project that is dynamic and creative in nature. We must be committed to the strengthening of our civil society, including the many mediating institutions at the community level that have always characterized our democracy.
We must seek to heal the alienation and apathy that has been cultivated in the citizenry by the power brokers of the status quo. Righteous anger about the crippling of our democracy is rising in the land. We need constructive alternatives.
In addition, we need to repair the plummeting opinion of the United States in the international community resulting from our arrogant, narcissistic foreign policy of recent years.

A growing and grave imbalance between the citizens of this country and the interests that extract power from the citizens is an imminent danger to our security and national and global social stability.

Posted in constitution, Democracy, Uncategorized | Tagged civil society, Democracy, moneyed interests, public | Leave a comment

State of the World

Posted on March 18, 2020 by mekorganic

Never has our country faced as many challenges and crises as we do now.

Levels of federal revenue are the lowest they have been since 1950 because of tax cuts and breaks for the very rich and for corporations.
Government agencies charged with safeguarding public health and safety are operating with slashed budgets that paralyze their efforts.
Jobs are being permanently relocated outside the country, while social and educational programs are being gutted.
Our food, water, air, and soil are increasingly found to bear toxins and debilitating pollution.
Every single level of government—local, county, state, and federal—is operating in the red, running up crushing amounts of debt.
Many of our allies and former friends around the world are disgusted with our imperialist foreign policy, militarism, and arrogant corporate behavior.

Realizing that our actions will be judged by future generations, how can we draw on the best of our traditions, calling forth a spirit of ingenuity and citizen participation to achieve a free, democratic, just, and responsible society, one that actively responds to the crucial ecological challenges of our time, rather than denying them.

We need to create a bold vision of our country’s future!

We can use the Ten Key Values as a guide:

for a politics of vision and action,
for a creative, pragmatic plan for a prospering sustainable economy,
for a call to restore and protect a healthy, diverse environment
to cultivate a sense of community at all levels, from the local to the planetary.

We need a vision of our common good that is advanced through an independent politics free from the control of corporations and big money, and through a democratic structure and process that empowers and reaches across lines of division to bring together our combined strengths as a people.

We must see our political and economic progress, and our individual lives, within the context of an evolving, dynamic world.

As in nature, where adaptation and diversity provide key strategies through which life flourishes, a successful political strategy is one that is diverse, adaptable to changing needs, and strong and resilient in its core values:

Participatory Democracy, rooted in community practice at the grassroots level and informing every level, from the local to the international.
Social Justice and Equal Opportunity emphasizing personal and social responsibility, accountability, and an ethic of Nonviolence.
Ecological and Economic Sustainability, balancing the interests of a regulated market economy and community-based economics with effective care for the Great Economy in which we are embedded: the ecosystems of the Earth.

We must seek to identify the most crucial problems facing our country and offers ideas for responsible action to solve them.

Looking to the future with hope and optimism, we can truly correct the course of reckless, destructive governance that has allowed and encouraged the degradation of our ecological life-support systems, gutted our economy, and strained the social fabric to the point of causing material hardship for millions of Americans.

Source: Green Party

Posted in community, Uncategorized | Tagged community, debt, Ecology, economy, envirpnment, federal revenue, foreign policy, future generations, health, jobs, social justice, society | Leave a comment

Threat of War on Iran

Posted on March 17, 2020 by mekorganic

Unable to justify its actions to the U.N. Security Council, the U.S. has been for years illegally attacking Iran, another U.N. member country in violation of our constitution, the UN Charter and the Nuremberg Principles.

Trump has withdrawn from the Iran nuclear deal despite Iran’s full compliance and U.S. Allies objections. Trump has initiated severe economic sanctions hoping to create internal destabilizing unrest in Iran. Trump has been increasing U.S. troop levels in Iraq with Iran now surrounded by dozens of U.S. military bases in Iraq and Pakistan.

An attack on Iran could easily escalate into a large-scale war in the Middle East, further destabilizing the region. The government of Pakistan might fall to revolutionary forces who might enter the war on the side of Iran, thus introducing nuclear weapons into the conflict. Russia and China, firm allies of Iran, might also be drawn into a general war in the Middle East.

In a full-blown U.S. war with Iran, up to a million people could die initially. Hundreds of thousands more could die in the vacuum to follow. Millions would be made refugees. The likely closing of the Strait of Hormuz would cut off a major oil source for many large industrialize nations creating worldwide economic disruption.

Democratic Party wants a war?

Back in 2017, with the exception of Bernie Sanders, Democrats in Congress voted for sanctions on Iran that helped Trump kill the nuclear deal. And even recently, the Democrats overwhelmingly voted for a massive military budget and helped kill a proposal from Sanders and Ro Khanna that opposed unauthorized military action against Iran.

