LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS QUESTIONNAIRE
Personal Statement:
This year I am asking you to cast a vote that can change America.
After a career in clinical medicine, I am now practicing political medicine, running for President to help heal our ailing nation. I represent the Green Party – the only national party that’s not poisoned by corporate money. Your vote for me sends a clear signal that you want a new, principled politics that puts people, planet and peace over profit.
We the people have the power to end unemployment, poverty and rampant inequality. We can liberate a generation trapped in predatory student debt. We can create a welcoming path to citizenship for new Americans. And we can end racism in policing, prisons, and society at large.
It’s time to vote for what we believe in, not just vote against what we fear. It’s time to stand up and be counted in support of the better future that we, the people, deserve. It’s time to reject the lesser evil and fight for the greater good like our lives depend on it. Because they do. This year make your vote speak for your values. Vote for Jill Stein and Ajamu Baraka.
Top Three Goals:
1. To launch an effective emergency response to the developing disaster of climate change. My goal is to create 20 million new jobs as we transition to clean, renewable energy. To this end, I seek to explain that President Obama’s “all of the above” energy policies must be reversed because they will absolutely destroy the livability of our planet. The next president must provide the leadership required in this critical moment, so that our children can inherit a green and life-sustaining planet.
2. To create an economy that works for all by bringing economic advisors into the White House who will advance bold solutions to democratize an economy that has been rigged for the benefit of the wealthy and well-connected. We must eliminate the scourge of unemployment and the burden of student debt. The growth in our economy must benefit the people and not just the well-placed economic elites and the transnational corporations.
3. To lead our society to a commitment to full justice and real democracy for all. Justice and democracy are intertwined because justice can not come from the rule of insiders who shield themselves from accountability to the people. We must finally take decisive steps to lift the longstanding burden of racial disparity and systemic racism, and produce a society in which every individual can achieve their full potential.
What will you do to support a vibrant economy across the U.S.?
I will create a living-wage job for every American who needs work, replacing unemployment offices with employment offices and eliminating the scourge of high unemployment that is draining billions from our economy. Ineffective stimulus programs that deliver money to the rich will be replaced by grassroots job creation initiatives in communities where jobs are most needed. I will end the Wall Street bailouts and expel the financial industry lobbyists from the White House. I will cancel student debt to free younger generations from the chains of debt that are preventing them from fully participating in our economy.
I will repeal NAFTA and other corporate-biased free trade agreements that export American jobs, depress wages, create economic refugees, and undermine the sovereign right of Americans to control their own economic, environmental and labor regulations. Instead I would enact fair trade laws that benefit American workers and stabilize communities.
My Green New Deal would create 20 million green jobs in sustainable energy, mass transit, sustainable organic agriculture, clean manufacturing and improving infrastructure, as well as healing our communities by employing Americans in social work, teaching, health care, after school programs, home care, and drug rehabilitation.
I am the only presidential candidate who refuses to take donations from for-profit lobbyists or CEOs of corporations that employ such lobbyists. That is why I am free of insider influence and able to ensure that Wall Street, big corporations, and the rich pay their fair share of taxes. A vote for me is a vote to build an economy that truly works for the people.
What, if any, actions will you support to create a pathway to citizenship?
First, I would end the massive deportation schemes of the Obama Administration that have torn families apart and spread fear across America. I would provide a welcoming and legal path to citizenship for the immigrants who are in many cases the backbone of our economy, and who provide a diversity that makes this country great.
I would end the so-called Secure Communities program that has led to abuse of both citizens and non-citizens. And I would end the misguided free trade agreements and regime change wars that have destroyed the economies of other nations and forced people to emigrate for their own survival. With these reforms in motion, we will be able to offer a pathway to citizenship for all law-abiding immigrants so that their talents and hard work can fully contribute to the greatness of this nation.
What should government do to provide an equitable, quality public education for all children pre-K through grade 12?
First, as President I would resolve to protect our public school systems from privatization schemes that will inevitably undermine the American dream of quality public education for all.
I recognize poverty as one of the greatest obstacles to learning, and would make it a key goal to ensure that kids come to school ready to learn: healthy, nourished, secure and free from violence.
I would increase federal funding of public schools to make sure all school districts have the financial resources they need to provide quality education.We should evaluate teacher performance through balanced assessment by fellow professionals and not through standardized test scores or other unreliable means.
We should replace Common Core with a curriculum developed by educators, not corporations, allowing input from parents and communities. We should stop denying hard-working students their diplomas based on high stakes tests of questionable relevance.
Education is more than just job training. We must restore arts, music and recreation to school curricula. And we must ensure racially inclusive, sensitive and relevant curricula that prepare students to participate in a diverse democratic society.
What actions would you support the U.S. undertake to protect its interests abroad?
We must forge a new foreign policy based solidly on diplomacy, international law, respect for human rights, and consistent nonviolent support for democratic movements around the world. The many foreign policy disasters we have experienced recently stem directly from a misguided attempt to use violence and fear to dominate the world. This can never succeed and unless reversed it will continue to produce the rise of terrorist organizations, refugee crises, failed states, and a bloated military that will bankrupt America.
We must stop U.S. financial and military support to human rights abusers and to countries that promote international jihadism. We must insist upon major improvements in the behavior of such countries, including Saudi Arabia, Israel and Egypt. We should freeze the bank accounts of those who are funding international terrorism and proxy wars.
We must end the US’ role as the world’s arm supplier, especially considering that those arms are often turned against us. We must also reject the shameful use of assassination as an instrument of U.S. foreign policy, including collaborative assassination through intermediaries.
The US must take the lead in nuclear disarmament by reengaging with Russia and China to pursue treaties to reduce worldwide nuclear arsenals. We should create a nuclear-free zone in the Middle East region and require all nations in the area to join. And we should join the 159 other nations who have signed the Ottawa treaty banning the use of anti-personnel land mines.
Our approach must be to work collaboratively with other nations and to respect their legitimate aspirations rather than trying to brutalize or dominate them. New leadership in this regard will allow us to cut our military spending by at least 50% while making Americans more secure.
What kinds of policies will you pursue to promote social and racial justice for all Americans?
My plan to end unemployment in our communities is a powerful step toward economic justice in America because it will transform the economic life of low income communities that are now struggling with unemployment rates two or three times the national average. Coupled with my commitment to quality public schools for every community, this allows us to make a commitment to not just lessen racial disparity, but to bring it to an end.
Our criminal justice system must be transformed to make it a pillar of community health rather than an apparatus that destroys lives. We must end the failed war on drugs and treat substance abuse as a health problem, not a criminal offense. We should release nonviolent drug offenders from prison, removing such offenses from their records, and provide them with both pre- and post-release support.
We must insist that our police forces become service-oriented problem-solvers who help us build stronger communities. We must not allow them to become an occupying military force applying weaponry to social problems. We must establish police review boards so that communities can hold their police to high standards, properly investigating every death or serious injury at the hands of police.
We must end mass incarceration and institutional racism within our justice system, and settle for nothing less than a society in which every human being is able to achieve their full potential regardless of their race, gender, sexual orientation, or disabilities.