DBC Sez: 5% is Victory!

DBC, right, with members of the Harris County Green Party Art Car Crew Main Page Who is David B. Collins? What does the Green Party stand for? Why 5% = Victory? Where is DBC appearing (and when)? How can we fix the mess we're in? How much can we donate? Why go Green in 2008? (PDF) External Greenness Other Green candidates Harris County Green Party Green Party of Texas Green Party of the United States Speech! a little speech written for, but never used at, a candidates' forum (PDF)

David B. Collins believes that government has one essential function: to protect the People from ignorance and greed, whether their own or that of others. Everything else a government does flows from that function. But rather than get overly philosophical, let's look at what America's government should be doing, or should have done long ago. The Green Party's vision of the future reverses policies that have created the current mess. Here are just a few examples of David's proposals, influenced heavily by the 2004 Green Party platform (PDF). Get the United States' military and corporate presence out of Iraq and Afghanistan as quickly and safely as possible, starting immediately. Rebuild these countries with international aid and no strings attached. Also, where possible, remove troops from overseas military bases; convert those bases to enterprises that benefit local populations to fill the resulting economic vacuum, leaving it to the locals to decide what goes where. Convert our catastrophic health care system to a single-payer program of guaranteed medical care, similar to the popular and proven Medicaid and Medicare networks. End corporate welfare as we know it. Any government payouts to industry must have a high percentage spent on compensation for workers or purchasing materials from domestic suppliers. Implement major national and regional initiatives for renewable energy and reliable mass transit. Conservation and solar power can be huge employers. Decriminalize and regulate the possession, distribution, and cultivation of marijuana for consumption by adults. Follow that with gradual decriminalization of other substances, substituting rehabilitation for law enforcement. Dismantle all drug war policies that destroy more families than hard drugs themselves do, and that keep too many potentially productive citizens in prison to be used as cheap labor. Subsidize low-intensity and organic agriculture by small growers and ranchers, instead of giving all that money to corporate factory farmers. Also develop local distribution networks for these growers. Radically reform public education (it can be saved—really!—and it is doing some things quite well, thanks). Require our schools to provide life skills curricula for the coming decades, and academic courses that are relevant to becoming active citizens in a democracy. Institute Instant Runoff or Ranked Preference voting in elections for Federal offices, and repeal the XIIth Amendment (Electoral College) in favor of electing the Executive Branch by popular vote. Now...discuss.