INVITATION FOR INPUT ON DRAFT
As you may already know, we have been working on what will become the
Baltimore Green Party platform, the preliminary draft(s) of which we'd said
we'll post for your collective input. We enthusiastically invite your
feedback at your earliest convenience. What follows is the first such
posting of an as-yet undetermined number of drafts between now and the
projected completion date of March 21, 2002. We shall post the end result
on this website as the official BGP platform, subject from that point on
only to periodic review and revision.
As a structural and substantive starting point of the following draft, we
have utilized the California Green Party's platform and adapted it where
applicable to the Baltimore Green Party. We continue to work on it while
also awaiting your input.
We look forward to receiving your input to this exciting collective work
in progress. Remember, you are what makes the Greens so valuable! Again, we
hope to post the official platform within a few weeks. The sooner you
respond, the more able we will be to effectively integrate your input into
the platform. We will keep you posted at this website as to the ongoing
status of the drafting. We hope to finalize the incorporation of peoples'
suggestions about the platform at the general BGP meeting on March 21,
2002. Thanks again, and please feel free to contact us with any questions
or concerns. [insert here simple and brief technical directions for input,
e.g. just posting email to this website]

***Here starts the draft of the BGP platform***

BALTIMORE GREEN PARTY PLATFORM

INTRODUCTION
We present this platform in accordance with core Green precepts, adhering
to pivotal global and national Green goals and refined to address local and
state Green interests of Baltimore and Maryland. In accordance with
fundamental Green principles, we recognize the impossibility of any
individual Green endorsing every articulation of every platform point. We
have each chosen to become a Green for a variety of interconnected reasons,
generally embodied in our ten key values as a pluralistic whole
representing a full diversity of ideas and upholding the integrity of
individual critical thought. What the platform appropriately does not
accomplish as a portraiture of each individual, it more than makes up for
as an instrument to promote justice, ecology, democracy, and peace, and as
a motivation for others to join our mission.
The following is utilized from the California Green Party's platform,
adapted where applicable to the Baltimore Green Party.

ECOLOGY AND EARTH STEWARDSHIP
As Greens we understand that humans are but one part of the ecosystem, and
that we have a unique responsibility to develop an understanding of
environmental sustainability and to live and promote 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. The interconnectedness of all things has
helped us to realize that our practices of generating waste separate 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 helped us to understand that in a closed system we all live downstream
and downwind. Of special importance is the need to rectify the practice of
toxic racism.
Clean water, air, and food are fundamental human rights.

RECYCLING. We advocate conservation and recycling.
* Design and produce goods that are durable, repairable, and, at the end of
their useful life, recyclable.
* Create a market for recycled good through legal and tax incentives.
* Rapidly phase out composites and other materials that cannot be recycled.
* Recycle used tires.
* Facilitate universal recycling in every way possible.
* Advocate usage and availability of 100% post-consumer recyclable or
acid-free paper.
WATER. Our water must be protected from pollution and we must develop a
sustainable water policy, including conservation.
* Mandate that water-efficient appliances and fixtures be used in all new
construction, and promote retrofitting of older buildings.
* Promote native landscaping and other
drought-resistant/climate-appropriate plants in order to reduce the need
for irrigation.
* Eliminate storm water pollution of our water resources.
* Promote the appropriate re-use of the "gray" and "black" waters we produce.
* Mandate pre-treatment of industrial waste to eliminate the presence of
metals, solvents, and other toxins in sewer water.
* Promote passive and natural systems (such as wetlands) for water and
waste-water treatment.
* Eliminate water subsidies for corporate agribusiness.
* Assist community organizations to monitor the use of local resources.
* Preserve and restore the region's natural water features.
PROTECTION OF THE ATMOSPHERE. We demand that the danger to the earth's
atmosphere be countered.
* Reduce the use of fossil fuels by large scale conservation and by
converting to safe, renewable energy sources.
* Ban ozone-destroying products and reduce carbon dioxide emissions. End
the burning of tire-derived fuels.
* Establish an environmental trust fund to assist programs such as
reforestation and conversion to non-polluting energy sources.
* Cooperate with and support international efforts.
* Closely regulate incinerators, paint factories, and dry cleaners.
PROTECTION OF THE CHESAPEAKE BAY. Our bay must be preserved and protected.
* Establish environmental standards for vessels
* Ban transportation of nuclear and toxic wastes.
* Ban drift-net fishing and the importing of fish products that use drift-net.
* Phase out factory trawlers and promote sustainable, community-based fishing.
* Oppose dredging.
ORGANIC FARMING AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE. Ecological wisdom demands
agricultural practices that conserve water, soil, and energy with the
minimum of pollution.
* End genetic engineering and agriculture and the release of genetically
engineered organisms into the environment.
* Promote soil conservation practices to curb topsoil loss and the use of
crop rotation, compost, and other organic fertilizers so nutrients will
regenerate the land.
* Develop incentives for small-scale family farms, biological diversity and
crop cultivation, and reasonable approaches to food supplies rather than
the transportation of food over long distances to markets.
* Research and teach organic and sustainable farming methods in
agricultural colleges.
