One of Bob’s most frequent criticisms of the Democratic Party states that Democrats no longer stand for anything, except, perhaps, the reproduction of the reigning status-quo. Green Party candidates across the country, on the other hand, have come together in support of a “Green New Deal.” What is the Green New Deal? As Green Party Watch reported back in August:
Green Party candidates nationwide today called for a “Green New Deal,” to cut military spending by at least 70%, provide single-payer universal health care, make tuition free at public universities, create millions of new green jobs, abolish corporate personhood, ban usury and legalize marijuana.
Green candidates calling for the Green New Deal include ten candidates for governor, nine for the U.S. Senate and seventeen for the U.S. House of Representatives.
“The Green New Deal is a complete break from the failed policies of the Democratic and Republican parties that have led us to economic and environmental disaster,” said Gary Ruskin, co-founder of Green Change, a national political organization.
“The Greens will pick up the New Deal torch the Democrats have dropped, reclaim the goals they have abandoned, such as job creation through public investment and single-payer health care, and expand the goals to include a sustainable green economy,” said Howie Hawkins, Green candidate for governor of New York.
These are the ten planks of the Green New Deal:
* Cut military spending at least 70%
* Create millions of green union jobs through massive public investment in renewable energy, mass transit and conservation
* Set ambitious, science-based greenhouse gas emission reduction targets, and enact a revenue-neutral carbon tax to meet them
* Establish single-payer “Medicare for all” health care
* Provide tuition-free public higher education
* Change trade agreements to improve labor, environmental, consumer, health and safety standards
* End counterproductive prohibition policies and legalize marijuana
* Enact tough limits on credit interest and lending rates, progressive tax reform and strict financial regulation
* Amend the U.S. Constitution to abolish corporate personhood
* Pass sweeping electoral, campaign finance and anti-corruption reformsGreen candidates who have endorsed the Green New Deal include . . .