The past two decades has seen the U.S. commit numerous extreme war crimes and violations of International Law in the Middle East. Israel’s right-wing Zionist government of Benjamin Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia have been active cheerleaders while other western “allies” have also been collaborators, equally at fault, for decades tolerating in silence these heinous acts of mass murder and wars for power and resources and for world hegemony.

General Qassem Suleimani was influential and respected in Iran and throughout the Middle East for his help with Iraq and Syria armed forces in defeating ISIS. Iraqi PM reveals Soleimani was on peace mission when assassinated, exploding Trump’s lie of ‘imminent attacks’ The US act of impunity in killing General Suleimani was a clear declaration of war on Iran.

Iraqi Prime Minister Abdul-Mehdi speaking to Iraqi Parlament
Abdul-Mehdi spoke angrily about how the Americans had ruined the country and now refused to complete infrastructure and electricity grid projects unless they were promised 50% of oil revenues, which Abdul-Mehdi refused.
This is why I visited China and signed an important agreement with them to undertake the construction instead. Upon my return, Trump called me to ask me to reject this agreement. When I refused, he threatened to unleash huge demonstrations against me that would end my premiership.
Huge demonstrations against me duly materialized and Trump called again to threaten that if I did not comply with his demands, then he would have Marine snipers on tall buildings target protesters and security personnel alike in order to pressure me.
I refused again and handed in my resignation. To this day the Americans insist on us rescinding our deal with the Chinese. After this, when our Minister of Defense publicly stated that a third party was targeting both protestors and security personnel alike (just as Trump had threatened he would do), I received a new call from Trump threatening to kill both me and the Minister of Defense if we kept on talking about this “third party”.
Iran has long been a target of Israel and the military-Industrial complex (Deep State) to control the world’s supply of oil.
Three billionaires, Sheldon Adelson, Bernard Marcus and Paul Singer , among Trump’s biggest campaign donors have been major forces in pushing the U.S. into war with Iran.

Adelson, for his part, has advocated launching a nuclear weapon against Iran as a negotiating tactic and threatening to nuke Tehran, a city with a population of 8.8 million.
Marcus and Adelson, who are also board members of the Likudist Republican Jewish Coalition , have already received substantial returns on their investment: total alignment by the U.S. behind Israel, the move of the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, and the official dropping of “occupied territories” to describe the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Democratic Inaction
The Democrats could have prevented any Trump war with Iran, but in deference to their own military industrial complex (Deep State) funders, they have refused to end the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF) while supporting the FY2020 NDAA military budget bill without restraints on Trump as to pursuing war with Iran.

Sources: War On Iran Articles

Posted in Benjamin Netanyahu, Bernie Sanders, General Qassem Suleimani, International Criminal and Humanitarian Law, International Law, Iran, Iraq, Likudist Republican Jewish Coalition, Nuremberg Principles, Pakistan, Ro Khanna, Uncategorized, Zionist | Tagged Iran, Israel, sanctions, war, Zionist | Leave a comment

Youth Rights

Posted on March 17, 2020 by mekorganic

All human beings have the right to a life that will let them achieve their full potential. Young people are one of the least protected classes of human beings, yet they represent our future. We must ensure they have an upbringing that allows them to take their place as functioning, productive, and self-actualized members of their community.

Youth are not the property of their parents or guardians, but are under their care and guidance.
Youth have the right to survive by being provided adequate food, shelter and comprehensive health care, including prenatal care for mothers.
Youth have the right to be protected from abuse, harmful drugs, violence, environmental hazards, neglect, and exploitation.
Youth have the right to develop in a safe and nurturing early environment provided by affordable childcare and pre-school preparation.
Youth have the right to an education that is stimulating, relevant, engaging, and that fosters their natural desire to learn.
Young people’s creative potential should be encouraged to the greatest extent possible.
Young people should have input into the direction and pace of their own education, including input into the operation of their educational institutions.
Young people should be provided with education regarding their own and others’ sexuality at the earliest appropriate time.
Young people should be provided the opportunity to express themselves in their own media, including television, radio, films and the Internet. Young people should also be given skills in analyzing commercial media.
Young people should be kept free from coercive advertising at their educational institutions.

Source: Green Party

Posted in Adoption, Human Right, childcare, Children, Convention on the Rights of the Child, domestic security, education, families, Human Right, Human Rights, No Child Left Behind, Uncategorized, welfare, youth rights | Tagged Children, guardians, parents, youth | Leave a comment

Women – Violence and Oppression

Posted on March 17, 2020 by mekorganic

Language is often used as a weapon by those with power, and women have traditionally borne the brunt of inflicted injuries. Freedom of speech is vital to democracy. However, this freedom should not be used to perpetuate oppression and abuse.