BIOCIDES (PESTICIDES, HERBICIDES, FUNGICIDES). We must stop using methods
of pest and weed control that poison the earth, disrupt ecosystems, and
threaten the health of people and other living organisms. We demand a rapid
curtailment of biocide use.
* End biocide use and substitute sustainable, integrated pest management
with organic pest control methods.
* Halt aerial spraying of biocides and herbicides.
* Establish neighborhood groups to monitor local pesticide use, in concert
with government agencies.
* Stop exporting to other countries pesticides that are illegal in the U.S.
* Stop school/park spraying.
TOXIC WASTES. We promote and aggressive policy to control and counter toxins.
* Apply a standard of "dangerous until proven safe" to questionable
substances with the burden of proof on manufacturers and industrial users,
rather than on the public.
* Fine companies convicted of dumping toxins at a level higher than it
would have cost them to neutralize the poisons in the first place.
* Clean up toxic wastes at Martin's Airport and industrial sites.
* Support more stringent standards and enforcement through a revitalized EPA.
* Develop, or bring back into common use, alternatives to toxins.
* Contain and neutralize toxins at their point of use.
* Make companies that support the toxins at Martin's Airport pay at least
50% of the clean up costs using government funds from the military budget.
NUCLEAR CONTAMINATION. We strongly oppose current energy policies that
allow the continued production of nuclear wastes which cannot be stored
safely.
* Stop research and development of new weapons systems, and continue
dismantling existing stocks of such weapons.
* Store existing radioactive materials as safely as possible and
discontinue trying to "dispose" of them in land repositories. Ban shallow
land disposal and incineration of all radioactive wastes.
* Rapidly phase out production of electric power from nuclear sources.
Curtain the medical profession's overuse of radioactive isotopes. Ban
irradiation of food products. Ban nuclear materials in international
transportation and trade and aboard craft launched into space. Ban the
transportation of nuclear waste through Baltimore's underground tunnels.
ENERGY. Conservation, efficiency, and sustainable renewable energy sources
are essential elements of any energy policy.
* Phase out fossil fuels and convert to sustainable renewable energy sources.
* Use subsidies, incentives, and regulations to encourage the development
of renewable sources such as passive solar for heating and cooling, solar
water heating, solar electricity, biomass, tidal, wind and small scale hydro.
* Establish high energy efficiency standards for lighting, home, and office
appliances and industrial motors; and increase rebate and replacement
programs. Require energy efficiency, sustainability, passive solar, and
solar water heating in building codes.
* Create nonprofit municipal utilities and other buying groups that would
buy power in bulk.
* Oppose deregulation legislation, including its support of nuclear power
plants.
* Promote use of renewable sustainable energy in Baltimore.
TRANSPORTATION. We support a transportation policy that emphasizes the use
of mass transit and alternatives to the automobile and truck. We need
ecologically sound forms of transportation, that minimize pollution and
maximize energy efficiency.
* Make streets, neighborhoods, and commercial districts more friendly to
pedestrians and bicyclists. Create auto-free zones, develop extensive
networks of bicycle lanes and paths, include bike racks on all public
transit, and maintain free community bicycle fleets
* Develop affordable mass transit systems that are more economical to use
than private vehicles. Encourage employer subsidies of mass transit.
* Place a moratorium on highway widening and use the money for mass transit
and facilities for pedestrians and bicyclists. Mandate High Occupancy
Vehicle lanes on freeways, and lower toll fees for carpools. Discourage
unnecessary auto use by eliminating free parking in non-residential areas
well served by mass transit. Legislate a "gas guzzler" tax and "gas sipper"
rebates.
* Develop and market fuel efficient cars as well as solar, electric, and
other non-fossil-fuel powered vehicles. Schedule an increase in Corporate
Average Fuel Economy standards to 60 mpg for cars and 45 mpg for trucks by
the year 2002.
URBAN LAND USE. Undeveloped lands, wilderness, and agricultural lands are
necessary for an ecological sustainability of the earth and must be
preserved. Growth must be planned to minimize impact on these precious
resources.
* Encourage use of high density communities to prevent urban sprawl. Retain
open spaces, park lands, and green belts in all development plans.
* Locate schools and places of employment within easy walking or bicycling
distance from residences, or long mass transit lines.
* Change tax and planning laws to foster urban development that uses solar
and other alternative energy sources.
WILDLIFE. We believe humanity should share the planet equally with all
other species. We advocate policies that defend wildlife.
* Ensure the protection of native animals and plants in their natural
surroundings when planning economic developments. Stop any further drainage
of wetlands and any further development of shore areas.
* Strengthen the Endangered Species Act.
ANIMAL FARMING. Animal farming must be practiced in an ethically and
environmentally responsible way.
* End factory farming and the unethical treatment of animals used for meat.
Prohibit feed lots and the routine use of hormones, antibiotics, and other
chemicals, such as genetically engineered compounds.
* Regulate the domestic transportation and slaughter of animals to ensure
ethical treatment.
* Terminate permits that allow livestock grazing on public lands.
* Initiate public education to encourage people to reduce their consumption
of animal foods. Make vegetarian meals available in all public institutions.
ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS. We revere all life. We do not believe that we
have the right to exploit and inflict violence on other creatures simply
because we have the desire or power to do so. We advocate the ethical
treatment of animals.
