GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY

The Green Party of South Puget Sound believes in direct participation by all people in the environmental, political and economic decisions that affect their lives. We believe that political power is too concentrated in the hands of too few, at levels removed from the people. The power of full information and knowledge of issues should be readily accessible to all citizens, and politicians, public servants, as well as private sector leadership, must be accountable, ecologically and fiscally, to our communities.

• Instant Runoff Voting: Include use in "local non-partisan races" as well as chief executive races.
• Home Rule Charter: Calls for the creation of home-rule charters for Thurston County and the cities of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater.
• Campaign Finance Reform: Endorses legislation that provides comprehensive Campaign Finance Reform that include caps on spending and caps on contributions made by the national, state and local political action committees and/or parties.
  
• Federal Communication Commission: Demands the Federal Communication Commission enforce the Communications Act requirement that a station "afford equal opportunities" to all candidates for a public office, including Green candidates.
  
• Universal Voter Registration: Urges the adoption of legislation to create Universal Voter Registration and an Election Day Holiday.
• Homeless Voters: Seeks legislation establishing uniform standards and practices to register homeless people to vote. Currently the requirement that a person reside at one location for thirty days or more creates a de facto denial of the right of homeless people to vote.
• Public Votes on Public Matters: Supports call for public county wide vote to select the project that will benefit from use of Public Facilities District funding.

SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY

The Green Party of South Puget Sound believes in and encourage alternatives to systems which create or increase poverty and injustice. We work to end oppression based on class, gender, race, ethnicity, citizenship, age, or sexual orientation in our local communities. We therefore support and act for equality for all groups within society.

• Affirmative Action: We support the reinstitution of Affirmative Action programs where they have been eliminated and support a recent bill presented by the state NAACP that would enact legislation overturning I-200.
• Citizen Policing Commission: Calls for the State Legislature to create county-level Citizen's Policing Commissions, which would have original jurisdiction over incidents involving possible police misconduct. These commissions should have the power to compel witnesses, convene grand juries and publish the results of their independent investigations.
• White Collar Crimes: Demands greater enforcement of white-collar crimes and resultant sentencing sufficient to stop corporate illegalities.
• Reparative / Restorative Justice: Supports reparative and restorative justice as an alternative to imprisonment and greater public investment in crime prevention. A recent Dept. of Justice study reported that most people in the county jail DO NOT BELONG THERE and supports community based options programs. We support expansion of community treatment options such as the recently opened triage center as an alternative to jail for people with mental illness who are arrested for criminal activity. We support expansion of drug rehabilitation programs, expansion of mediation and reconciliation services funding/options as alternatives to spending time in jail. Also, the establishment of adequate transitional housing units for the homeless and comprehensive rehabilitation programs such as those offered by Bread and Roses as crime preventive measures.

ECOLOGICAL WISDOM

The Green Party of South Puget Sound recognizes that the Earth sustains all life processes, and that it and the various life forms around us have value beyond their usefulness for human ends.  The Green Party of South Puget Sound's ecological politics is based on understanding the common roots of the exploitation of nature and of people.  We support policies based upon the precautionary principle and the best available science, adapting practices as we gain new knowledge of the environment, to achieve a healthy ecosystem for all life.

• Transportation: Recognizes transportation improvements as a priority ecological issue facing the State of Washington at this time and will support legislation that advances the development of transportation choices as its main strategy to relieve congestion along freeway corridors. In addition, advances the development of "non-automobile" transportaion choices.
• Commuter Rail: Expands the network of rail lines to provide high-speed passenger service from Olympia to Tacoma and Seattle.
• Pollution Tax: Calls for the creation of a "pollution tax" on personal and commercial vehicles, industries and public utilities that generate "Greenhouse Gases". The proceeds from "pollution tax" receipts will fund bonds to develop mass transit, solar and wind generation of electricity.
• Black River and Nisqually Wildlife Refuges: Supports efforts to stop the development of an asphalt plant on the site of the rock quarry located near the Black River Wildlife and Nisqually Wildlife refuges.
• Shellfish: Supports stricter regulations governing pollution sources and water cleanup measures in affected shellfish growing areas and all bodies of water.

NONVIOLENCE

The Greens are working to create a society where disputes and conflicts are dealt with peacefully, and where war and the use of violence to control others are obsolete. We reject violence as a way of settling disputes, or as a means of coercion or oppression - it is shortsighted, morally wrong, and ultimately self-defeating.

• Bush Doctrine of Pre-Emptive Strikes: Views the existing Bush Doctrine of Pre-Emptive Strikes as a crime against peace and as war against humanity.
• Iraq War: Calls for activists, government officials and the general electorate to join in solidarity with the people of the world to protest the war on the people of Iraq.
• Abolish Death Penalty: Seeks legislation to abolish the death penalty.
• Register Gun Owners: Supports legislation to register all gun owners and limit the accessibility of fire arms and ammunitions.
• Thurston County Jail: Opposes the expansion of the Thurston County Jail.
• Thurston County Justice Center: Supports the construction of the Thurston County Justice Center if, and only if, such a facility includes a psych unit for the mentally ill, a health clinic for drug rehab, equipment for home monitoring, space for mediation and reconciliation, and emergency shelter for homeless prisoners following their release from jail.  
• Protection of Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender (GLBT) Students: Calls on all Thurston County School Districts to adopt consistent policies of protection against violence in school particularly to students who are GLBT or who have parents that are GLBT.

DECENTRALIZATION

Power and responsibility must be restored to local communities and bioregions, within an overall framework of ecologically sound, socially just values and ways of living. Local problems are handled best at the local community level; regional and other levels of government should play a supporting role and not excessively drain resources [social, economic and environmental] from local areas.

