Green Party in 2020 Conventions
On Budget & Economy:
Steady-state economy better than increasing GDP
Economic growth, as gauged by increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP), is a dangerous and anachronistic goal. The most viable and sustainable alternative is a steady-state economy. A steady-state economy has a stable or mildly fluctuating product
of population and per capita consumption, and is generally indicated by stable or mildly fluctuating GDP. The steady-state economy has become a more appropriate goal than economic growth in the United States and other large, wealthy economies.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Civil Rights:
Support International Bill of Rights for Women
The Green Party makes a strong and urgent call for U.S. passage of CEDAW, the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women, which was adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly and ratified by 173 countries.
It is also known as the Women's Convention, the Women's Bill of Rights, and an International Bill of Rights for Women. The United States is one of a very few countries and the only industrialized nation that has not ratified it.
We call for equal representation of women in Congress instead of the current 17% in 2012. We support the inclusion of an equal number of women and men in peace talks and negotiations,
not only because these efforts directly affect their lives and those of their husbands, children and families, but also because when women are involved, the negotiations are more successful.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Corporations:
Break up largest banks so that none is too big to fail
Break up our nation's largest banks and financial institutions so that none is "too big to fail." End taxpayer- funded bailouts for banks, insurers and other financial companies. Re-enact the Glass-Steagall Act,
which prohibited bank holding companies from owning other financial companies and engaging in risky economic transactions. Oppose the federal government being the final guarantor of speculative investments.
Greens believe the legal structure of the corporation is obsolete. At present, corporations are designed solely to generate profit. This legal imperative--profit above all else--is damaging our country and our planet in countless ways.
We must change the legal design of corporations so that they generate profits, but not at the expense of the environment, human rights, public health, workers, or the communities in which the corporation operates.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Corporations:
Amend Constitution: corporations are not persons
We propose the following amendment to the Constitution of the United States:The rights established by this Constitution and the laws of the United States of America are exclusively the rights of living, breathing humans, citizens of this
country or residing therein. No corporation or other type of association or organization can have the status of a "legal person" and thus cannot derive rights from such status.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Crime:
Ban private prisons; moratorium on prison construction
Ban private prisons. Implement a moratorium on prison construction. Redirect funds to alternatives to incarceration. Provide incarcerated individuals the
right to vote by absentee ballot in the district of their domicile, and the right to vote during parole.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Drugs:
End war on drugs: for legalization, treatment of abuse
Greens call for an end to the "war on drugs", legalization of drugs and for treating drug abuse as a health issue. The "war on drugs" has been an ill-conceived program that has wasted billions
of dollars misdirecting law enforcement resources away from apprehending and prosecuting violent criminals, while crowding our prisons with non-violent drug offenders and disproportionately criminalizing youth of color.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Education:
Free college tuition for qualified students; abolish loans
Provide free college tuition to all qualified students at public universities and vocational schools. Abolish all student and parent loans taken out to finance post-secondary and vocational education.Eliminate police officers from our schools.
Ensure school security personnel are trained for, and held accountable to, conflict resolution techniques and anti-bias training. Security personnel should demonstrate cultural competency and refrain from enforcing white supremacist oppressive tactics.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Education:
Increased funding for the arts as essential
Eliminating all laws that seek to restrict or censor artistic expression, including the withholding of government funds for political or moral content. Increased funding for the arts appropriate to
their essential social role at local, state and federal levels of government. Education programs in the community that will energize the creativity of every community member from the youngest to the oldest,
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
End nuclear power, offshore drilling, & fracking
- End the use of nuclear power. Nuclear energy is massively polluting, dangerous, financially risky, expensive and slow to implement.
- Our money is better spent on wind, solar, geothermal, conservation and small-scale hydroelectric.
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The Green Party stands for the enactment of bans on hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and oil on the local, state and federal level and stands for bans on the disposal of wastes created by the fracking industry.
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Protect 40% of the world's oceans as marine preserves, especially near shore coastal habitats.
- Ban offshore oil drilling.
- Ban the siting of liquefied natural gas facilities off the U.S. coast.
- Ban ocean transportation of nuclear and toxic waste.
- Support the ban on international commercial whaling.
- Ban drift-net fishing and long-line fishing and phase out factory trawling.
