The Avocado Declaration, final version
The Avocado Declaration, by Peter Miguel Camejo, twice Green Party candidate for California Governor, is now available in a final version. Ignore all previous versions! However, most, if not all, of what I posted here a few days ago is in the final version. Check it out, it’s an extraordinary document.
This final version, which I got from Camejo’s campaign manager, can be downloaded here (rtf format). Distribute freely.
Intro
A group of Greens have joined in forming an organization called the Avocado Education Project to help promote discussion on the issues outlined in the attached Mission Statement
The mission statement
The Avocado Education Project (AEP) educates about the history of struggles for democracy in the United States and their relationship to a multi-party political system. Americans have repeatedly called for a multi party democracy throughout our history. Since the founding of the United States of America, the political establishment has rejected moving towards a multi-party framework.
Related to this development is the one person, one vote issue that has also faced a long uphill battle in U.S. history. While often accepted as the goal of democracy, many U.S. institutions, such as the Electoral College and the U.S. Senate reject the concept of one person, one vote.
The AEP seeks to learn from the experience of the majority of nations holding elections where multi-party systems exists, whose laws protect one-person one-vote and where the juridical electoral forms favoring a two-party system have been rejected.
Specifically the AEP is a project that focuses on the existing debate within the United States on this issue. Should the U.S. electoral system favor limiting elections to two parties or should it be opened up to a multi-party system? Should governmental electoral institutions and electoral forms that do not follow the one-person one-vote rule be allowed to exist?
Should entities that are not people and do not follow a one-person one-vote policy in their own decision making, such as corporations, be allowed to participate in elections through financial donations?
Through its website, publications, conferences and symposiums, the AEP will provide a forum where all those committed to advancing democracy in the United States can share ideas, and learn from each other.
Their website is not up yet, however it will be soon. I’ll keep you posted.
Why the “Avocado Declaration”?
Because “an avocado is Green on the outside and Green on the inside”, which is a sly reference to the European term “watermelon” – a watermelon being Green on the outside and Red on the inside.