Blog Post #12

Would you join the Green Party or not?  What aspects of green values do you believe should be ideally incorporated into a "green" party?  Do these align, do you think, with the Green Party? Also, are the Earth First! activists justified in their actions? 
(Optional extra question for fun: If you were to run for political office with the Green Party/your ideal "green" party, who would you seek out to be your celebrity endorser and why?)

After going in depth with our game and presentation into the Green Party Platform, I think that I would join the Green Party.  And I do think that the Green Party is a good representation of the green values as we have learned them in class.

I agree with a lot of the issues that they are bringing to the table, and I think a lot of other Americans would as well if they were to read more into the specific issues they support. Some of the positions and solutions might be controversial, however, in their implementation (e.g. a living wage or a call for disarmament), and many of these would also be sticking points for me as well unless I were to see more in terms of actual implementation.  On face value, I absolutely align with their 10 Key Values of the Green Party and the four pillars to their platform: Democracy, Social Justice, Ecological Sustainability, and Economic Justice and Sustainability. Particularly, I strongly support electoral reform.  I took AP Government in high school my senior year and learned back then what a complicated topic this is an the myriad obstacles there are to reform. I honestly do not believe that either party in power really does want reform for threat of multiparty power. Some other positions and solutions that the Green Party offers that I most like include their emphasis on businesses not being considered people by the law, their support of the arts to build community, and the creation of job banks and training programs offered by the government to stimulate jobs and incorporate everyone into our local economies.

On the other hand, there are elements of Green Democracy that I do not agree with from the readings. For example, progressive taxes are not the solution in my mind...this is inherently against green values in that different professions should have equal compensation in the first place.  I do not believe that taking away from those who have and giving to those who do not is applied in the right sense with this part of the platform.  I think there must be another solution; for example, raising significantly the wages of all workers and leveling the playing field.  At the same time, I also think you would have to lower the cost of education for the fields that require much more.  As well, I do not think that the Earth First!ers solution is a representation of green democracy either. Their actions are wasting resources, and I think that there are better ways - if longer and more challenging - to go about change.