* End all animal experimentation by the medical establishment and rechannel
money now used for animal experiments into biochemical research using
nonanimal procedures.
* Outlaw the use of animals for consumer product testing, tobacco and
alcohol testing, psychological testing, classroom demonstrations and
dissections, weapons development and other military programs.
* Clearly label products to tell whether they have been tested on animals
and whether they contain animal products or by-products.
* Outlaw all commercial fur ranching and trapping and the use of goods
produced from "exotics" and endangered animals. Prohibit large scale
commercial breeding facilities such as "puppy mills."
* Subsidize spay and neuter clinics. Where unwanted companion animals are
being killed in shelters, have mandatory spay and neuter laws.
* Ban the exploitation of animals in entertainment and sports, such as dog
and horse racing, dog and cock fighting, fox hunting, hare coursing,
rodeos, circuses, and other such spectacles.

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND LIVEABLE COMMUNITIES
The society Greens are creating sees an intimate creation between our
rights as individuals and our responsibilities to our neighbors,
communities, and the earth. The balance between our rights and
responsibilities grows out of processes that promote the maximum
participation of everyone in the decisions that affect our wellbeing, our
economic security, our social and international policies, and the way we
live our lives.
While much must be done in many areas to provide a decent and secure life
for everyone, the key to these improvements lies in creating real social
justice for all in a manner that will endure. We are committed to
establishing relationships that honor diversity and that support the
self-definition and self-determination of people. We will work to confront
the barriers of racism, sexism, heterosexism, class oppression, ageism, and
the many ways our culture keeps us from working together to define and
solve the common dangers we face.

ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE. Environmental justice, social justice, and economic
justice depend upon and support one another.
* Devote greater efforts to full enforcement and prosecution of
environmental crimes. Fund environmental crime units for District Attorneys
in Baltimore City and Baltimore County.
* Prevent communities, especially low income and/or minority communities,
from being coerced into accepting hazardous materials or environmentally
hazardous practices.
* Precede the siting of hazardous materials or practices with public
hearings, conducted in the language of those community members who will be
directly affected. Outlaw the transport of hazardous nuclear materials
throughout populated areas.
* Require corporations to permit on-site visits by a community watch dog
committee and to appoint a neighborhood environmentalist to their boards of
directors.
* Do not force workers to choose between a hazardous job or no job at all.
HUMAN RIGHTS. We strive to secure universal and effective recognition and
observance of basic human rights.
* The principles and spirit expressed in the United Nations Declaration of
Human Rights as an international standard.
* The right to liberty and security of person, and freedom from arbitrary
arrests, detention, slavery or involuntary servitude.
* The right to a standard of living adequate for the health and wellbeing
of every family member, including food, clothing, housing, medical care,
and the right to security in the event of unemployment, sickness,
disability, widowhood or old age.
* Equal opportunity to participate in the decision-making processes that
affect our lives.
* The right to free expression and assembly.
* The right of citizens to leave their country and to return.
* No one shall be subjected to torture, or to cruel, inhumane, or capital
punishment.
* Everyone who works has the right to a living wage and to equal pay for
equal work.
* Establish the right to clean air and clean water as a basic right.
AFFIRMATIVE ACTION. Patters of exclusion of women and minorities (primarily
people of color) must be acknowledged as a continuing practice that
violates any semblance of social justice or respect for diversity. We
recognize the need for affirmative action programs, including retention of
goals for woman and minorities in government hiring and outreach; promotion
of equal employment opportunity through education; and court-imposed
remedies where necessary.
IMMIGRATION. Immigration policies should be based on human rights. Labor,
like capital, will cross borders, and fortifications do not deter desperate
people. We support policies that seek to integrate, rather than alienate,
migrant labor.
* Seasonal labor demands should be allowed to be filled by foreign workers
using work visas, with these workers subject to U.S. tax and labor laws.
* Permanent residents should have voting rights.
POPULATION. Humans have a unique responsibility for stewardship of the
earth. Consumption-oriented lifestyles have resulted in a minority of
people consuming a majority of resources.
* Those living in the industrialized world must end the habits of waste and
overconsumption.
* Remove political and economic barriers that prevent woman from having all
the resources necessary to become skilled family planners.
* Allocate funds for expanded scientific research into safer and more
effective birth control techniques.
* Provide access to free birth control devices, information, counseling,
and clinics to all who want them. Provide family planning education for
both genders in all levels of the public school system.
NATIVE AMERICANS. We recognize the rights of all indigenous peoples
worldwide, and we support full self-government on all Indian reservations.
We support full rights for Native Americans.
* Give Native American culture equal weight with European culture in our
educational and socialization processes.
* Recognize treaty rights concerning hunting and fishing at subsistence
levels. Native treaty rights should always take precedence over commercial
profits and foreign fishing interests.
* Recognize Native American claims to ancestral remains and artifacts.
* Oppose oil exploration in the Arctic Wildlife Refuse because of its
effects on native tribes.
* Support the American Indian Religious Freedom Act.
WOMEN'S RIGHTS. Woman have an absolute right to social and economic equality.
* Provide adequate health care for women, with greatly increased emphasis
on women's health concerns.
