Key Value Number 3: ECOLOGICAL WISDOM

Key Value Number 3: ECOLOGICAL WISDOM

Key Value Number 3: ECOLOGICAL WISDOM – “Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society which utilizes resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end we must practice agriculture which replenishes the soil; move to an energy efficient economy; and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.”

This key value speaks to wisdom. Not just “good ideas” or “desired outcomes” or even “practical goals”, but WISDOM. That’s a tall order.

Let’s look at the aspirations of this key value.

“We are a part of nature…” This planet has been around for 4 billion years or so, yet mankind (at best) can be traced back about 4 million years. If the earth’s age was represented by a football field, mankind arrived at the 3.6 inch line. It’s easy for us, in our hubris (heck, we “extinct” about 50,000 species every year) to think of Earth as “ours”. The simple fact is that this planet got along just fine without us, and will likely do fine without us some day in the future. What will “extinct” us…is us. We best recognize the seriousness of the threat that we represent to ourselves and the other living things here.

The Green Party stands for developing a society that achieves ecological balance and is sustainable by living within our means through:

• Conservation of our Resources
• Repurpose, Reuse, Recycle, and Reclaim
• Recognizing our place within the Earth’s ecosystem
• Embracing our responsibilities to this planet, all its inhabitants, and our children

 

“…practice agriculture which replenishes the soil…” We developed the means to manage our environment through agriculture only about 13,000 years ago. Put this development on our football field time scale and it’s on the 1/100,000 of an inch line.

Yet in that brief time we have learned that our approach to agriculture is unsustainable; that without enormous inputs of chemical fertilizer our present approach to agriculture fails. And that fertilization comes with a heavy price in terms of environmental degradation, massive atmospheric carbon release, and a host of unintended consequences (air pollution, algae blooms, ocean dead-zones, etc.).

We have learned that “localizing” our food production, abandoning “monoculture” farming (where we grow a single crop over vast tracts of land), and employing known sustainable techniques (crop rotation, cover crops, natural pest predators, etc.) can produce yields comparable to the industrial farms without the degradation of the land.

 The Green Party stands for developing, implementing, and maintaining sustainable agricultural practices for our society, capable of feeding the world and dedicated to the preservation of the land.

 

“…an energy efficient economy…” The U.S. is widely recognized as the greatest consumer of energy, per capita, in the world. It is contingent on us to lead this planet out of the climate change wilderness. No other country has the economic might to do this. Yet we lag many European countries (and surprisingly, China) in both “installed base” and technological innovation as related to alternative energy.

That we continue to subsidize the fossil industry in this country (via tax breaks, lease giveaways, loans at favorable rates, price controls, purchase requirements, etc.) to the tune of $50 billion per year (hundreds of times more than we do for the alternatives) is unconscionable. This is an industry that books billions of dollars of profit every year. And if we add the costs of wars fought and “diplomatic” actions taken to ensure their access to the product they then sell us???

We think that the U.S. can satisfy its energy needs without propping up dictators and conquering other countries by committing to development of renewable and sustainable alternative energy sources.

The Green Party stands for the development of a sustainable energy industry in the United States and the development and export of that technology to assist the rest of the world in breaking their fossil fuel addiction.

 

“…live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.” We come to the crux of this key value. As Aretha sang, “R-E-S-P-E-C-T”.

It isn’t respectful to the planet (or our fellow humans) to exhaust our smoke and gases into Earth’s air, our effluent and sewage into its waters, or our concentrated lead and arsenic onto its ground. A simple thought; it’s our planet and it’s the only one we have.

The Green Party stands for respect for the Earth and all its flora and fauna.

 

We hope to see you at the next Tarrant County Green Party meeting Saturday, September 20th, 2-4 PM, at Roots Coffeehouse in North Richland Hills.   http://rootscoffeehouse.com/north-richland-hills/

There are no dues and no barriers to your participation in your democracy. Come see what politics can be.

 

Support Our Tarrant County Green Party Candidates

John Tunmire, State Senate District 10 and Martina Salinas, Texas Railroad Commission

You can contact the Tarrant County Green Party at http://tarrant.txgreens.org/

© Copyright 2014 by Tarrant County Green Party. 
This work may be reproduced under Creative Commons license with proper attribution

Key Value Number 4: NON-VIOLENCE

Key Value Number 4: NON-VIOLENCE – “It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society’s current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize, and eliminate weapons of mass destruction, without being naive about the intentions of other governments. We recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace.”

