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The proposals you will find given here are not original, nor clever, nor even in many cases particularly controversial.
They are, however, very important.

If you want to know why these proposals have not been implemented already, or from whence stems the resistence to their implementation, ask yourself, "Who benefits from things as they are, or would stand to lose from these changes?" In the majority of cases, I believe that if you analyze the situation honestly you will answer "the rich".


To repeat, in general I favor a classical liberal and Green federalized (problems are handled at the lowest possible level of the system) "miniarchy" (a government no larger than is necessary to provide minimum basic services). I am (more or less) a "Liberal" on human rights and social issues. I am (more or less) a "Conservative" (of the "Paleo" stripe -- more or less) on government size and powers ("smaller government is better government"). I am a Green first and foremost. I strongly believe that, historical associations aside, Green ideas and policies are not inherently "Leftist" (or for that matter "anarchist"), but are wholly compatible with Conservatism (and small-government Liberalism, for that matter).

To review, the Four Pillars of the Greens are:


• "Ecological Wisdom"
• Grassroots Democracy
• Social Justice
• Nonviolence


I believe that the USA should:

- Greatly reduce the funding and size of its military -- to certainly no larger than 1/4 of its size in the year 2000. In particular the USA should greatly reduce the size of its nuclear arsenal, which is of rather limited use against the decentralized opponents (for example, "terrorists") that it may face in the next few decades.

- Greatly reduce the funding and size of its intelligence services -- to certainly no larger than 1/4 of their size in the year 2000.

-- Both of these institutions serve primarily to: (1) transfer dollars from the pockets of taxpayers to those of the (extremely wealthy) owners of a few large armaments and intelligence-related corporations, (2) to interfere in the affairs of other nations, executing the wishes of a small number of US policy-makers (both formally in the government and nominally outside of the government), as opposed to executing the wishes of the US population in general, and (3) to create fear and distrust of the US in almost all other countries of the world.

The USA should instead emphasize non-military and "anti-military" relationships with other nations and solutions to problems. These should include a greatly increased quantity and quality of substantive diplomatic negotiations, and greatly increased quantity and quality of economic assistence (eg, food and medical assistence). The USA would have far less to worry about from foreign threats if people's automatic association was "benevolent and helpful Uncle Sam" rather than "belligerent and threatening Uncle Sam").

- Decriminalize the production, sale, possession, and use of many currently illegal mood-altering drugs, especially marijuana (which is extremely safe), but also LSD, heroin, and cocaine. I do not particularly approve of the use of these drugs, but the majority of the problems with them stem from their illegality. I think the 1920's Prohibition model* is an apt one. If these drugs were legal, they would be a lot purer and safer (when was the last time you heard of someone in the US being poisoned by "bathtub gin"?), and there would be no profit in them for criminals. At the same time, the USA should review the cases of all persons convicted of "drug crimes", and release all prisoners convicted of non-violent drug-related crimes.


* Alcohol Prohibition Was A Failure by Mark Thornton (Cato Policy Analysis No. 157)

"There were few if any production standards during Prohibition, and the potency and quality of products varied greatly ... The production of moonshine during Prohibition was undertaken by an army of amateurs and often resulted in products that could harm or kill the consumer. ...

According to Thomas Coffey, 'the death rate from poisoned liquor was appallingly high throughout the country. In 1925 the national toll was 4,154 as compared to 1,064 in 1920.' ...

America had experienced a gradual decline in the rate of serious crimes over much of the 19th and early 20th centuries. That trend was unintentionally reversed by the efforts of the Prohibition movement. ... The homicide rate increased to 10 per 100,000 population during the 1920s, a 78 percent increase over the pre-Prohibition period. ...

According to a study of 30 major U.S. cities, the number of crimes increased 24 percent between 1920 and 1921. The study revealed that during that period more money was spent on police (11.4+ percent) and more people were arrested for violating Prohibition laws (102+ percent). But increased law enforcement efforts did not appear to reduce drinking: arrests for drunkenness and disorderly conduct increased 41 percent, and arrests of drunken drivers increased 81 percent. Among crimes with victims, thefts and burglaries increased 9 percent, while homicides and incidents of assault and battery increased 13 percent. ...

Instead of emptying the prisons as its supporters had hoped it would, Prohibition quickly filled the prisons to capacity. ...

Not only did the number of serious crimes increase, but crime became organized. Criminal groups organize around the steady source of income provided by laws against victimless crimes such as consuming alcohol or drugs, gambling, and prostitution. In the process of providing goods and services, those criminal organizations resort to real crimes in defense of sales territories, brand names, and labor contracts. ...

The most telling sign of the relationship between serious crime and Prohibition was the dramatic reversal in the rates for robbery, burglary, murder, and assault when Prohibition was repealed in 1933. ...

It was hoped that Prohibition would eliminate corrupting influences in society; instead, Prohibition itself became a major source of corruption."