* Pass legislation that requires comparable pay for comparable work, expand
child care in the workplace, and the prevention of gender-based job
discrimination and sexual harassment.
* Adopt a constitutional protection of equality for women, such as the
Equal Rights Amendment (ERA).
* Provide education and training for judges, court and law enforcement
personnel to handle cases of violence against women. Adopt evidentiary
rules so that evidence of past sexual behavior is not admissible.
Acknowledge "battered women's syndrome" as a mitigating factor in homicide
trials. Increase support and funding for safe houses and other family
violence prevention services.
REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS. Women and girls have an inalienable right to control
their own bodies. The decision whether or not to bring a pregnancy to term
is a individual's alone to make. All women and girls must have the option
of obtaining a safe and legal abortion. However, preventing an unwanted
pregnancy is the better option, and we should work to create a society in
which abortion becomes less necessary.
* Make safe and legal abortions available to all women.. Government funding
should be available to women who are unable to afford abortions. Oppose
laws that require women and girls of any age to notify or obtain anyone's
consent before obtaining an abortion.
* Increase research and availability of contraceptives. Make RU486
available in this country.
* Set standards to make adoption easier and more affordable. Abolish the
over-demanding requirements to be approved for subsidized adoption.
* Federally fund sex education, public health programs, and family planning
services.
SENIOR RIGHTS..
CHILDREN'S RIGHTS..
YOUTH RIGHTS. We support the rights of young people. They have the right to:
* Independent existence. Youth are not the property of parents or
guardians, but are under their care and guidance.
* Adequate food, shelter, and comprehensive health care, including prenatal
care for the mother.
* Protection from abuse, harmful drugs, violence, environmental hazards,
neglect, and exploitation.
* Freedom to develop in a safe and nurturing early environment provided by
affordable child care and preschool preparation.
* An education that is stimulating, relevant, engaging, and that fosters
their natural desire.
* Education regarding their own sexuality at the earliest appropriate time.
* Freedom from coercive corporate advertising at their educational
institutions.
LESBIAN/GAY/BISEXUAL/TRANSGENDER RIGHTS. People have a basic right to
decide their own sexual orientation and identity. We demand full rights for
all sexual groups.
* Promote a constitutional amendment to outlaw discrimination based on
sexual orientation, and emend all anti-discrimination laws tin include
protection for sexual minorities.
* Legalize same-sex marriages.
* Give same-sex couples an equal opportunity to adopt children.
* End discrimination based on sexual orientation in all branches of the
military.
RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES. We recognize the rights and potentials
of persons with disabilities.
* Aggressively implement the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) along
with other legislation, such as the IDEA.
* Increase funding so that people with disabilities can pursue education
and job training.
* Fund In-Home Aide Services through the Department of Social Services and
the Department of Human Resources to allow people with disabilities to hire
personal care attendants while remaining at home. Provide a residential
setting within the community for those that do not need institutional care,
but who are unable to live independently.
* Make it easier for people with chronic mental illness to apply for and
receive Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
* Fund programs to increase public sensitivity to the needs of those with
disabilities.
PUBLIC EDUCATION. We call for a high quality of education.
* Reaffirm the value of free public education and reject the use of public
funds to pay for students' attendance at private or parochial schools.
* Provide free education from preschool through college, graduate, and
professional schools.
* Further subsidize and develop loan forgiveness programs for graduates who
enter the nonprofit, public service/interest fields.
* Increase spending for public education at all levels. Treat and pay
teachers as valued professionals.
* Oppose the current shift from public to private corporate funding of
schools.
* Change the management of our schools to provide for more teacher, parent,
and student participation at every level of decision-making, especially
concerning the allocation of funds.
* Develop a more holistic and multicultural approach to learning.
* Restructure the school system to provide a greater diversity of choices
and smaller, more personalized schools.
* Instruct students in the dynamics of interpersonal communication and
effective listening skills.
* Encourage students to teach other students. Parents and others should be
encouraged to come into classrooms and help teach or lecture.
ART AND CULTURE. Freedom of artistic expression is a fundamental right, and
is a key element in empowering communities and moving us toward
sustainability and respect for diversity. Appreciation of an activity in
the arts is important to all people, not only to professional artists.
* Oppose laws that restrict or censor artistic expression, including
withholding of government funds for political or moral content.
* Increase funding for the arts at all levels of government.
* Encourage community-funded programs, employing local artists, to enrich
communities through public art programs.
* Incorporate arts education studies and activities into every school
curriculum.
* Encourage the establishment of nonprofit public forums for local artists
to display their talents and creations to interested members of the community.
* Help decentralize the art worlds by promoting development of cultural
institutions outside of large cities where they are now concentrated.
* Establish educational programs in the community that will energize the
creativity of every community member.
HEALTH CARE. All people have the right to adequate and affordable health
care, both preventive care and appropriate medical treatment when they are
ill.
* Publicly fund a universal health care system equally accessible to all
such as a single payer system, as in Canada.
* Broaden acceptance by the health care industry of holistic and preventive
health care systems. Support natural birthing.
* Give patients complete freedom of choice as to their form of treatment or
to refuse treatment.
* Correct economic discrimination in health care that often excludes poor
patients from medically indicated but expensive treatments.