- Support the Law of the Sea Treaty that establishes the global sharing of ocean resources.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Energy & Oil:
Free mass transit; reduce energy use 50%
The Green Party supports a transportation policy that emphasizes the use of mass transit and alternatives to the automobile and truck for transport. We call for major public investment in mass transportation, so that such systems are cheap or free to
the public and are safe, accessible, and easily understandable to first-time users. We need ecologically sound forms of transportation that minimize pollution and maximize efficiency.
Adopt energy efficiency standards that reduce energy demand economy-wide by 50% over the next 20--30 years. The U.S. can make massive reductions in its energy use through a combination of conservation and efficiency measures.
We don't actually need any additional power. Instead, we can and should reduce our consumption of power. Adopt a national zero waste policy. The less we consume and throw away, the less we will need to produce and replace.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Environment:
Polluters should have burden of proof of safe practices
- Restore state health, safety, and consumer protection laws by striking federal preemptions that weaken state law.
- Preserve and expand product-labeling requirements.
- Repeal the misnamed Bankruptcy Abuse
Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005.
- Establish new independent government consumer advocacy agencies to protect the interests of consumers and restore the U.S. Office of Consumer Affairs.
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Uphold the precautionary principle, requiring polluters to bear the burden of proof in demonstrating the safety of their practices.
- Expand the application of the precautionary principle from chemicals and health
to land use, waste, energy, food policy and local economic development.
- Support, enforce and strengthen the National Environmental Policy Act.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Environment:
Strengthen Endangered Species & Clean Water Act
Water is essential to all forms of life. The Green Party calls for an international declaration that water belongs to the Earth and all of its species. Water is a basic human right! The U.S. Government must lead the way in declaring
water a fundamental human right and prevent efforts to privatize, export, and sell for profit a substance that is essential to all life.The Green Party supports a strengthened and enforceable Endangered Species Act.
We support reintroducing native species to areas from which they have been eradicated, eliminating predator control on public lands, and reintroducing native predators where they would contribute to a viable ecosystem.
We should educate ourselves about animal behaviors to overcome our culture's irrational fear of wildlife, and learn techniques of co-existence with other species.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Environment:
Shut down waste incinerators; phase out landfills
Shut down existing waste incinerators, impose a moratorium on new waste incinerators, and phase out landfills. For all possible waste streams, we support the following strategies (in order of priority) as alternatives to incineration and landfills:
(a) toxics use reduction; (b) source reduction, reuse, clean recycling or composting /digestion; or (c) neutralization, sterilization or detoxification methods where applicable.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Families & Children:
Criminalize purchasers of sex, not the prostitutes
The Green Party calls for new U.S. legislation relating to prostitution modeled on the Swedish law passed in 1999 that has drastically reduced human trafficking and prostitution.
That law criminalizes the purchase of services from prostitutes, pimps and brothel keepers instead of criminalizing the prostitutes.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Supports a Palestinian right of return, and a single state
- We reaffirm the right and feasibility of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in Israel.
- We acknowledge the significant challenges of equity and restitution this policy would encounter and call on the
U.S. government to make resolution of these challenges a central goal of our diplomacy in the region.
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We support a U.S. foreign policy that promotes the creation of one secular, democratic state for Palestinians and Israelis on the land between the Mediterranean Sea and the River Jordan as the national home of both peoples, with
Jerusalem as its capital.
- We encourage a new U.S. diplomatic initiative to begin the long process of negotiation, laying the groundwork for such a single-state constitution.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Self-determination for Kurdish people
The Kurdish people are the largest ethnic group in the world that is without an independent state. As a result, Kurdish people have historically suffered persecution and injustice. The Kurdish people have been besieged to the point of a current
humanitarian crisis in towns such as Kobani, Syria. The GPUS expresses solidarity for and affirms the right to self-determination, self-defense, communal autonomy, freedom from persecution, and release of political prisoners for the Kurdish population.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Foreign Policy:
Member of the community of nations; not above it
We strongly feel that 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 Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Government Reform:
Universal voter registration; statehood for DC
- Enact a national "right to vote" law or constitutional amendment to guarantee universal, automatic, permanent voter registration.
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Enact statehood for the District of Columbia.
- Restore full citizenship rights to felons upon completion of their sentence, including the right to vote.
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Make Election Day a national holiday and/or have weekend elections.
