The future economic model must be decentralized and structured like a direct democracy, where individuals hold greater influence, with the power to vote on nearly every issue, and political parties are obsolete.

  For decades, much of the corporate elite in the United States has engaged in a non-stop effort to persuade the American people that government itself is evil, that it is itself a major part of what ails us, and that it is in their best interest to shrink government, at all levels. They have persuaded many that “over-taxation” and “over-regulation” constrain the real “job creators” in the private sector. They have propagated the ideas that government should be “run like a business,” and that it should serve as a conduit for the increasing privatization of public functions, sometimes under the guise of “public-private partnerships” and other innocuous labels.

  We reject such notions. Government itself is neither good nor evil. Its outcomes are the product of those who control it. When the corporate elite use massive campaign contributions, funneled through both corporate-sponsored parties, to elect people to office who have a harmful agenda, then evil government becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. But that does not prove that the government itself is inherently evil. What it proves is that we, the people, need to wrest control of government from those who use it for destructive or selfish purposes.

  As for the claimed virtues of shrinking government, this is a cynical exercise, in which those trying to prove that government “doesn’t work” impose austere budgets aimed at bringing about that very result. Having engineered that result, they then point to the government's lagging performance as “proof” that the solution lies with more privatization of public functions.

  We recognize the “privatization” trend for what it is: An attempt by certain corporate powers to expand the sphere of profiteering through corporate welfare and feeding at the public trough. The experience of “privatization” has generally been that taxpayers get the worst of both worlds – they pay to support a bureaucracy to police the contractors, and they subsidize the contractors’ profits, while typically getting lower quality service provided by underpaid and under-trained workers.

  The harm that has been caused by the systematic dismantling of the public sector is no theoretical construct but lived reality. Government has been shrinking, to the point where it cannot adequately perform its core functions, and we are feeling the effects. Shrinking the size of government has obviously not led to stronger employment or economic health.

   Government itself is not the problem. To the contrary, it is the most promising vehicle for effecting solutions when it is out from under corporate control. We support restoration of a healthy public sector, in those areas of the economy where public ownership and control of the economy is appropriate such as transportation, communication, water, power and other infrastructure, health care, education and most social services. This will allow us to directly achieve full employment at living wages or better, while improving our quality of life.

Enough is Enough.

We must end endless wars and divest from war!

#GreenEnter

All governments lie to its citizens about the conduct of its foreign policy, playing that chess game to serve the interests of the military contractors and corporate interests. 9/11 and Afghanistan are classic examples of blowback, a term the CIA first used in 1954 to explain the unintended consequence of a covert operation, in that case the U.S. overthrow of the democratically-elected government of Iran.

American citizens usually see blowback as "random" acts of political violence without a discernible, direct cause, because the public are unaware of the affected secret attacks that provoked revenge. American political and military leaders exploited 9/11 to advance their own agendas, plowing ever greater tax dollars to military contractors while curtailing civil liberties both at home and abroad.

The human right abuses inflicted by America’s multiple military invasions and occupations helped recruit even more terrorists while contributing to the eroding power and respect for the American empire. Since 9/11, the US has continued to turn a blind eye to the numerous human rights abuses of our allies, particularly the Saudis and Israel in exchange for access to oil and power in the Middle East.

We have continued to isolate ourselves by using military power rather than diplomacy to advance our foreign policy agenda. To the rest of the world, the US is the dark imperial power that arrogantly tramples upon the rights of all other countries as a manifestation of “American exceptionalism”, viewed as posing the greatest threat to democracy in their countries. US troops still remain in Iraq to help prop up its government.

Drones and mercenary contractors often replace American soldiers at greater taxpayer expense. The US continues to escalate tensions with Iraq, China, and Russia as well as numerous Latin American countries starting with Cuba and Venezuela. The first 9/11 was the US role in 1973 in murdering Chilean President Allende and overthrowing his democratically-elected government; President Bush unsuccessfully sought to appoint former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, the architect of that coup, as the chair of the 9/11 Commission.

The military-industrial complex resists all efforts to end the Cold War; a new Axis of Evil is always ready to be trotted out. More than half of the discretionary federal spending goes to the Pentagon and military contractors while domestic needs are underfunded.

It is time to #GreenEnter more than ever!