Violence against women is increasing nationwide. We must address the root cause of all violence even as we specifically address violence to women. We must support stronger legislation, programs and enforcement. We need new dialog and re-thinking that can lead to better language, ideas and solutions.

Domestic violence needs to be treated legally and practically for the violence that it is.
The term “sex work” should not be used in relation to prostitution. With the increasing conflation of trafficking (the violent and illegal trafficking in women and girls for forced sex) with prostitution, it is impossible to know which is which, and what violence the term “sex work” is masking. No source in existence knows which forms of prostitution comprise forced sex and which comprise free will or choice prostitution.

Forced sex is rape, and it is a crime. An increasing number of experts think the percentage of choice prostitution is very small, leaving the larger number of women exposed to serious and often fatal violence. Much of what is commonly called prostitution is actually sex trafficking by definition. WE need a safer world for women and girls.

We should have zero tolerance for the illegal international trafficking in humans. Of the millions of humans trafficked worldwide, the large majority are women and children who are bought and sold as slaves. They are kept captive and in debt-bondage that can never be paid off. Most are sold over and over again for forced sex prostitution. Forced sex is rape and a serious crime.

Some are forced to labor in agriculture, sweat shops, hotels, restaurants, domestic service and other forms of servitude. According to Human Rights Watch, in all cases coercive tactics — including deception, fraud, intimidation, isolation, threat and use of physical force, or debt bondage — are used to control women.

Estimates of human trafficking in the U.S. vary greatly from 18,000 to 50,000 to over 100,000 with a worldwide estimate of 12.5 million, mostly women and children.
WE should call for new U.S. legislation relating to prostitution modeled on the Swedish law passed in 1999, now adopted by other countries and being considered by more, that has drastically reduced human trafficking and prostitution in Sweden.

That law criminalizes the purchase of services from prostitutes, pimps and brothel keepers instead of criminalizing the prostitutes. We should urge the U.S. to open dialogs and visit with Sweden as a step toward introducing legislation in the U.S. Congress to address the exploitation, violence and harm to women through prostitution.

We should support all efforts to eradicate this extreme abuse of human rights, including but not limited to enforcement of existing laws and passage of tough new ones, punishing traffickers, aiding victims, increasing public awareness, reforming immigration laws, supporting existing programs and creating new ones.

We should support the State Department’s annual Trafficking in Persons Report as an important document to begin to combat this abuse.

We support and urge enforcement of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (HR 3244) signed into law on October 28, 2000. This Act authorizes funding for the prevention of trade in human beings and for protecting victims. It gives the State Department a historic opportunity to create an office with the exclusive responsibility of ending traffic in humans and protecting the victims of this worldwide trade. We must urge committed political support to achieve the cooperation of all different levels of government.

We need a more thorough dialog and understanding of violence against women and girls, including from prostitution and trafficking, that causes health and injury damage that seriously degrades their lives, even to death or premature death including from HIV, syphilis and many other diseases, as well as causing severe economic hardships.

We must call for solutions to this enormous problem that can result in awareness and the introduction of legislation in the U.S. Congress to address it.
Sources: Green Party

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Equal Rights Amendment
CEDAW

Posted in domestic violence, freedom of speech, Human Right, Human Rights, prositution, rape, sexual harassment, slave trade, trafficking, Uncategorized, Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act | Tagged domestic violence, Human Rights, prostitution, rape, sex work, sexual harassment, trafficking, violence | Leave a comment

Woman’s Social Equality

Posted on March 17, 2020 by mekorganic

We should support the equal application of the Constitution of the United States of America to all citizens, and therefore call for passage of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA). We must urge renewed efforts and campaigns to ratify the ERA.
We call for equal representation of women in Congress.
The U.S. must ratify the CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women which was adopted in 1979 by the U.N. General Assembly and ratified by 173 countries. The U.S. is one of the very few countries, and the only industrialized nation, that have not ratified it.
The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission should actively investigate and prosecute sexual harassment complaints. Women who file complaints must not be persecuted and should be protected under federal and state law. We must enshrine in law the basic principle that women have the same rights as men. We should promote gender equality and fairness in the work force to ensure that women receive equal pay for jobs of equal worth.
It is important for the inclusion of an equal number of women and men in peace talks and negotiations. Not only because these efforts directly affect their lives and those of their husbands, children and families, but also because when women are involved, the negotiations are often more successful.

