Economic Justice – Social Safety Net

Posted on March 12, 2020 by mekorganic

The passage of the 1996 Welfare Act by Congress and its signing by the President confronts us with hard choices. Democrats and Republicans seem to be saying the country cannot afford to care for children and poor mothers.

In ending over fifty years of federal policy guaranteeing cash assistance for poor children, Congress has set in motion a radical experiment that will have a profound impact on the lives of the weakest members of our society. How will state, city and county governments, local communities, businesses and religious institutions — all of us — respond?

We have a special responsibility to the health and wellbeing of the young. Yet we see the federal safety net being removed and replaced with limited and potentially harsh state welfare programs. How will social services be adequately provided if local resources are already stretched thin?

Our community priorities must first protect the young and helpless. Yet how will state legislatures and agencies, under pressure from more powerful interests, react?
Local decision-making is important, but we realize, as we learned during the civil rights era, that strict federal standards must guide state actions in providing basic protections.
As the richest nation in history, we should not condemn millions of children to a life of poverty, while corporate welfare is increased to historic highs.

We must oppose the privatization of Social Security. It is critical that the public protections of Social Security are not privatized and subjected to increased risk. The bottom 20% of American senior citizens get roughly 80% of their income from Social Security, and without Social Security, nearly 70% of black elderly and 60% of Latino elderly households would be in poverty.
Sources: Green Party

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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in 1996 Welfare Act, economical justice, social safety net, social security, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Ecological Sustainability

Posted on March 12, 2020 by mekorganic

The human community is an element of the Earth community, not the other way around.
All human endeavors are situated within the dynamics of the biosphere. If we wish to have sustainable institutions and enterprises, they must fit well with the processes of the Earth.

The ideology of industrialism, in both capitalist and communist countries, insists that modern society lives on top of nature and should rightly use and despoil the rest of the natural world as we desire— because any loss of the ecosystems is merely an “externality” in economic thought and because any problems can be addressed later by a technological fix.

We are now living through the painful consequences of that arrogant, ignorant perspective.

Many of our children suffer from accumulations of mercury and other toxins in their neurological systems, environmentally related cancer is on the rise, and our air and water are increasingly polluted. Meanwhile, our ecosystems are being compromised by the spreading presence of genetically engineered organisms.

Our houses and buildings, manufacturing processes, and industrial agriculture were all designed with the assumption of an endless supply of cheap and readily available fossil fuels. Pollution and despoiling the land were not part of the thinking.

We should however, be optimistic about the alternatives that now exist. These could be encouraged through tax policy and the market incentives of fuel efficiency.

We should also challenge the grip of the oil, automotive, and automobile insurance industries that have managed to block or roll back progress in public mass transit.

The gutting of subsidies for the railroads has meant not only fewer passenger routes but also the addition of thousands of large freight trucks on our highways, decreasing public safety and increasing pollution.

We should be committed to extending the greening of waste management by encouraging the spread of such practices as reduce, return, reuse, and recycle.
We should strongly oppose the recent attempts to roll back the federal environmental protection laws that safeguard our air, water, and soil. The health of the life-support systems— the ecosystems on our continent — is of paramount importance.

Inherent in the efficient dynamics of those ecosystems is a vital profusion of biodiversity. Therefore, the we must call for a halt to the destruction of habitats, which are being sacrificed to unqualified economic expansion. We humans have a moral responsibility to all of our relations, many of which are facing extinction because we carelessly and permanently halt their long evolutionary journey.

Let us also supports the spread of organic agriculture and the careful tending of our nation’s precious remaining topsoil.

We should support planetary efforts to slow the ever-increasing numbers of humans pressuring the ecosystems, and we must especially support the reduction of consumption of the world’s raw materials by the industrialized Northern Hemisphere.

We should be appalled by our country’s withdrawal from serious efforts to limit greenhouse gases that are contributing mightily to global climate disruption. We must strongly urge the United States to adopt an actively responsible position in this crisis and to take significant action to address the problem.
Sources: Green Party

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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in Biological Diversity, Ecological systems, ecosystems, GMO, sustainability, Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Drones- Surveilance and Weapons

Posted on March 12, 2020 by mekorganic

Since the U.S. started drone attacks in Afghanistan in 2001, U.S. weaponized drones have, as of January 1, 2017, reportedly killed at least 7,511 people in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Somalia and Yemen, according to statistics supplied to Knowdrones.com by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (BIJ).
Pakistan: 4,001 Afghanistan: 2,295 Yemen: 859 Somalia: 356 Total: 7,511
This is a gross underestimate of U.S. drone killings because the BIJ only began counting drone deaths in Afghanistan in 2015. There are also no comprehensive tallies of drone killings in Iraq, Syria or Libya, nations where the U.S. has been conducting extensive drone attack operations. U.S. drones have also attacked in the Philippines.
All of these killings violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, an international human rights treaty that the U.S. ratified in 1992, as well as the international laws of war. This is because none of those killed were tried in a court of law or determined to be “combatants” by a neutral tribunal, and all killings were based upon gross violations of the privacy of those living in sovereign nations.
-The President, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency, Secretary of the Air Force and other military leaders directly involved in the U.S. drone program are guilty of war crimes under International Criminal and Humanitarian Law and should be subject to prosecution.
Sources:
Know Drones
Drone REFERENCES
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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in Afghanistan, CIA, Drones, Human Right, Human Rights, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, International Criminal and Humanitarian Law, Libya, Pakistan, Philippines, Somalia, surveilance, Syria, Uncategorized, Yemen | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Domestic Security

