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Green Party on Government Reform
Party Platform
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Campaign system enables the wealthy to purchase elections
The defining characteristics of modern politics in the US are a corrupt campaign finance system that enables corporate and wealthy elites to purchase political outcomes; and an abundance of anti-democratic electoral, ballot access and debate rules
designed to minimize participation and choice.Vast concentrations of wealth and power that have occurred in recent years are inherently undemocratic. The true owners of the public airwaves are the American people, who today have little or no control
over their pooled assets or their commonwealth.
The power of civic action is an antidote to the corporate control of so much of our lawmaking and regulating. The pervasive abuse imposed by corporate power increasingly undermines our democracy,
but the Green Party seeks to rekindle the democratic flame. Toward this end, we consider serious reform of campaign funding to be essential, as well as curbs on the influence of corporations on lawmakers and regulatory agencies.
Source: Green Party Platform adopted, July 12-15 2012 in Baltimore
, Jul 15, 2012
Full public financing of all elections, with free TV time
- Provide full public financing of federal, state and local elections, including free and equal radio and television time on the public airwaves for all ballot-qualified candidates and parties.
- Prohibit corporations from spending to influence
elections, preferably by constitutional amendment abolishing corporate personhood.
- Amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to change the percentage of the presidential popular vote required for a new party's candidate to receive first time
General Election public funding from 5% in the previous General Election to 1%; and change the percentage of the presidential popular vote required for a new party to receive public presidential convention funding from 5% for its candidate in the
previous general election to 1%.
- Prohibit members of Congress, Governors, state legislators and their staffs from accepting for their own personal benefit any gifts of any amount from lobbyists or the general public.
Source: Green Party Platform adopted, July 12-15 2012 in Baltimore
, Jul 15, 2012
Caps on campaign spending and contributions
Comprehensive campaign finance reform includes full disclosure of contributors, caps on spending and contributions at the national and state level as a step toward full public financing of elections.
Source: 2008 Green Party Platform from 2008 Chicago Convention
, Jul 13, 2008
Call for the use of Instant Runoff Voting in all elections
We demand choices in our political system. This can be accomplished by proportional representation voting systems such as: - Choice Voting (candidate-based),
- Mixed Member Voting (combines with district representation), and
- Party
List (party based);
- and semi-proportional voting systems such as Limited Voting, and Cumulative Voting.
All are used throughout the free world and by U.S. businesses, and community and non-profit groups to increase democratic representation.
We call on local governments to lead the way toward more electoral choice and broader representation. We believe in majority rule and reject the present method of election without a majority. Accordingly, we call for the use of Instant Runoff
Voting in chief executive races, (mayor, governor, president) where voters can rank their favorite candidates (1,2,3, etc.) to guarantee that the winner has majority support & that voters are not relegated to choosing between the lesser of two evils.
Source: Green Party Platform adopted at 2004 National Convention
, Jun 30, 2004
Electoral College is an 18th century anachronism
We believe in multi-party democracy for partisan elections as the best way to guarantee majority rule, since more people will have representation at the table where policy is enacted.The Electoral College is an 18th century anachronism.
We call for a constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College and providing for the direct election of the president by Instant Runoff Voting. Until that time, we call for a proportional allocation of delegates in state primaries.
Source: Green Party Platform adopted at 2004 National Convention
, Jun 30, 2004
Expand the process of participatory democracy
Ten Key Values: (#1) Grassroots DemocracyEvery human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect their lives. 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 that expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.
Source: Ten Key Values as ratified at 2003 Green Party Convention
, Nov 19, 2003
Page last updated: Jan 01, 2016