Welcome to one of the Green Party’s more “radical” positions! Actually it’s not really radical, for in the past both major parties agreed that disarmament was a worthwhile goal. Now, however, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans would dare suggest we eliminate weapons of mass destruction from America’s arsenal, but that is exactly what the Green Party proposes. And not just America’s, but all nuclear arsenals.

You may be surprised to learn that in 1968-70 the US (along with all the other “nuclear states” at that time) signed and ratified the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). Essentially, it commits the nuclear powers to dismantling their nuclear arsenals in exchange for the non-nuclear countries agreeing not to develop nuclear weapons. All the countries of the world but Israel, Pakistan, India, and North Korea are signatories.

That treaty has largely been honored by the non-nuclear states (Iran is a little iffy, but it is this treaty that authorizes the IAEA to inspect their facilities) and for three decades after this treaty was honored by the nuclear powers as well. In order to implement the NPT President Reagan proposed that the US and USSR enter into an implementing treaty (START1). Over the next 10 years, several similar arms reduction treaties were negotiated between these two powers.  By 2002 the U.S and USSR had reduced the number of strategic nuclear weapons by 80%. Unfortunately, when the US unilaterally withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty in 2002 (one of George W. Bush’s first actions in office) the disarmament program, worldwide, ceased.

The Green Party urges America to work diligently to comply (and encourage compliance by the others) with the provisions of the NPT treaty and restart disarmament of nuclear weapons.

Read about the NPT here: http://www.un.org/disarmament/WMD/Nuclear/NPTtext.shtml

Latest news regarding Consolidated Nuclear Test Ban Treaty:

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=48679#.VBEOAfldUcE

 

Demilitarization is also a part of this key value and is crucial to our developing lasting peace. The United States spends more on armaments than the next 2 or 3 dozen countries combined. Why are the other nations of the world capable of social expenditures and the US is not? Maybe it’s that 57 cents of every dollar in our discretionary budget that goes to our military.

And when we have such a military, it seems that every world problem looks like a war, or an incursion, or an air strike, or a deployment, ad infinitum. Diplomacy is given short shrift when we can (or think we can) simply impose our will on the latest global whipping boy. This is not a healthy approach for our planet or our country.

Simply reducing military expenditures in this country will result in our looking deeper into the toolbox; not just for bombs, but for statecraft, negotiation, finesse, and other aspects of soft power. We believe there are alternatives to drone strikes, dead and maimed children, and terrorized communities, afraid of even celebrating a wedding.

Yes, we recognize the world is a dangerous place, but the most powerful country in the world should shrug off its fears and lead by example; negotiating, collaborating, and as Winston Churchill advised, employing “jaw-jaw” instead of “war-war”.

The Green Party stands for demilitarizing America and investing in our citizens’ lives rather than our neighbors’ deaths.

These positions were favored by America’s leaders through the fifties into the eighties, both Republicans and Democrats. They weren’t radical ideas then and they aren’t radical ideas now.

We hope to see you at the next Tarrant County Green Party meeting Saturday, September 20th, 2-4 PM, at Roots Coffeehouse in North Richland Hills.   http://rootscoffeehouse.com/north-richland-hills/

There are no dues and no barriers to your participation in our party. Come see what politics can be.

Support Our Tarrant County Green Party Candidates

John Tunmire, State Senate District 10 and Martina Salinas, Texas Railroad Commission

You can contact the Tarrant County Green Party at http://tarrant.txgreens.org/

 

© Copyright 2014 by Tarrant County Green Party. 
This work may be reproduced under Creative Commons license with proper attribution

Key Value Number 1: GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY

Key Value Number 1: GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY

Key Value Number 1: GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY – “Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives and not be subject to the will of another. Therefore, we will work to increase public participation at every level of government and to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We will also work to create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.”

This Key Value goes to the heart of the Green Party. We exist because of this; that our democracy become, once again, about us…We the People…”we” that are the subject of the Constitution as spelled out in the Preamble.

