The Environmental Party upholds values that aid us ethically in applying public policies that affect our lives. Our party’s main focus is divided into 5 main issues that we believe should be the highest priority in order to make serious positive reforms for our nation and making the world a better place for everyone.
Civil Justice and Livable Communities
We want to create society that sees the vital connection between our individual rights and our personal responsibility to our communities and our planet. The balance between our rights and responsibilities grows out of processes that promote the maximum participation of everyone in the decisions that affect our well being, our economic security, our social and international policies, and the way we live our lives. We will work to confront the barriers of racism, sexism, heterosexism, class oppression, ageism, and the many ways our culture separates us from working together to define and solve the common dangers we face.
Community-Based Sustainable Economics
As an alternative to an economy owned by either government or gigantic corporations, the Environmental Party favors a Jeffersonian model with ownership and control spread as widely as possible among people. Another key value for establishing our economic program is ecological wisdom. We stand in contrast to the dominant political perception that our nation can have either economic vitality or ecological sanity. It is our firm belief that these entities are not mutually exclusive. The Environmental Party is focused on creating a new economy. The two major parties legislate with the goal of serving the special interests that control them. The result is small variations on the theme of maintaining the status quo. So long as the focus of our economy is on profit and corporate growth, we will not be able to protect and respect ourselves and our resources.
Democracy and Electoral Reform
We are committed to mobilizing the participation of large numbers of people and we challenge the notion that only experienced politicians and expert bureaucrats are needed in Washington, DC. Grassroots democracy is a type of democracy in which we, as individuals and as communities, create our own futures, design our own lives, determine our own priorities and, thereby, exercise the fullness of our humanity. Our goal is direct, participatory, grassroots democracy centered around deeply democratic community assemblies and bioregional confederations. To accomplish this goal, our focus is on proportional representation. It will give voters more choice, allow more voters to vote for winners, and break up the two-party monopoly, which discourages participation. No more choosing between the “lesser of two evils”.
Ecology
We understand that humans are but one part of the ecosystem with a unique responsibility. That responsibility is to develop an understanding of environmental sustainability and to live and promote those practices that support it. Ecologically sound principles of living can guarantee protection for the Earth and all its people. Our commitment to ecological wisdom leads us to take natural systems as a model for human interaction. Our relationship with all things has helped us to realize that our practices of generating waste separates us from natural systems; in nature degraded matter is decomposed and returned to the web of life as nutrients. Our commitment to environmental justice has made us to understand that in a closed system we all live downstream and downwind. We believe that we need to correct the practice of toxic racism.
Peace and Non-Violence
Our political program addresses a broad spectrum of the causes and effects of violence: from individual acts of violence to institutionalized acts of violence, and beyond, into our foreign policies that, too often, lead to armed conflict. The Green Party advocates a fundamental change in the way we socialize our citizens, structure our institutions, and relate to the planet and its people. Means and ends are inseparable. If a nation, and a people, prepare for violence, they will create a violent world. Conversely, if they prepare for peace, that is what they will achieve. Peace is not just the absence of violence, it is a willingness to resolve conflict in a constructive manner with a spirit of good will and respect.