NASCO is holding its annual Institute this November! It's a conference primarily put on for Housing Co-opers and we'll have some content on other sectors in the co-op ecosystem. We also have a comprehensive course track on how to develop a housing co-op.
Find out more, share with a friend, and register here: https://www.nasco.coop/institute

A little more information:
This year’s theme is Mobilizing the Co-op Ecosystem. At Institute, co-opers will be exploring how cooperatives are an organizing tool and an effective alternative housing model. We’ll engage with how co-ops can foster an ecosystem that meets the needs of large student housing co-ops, start up co-ops, and everyone in between. How do we share the value that living cooperatively can offer to those who need it? We know that being plugged into community in the home is a profound solution to housing instability and creating connectedness. Let’s strategize with each other to grow our movement and increase the resources we can all share.

Every year at Institute, co-opers are connected to each other across houses, state, and country lines. This year, we’ll explore how networks can support our co-op ecosystem and the systematic opportunities we can advocate for to foster thriving cooperative communities.

NOW IS THE TIME! JOIN THE GREENS!

END ENDLESS WARS!

The federal government has become a permanent warfare state. It has been at constant war since 2001, and almost as constantly since the Korean War. It currently maintains over 730 military bases worldwide. Current U.S. military spending is greater than that of the next 9 highest national military budgets combined.  

Yet as costly as it is to us, the corporate interests that dominate government today find it immensely profitable. Fed by our own tax dollars, supported by Democrats and Republicans alike, the military industrial complex has become a mainstay of our economy. In addition, the interests of multinational corporations generally have driven our government to seek to dominate other nations, in order to control their resources and markets, and provide investment opportunities where labor costs, taxes, and/or regulations are kept low.  

The Green Party opposes aggressive war and intervention as a matter of central principle. We oppose the continuing occupation of Afghanistan, the drone strikes, other military attacks on other nations unconstitutionally ordered by the president without congressional authority, and any military intervention and war excepting for legitimate self-defense to repel an attack. We call for a redefinition of “national security” as a definition based on providing for the economic security and well-being of the people of the nation, rather than the ability to militarily dominate any other nation around the globe.  

While it is true that the military-industrial complex does employ many civilians, studies have shown that expending the same tax dollars on clean energy, health care, education, and other social needs would create far more employment. Thus the military-industrial complex does not promote national security but detracts from it. Principled opposition to war is necessary, but not sufficient.  

It is not enough to be “anti-war”, we must be pro-peace. It is not enough to protest against war. We must understand and eliminate the structural and economic causes of war. Here again, the immediate struggle against militarism and war must be linked to the larger struggle against corporate domination of our economy, government, and media. If we do not fight the corporatist agenda, if we do not dismantle the military-industrial complex, if we do not put an end to corporate domination of our government, we will be doomed to continuing periodic protests against continuing periodic wars. Accordingly, while waging the larger fight against corporate domination, the Green Party and its candidates for federal office are committed to the struggle, not only against war but against militarism.

#GreenEnter

Green Party Releases Its Progressive Agenda Ahead of Hochul’s State of the State 

1/9/24 - The Green Party of New York said that Governor Hochul’s State of the State failed to lay out the bold action needed to deal with the multiple crisis facing New York. “The Governor remains more committed to protecting her campaign donors rather than making the investments needed to lift up the average New Yorkers, many of whom continue to face significant economic challenges following the COVID epidemic. Threats to democracy and to the well-being of the average New Yorkers remains a bipartisan effort,” said Peter LaVenia, co-chair of the Green Party.

The Greens released its progressive agenda for 2024, including ballot access reform to restore third party political rights, enacting Ranked Choice Voting and proportional representation, passing single-payer universal healthcare, and needed housing reforms including rent control, constructing a million units of publicly owned social housing, and good-cause eviction. The party argued for immediate action on climate change, and said that taxing the rich, including stopping the rebate of the Stock Transfer Tax, would help pay for needed reforms and social program expansion including reinvestment in impacted communities.

While the Party was encouraged that the Governor is proposing at least part of the NY Heat Act to curtail the promotion of and subsidies for fossil fuels, they criticized the Hochul administration for failing to meet the deadlines laid out in the state's new climate law on how it plans to meet its relatively weak goals to reduce global emissions. According to a recent report by Dr. James Hansen, the world will have already passed the target of 1.5 degrees C warming before NY even adopts its legally required plan on how to reduce emissions. “No wonder the UN has said that governments' slow climate action has opened up the Gates of Hell. And delaying Hochul’s weak carbon pricing plan just allows more fuel to be thrown into the fire,” noted Mark Dunlea of the EcoAction Committee of the U.S. Green Party.