• Local Control: Supports expanding the role of local government officials in the decision making process of issues at all levels that affect the general public and opposes proposals or legislation that would preempt local control.
• Free Media: Encourages and supports the development of public access TV, community radio, free radio, free and alternative press and other forms of media that serves as a conduit for the unfettered voice of the people.

COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Greens seek a regionally decentralized economy based upon the natural limits of the earth. We endeavor to promote economic activity that meets the basic needs of the entire community and that is maintained in a democratic and decentralized manner.

• Socially Responsible Businesses: Supports independently owned and operated companies which are socially responsible, as well as co-operatives and public enterprises that distribute resources and control to more people through democratic participation.
• Commercial Lot Size Limits: Believes the cities of Olympia, Lacey and Tumwater should establish maximum commercial lot sizes so as to restrict the location of large department stores into downtowns and neighborhoods. It favors smaller, more human scale commercial development that is not so heavily dependent upon automobiles for access.
• Commercials in Schools: Opposes corporate promotion of the culture of consumerism and waste into public schools through advertisements and corporate sponsorships.
• Student Unions: Supports the formation of Student Unions in local high schools along with the right of students to organize to demand better food services, consistent grading, representation on local school boards, more diverse selection of extracurricular activities and the inclusion of all students, regardless of the color of their skin or socio-economic class, in the participation of school events.

FEMINISM AND GENDER EQUITY

The Green movement is profoundly inspired by Feminism, with its ethics of cooperation and understanding.  These ethics must replace the values of domination and control.

• Human Service Funding: Recognizes welfare reform and reductions in public funding of social services as the greatest threat to gender equity facing the State of Washington at this time since women bear most of the brunt of these reforms and funding cuts.
• Workfare: Rejects "workfare", the practice of forcing welfare recipients to accept jobs that pay poverty wages, as a form of slave labor. The State of Washington's Welfare-to-Work programs must focus on family wage jobs instead of any job.
• Women's Health Care: Wants special attention given to women's health care issues, including reproductive rights, family planning and breast cancer. We believe the right of a woman to control her own body is inalienable.
• Discrimination Against Victims of Domestic Violence: Wants the Legislature to correct existing laws to prohibit housing discrimination and the eviction of people who are victims of domestic violence and stalking.

RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY

We honor the biological diversity of the Earth, and the cultural, sexual, and spiritual diversity of Earth’s peoples. While we strive to respect the dignity of the individual, we must encourage people to care about persons outside their own easily identifiable groups.

• GLBT Rights: Supports the rights of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people in housing, jobs, civil marriage and benefits, child custody, and in all areas of life, to be treated equally with all other people.
• Racial Profiling: Abhors punitive discrimination in any form and condemns the law en-forcement agencies who engage in discriminatory "racial profiling" such as stopping motorists, harassing individuals, or using unwarranted violence against suspects with no other justification than race, ethnic background or sexual orientation.
• Bilingual Education: Resists discriminatory English-only pressure groups. We support bi-lingual education and call for all Thurston School Districts to adopt a language policy that would encourage students to be fluent in at least two languages by the time they graduate from middle school.
• Tenants Rights: Opposes any proposal that would weaken the State of Washington's Landlord-Tenant Act, Mobile Home Landlord- Tenant Act, or Fair Housing Act.

PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY

We must all realize that our individual and societal pursuits can have far reaching impacts on lifeforms everywhere.  Greens are committed to global sustainability through political solidarity within and beyond our community, as well as ways of living based upon ecological principles that respect our bio-regions. 

• Fast Track: Encourages the State's Congressional delegation to oppose giving the President `Fast Track' Authority regarding global trade agreements.
• Global Trade: Proposes that the State Legislature pass resolutions demanding that clauses regarding labor conditions, wage parity and environmental protection be included in global trade agreements.
• Sweatshops: Urges local school boards support the United Students Against Sweatshops by purchasing uniforms and sports equipment from non-sweatshop manufacturers.
• Reduction of Paper: Encourages state agencies and school districts to adopt policies to re-duce its current consumption of paper products by 25% by increasing its use of electronic medias and the Internet.
• Expansion of PSE's Green Power Program: Supports expansion Puget Sound Energy's "Green Power" Plan to include loans for the installation of solar panels on residential rooftops and construction of wind generators. As a measure of good faith, PSE should matchconsumer donations to the Green Power program from their existing profits and savings accrued from renewable energy programs as these are developed".
• Coastal Wind Farms: Explores the feasibility of developing wind farms at various locations off the coast of Washington.

FUTURE FOCUS AND SUSTAINABILITY

Greens are inspired by Native American philosophical principles seeking a society where the interests of the seventh generation are considered equal to the interests of the present.  We must reclaim the future for ourselves, and our children.  We must end the obsessive pursuit of short-term profits that jeopardize the future health and well-being of all living creatures.

• Sustainable Land Use Development: Believe land use development must meet the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
  
• Community Based Planning: Propose the Thurston County and its incorporated cities pass legislation to enact "Community-Based Planning" which includes both a criteria and indica-tors for sustainable development along with requirements for broad citizen participation in the planning of public structures and infrastructure improvements.
• Rent Control: Supports the establishment of rent control in order to keep rental housing affordable over the long term.
  
• Preservation of Public Housing and Low Income Housing Subsidies: Urges the Thurston County Housing Authority, and its funding partners, to create incentives to preserve existing Section 8 and Shelter Plus Care rent subsidies.
• Housing for the Disabled: Demands that the Thurston County and its incorporated cities establish planning policies that creates a separate target that allocates a percentage of new housing in their comprehensive land use plans as affordable to non-elderly people with disabilities. This practice will reverse the tendency of local governments to not plan for the placement and creation of housing for disabled adults, such as those with mental illness.