Article: Political Revolution and the Third-Party Imperative | OpEdNews -
“Do we want to change the country’s direction or are we content to rubberstamp the political status quo every Election Day? If the former, then it’s imperative that we build an alternative party now, before the consequences of two-party rule become irreversible.” - Scott McLarty, Green Party US Media Coordinator
U.S. Green Party leaders said that the nonbinding deal reached in Paris at the 2015 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 21) showed progress but ultimately failed to address the crisis as a global emergency.
Greens from the U.S. and around the world attended the summit, with many taking part in public demonstrations outside of the summit and demanding that participating nations “Keep Coal, Oil and Gas in the Ground” and commit to 100% clean renewable energy.
Read Press Release: http://www.gp.org/greens_say_nonbinding_deal_at_paris_summit_falls_short
http://www.gp.org/us_greens_endorse_global_climate_march
The Green Party of the United States is expressing support for a proposed resolution of the American Anthropological Association (AAA) urging a boycott of Israeli academic institutions, and encouraging other academic groups to pass similar resolutions as part of the effort to secure peace, human rights, and equality in Israel-Palestine.
The Green Party joined Jewish Voice for Peace and other organizations in supporting the resolution, which the AAA will consider at its annual meeting in Denver on Nov. 20 (https://anthroboycott.wordpress.com/the-resolution).
Read Press Release: http://www.gp.org/green_party_endorses_israel_boycott
#WeAreGreen
The Green Party of the United States has identified ten candidates to watch in the 2015 general election on Tuesday, November 3. The ten candidates are running in races for state legislatures, municipal councils, and school boards. One of the ten, Francisco Herrera, is the Green candidate for Mayor of San Francisco.
Among the candidates are a Black Lives Matter leader, two teachers, and several neighborhood and education activists. Some have received endorsements from union locals, civic organizations, and newspapers.
The Green Party is also preparing for the 2016 election year, with candidates in national, state, and local races. The party will nominate a Green presidential ticket at its 2016 national convention, planned for August 4 through 7 in Houston, Texas.
Read Press Release: http://www.gp.org/greens_to_watch_on_election_day_2015
#WeAreGreen #VoteGreen2016
Green Party leaders said that the closing of 31 driver’s license offices in Alabama, hindering Black residents from obtaining the identification necessary to vote, proves the need for full restoration of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 as well as other election reforms.
“The government of Alabama made the case for Voting Rights Act when it shut down 31 driver’s license offices, mostly in counties with Black majority populations,” said Thomas Muhammad, co-chair of the Green Party Black Caucus and executive board member of the National Voting Rights Museum and Institute located at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama.
“Alabama’s restrictive ID law was a blatant attempt to obstruct Blacks from voting. States are still vulnerable to the kind of abuses that the Voting Rights Act is designed to correct,” said Mr. Muhammad.
Greens said that Alabama’s combination of voter ID laws and obstruction of Black voter registration are only the most recent and conspicuous assault on fair and democratic elections.
“Voter ID laws are one of several ways in which Republicans – and also Democrats – manipulate elections,” said Shamako Noble, Green candidate for the U.S. Senate in California. “Another way is gerrymandering by both parties’ lawmakers, especially by Republicans in 2011 to give them virtually permanent control over seats in statehouses and Congress. Democrats and Republicans have conspired to pass ballot-access laws that privilege their own candidates and hinder third parties and independents.”
Greens call for public funding of campaigns and legislation to overturn court rulings that confer “personhood” on corporations, most recently, Citizens United v. FEC, 2010. Greens call such measures necessary to abolish plutocratic control of government by powerful businesses and the wealthy (see http://MoveToAmend.org). Move To Amend
#WeAreGreen #VoteGreen2016
Read Press Release: http://www.gp.org/restore_the_voting_rights_act
Gov. Gary Johnson and Jill Stein Join to Demand Fair Debates
September 29, 2015, Washington, DC – 2012 presidential candidates Gov. Gary Johnson and Jill Stein, along with the Libertarian and Green parties and their vice-presidential candidates, filed a lawsuit in federal court in Washington, DC, today charging that the exclusion of qualified candidates from the general election presidential debates by the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD) violates federal anti-trust laws.
The lawsuit is funded by the Our America Initiative, a not-for-profit advocacy organization, through their Fair Debates project, https://www.fairdebates.com. It was filed on behalf of the plaintiffs by the Our America Initiative’s attorney Bruce Fein, who served as Associate Deputy Attorney General and General Counsel to the Federal Communications Commission under the Reagan Administration.
The legal challenge maintains that the Commission on Presidential Debates, a private 501©(3) organization created in 1987 by the Republican and Democratic national parties, intentionally limits participation in the nationally-televised debates to the Democrat and Republican nominees – placing other national party nominees at an unfair disadvantage. According to the complaint, other candidates are excluded by imposing arbitrary polling criteria, and the possibility of additional nationally-televised debates being sponsored by anyone other than the CPD is eliminated by agreements among the CPD and the two major party nominees forbidding participat ion in other debates or joint appearances.
The proposed remedy is that the debates include all candidates who are legally qualified to serve and whose names appear on enough states’ ballots to potentially secure a majority in the Electoral College. In 2012, that threshold would have allowed participation, in addition to President Obama and Mitt Romney, by the Libertarian nominee Gov. Gary Johnson and the Green Party’s Jill Stein, as well as the two parties’ vice-presidential nominees.
Announcing the filing of the complaint, Our America Initiative Senior Advisor Ron Nielson stated, “A majority of Americans today do not believe that either the Republican or Democratic parties represents them. Yet, through the Commission on Presidential Debates, the two major parties have seized and maintained control over the televised debates voters see every four years, and have gone to great lengths to insure that no candidates other than their own have the opportunity to appear on the debate stage. This lawsuit seeks to change that, and give the American people a chance to see that there are other real choices.”
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NOTE TO EDITORS/REPORTERS: Our America attorney Bruce Fein will be at the Federal Courthouse, 333 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC, at 10:30 a.m. ET Tuesday, and available for interviews.
(Source: fairdebates-blog)
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Green Party welcomes Pope Francis to the U.S. and praises his message on climate change -
The Green Party of the United States has published a message welcoming Pope Francis I to the U.S. The welcome was written by party co-chair Andrea Mérida with help from other Catholic Greens. #WeAreGreen