[GPCA Updates] GP RELEASE Green Talking Points: Obama must reverse Bush policies on drug war, illegal surveillance, Social Security

[Green Party of California Updates]

GREEN PARTY OF THE UNITED STATES
http://www.gp.org

For Immediate Release:
Monday, March 16, 2009


Green Talking Points: Obama should reverse course and reject Bush-Cheney
policies on the drug war, illegal surveillance, executive power, and
Social Security cuts

• "The First 100 Days: What Would a Green Administration Look Like?"
(video and text) http://www.gp.org/first100

• Green Party Speakers Bureau: Greens available to speak on these and
other major issues http://www.gp.org/speakers


WASHINGTON, DC -- Green Party leaders challenged the Obama
Administration to reverse the failed policies and reject the agenda of
the Bush  Administration, citing as examples the war on drugs; torture,
illegal surveillance, and other Bush-Cheney abuses of power; and cuts in
Social Security.

"The Clinton Administration accomplished what the Republicans had tried
to enact but failed -- welfare 'reform', NAFTA and other antidemocratic
international trade authorities, deregulation of credit markets and
telecommunications giants.  Will Barack Obama deliver what George W.
Bush promised?" asked Budd Dickinson, co-chair of the Green Party of the
United States.

Greens said that the Democratic Party's retreats, betrayals, and
capitulations on so many major issues proved the failure of the
two-party status quo and the need for the Green Party's emergence.


WAR ON DRUGS  The bipartisan war on drugs has proven disastrous on two
fronts, said Greens.  Domestically, it has resulted in the incarceration
of record numbers of Americans, especially young African Americans,
Latinos, and poor people on nonviolent drug charges, with one in 31
Americans now in prison or on parole.  South of the border, US drug
prohibition has led to the breakdown of civil order, with powerful drug
cartels, corrupt law enforcement, and a spike in killings most recently
in Mexico, and similar long-term effects in Colombia and other Latin
American countries where drug production serves a US market.

"The Obama Administration and new Congress could put drug-related
organized crime out of business very quickly and drastically reduce
America's burgeoning prison population by ending the war on drugs, by
legalizing virtually harmless drugs like marijuana, and by treating
addiction to harder drugs as a medical and social problem rather than by
locking people up.  A politician's stance on the drug war is a true test
of character -- or lack thereof," said Cliff Thornton, co-chair of the
Green Party of the United States and co-founder of the drug law reform
organization Efficacy, Inc. (http://www.Efficacy-online.org) (Speakers
Bureau page for Mr. Thornton: http://www.gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=12).

"Unfortunately, both Democrats and Republicans are themselves addicted
to 'tough on crime' rhetoric and failed ideas about drugs as a law
enforcement issue.  Politicians from the two parties have also
surrendered to the demands of the expanding private prison industry,
whose profits depend on more and more inmates filling up cells," added
Nan Garrett, former co-chair of Georgia Green Party, and one of the
founders of Georgians Opposed to Prohibition, an organization founded
toward changing the prohibition aspects of the War on Drugs, as well as
co-chair of the National Women's Caucus
(http://www.gp.org/committees/women) (Ms. Garrett's Speakers Bureau
Page: http://gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=28).


WHITE HOUSE ABUSES OF POWER  Greens, like millions of other Americans,
have been dismayed by the Obama Administration's adoption of many
Bush-Cheney policies that patently violate the US Constitution: immunity
for telecomm firms that allowed illegal surveillance of US citizens;
domestic torture and the rendition of suspects to other countries for
torture; denial of habeas corpus; secretly held prisoners at US bases in
Bagram and possibly other locations; missile strikes inside Pakistan;
workplace immigration raids; and the expansion of executive power in
defiance of constitutional checks and balances.

The Green Party repeatedly called for investigation, impeachment, and
prosecution of all White House officials, including Mr. Bush and Mr.
Cheney, who participated in or enabled such abuses.  Greens asserted
that the end of the Bush Administration is no reason not to demand
accountability from Bush officials, beginning with former Justice
Department counsel John Yoo, who provided legal opinions justifying
torture, warrantless wiretapping, and other crimes.

"President Obama's adoption of illegal Bush Administration policies
proves why impeachment was so important.  When Congress refused to hold
Bush officials accountable for their abuses of power, they set the stage
for future administrations -- regardless of party -- to maintain
unconstitutional policies and repeat such abuses," said Ben Manski, an
attorney specializing in issues of federalism and the rule of law and a
former national co-chair of the Green Party (Speakers Bureau page:
http://gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=44).

"Nor should we ignore the collusion of Democratic leaders who were
informed of illegal actions, manipulated intelligence, and attempts to
deceive the public.  The Democratic rubberstamp for so many illegal
Bush-Cheney policies and actions shows the breakdown of democracy and
the rule of law," said Mr. Manski.


SOCIAL SECURITY  Green Party leaders expressed alarm at reports that
President Obama was considering cuts to Social Security and Medicare.
(The Green Party supports expansion of Medicare to cover every American,
in a Single-Payer national health care program.)

"President Obama should resist demands that Social Security benefits be
slashed for any group of Americans, or that it should be privatized even
partially," said Ron Forthofer, 2002 Green Party candidate for Governor
of Colorado (Speakers Bureau page:
http://gp.org/speakers/detail.php?ID=42).  "Any cuts in Social Security
will further undermine the finances and economic confidence of working
people already suffering from loss of income and job security during the
recession.  Taking away benefits for which people have already paid is a
breach of contract with the American people and a theft of their
retirement income.  The White House and Congress should resist pressure
from greedy financial corporations, free-market ideologues, and
billionaire bankers like Peter Peterson to cut or privatize our benefits.

"Imagine what would have happened to Social Security benefits if they
had been privatized and invested in the Stock Market before the economy
tanked," added Dr. Forthofer.


MORE INFORMATION

Green Party of the United States http://www.gp.org
202-319-7191, 866-41GREEN
Fax 202-319-7193
• Tally of Green election victories
http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/election-results.html
• Green candidate news http://www.gp.org/2008-elections/candidate-news.php
• Green candidate database for 2008 and other campaign information:
http://www.gp.org/elections.shtml
• Green Party News Center http://www.gp.org/newscenter.shtml
• Green Party Speakers Bureau http://www.gp.org/speakers
• Green Party ballot access page http://www.gp.org/2008-elections

Green Pages, Vol. 13, No. 1
The official publication of record of the Green Party of the United States
http://gp.org/greenpages-blog


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