Sources: Green Party

Posted in CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, Equal Rights Amendment, Uncategorized, women's rights | Tagged discrimination, equal rights, equality, ERA, women | Leave a comment

Women’s Rights

Posted on March 17, 2020 by mekorganic

Since the beginning of what we call civilization, when men’s dominance over women was firmly established. Until the present day, our history has been marred with oppression of and brutality to women.

We need to end this system of male domination, known as patriarchy, in all its forms, both subtle and overt.

Oppression
Inequality
Discrimination
Violence against Women
Rape
Trafficking
Slavery
Prostitution
Domestic Violence
Sexual Harassment

Changes to this patriarchy system cannot occur unless women’s voices are heard. Democracy cannot work without equality for women, which means equal participation and representation.

It took an extraordinary and ongoing fight over 72 years for women to win the right to vote.

However, the Equal Rights Amendment, first introduced in 1923, has still not been ratified after nearly 100 years.. Equality should be a given, so we must work toward that end.

We should be committed to increasing participation of women in politics, government and leadership. Hopefully, they will help change laws, make decisions, and create policy solutions that affect and will improve women’s lives. We should support, and call on others to support those efforts.

Source: Green Party

Bernie Sanders On Women’s Rights

Women’s Equality

Howie Hawkins on Civil Rights

Posted in domestic violence, Equal Rights Amendment, inequality, prositution, rape, sexual harrassment, slavery, trafficking, Uncategorized, Women's Bill of Rights, women's rights | Tagged discrimination, Equal Rights Amendment, inequality, oppression, rape, sexual harassment, slavery, trafficking, women's rights | Leave a comment

Women’s Reproductive Rights

Posted on March 17, 2020 by mekorganic

Women’s rights must be protected and expanded to guarantee each woman’s right as a full participant in society, free from sexual harassment, job discrimination or interference in the intensely personal choice about whether to have a child.

Women’s right to control their bodies is non-negotiable. It is essential that the option of a safe, legal abortion remains available.

The “morning-after” pill must be affordable and easily accessible without a prescription. The government should sponsor public relations campaign to educate women about this form of contraception.

Clinics must be accessible and must offer advice on contraception and the means for contraception; consultation about abortion and the performance of abortions regardless of age or marital status.

We should endorse women’s right to use contraception and, when they choose, to have an abortion in accordance with the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court ruling. This right cannot be limited to women’s age or marital status.

Contraception and abortion must be included in all health insurance policies in the U.S. Any state government must be able to legally offer these services free of charge to women at the poverty level.

Public health agencies operating abroad should be allowed to offer family planning, contraception, and abortion in all countries that ask for those services.

We should oppose our government’s habit of cutting family planning funds when those funds go to agencies in foreign countries that give out contraceptive devices, offer advice on abortion, and perform abortions.

We should encourage women and men to prevent unwanted pregnancies. It is the inalienable right and duty of every woman to learn about her body and to be aware of the phases of her menstrual cycle. It is the duty for every man to be aware of the functions and health of his and his partner’s bodies. This information is necessary for self-determination, to make informed decisions, and to prevent unintended consequences.

Unplanned conception takes control away from individuals and makes them subject to external controls. The “morning-after” pill and option of a safe and legal abortion need to remain available.

Source: Green Party

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Paycheck Fairness Act

Posted in discrimination, Human Right, Roe vs. Wade, sexual harassment, sexual harrassment, Supreme Court, Uncategorized, Women's Bill of Rights, women's reproductive rights, women's rights | Tagged morning-after pill, reproductive rights, Roe vs. Wade | Leave a comment

Women’s Economic Equality

Posted on March 17, 2020 by mekorganic

Women earn only 77% of men’s wages for equal work, despite outnumbering men in the workforce and despite the U.S. 1963 Equal Pay Act. Thus we should support intensified effort to see this unfair gap closed, including support for the Paycheck Fairness Act and similar legislation along with greater effort at enforcement.

Single mothers are the largest and most severely impoverished group in the United States, which explains why 22% of the children in our country live below the poverty line. Welfare reform has forced mothers to abandon their children while they travel to work at minimum wage jobs. With the extreme pay inequity, single mothers cannot afford child care, nurture their children, and move out of poverty.

We need real reforms to end poverty and return dignity and opportunity to all mothers. We call for implementing innovative programs that work with the particular and special needs of motherhood.

Mothers should not be forced to have outside employment to receive adequate welfare. Children are a nation’s most valuable treasure and we must see that they are well nurtured.

We also support other programs such as a universal basic income that will provide for those who nurture the next generation — work that is of incalculable importance to our society.
Sources: Green Party