* Encourage an education people in healthy lifestyles and more awareness of
our natural ability for self-healing.
* Support the implementation of medical use of marijuana.
* Ensure the privacy of medical records.
* Ensure data availability on health care providers. Utilize geographic
information systems (GIS) to analyze patterns of disease.
AIDS/HIV. We call for compassionate and adequate handling of AIDS/HIV.
* Increase funding for AIDS education, care, and research with an emphasis
on preventive education. Target the young for timely education about AIDS
and ways of preventing it. Distribute condoms in schools.
* Provide access to treatment and medication for all those affected.
* Apply special funding for research into treating afflicted women.
* Quicken the approval of drugs by the FDA.
* Provide housing for people afflicted with AIDS and who are at risk of
homelessness.
* Support needle exchange programs.
* Protect the confidentiality of all people diagnosed with AIDS or HIV.
* Ban all mandatory HIV testing.
* Lift the ban prohibiting HIV+ people from entering the U.S. as visitors
or immigrants.
CHILD CARE. Childbearing, parenting, and homemaking are essential to a
healthy society and deserve to be respected and supported.
* Give parents the right to a year's leave from work with a guaranteed
right to return for adoption or childbearing.
* Provide on-site childcare in workplaces above a certain size.
* Make job-sharing options available to give people a choice or part-time
work.
* Give people financial incentives to save money for children.
SOCIAL SAFETY NET. The purpose of the social safety net is to provide below
which a U.S. resident should not suffer economic deprivation. We call for a
reliable social safety net with benefits sufficient to met basic necessities.
* THE ELDERLY. Recognize Social Security as a human right. Separate Social
Security from the federal budget. Stop cuts in Social Security. Retain the
safety net for seniors who rely upon it to cover medical benefits.
* THE DISABLED. Provide security for those who find themselves dependent,
temporarily or permanently, upon the social services of the state for their
survival. Fully fund rehabilitation for those with disabilities. Provide
treatment programs for those struggling with addiction. Supplement earnings
at adequate levels until full self-sufficiency is attained.
* FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN. Do not require workfare outside the home for
single parents of small children. Provide paid parental leave for one
parent of very young, ill, or other special needs children. Make quality
child care available to all parents who are engaged in paid employment,
higher education, or job training.
* THE ECONOMICALLY DISADVANTAGED. Provide support, without time limits, for
those who are economically disadvantaged. Keep benefit levels up with
inflation, and keep them sufficient to meet basic needs. Do not exclude
immigrants from the benefits of the safety net. Pay a living wage, or the
prevailing wage in an industry, whichever is greater, to all people in
compulsory work placements ("workfare"). Provide union recognition and full
health and safety protections for "workfare" workers. Allow welfare
recipients pursuing higher education, homeless people looking for housing,
and domestic violence survivors who need more time to find safety and
independence, to be exempted from work requirements.
HOUSING. We recognize housing as a human right.
* RENTERS' RIGHTS. Protect tenants with rent-control laws, including
vacancy control. Prevent evictions without just cause and restrict
owner-move-in evictions of long-term tenants, the elderly, and the
disabled. Crackdown on landlords who refuse to maintain their properties in
habitable condition or who engage in illegal evictions.
* INCREASE AFFORDABLE HOUSING SUPPLY. Use vacant housing to shelter the
homeless. Build human-scale, low-income housing. Create a rent subsidy
program for the poor. Pursue more efficient use of our existing housing
supply, such as home-sharing and cooperative conversions of existing
dwellings.
* FAIR HOUSING LAWS. Strengthen and enforce fair housing laws against
discrimination. Provide generous government funding to non-profit
organizations engaged in fair housing monitoring and enforcement.
* REFORM OF ZONING AND BUILDING CODES. Remove restrictions on converting
large, single-family homes to multi-family use. Permit housing development
in existing industrial and commercial zones. Eliminate requirements for
off-street parking.
HOMELESSNESS. People who are homeless have the right to full acknowledge of
their human dignity and a voice in the decisions and policies that affect
them.
* Expand community-based services for the homeless (e.g. Mobile Treatment
and Community Case Management Programs).
* Repeal all laws that criminalize any facet of homelessness or helping the
homeless. Abolish anti-sleeping and anti-vagrancy laws.
* Strictly enforce all laws that are designed to help the homeless, such as
laws that require the opening of National Guard armories to the homeless
during inclement weather.
* Strengthen and increase funding of mental health and drug rehabilitation
systems.
EMPLOYMENT. Every person who wants to work is entitled to a job that pays a
living wage.
* Support small buildings and cooperatives. Enforce the antitrust laws.
* Emphasize local job-training programs, a shorter work week, and job-sharing.
* Legislate equal pay for equal work, and raise the minimum wage to a
livable level. Protect and uphold laws prohibiting employment discrimination.
WORKPLACE SAFETY. All workers have a right to a safe and humane working
environment.
* Protect and enforce Maryland's Occupational Health and Safety Act (MOSHA).
* Inform workers of workplace hazards and protect them from those hazards.
* Legislate full funding for worker safety programs.
* Insist on agricultural practices that do not endanger farmworkers under
the jurisdiction of OSHA.