Hochul did lay out a number of small but important climate steps, but fell far short of treating the situation as a climate emergency. Noticeably absent was any mention the Hochul intended to have NYPA launched a major expansion of publicly owned renewable energy as authorized in last year’s budget, nor was there any mention of public ownership of the transmission grid. While Hochul has indicated that $3 billion a year will be raised by how delayed cap-and-trade program, her speech fell far short on outlining a plan to begin investing the $10 to $20 billion of annual funding needed for a rapid transition to clean energy. She did announce support for making polluters to pay for the damages they have caused, such as enacting the Climate Superfund Act. The Party wished that her Solar for All was actually for all residents. It also supports far greater funding for environmental justice and Just Transition programs.

“The climate emergency is at a crucial point. We must solve the climate crisis so that our children have a chance for a decent future. The Green New Deal, which we first called for in Howie Hawkins’ 2010 gubernatorial race, will also meet the economic needs of our state’s residents. Single payer health care would reduce overall healthcare spending while ensuring that everyone’s health care needs, including COVID, are met,” added Dunlea. 

In addition to funding Green New Deal initiatives, the Greens call for an ecosocialist Green New Deal to move rapidly towards a renewable energy economy. The party said it strongly opposes Gov. Hochul’s cap-and-trade solution and that the CLCPA was an example of the Democrat’s tepid response to the worsening climate catastrophe. They called for major subsidies to enact rapid decarbonization of all buildings in the state including heat pumps, geothermal, and energy conservation. Greens called for a rapid expansion of funds for mass transit and that all new vehicles should be electric by 2030.  The Greens want a target date of zero emissions as soon as possible (2030), rather than the 30-year goal under the state law, which would still allow emissions to be 15% of 1990 levels. The Greens back an immediate halt to all new fossil fuel infrastructure, increased public ownership and democratic control of the energy system and a robust carbon tax in all sectors to make polluters pay for the damages they cause with fossil fuels.

The Greens said that New York State must become a gold standard for electoral reform. They mentioned that New York is an outlier in recent years, as most states have loosened ballot access laws rather than restricting them. Reform of ballot access laws would give New Yorkers more choices and help combat the widespread and continual corruption in state government from both the Democrats and Republicans.

“Democracy continues to be in a fragile condition in New York and nationwide, with both parties engaged in corruption and suppression of democratic rights. Cuomo used the cover of COVID to kill independent small parties in the state budget. We demand the so-called progressive Democrats with a Legislative supermajority who told us they opposed what was happening to have the courage to stand up and do what is right for New Yorkers. That includes raising the taxes on billionaires and other rich New Yorkers to close the massive budget deficit from COVID,” said  Gloria Mattera, state party co-chair.

“Governor Hochul’s attempt to legalize Accessory Dwelling Units and force municipalities to build housing hit a roadblock last year because it was dependent on private property interests doing so. As a party we agree that housing reform is absolutely necessary, but the only way to get there is through public investment and ownership of housing. We need a committed program of public social housing that provides a million units for working-class and middle-class families across the state. Additionally, we need to pass strong tenant protection like rent control, good-cause eviction, and legalizing Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) to shift away from the bankrupt suburban, single-family home model,” added Mattera.

The Greens have also been long-term proponents of stopping the multi-billion dollar annual rebate of the Stock Transfer Tax. “It is long past time we make the rich pay their fair share of taxes, instead of making New York the long-time leader in economic inequality. We won’t solve the climate crisis or systemic racism or a host of other social problems until we embrace ecosocialism, putting the needs of average people and the planet ahead of the profits and well-being of a few,” said Peter LaVenia, state party co-chair.

Wondering if there are any projects movements or orgs that have specifically tried to provide employment to unhoused people that may suffer from mental health issues or drug addictions.

I'm making a lot of assumptions here but it seems like some of the solidarity economy principles could be helpful for providing people with less exploitative, rigid work. Work doesn't necessarily have to revolve around strict guidelines, or scheduling and people can be paid proportionally for their time based on the earnings of the enterprise.

I'm thinking work that is mostly automated but still may require some human input. One would need some capital or means of production but if there is benefit to the unhoused maybe it could be subsidized.