- Corporations were originally chartered for only limited time spans, and were not considered "persons" under the law until the late 1800s. We should roll back some of the rights and privileges which have been given to corporations since this time. In particular, I believe that we should require all corporations to renew their charters periodically, say every twenty-five years, with their right to renew subject to challenge in court. This would pressure them to be "better neighbors" in the eyes of their communities.

- The USA should work diligently toward a strongly progressive tax structure ("From those who have much, much shall be asked" -- Luke 12:48), to include a high (and/or progressive) estate tax, and either a very strongly progressive income tax, or a sales tax structured so that purchases of "luxury" items are taxed at a higher level (a progressive sales tax might be a good idea). For-profit and nonprofit corporations should be required to pay taxes. The tax system should be structured to minimize loopholes.

- The "Greening" (as in "ecological wisdom") of society mandates a drastic reduction in resource consumption. I think that one of the best strategies to acomplish this is an increase in the percentage of the population living in "intentional communities" (See What's True About Intentional Communities: Dispelling the Myths, Who We Are: An Exploration of What "Intentional Community" Means, and Intentional Communities: Lifestyles Based on Ideals). This lifestyle is potentially (and frequently in practice) quite rewarding for its practitioners. Therefore, I would urge all states to revise their legal codes to facilitate this lifestyle. An increase in the numbers and diversity of intentional communities would facilitate close matches between the "style" of individuals and communities.

- Possibly the biggest problem is the ignorance and apathy of the general population. This gives rise to a nasty "Catch-22", because the people are ignorant, apathetic, and distracted by media trivia primarily because they want to be. I would suggest that a logical step would be expanded mandatory "Civics" classes for students, along the lines of "Civics and Critical Reasoning" (again, in response to those who would criticize this, ask "What are the benefits of a lack of knowledge and critical reasoning skills? Who benefits from an ignorant and apathetic population?") This would be, at a minimum, a class which all US students would be required to audit in high school. An additional possibility would be a mandatory class several weeks long in each year of primary school, in order to introduce these ideas at a young age.

- The USA must immediately change laws and police procedures to avoid penalizing non-violent protest and protesters, and in fact, should probably act to encourage activities of this kind. If protesters or activists break laws, or are proven in court to have conspired to break laws, let them be tried for these crimes. But "preemptive" prohibition, harassment, and arrest of activism and activists is incompatable with democracy and a free society.

- The USA must immediately change election procedures to ensure the highest possible degree of openness and accountability. This is not difficult.

- A revised interpretation of antimonopoly laws should be developed and implemented to avoid concentration of ownership of media sources.

- Campaign finance reform appears vitally important and also very difficult. Various reforms have already been implemented, and donors have always quickly found ways to circumvent them.

- All formal restrictions which act to suppress minority, new, "third" parties from participating in the political process should be eliminated.






• Eight ways to change the world: A photography exhibition on the Millennium Development Goals
  by Panos Pictures, in association with seven charities
  Guardian,
  Links
  

  - To eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
  - To give all children a primary school education
  - To promote gender equality and empower women
  - To reduce by two thirds the mortality rate among children under five
  - To improve maternal health
  - To combat HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases
  - To ensure environmental sustainability
  - To develop a global partnership
  
  This is where you come in.

  I've added a number of my own links -- ed.
  
  
  
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• If It's Really A 'World' Bank, Then Let's Look South
  by Reverend Jesse L. Jackson, Sr.
  Published on Thursday, March 24, 2005 by CommonDreams.org
  

  "... Paul Wolfowitz is now being promoted in a secret, opaque, closely held process that freezes out most of the world. Of special note, the selection of the new World Bank head freezes out the 1 billion people who live on less than $1 per day, and the 3 billion who live on less than $2 per day. It freezes out the entire Southern hemisphere­Africa, Asia, South America. In fact, it freezes out everyone who is not a Bush loyalist in the U.S., or a nervous European elite. ...
  
  But why? Why should the world’s poorest people be excluded from the process of selecting one of the most important leaders who will affect their lives? Why are the nations most controlled by World Bank and International Monetary Fund policies not allowed to nominate, or even participate in any meaningful way, in the selection of new leadership?
  
  Is Nelson Mandela less qualified to run the World Bank than Paul Wolfowitz? Or how about one of the Brazilians behind the Lula government’s innovative proposal to eliminate hunger by taxing international arms sales? Or, since we know that the most direct route to fighting world poverty is to empower and educate poor women, why not a woman from the South to lead the World Bank, say, Arundhati Roy of India, or Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai of Kenya, two women who actually know something about helping poor people? ...
  
  That nominee should have a program, a “4-D” platform:
  

  Democracy program, to open up the WB/IMF systems to the whole world;
  
  Development program, to move from big energy projects to micro-, women-centered projects, with an emphasis on renewable technologies;
  
  Disease-fighting program, to battle AIDs and malaria, and the other dread diseases which ravage the Southern hemisphere;
  
  Debt cancellation program, to completely eliminate the debts of Africa and Latin America, to bring the “Jubilee” described in the Bible to the world’s poorest people. 100% debt cancellation, with no conditions, no tricks, no limitations, no restrictions­the single most useful step we could take to fight world poverty."