UNIONS. Workers have the right to organize and operate a democratic,
member-run union to ensure their rights in the workplace.
* Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act and other right-to-work laws that make it
legal to permanently replace striking workers.
* Assure that unions are directly controlled by their membership. Unions
should have access to company financial records for bargaining purposes.
Labor should be represented on corporate boards.
* Eliminate tax laws that encourage employers to relocate.
* Support plant closure warning laws and establish a comprehensive plan for
displaced workers.
* Pass legislation to facilitate workers' and/or communities' taking over
closed plants and forming employee-owned businesses or organize consumer
and worker cooperatives.
DRUGS. Government should exercise restraint when regulating its citizens'
private lives.
* Shift our focus from interdiction and incarceration to addressing the
social causes of drug use.
* Redirect the funds presently spent on the drug war to education,
prevention, and treatment.
* End all corporate tax deductions for cigarette and alcohol advertising.
* End the subversion of due process of law under the guise of the "War on
Drugs."
CRIMINAL JUSTICE. Our criminal justice system is inhumane, ineffective, and
prohibitively expensive. Retribution has replaced rehabilitation. Prison
terms are becoming longer and longer. The majority are serving terms for
minor property and drug crimes or violations or their conditions of parole
or probation. Poor and undereducated minorities are overrepresented.
ALTERNATIVES TO INCARCERATION:
* Prisons should be the sentence of last resort reserved for violent
criminals. Those convicted of nonviolent offenses should be handled by
other programs. Substance abuse should be addressed as a medical problem.
* Prisoners with mental illness need separate psychiatric facilities or
appropriate community mental health.
* Prisoners too old or infirm to be a threat to society should be released
to less expensive, community based facilities.
* Juvenile offenders must not be housed in needlessly restrictive settings
and must never be housed with adults.
* Parole should be treated as a time for reintegration in the community,
not as a continuation of a person's sentence.
PRISON CONDITIONS.
* Private prisons should be illegal.
* Prison conditions must include heat, light, exercise, clothing,
nutrition, libraries, personal possessions, and safety.
* Prisoners are entitled to therapeutic, drug, and medical treatment,
including access to condoms and uninterrupted access to all prescribed
medication. Isolation of prisoners from staff and from one another should
be minimal.
* Prison officials must institute and enforce polices that discourage
racism, sexism, and homophobia in prison.
* The First Amendment rights of prisoners must not be revoked. Prisoners
have the right to talk to journalists, write letters, publish their own
writings, and become legal experts on their own cases.
* All prisoners should have the opportunity and should be encouraged to
obtain higher education.
* Prisons should be community based where possible. Where not,
transportation for visiting should be available and subsidized.
* Convicted felons should be allowed to vote by absentee ballot during
incarceration and should obtain their right to vote during parole.
LEGISLATION.
* Establish programs to strengthen self-help and community action through
neighborhood centers that provide well-funded legal aid, alternative
dispute resolution practices, mediated restitution, community team
policing, and local crisis/assault care shelters.
* Establish elected or appointed independent citizen review boards with
subpoena power to investigate complaints about prison guard as well as
community police behavior.
* Maximize restrictions on police use of weapons and restraining techniques
such as pepper spray, stun belts, and choke holds.
* Abolish the death penalty.
* Restore judicial discretion in sentencing, as opposed to mandatory
sentencing.
* All persons charged with nonviolent crimes must have the right to freedom
on bail.
* Stop forfeiture of the property of unconvicted suspects.
* Institute a moratorium on prison construction with saved funds to be used
for alternatives to incarceration.

PEACE AND NONVIOLENCE
This category of 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 not 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.

NONVIOLENCE. We oppose violence in all its forms-against individuals,
families, nations, wildlife, the environment. We also recognize that
threats and intimidation can be as destructive as physical violence.
* Abolish the death penalty.
* Teach nonviolence and peaceful conflict resolution at all school levels.
* Provide adequate funding to remedy the conditions that spawn violent crime.
* We want peace, so we work for justice!
* Register all legal firearms. Strengthen the ban on sales of automatic and
semi automatic weapons. We support the "Brady Bill" and any similar
legislation that would establish a nationwide waiting period before a
handgun could be purchased.
* Police agencies should stress handling situations through mediation and
negotiation, and avoid armed confrontations.
* Avoid military solutions to international conflicts.
MILITARISM. Militarism is harmful because it consumes natural and human
resources that could be better employed in useful endeavors. People have a
basic right to decide how they will serve their society.
* Respect the right of all citizens in and out of the military to follow
their principles in claiming conscientious objection-this includes the
right to selective CO.
* Grant amnesty to personnel whose rights were violated by the military's
failing to follow the proper procedures in processing CO claims.
* Give equal time to opposing viewpoints in any school where military
recruiters have access to students.
* Hold military recruitment materials to the same "truth in advertising"
standards that are required of businesses.
DISARMAMENT. Green values emphasize the sanctity of life and the peaceful
resolution of conflicts. Disarmament isn't just a desirable end result of
these goals, it is also an important step toward attaining them.
* Make a realistic assessment of our national defense needs. Stop the
research, development, testing and deployment of offensive
weapons--especially nuclear, chemical and biological weapons. Halt the
international exchange of nuclear technologies and materials.