Posted on March 12, 2020 by mekorganic

We need to stop the assault on our civil liberties that intensified after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
During the last several decades, there has been an erosion of freedom in the United States. This has come from many sources and takes many forms, including:

  1. The war on drugs.
  2. Widespread imprisonment of nonviolent drug offenders.
  3. The increased use of personal identification.
  4. Surveillance of employees at work.
  5. The growing use of private security forces by corporations.
  6. Restrictions on the speech of protesters and students.
  7. Random traffic stops of persons of color.
  8. The commonplace use of roadblocks.

Since 9/11, this erosion has turned into a collapse of our freedoms, as then President Bush authorized:

  1. Torture.
  2. Illegal wiretapping.
  3. Indefinite detention without trial.
  4. Widespread government surveillance.

We should demand that all such systematic degradation or elimination of our constitutional protections must stop, and that corrective measures need to be taken in a timely manner by Congress to fully reinstate all such losses of guaranteed citizen protections.

Sources: Green Party

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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in detention, domestic security, freedom of speech, torture, Uncategorized, war on drugs, wiretapping | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Disabled Rights

Posted on March 12, 2020 by mekorganic

We need to support the full enforcement of the Americans with Disabilities Act to enable all people with disabilities to achieve independence and function at the highest possible level.

Government should work to ensure that children with disabilities are provided with the same educational opportunities as those without disabilities.

The physically and mentally challenged are people who are differently abled from the majority, but who are nevertheless able to live independently. Physically and mentally challenged people have the right to live independently in their communities.

The mentally ill are people with serious mental problems who often need social support networks. The mentally ill also have the right to live independently, circumscribed only by the limitations of their illness.

These people are their own best advocates in securing their rights and for living in the social and economic mainstream.

Current Medicaid policy forces many challenged people to live in costly state-funded institutions. Excluding these people from society alienates them; excluding them from the work force denies them the chance to use their potentials.

The diminishing funds available to provide care for the growing number of the mentally ill often result in their homelessness, vagrancy and dependence on short-term crisis facilities. Lack of funding also increases the necessity of placing them in long-term, locked facilities.

We should urge the government to:

  1. Increase rehabilitation funding so that persons with disabilities can pursue education and training to reach their highest potential. The differently abled should participate fully in the allocation decisions of state rehabilitation departments’ funds.
  2. Aggressively implement the Americans with Disabilities Act.
  3. Ratifiy the United Nations Convention on Rights for Persons with Disabilities as well as the Optional Protocol.
  4. Fund in-home support services to allow the differently abled to hire personal care attendants while remaining at home.
  5. Allocate adequate funding to support community-based programs that provide out-patient medical services, case management services and counseling programs. We should provide a residential setting within the community for those who do not need institutional care but who are unable to live independently.
  6. Make it easier for the chronically mentally ill to apply for and receive Supplemental Security Income.
  7. Mainstream the differently abled. Increase teacher training in regard to the needs of differently abled students.
  8. Discourage stereotyping of the mentally and physically challenged by the entertainment industry and the media.
  9. Fund programs to increase public sensitivity to the needs of the mentally ill and differently abled.

Sources: Green Party

Bernie Sanders On Disability Rights

Beauty Beyond Bones (eating disorder blog)

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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in Americans with Disabilities Act, disabled rights, Uncategorized, United Nations Convention on Rights for Persons with Disabilities | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Demilitarization and Exploration of Space

Posted on March 12, 2020 by mekorganic

We should recognize the need for the inspiration and education that the peaceful exploration of Space provides. We need for space-based systems to monitor environmental conditions on Earth; the many advances in space technology that benefit all people on Earth. The inspiration provided to children by Space exploration can prompt them to pursue math, science, and other important courses of study.

The peaceful exploration of Space has been usurped by the militarization of Space. The last four U.S.—backed military conflicts have used space-based technology to disrupt the computer and communication systems of sovereign states.

The funds required for continuing peaceful Space exploration have been used, instead, for the design, implementation and deployment of wasteful and dangerous Space hardware, such as the Strategic Defense Initiative.

We should support the end of Space militarization and opposes any form of space-based military aggression.

We should embrace peaceful Space exploration as a means for all people on this planet to work together. The benefits of inspired education are well worth the investment in peaceful Space exploration.