“…deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives …” In recent times, We the People have stated, time and again, that we want the decisions that affect our daily lives to be made in concert with us, not solely by our “representatives”. A vast majority of Americans wanted single-payer healthcare guaranteed; instead we got mandatory corporate health insurance. A majority favors publicly-funded elections; instead we got Citizens United, the ultimate perversion of our election laws. The Green Party stands for Americans to have a say in the decisions that affect our daily lives.

“…increase public participation …” We see the efforts of the power brokers to erect barriers to the people’s participation at the voting booth. Beyond that, we see the apparent efforts of both major parties to make politics so unappealing that our young citizens don’t even want to participate. The fewer voters, the easier to control the outcome. How cynical. The franchise is the greatest legacy we have received from the Founders, incomplete as it was in their time. Many have given their all, even in our own lifetimes, to extend this franchise to all Americans. Yet the “establishment” wants to discourage or prevent citizen participation. The Green Party stands for all Americans to participate in all aspects of our democracy, from candidate selection to candidate election.

“…public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them …” While the Supreme Court holds corporations to be “people” those of us deemed “natural” people know that AT&T can’t enter a polling booth and pull a lever. Yet our elected officials (because of the campaign finance rules) hold themselves accountable only to the lobbyists and fundraising bundlers of campaign contributions and not to us. How else can we explain their votes that routinely go against the interests of their “natural” constituents? The Green Party stands for elimination of all corporate, union, and PAC campaign contributions and to that end we only accept contributions from “natural” citizens.

“…create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy …” The Green Party is a new type of party. We are driven from the “bottom” up. Local Green Party chapters seek out the candidates for their districts, promote their campaigns, and depend 100% on local volunteers. We really are “you”. It is through these local, voluntary efforts, that the Green Party influences the local political climate. This approach ensures that the local voters’ interests are addressed, discussed, and acted upon. The Green Party stands for bottom up, participatory politics.

If these values resonate with you we hope to see you at the next Tarrant County Green Party meeting Saturday, September 20th, 2-4 PM, at Roots Coffeehouse in North Richland Hills.   http://rootscoffeehouse.com/north-richland-hills/

There are no dues and no barriers to your participation in your democracy. Come see what politics can be.

Support Our Tarrant County Green Party Candidates

 

John Tunmire, State Senate District 10 and Martina Salinas, Texas Railroad Commission

You can contact the Tarrant County Green Party at http://tarrant.txgreens.org/

© Copyright 2014 by Tarrant County Green Party. 
This work may be reproduced under Creative Commons license with proper attribution

Key Value Number 2: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

Key Value Number 2: SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY – “All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large, barriers such as racism and class oppression, sexism and homophobia, ageism and disability, which act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.”

Our Key Value No. 2 recognizes that being created equal is only part of what is needed to provide equal opportunity. We recognize that in practice, equal opportunity has not always been there, and in some cases has never been there for all Americans.

•         So where are those missed opportunities?

Education – The Texas Constitution assigns the State the responsibility to provide a free public school education, yet the state has delegated the funding (and effectively the equality) of that education to the individual districts. And there we find huge disparities in the funding because of the property tax basis (the rich vs. the poor districts). As deplorable as that is, it goes even farther. There is virtually no oversight to ensure equality of funding, i.e. equality of educational opportunity, between similar schools within each district.

•         Can those Texans on the short end of the educational stick be considered to have an equal opportunity to compete with Texans from “rich” districts or favored schools within their district?

Healthcare – Profit-driven healthcare results in uninsured Texans (almost 25% of the state even after the Affordable Care Act) not having equal opportunity to treatment, especially for chronic conditions such as asthma, high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.

•         Can those Texans without access to routine medical care be considered as having an equal opportunity to compete with individuals that receive routine care and have far better health as a result?

Community – Many Texans find themselves limited in housing, employment, and work/commerce opportunities because of de facto racial/ethnic segregation, lack of good public transportation, lack of local commercial investment (e.g. grocery stores, industry, local employment), and limited community services (e.g. daycare, elder care, nursing homes, etc.).

•         Given these structural barriers to the general American community experience can these Texans be considered to have equal opportunities presented to them that more affluent Texans enjoy?

Most of us are aware of these injustices and while we denounce these conditions, we wonder what we can do about them. As stated in our above key value, “We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large…” these barriers.