* Ban international arms sales and enact a unilateral reduction in our
current armaments stockpiles. Escalate talks with the former USSR republics
to account for, and eliminate, their stockpiles of weapons, especially
weapons-grade plutonium.
* Set up a multilevel international peace keeping force consisting of
citizen groups as well as the U.N.
* Ratify the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, and enforce and strengthen the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Communities and states should have the
right to establish legally binding nuclear-free zones.
* Stop funding Strategic Defense Initiative ("missile defense") programs.
PEACE DIVIDEND AND ECONOMIC CONVERSION. Resources required for basic human
needs have long been sacrificed to pay for a huge military budget. We
advocate a major shift in the allocation of resources.
* Immediately reduce military spending to half of the current levels. The
resulting "peace dividend" should, in part, be distributed to state and
local governments to handle the neglected problems in social welfare, the
environment and the economy.
* Redefine the military's role in the light of post-Cold War circumstances.
Develop a new national defense policy with participation by citizen and
governmental representatives as well as the military. Simplify and
decentralize the military procurement system, and consolidate military
functions to eliminate duplication.
* Convert our economy to a peaceful basis, including the disposing of
closed military sites. This conversion should be planned and administered
at local and regional levels.
* Transfer the ownership of closed military bases to local communities for
civilian use.
* Forewarn employees of plant closures, and provide retraining for
displaced workers, military personnel, and related personnel.
GLOBAL FAIR TRADE. Green parties around the world stand for international
trade policies that respect the planet's ecology, peoples' social needs and
the self-determination of communities, religions and nations.
The implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and
the General Agreements on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) is a major step toward
internationalization of commerce that, in many instances, supersedes local
and national government's authority. They allow transnational corporations
to circumvent state and national environmental, health and labor standards
and laws through the World Trade Organization. They seek to equalize
protective regulations at the lowest possible level. Effectively, this is
international deregulation of trade.
To foster economic, social and environmental justice in the
internationalization of trade, we call for supplementing these trade
agreements.
* Maintain the authority of governments to regulate the health and safety
of its workers, protect its environment, and preserve its natural resources.
* Implement protective tariffs and trade barriers to protect local, state
and national health, safety, labor and environmental standards against
lower standards in other countries. These trade restrictions should only be
used to promote better environment and labor conditions, and not to protect
domestic employers from competition.
* Allow countries to refuse trade for human rights, workers' rights, social
justice or other legal and moral concerns.
* Insist international trade policies, agreements and institutions promote
ecologically sustainable, economic self-reliance in all countries.
THIRD WORLD DEBT. Economic assistance should help recipient countries to
achieve economic self-sufficiency, ecological sustainability and democratic
management of development projects. The enormous external debt of many
low-income countries (LICs) not only endangers international economic
stability, but also places undue pressure on the debtor nations to
commercialize their natural resources. The debts make raising their
citizens' living standards very difficult. We support measures to ease such
debts.
* Investigate the legality of such debts and their increase through
artificial mechanisms.
* Allow LICs to buy back their own debts and to participate in managing
swap financed protects. Write off debts when they are recognized as unpayable.
* Increase the participation of nongovernmental organizations in
swap-for-development projects.
* Link foreign aid and loans to demilitarization, land reforms, ecological
preservation, democracy and human rights.
FOREIGN POLICY. U.S. foreign policy should emphasize promoting other
nations' self-sufficiency and self-determination, rather than ensuring
security for overseas American business interests and the retention of
military bases.
* Insist that U.S. corporations maintain foreign business practices that
don't jeopardize workers, damage their environment, or interfere with their
governments.
* Reevaluate our government's aid practices by emphasizing
appropriate-level technologies, ecologically sustainable infra structures
and business projects, cultural sensitivity and monetary aid consistent
with countries' real needs.
* Support and endorse United Nations conventions. The U.N, should finally
be used for its intended purpose: it should act as an objective,
multilateral body to maintain world order. The U.S. could help attain this
objective by paying its U.N. dues on time.
* Close all foreign military bases as soon as possible and clean up any
toxic wastes left behind.

DEMOCRACY AND ELECTORAL REFORM
We are committed to mobilizing the participation of large numbers of
people at the local level, and we challenge the notion that only
experienced politicians and expert bureaucrats are needed in Annapolis and
Washington.
Grassroots democracy, one of the Green Party's 10 Key Values, 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 and
neighborhood assemblies, and bioregional confederations. To accomplish this
goal, our current 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.

INITIATIVES/REFERENDA/RECALL. The initiatives/referenda/recall process is
an essential and useful way to expand grassroots democracy. The lack of
voter involvement in the legislative process stifles democratic
participation. Therefore, we advocate for reform of Baltimore and Maryland
laws to include the possibility of initiative and referenda proposals.
* INITIATIVES: Extend the period of time for gathering signatures. Require
that at least 15 percent of all signatures be gathered by unpaid
volunteers. Require both proponents and opponents of an initiative to
inform the voters about the issues, using government-sponsored means.
Require that organizational proponents of initiatives be prominently listed
at the beginning of every initiative.
* REFERENDA: Reduce the number of signatures required to qualify a
referendum for the ballot.