We should support only the peaceful and sustainable exploration of Space and the signing of the International Treaty for the Demilitarization of Space.

We should consider a reduction of human-staffed space flight due to the high cost and risk for human life and the availability of automated technology that can perform necessary functions in space-based research.
Sources: Green Party

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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in Demilitarism, International Treaty for the Demilitarization of Space, Space Exploration, Uncategorized | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Death Penalty

Posted on March 12, 2020 by mekorganic

We should oppose the death penalty in the United States and worldwide.
Sources:

Source: Green Party

Howie Hawkins on Crime

The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in Death Penalty, justice, Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Covert Actions

Posted on March 12, 2020 by mekorganic

The U.S. must prohibit all covert actions used to influence, de-stabilize or usurp the governments of other nations, and likewise prohibit the assassination of, or assistance in any form for the assassination of, foreign government officials.

Source: Green Party

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Covert Operations

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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in CIA, Green party | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Corruption Reform

Posted on March 12, 2020 by mekorganic
  1. Develop publicly-owned, open source voting equipment and deploy it across the nation to ensure high national standards, performance, transparency and accountability; use verifiable paper ballots; and institute mandatory automatic random precinct recounts to ensure a high level of accuracy in election results.
  2. Establish guarantees that every citizen’s vote counts, and that all U.S. voting systems—including electronic ones—are verifiable, transparent and accurate.
  3. Establish a National Elections Commission with the mandate to establish minimum national election standards and uniformity, partner with state and local election officials to ensure pre-election and post-election accountability for their election plans, require nonpartisan election boards, and depoliticize and professionalize election administration across the United States.
  4. Establish independent and transparent non-partisan redistricting processes to stop partisan gerrymandering and protect minority rights and representation.
    Strengthen “sunshine laws” to provide citizens with all necessary information and access to their political system.
  5. Ensure that all important federal, state and local government documents are on the Internet, especially texts of bills, searchable databases of voting records, draft committee and conference reports, and court decisions.
  6. Reinvigorate the independent investigative agencies, such as the General Accounting Office and the inspectors general.
  7. Enact tough new federal anti-bribery and gratuity laws to stop corporations and the wealthy from purchasing government action, and vigorously enforce of anti-corruption laws by the Justice Department.
  8. Expand revolving-door lobbying “cooling off” periods for members of Congress and their top staff to at least two years.
  9. Allow any member of Congress to require a floor vote on any congressional earmark, to stop wasteful spending.
  10. Increase the number of polling places, and increase the pay for poll workers.
  11. In addition to allowing members of Congress to send mail to their constituents for free, letters from citizens to their members of Congress shall also be free.
  12. Prohibit members of Congress, Governors, state legislators and their staffs from accepting for their own personal benefit any gifts of any amount from lobbyists or the general public.
  13. Require outside counsel to investigate ethics complaints against members of Congress, and toughen punishments within the congressional ethics processes for corruption, abuse of power and other wrongdoing.
  14. Replace the Federal Election Commission with a vigorous watchdog empowered to enforce federal campaign finance laws.
  15. Support the ability of cities to establish civilian police review boards to increase understanding between community members and police officers, provide a public forum to air concerns on policy matters and to ensure public oversight and accountability of their local police department.

Sources: Green Party

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Corruption Reform

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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in corruption, General Accounting Office, National Elections Commission, Uncategorized, voting | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Corporate Accountability and Democracy

Posted on March 11, 2020 by mekorganic

” Corporate Accountability and Democracy ” is taken from Bernie Sanders Presidential campaign website. I support 100% with what he says! (Please visit his site for more details)
In America today, corporate greed and corruption is destroying the social and economic fabric of our society, where a small group of ultra-wealthy CEOs are making the decisions that increasingly determine our economic, environmental and political future.
For too long, these greedy corporate CEOs have rigged the tax code, killed market competition, and crushed the lives and power of workers and communities across America.
Year after year we’ve seen wages slashed and thousands of workers laid off, all while the richest corporate CEOs pay themselves huge bonuses.
They got away with it through a broken campaign finance system, where a few large campaign donations can get you the ear of any politician.
Now Donald Trump, the most corrupt president in history, has brought this corporate corruption straight into the Oval Office.
Let’s end to the corporate greed ruining our country once and for all.

  1. Fundamentally shift the wealth of the economy back into the hands of the workers who create it.
  2. Give workers an ownership stake in the companies they work for.
  3. Break up corrupt corporate mergers and monopolies, including reviewing all mergers that have taken place during the Trump administration and institute new merger guidelines.
  4. Finally make corporations pay their fair share of taxes by reversing Trump’s corporate tax breaks and closing corporate tax loopholes to raise up to $3 trillion over 10-years.

Sources: Bernie Sanders

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Corporate Reform

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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World

Posted in campaign finance, consumer protection, corporate accountability, Democracy, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment