Democracy

Think of American democracy as an ongoing, unfolding project that is dynamic and creative in nature.

1. We must be committed to the strengthening of our civil society, including the many mediating institutions at the community level that have always characterized our democracy.
2. We must seek to heal the alienation and apathy that has been cultivated in the citizenry by the power brokers of the status quo. Righteous anger about the crippling of our democracy is rising in the land. We need constructive alternatives.
3. In addition, we must seek to repair the plummeting opinion of the United States in the international community resulting from our arrogant, narcissistic foreign policy of recent years. A growing and grave imbalance between the citizens of this country and the interests that extract power from the citizens is an imminent danger to our security and national and global social stability.

Our country should view itself as a member of the community of nations… not above it. The United States could well play a leadership role in that community but only if we become committed to an eco-social vision of peace, national self-determination, and international cooperation.

1. We challenge that tactic by calling on all Americans to think deeply about the meaning of government of the people, by the people, and for the people. In a democracy, individuals come together to form structures of governance that protect and advance the common good. We the citizens are the government, and we the citizens can direct it to fulfill its finest goals and purposes.
2. Our citizens must not permit usurpation of their authority by acts of individuals and government agencies that isolate or insulate government from their oversight and control. We, the People, have a responsibility to participate in self-government through all the means that our Constitution provides.
3. Citizens of a democracy must have the information and ability to determine the actions of their government.

Vast concentrations of wealth and power that have occurred in recent years are inherently undemocratic. The deregulation of corporate activity and the decentralization and underfunding of the regulatory structures that remain—accompanied by the centralizing of big money —has been a disaster for our country.

1. The true owners of the public lands, pension funds, and the public airwaves are the American people, who today have little or no control over their pooled assets or their commonwealth.
2. The power of civic action is an antidote to the corporate control of so much of our lawmaking and regulating.
3. The pervasive abuse imposed by corporate power increasingly undermines our democracy, but the Green Party seeks to rekindle the democratic flame.
4. As voting citizens, taxpayers, workers, consumers, and stakeholders, we unite to exercise our rights and, as Thomas Jefferson urged, to counteract the “excesses of the moneyed interests.”

Toward this end,

1. We consider serious reform of campaign funding to be essential, as well as curbs on the influence of corporations on lawmakers and regulatory agencies.
2. We should consider the American democracy to be an ongoing, unfolding project that is dynamic and creative in nature. We must be committed to the strengthening of our civil society, including the many mediating institutions at the community level that have always characterized our democracy.
3. We must seek to heal the alienation and apathy that has been cultivated in the citizenry by the power brokers of the status quo. Righteous anger about the crippling of our democracy is rising in the land. We need constructive alternatives.
4. In addition, we need to repair the plummeting opinion of the United States in the international community resulting from our arrogant, narcissistic foreign policy of recent years.

A growing and grave imbalance between the citizens of this country and the interests that extract power from the citizens is an imminent danger to our security and national and global social stability.

Our country should view itself as a member of the community of nations… not above it. The United States could well play a leadership role in that community but only if we become committed to an eco-social vision of peace, national self-determination, and international cooperation.
Source: Green Party

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The Green Party Issues Index

Green Party Platform on the Issues

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Specific Issues Index

from Creating Better World