14. The desire to cut military budgets
15. Expansion of Medicare and support of Single Payer Health Insurance
16. Its support of the Financial Transaction Tax (a "Robin
Hood Tax") to reduce the deficit.
17. Its support of the Student Loan Forgiveness Act
Moreover, as a longtime member of the Green movement, I still love the Ten Key Values of the Greens. I support the Green Party (the state parties' faction) and The Greens-Green Party USA (the original movement faction). However, considering the programs of the Democratic Socialists and the Greens, I believe there are more things that can be done to restructure American society and promote global peace and justice. More specifically, to create the ideal society that promotes local self-determination with a simultaneous global awareness, several new amendments and laws need to be created. The U.S. Congress must do the following things:
1. Take
leadership to dismantle all nuclear weapons and nuclear energy power plants,
simultaneously and voluntarily, the world over as soon as possible.
2. Bring home
all U.S. troops and close down the government's 700-1000 military bases around
the world. Even with such a drawdown,
our nation would retain more than enough capacity to defend its own
borders. The money previously spent on
the military would be used to create jobs and rebuild our nation's
infrastructure: "[A]nd they shall turn their swords into ploughshares." (Isaiah
2:4). Military ships, submarines, and
planes can be used for low-budget travel and tourism.
3. Remove the
influence of private financial contributions and of lobbyists on members of
Congress in the traditional way. The
Library of Congress will create a website that will become an online forum and
clearinghouse for all public policy advocacies. All positions and arguments will be publicized. Everyone will know who is lobbying for what
and why. Publicly provide the same
finances to the political campaigns of the seven largest national political
parties, and give all seven parties equal public exposure.
4. Elect the
U.S. House of Representatives through a system of Proportional Representation,
and abolish the U.S. Senate: Why should California and Wyoming have the same
number of senators, when California's population is about 70 times greater? The
seven largest national political parties will be empowered in a
single-chambered national legislature. Under proportional representation, the National Green Party may get 15 percent
of the vote, for example, in the 435-membered House of Representatives, and
Indiana's population currently allows it to have ten members in the House of
Representatives. But it may be that of
the seven national political parties, the Indiana Republican Party will get to
select five of Indiana's ten representatives in the House of Representatives,
because Indiana is a conservative state.
5. Abolish
the Electoral College System for electing a president. A president must win by a majority of
individual votes (not just a plurality of votes) using the method of Instant
Runoff Voting, in which each voter will rank slated candidates from most
favorite to least favorite. It may take two or more rounds of voting to eliminate
the candidate with the fewest votes, until eventually one of the
remaining candidates captures at least 51 percent of the vote.
6. Limit the
terms for Supreme Court judges to four years, but allow judges to serve
multiple terms.
7. Implement
a decentralized, non-hierarchical, or grassroots, approach to public
schools. The neighbors who live within
the boundaries of each public elementary, middle, and high school will be
forced, or allowed, to democratically establish their own school philosophy and
curriculum, using public funds. There
will no longer be federal, state, county, or township control of neighborhood
schools. This should improve
neighborhood togetherness, as neighbors ideally become tribal, in a new and
modern way.
Local neighborhood groups would probably search the
Internet and study the most effective schools and various school
curriculums. Residents would be forced
to think independently and philosophically. In the process, neighbors would get to know one another better, and they
would build a close-knit community. Parents,
other residents, and senior citizens would become effective tutors and better
educated citizens. The current reliance
on public school "experts" who dictate when, how, what, where, and who can
teach has not worked well for teachers, students, parents, and our
society.
8. Abolish
the Federal Reserve and allow the Treasury Department to oversee a publicly
owned banking system like the Bank of North Dakota. Currently, the Federal Reserve has pumped $16
trillion into the central banking system, as many people wonder, "Where is my
bailout?"
9. Strive to
establish a democratic world government that provides equal pay for equal work,
with no one earning more than three times the wages of the lowest paid
worker. This will eliminate the extremes
of poverty and wealth, and provide adequate food, housing, and jobs for all
citizens of the world. All workers can
have democracy in the workplace. The
world map can be divided into 500 rectangular-shaped legislative districts of
equal population. The World Legislative Council could then make executive and
judicial branch appointments.
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