* RECALL: Substitute the term "removal" for "recall." Require that all
signatures for a removal effort be obtained through voluntary solicitation.
ELECTORAL AND CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM. To have a true democracy, we must
ensure that everyone has a say. To accomplish this, we propose basic
changes in the electoral system.
* Provide public financing of elections and free media access to level the
playing field for getting candidates' messages to voters. Allow eligible
candidates to pay postage rates one-quarter of the regular rate.
* Hold elections on nonworking days.
* Take the redistricting process away from politicians and place it under
the control of elected citizen boards.
* Combine voluntary campaign spending limits and public campaign funding to
reduce money's corrupting influence on our political system. Establish
contribution limits for Political Action Committees with less than 50 members.
* Prohibit political parties from using "soft money" to pay for any
election-related activities.
PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION. One of the Green Party's primary goals is to
change our electoral system from "winner-take-all" to proportional
representation (PR), which is used by most of the world's democracies.
* Replace the winner-take-all approach with PR systems at all levels of
government.
* Implement PR in local organizations and nongovernmental bodies, such as
union locals, school and school districts, civic organizations.
* Eliminate gerrymandering--the dominant parties' ability to create
districts that ensure their continued election in the present single-seat
system.
* Support legislation that gives states the option of electing their
congressional delegation by PR.
* Seek the formation of commissions to examine alternatives to the current
electoral system.
GOVERNMENT SECRECY. Government derives its legitimate power from the
approval of the governed. If a government acts in secret, the electorate
cannot give its informed consent.
* Increase public access to information.
* Establish a citizen review board to oversee the process by which the
government classifies information, including the Pentagon's "black budget."
* Make all government activities subject to open meetings.
* Ban secret government actions unless the public has explicitly sanctioned
the goals in question. Include strict enforcement provisions to punish
those responsible for illegitimate covert activities, and to protect
"whistle blowers."
INTELLIGENCE AGENCIES. The intelligence community's sole function should be
to provide accurate and up-to-date Information so that the government can
make informed foreign policy decisions. We advocate strict control of
intelligence agencies.
* Stop using intelligence agencies for industrial espionage.
* Abolish the CIA and all other such agencies. Create a single intelligence
organization and place it under the oversight of a citizen review board.
* Coordinate all foreign intelligence with the new agency mentioned above.
Limit its activities to reporting its findings and making recommendations.
* Rely more on international intelligence agencies to provide accurate and
unbiased information as the basis for negotiations, conflict resolution and
treaty verification.
ENFORCE THE BILL OF RIGHTS. The events of September 11, 2001 have severely
altered the civil rights landscape. In the name of national security, civil
liberties are under attack.
* Due Process for all detainees. This includes the right to counsel and to
have one's communications with such counsel protected by the same
attorney-client privilege that applies for the jurisdiction.
* No military tribunals for civilians.

COMMUNITY-BASED SUSTAINABLE ECONOMICS
The keystone of the Green Party's economic program is community-based
economics. We prefer an alternative to an economy owned by either
government or gigantic corporations.
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.

CREATING JOBS AND RESTRUCTURING THE ECONOMY. We want communities to work
for the vitality and ecological sustainability of their local economies.
* Revamp the tax, fee and regulatory burdens on small business. Encourage
the development of small scale, appropriate-level technology and the
establishment of locally-owned businesses that are ecologically sound.
* Set up local nonprofit development corporations that work to establish
community based economics, rather than the usual redevelopment fixation on
huge projects in the downtown areas of cities.
* Establish "enterprise zones" to create jobs in poor neighborhoods, which
would be developed as employee-owned businesses or, at a minimum, through
profit-sharing arrangements.
* Support the creation of cooperative and collective businesses.
* Encourage the development of an informal economy, including volunteerism
and a credit barter system.
* Support development of "intentional communities," residential communities
that have come together for a common purpose and have some degree of
economic sharing.
TRUE COST PRICING. Under our current accounting and pricing system, many
commonly used products carry hidden environmental and social costs such as
air and water pollution, deforestation, and toxic waste. The inclusion of
all these costs into the price of a product would make ecologically sound
products cheaper to the consumer in terms of market price. Many current
policies have the effect of subsidizing environmentally damaging practices.
We advocate the implementation of true cost pricing.
ECONOMIC MEASUREMENT. The corporate market system is based on a competitive
struggle to exploit people and nature for profit. This focus is reflected
in tire GDP (Gross Domestic Product), which shows positive gains when
production of goods and services increases. But It does not show a decrease
to account for the detrimental effects of this production. We advocate a
more realistic economic measurement system that measures total costs to the
environment and society, and classifies activities such as volunteerism,
domestic work and child rearing as contributions to the economy
GOVERNMENT SPENDING. We call for effective government spending.
* Investigate the major departments in state and local government. (DSS, DHR).
* Make strategic social investments to avoid much greater future costs.
City budget
* Allow citizen organizations to have input into the formation of
municipal, county, state and federal budgets.
* Review the salary structures of public employees.
* Grant tax expenditures (exemptions, deductions, etc.) only to achieve
socially desirable purposes, such as environmental protection or job creation.
* Stop the enormous expansion of the prison industry.