Swing in 2012

There are different forms of proportional representation. Under party list systems, each political party nominates a list of candidates to represent it in legislative elections. Under a single-transferable vote system, or (STV), voters rank individual candidates in their order of preference. First choice, second choice, and so forth. If a voter’s first choice doesn’t get enough votes to be elected, then their vote is transferred to their highest ranked candidate who can be elected. The same candidate ranking method is used for what is known in the US as instant run-off voting. However, instant-runoff voting is used in a single-member district to secure the election of the most popular candidate, while STV is used in multiple member districts to secure proportional representation. In a nine-member district, a candidate could be elected with one tenth of the vote. The national platform of the Green Party advocates proportional representation for legislative offices and instant-runoff voting for single winner executive offices.

Australia combines STV with an alternative party list vote, for its Senate elections. Ninety-five percent of Australian voters choose to cast what they call an “above the line” vote for a party, rather than ranking the individual candidates in what they call a “below the line” vote. As a Green Party candidate, I propose to abolish the US Senate and elect the US House of Representatives by the method of proportional representation used to elect Australia’s Senate.

True proportional representation enables most voters to elect representatives of their choice and makes every vote count. This eliminates the perceived problem of voting for the lesser of two evils under a two party system, while providing fair representation for a diverse population, and encouraging more substantive public debate of real issues.

Under the winner-take-all voting system that we have here, elections are largely a meaningless charade. The outcome of most elections is pre-determined by the demographics of each voting district. Most districts are dominated by a single party. The corporate media only covers establishment candidates who represent their narrow agenda. They ignore dissidents who advocate genuine reform and exclude them
from candidate debates. The corporate media treats elections like horse races. They focus on distractions instead of real issues.

Campaign financing corrupts the political process, making elected officials indebted to the corporate interests that finance their expensive campaigns. As a Green Party candidate, I support a ban on corporate campaign contributions, a fair system of public campaign financing, caps on campaign spending, verifiable ballots, fair media access for all candidates, and open debates that include minor party and independent candidates.

The office of the president has become a military dictatorship, regardless of who holds the office. I propose to eliminate presidential elections and decentralize political power. We should switch to a parliamentary system with a weak chief executive who is selected by Congress. Congress should be able to remove the executive at any time on a vote of “no confidence.”

The United States has built the most extensive empire in history. The US has engaged in illegal, immoral military attacks against the people of at least 69 nations since the end of World War Two, killing millions of people in the process of securing global economic imperialism. These war crimes are always sold to the public on a foundation of lies.

Sane people don’t build and maintain an arsenal of nuclear weapons capable of exterminating all life on Earth. Sane people don’t sponsor dictatorships and death squads in the name of freedom. Sane people don’t bomb hospitals and schools and churches and factories and power plants and water treatment facilities.

The Green Party has consistently opposed illegal US military interventions, including the bombing, invasion, and occupation and Afghanistan and Iraq. We demand the immediate withdrawal of all US soldiers from wars of aggression. As a candidate for US Representative, I pledge to uphold the Kellogg-Briand Pact, which outlaws war. The United States should shut down all of its foreign military bases, restrict its military to non-offensive defense of US territory, abolish its weapons of mass destruction, and eliminate the CIA. US foreign policy should focus strictly on humanitarian aid, respect for human rights, fair trade, and support for environmental sustainability.

I support a real criminal investigation into the US government’s role in 9/11 and prosecution of the people responsible for it. 9/11 was a false flag operation orchestrated by traitors at the highest levels of the US government, in order to create a false pretext for wars of aggression, seizure of dwindling oil supplies, and destruction of our civil liberties.

I oppose the racist scapegoating of immigrants. We must address the real causes of high immigration levels: an unsustainable, high consumption lifestyle in the United States; economic globalization policies that exploit Third World nations for the benefit of transnational corporations; and labor policies designed to drive down wages. We must reform international trade policies to protect labor, human rights, and the environment. Fair trade should promote local self-reliance, not foreign corporate domination. I support international work permits that are not tied to a specific employer.

Without the environment, there is no economy. Perpetual growth cannot continue within a finite environment. Climate change is happening now as a result of human industrial activity. We must reduce energy consumption at least 50% by 2030, restructuring our economy to run on solar, wind, geothermal and hydroelectric power. We must reduce greenhouse gas emissions at least 40% by 2020 and 95% by 2050. I support public investment to create jobs in energy conservation, renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, green construction and mass transportation. I support the use of carbon taxes to include environmental impacts in true cost pricing of new goods and services. We must create an environmentally sustainable economy.

Petrochemical agriculture threatens our health, food security and the environment. I support permaculture, organic farming and urban gardens. The livestock industry contributes to global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution. We should shift subsidies from animal agriculture to plant based agriculture and small local farms.

Overpopulation threatens our future. Human population has grown from 1 billion in 1804 to 7 billion now. If the average person on Earth consumed as much as the average American, the World Wildlife Federation estimates that the Earth could not sustain a population of more than one and a half billion people. We need to change the way we live to reduce consumption and decrease population by reducing birth rates. I support full public funding for family planning programs and public education about the overpopulation crisis.

The insurance industry profits by denying patients the health care they need. I support real health care reform through the creation of a single payer national health insurance program.

The Democrats and Republicans represent illegal wars without end, environmental devastation, corporate greed, and contempt for human rights. The Green Party is a voice for genuine reform. We welcome you to join us in working together to create an environmentally sustainable future based on social justice and respect for human rights, a future that values people over profits.

Gary Swing, Green Party Candidate for US Representative
http://www.newmenu.org/swingvoter