But that’s not easy.

And that’s where the Tarrant County Green Party can help. We all have an uncle who lives for Fox News and spouts that claptrap, or an old college roommate who has inexplicably become a racist. And while none of us can resolve all those individual controversies, we can, through our numbers, address and confront the structural inequalities that feed those individual biases and result in unequal opportunities for our fellow Americans.

Our hope is that through our joint actions we can move our society closer to a state of equality, not just at birth, but all through life; an equality of opportunity, so that each child, man, and woman, is is provided an equal opportunity to excel and be their best.

We hope to see you at the next Tarrant County Green Party meeting Saturday, September 20th, 2-4 PM, at Roots Coffeehouse in North Richland Hills. We have no dues and no barriers to your participation.  http://rootscoffeehouse.com/north-richland-hills/

Support Our Tarrant County Green Party Candidates

     

Martina Salinas, Texas Railroad Commission and John Tunmire, State Senate District 10

 You can contact the Tarrant County Green Party at http://tarrant.txgreens.org/

© Copyright 2014 by Tarrant County Green Party. 
This work may be reproduced under Creative Commons license with proper attribution

Help spread the word!

Key Value Number 9: PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY – “We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal well-being and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.”

For most of us, the idea that our actions have an effect on the world, on global health, isn’t foreign. We try to eat local foods, we bike or bus rather than “car”, we reuse rather than replace, we support civil rights for all, renewable energy, and we talk of these issues to our friends and encourage them and others through our example.

Or maybe we drive a Prius, a Leaf, or a Smart Car. Or compost. Really, we do the whole gamut of activities that contribute to a sustainable lifestyle, but is that enough?

If you’re like me, you recognize that while these actions are the right thing to do, they alone will fall short of what is necessary to save this planet, our democracy, and our children’s’ future well-being. Because we are only individuals. By ourselves we don’t constitute a movement.

So how do we engage a “force multiplier”?

That’s the neo-con term for leveraging technology, civil society, or some other means for increasing the effectiveness of one’s actions with little or no increase in input (effort, money, labor, etc.).

Allow me to introduce the Green Party of the United States of America. Green parties are a global phenomenon and, although each country’s is independent, we are all founded on the same four general principles; the environment, the rights of labor, civil rights for all, and world peace.

So what are the defining characteristics of the Green Party here in Texas?

First, we are all volunteers, and each county Green Party depends on a core of activists that attend public gatherings, provide educational materials, and work within the American democratic traditions to field candidates, push our issues of concern into the counties’ and states’ political discussions, and perform outreach to like-minded citizens.

Secondly, we will not accept donations from corporations, companies, lobbyists, PACs, or any of the other dubiously-legal bribery schemes permitted under present campaign finance laws.

So how does the Green Party serve as a force multiplier for you?

We are an active and engaged political party that can represent (what I believe is) the majority of our citizens and their concerns about the environmental degradation we see daily (fracking, smog, aquifer exhaustion), the loss of labor rights and the subsequent shrinking of the middle class, the ill-advised reinforcement of “car transportation” versus public transportation, the struggle by many of our citizens for their civil rights (Ferguson, marriage in-equality, wage discrimination, voter-suppression laws), and the militarism by our country in our relations with the rest of the world (as well as within our own country) and how that undermines world peace.

With your support you can use the Green Party as leverage for your ideals and beliefs. Share our on-line presence with your friends, visit our booths at the many community functions we participate in, or join us in our monthly meetings here in Tarrant County. There are no membership dues or other barriers to your engaging with like-minded folks to further your ideals.

Dollar donations help, but in-person support from those who want to make a larger difference is even more valuable. And that fulfills the second sentence of the above key principle, “…to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.” We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you at our next meeting on Saturday, September 20th, 2-4 PM, at Roots Coffeehouse in North Richland Hills.   http://rootscoffeehouse.com/north-richland-hills/

Support Our Tarrant County Green Party Candidates

John Tunmire, State Senate District 10 and Martina Salinas, Texas Railroad Commission

You can contact the Tarrant County Green Party at http://tarrant.txgreens.org/

© Copyright 2014 by Tarrant County Green Party. 
This work may be reproduced under Creative Commons license with proper attribution