- Enact proportional representation voting systems for legislative seats on municipal, county, state and federal levels.
- Proportional representation systems provide that
people are represented in the proportion their views are held in society and are based on dividing seats proportionally within multi-seat districts, compared to the standard U.S. single-seat, winner-take all districts.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Government Reform:
Open debates to third parties on sufficient ballots
- Eliminate all ballot access laws and rules that discriminate against smaller parties and independents, and otherwise place undue burden on the right of citizens to run for office.
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Create a publicly-funded People's Commission on Presidential Debates, and open debates to all candidates who appear on as many ballots as would represent a majority of the
Electoral College and who raise enough funds to otherwise qualify for general election public financing.
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Any candidate who refuses to participate in such debates would lose public financing.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Homeland Security:
Abolish nuclear weapons, WMDs, and land mines
Our government should establish a policy to abolish nuclear weapons:- Declare a no-first-strike policy.
- Declare a no-pre-emptive strike policy.
- Declare that the U.S. will never threaten or use a nuclear weapon on a non-nuclear nation.
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Sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.
- Reverse our withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
- End the research, testing and stockpiling of all nuclear weapons of any size.
- Dismantle all nuclear warheads from their missiles.
- We urge our government to sign the Toronto treaty banning the production, stockpiling, use and sale of land mines, and assist other nations in unearthing and disabling land mines buried in their lands.
- We urge our government to end all
stockpiling of chemical and biological weapons and all research, use, and sale of such weapons.
- The U.S. must allow foreign teams to visit the U.S. for verification purposes at least annually.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Homeland Security:
Better care & support services for veterans
Provide better care for the wounded, sick and injured soldiers. Ensure that the Pentagon takes all steps necessary to fully diagnose and treat the physical and mental health conditions resulting from service in combat zones, including post-traumatic
stress disorder. Ensure a smooth transition from active military service to civilian life by providing counseling, housing, emergency management, job protection and other support systems.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Immigration:
All seeking asylum should be given permanent resident status
All persons fleeing political, racial, religious, or other types of persecution must be welcomed and given permanent resident status. The history of arbitrary denial of political asylum claims must be ended.
Particular attention should be given to those minorities who are political exiles and refugees and those whose lives would be at risk if asylum is not granted.
We oppose the militarization of our borders, (mis)using the National Guard as border police, and building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. We call for the immediate dismantling of the border wall.
We mourn the death of those thousands of men, women and children who have died trying to cross this border, where a couple of decades ago such deaths were virtually unheard of.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Social Security:
Apply FICA tax to all levels of income including investments
Apply the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (Social Security and Medicare) taxes to investment income and to all levels of income, not merely the first $106,800 earned. Oppose the privatization of Social Security.
Enact a wealth tax of 0.5% per year on an individual's assets over $5 million.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Technology:
We support all efforts to achieve net neutrality
- We support all efforts to achieve net neutrality. Internet users should be able to access any lawful web content they choose and use any applications they choose, without restrictions or limitations imposed by their Internet service provider or
government, except for restrictions that exist to prevent spam e-mail, viruses, and similar content that will harm the provider's network or internet access devices.
- Return ownership and control of the electromagnetic spectrum to the public.
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We urge the public to reclaim the airwaves. The privatization of the broadcast airwaves has caused serious deformations of our politics and culture.
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End the privatization of broadcast frequencies and reserve them for the creation of new not-for-profit community broadcasters around the country and for broadband and wifi networks owned and operated by cities, counties and towns.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On Technology:
Protect software by copyright, not patent
The Green Party supports protection of software (free or proprietary) by means of the copyright. We strongly oppose granting of software patents. Mathematical algorithms are discovered, not invented, by humans;
therefore, they are not patentable. Format patents only exist to restrain competition, and the harm falls disproportionately on programmers who work independently or for the smallest employers.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
On War & Peace:
Supports 2015 Iran nuclear deal
The Green Party supports the "joint comprehensive plan of action" signed in July, 2015 which confirms Iran's status as a zone free of nuclear weapons. The Green Party supports the swift elimination of economic sanctions on Iran and looks to
the normalization of relations between Iran and the United States. The Green Party also calls on Israel to dismantle its nuclear weapons program and sign on to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty.
Source: Green Party Platform at 2020 Green National Convention
Jul 9, 2020
Page last updated: Sep 07, 2020