| On December 18, 2011, Gary Swing wrote: |
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2011
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Campaign Speech At Green Spaces (Oct. 22, 2010)Campaign Speech
October 22, 2010
Green Spaces, Denver
I would like to thank the Colorado Greens for supporting me as a Green Party candidate in the auction for Congress.
The United States doesn’t have real elections. Public offices are auctioned off to the highest bidder. Campaign financing corrupts the political process. Without campaign spending caps or public campaign financing, establishment candidates are essentially bought and paid for by corporate lobbyists. We need a fair system of public campaign financing that is not designed by Democrats to shut out minor party and independent candidates.
The corporate media only covers establishment candidates who represent their narrow agenda. They systematically ignore, exclude and marginalize dissidents who advocate genuine reform. The corporate media treats elections like horse races. They focus on distractions instead of real issues. Fake debates corrupt the political process, shutting out candidates who challenge the political establishment. Legitimate elections require fair media access and public forums that are open to all qualified candidates.
Vote fraud corrupted the presidential elections in 2000 and 2004, enabling George W. Bush to occupy the White House for eight years even though he was never elected president.
The winner-take-all voting system shuts out candidates who don’t represent the status quo. We need proportional representation to create legitimate legislative elections. Proportional voting systems enable political parties to win seats in legislative bodies in proportion to their share of the vote. Proportional representation allows most voters to elect representatives of their choice and makes every vote count.
The office of the president has become a military dictatorship, regardless of who holds the office. We must end the imperial presidency and decentralize political power.
Democratic elections are only meaningful when voters are well informed. However, in our country, voters are indoctrinated to believe nonsense. It’s like George Orwell’s novel, "1984" where “war is peace;” “freedom is slavery;” and “ignorance is strength.” Voters need a sense of reality to make intelligent, rational decisions about public policy.
The United States is not the leader of the free world. The United States has built the most extensive empire in history. Democrats and Republicans are partners in genocide, fascism and political corruption. The US has committed war crimes against the people of more than 70 nations since the end of World War Two, murdering millions of people in the process of securing global economic imperialism. The US government’s crimes against humanity are always sold to the public on a foundation of lies.
The American Holocaust against the people of Afghanistan dates back to at least July of 1979, when war criminal Jimmy Carter authorized the CIA to arm and finance mercenary terrorists to overthrow the progressive government of Afghanistan. More than one million Afghan people were killed in the Soviet-Afghan War that the CIA started. The US government installed the Taliban in power and financed their regime until 2001.
American war crimes against the people of Iraq date back to at least 1963, when a CIA-backed coup overthrew the government of Iraq to prevent the nationalization of their oil. The US armed and supported Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship until 1989.
9/11 was a false flag operation carried out by the Bush Administration to create a false justification for their plans to conquer Afghanistan and Iraq, to develop new military technologies, and to destroy civil liberties at home. The political establishment has used the controlled demolition of the World Trade Center to stir up a fanatical bloodlust among the American people.
I oppose American imperialism. We must end all foreign wars NOW and restrict the US military to non-offensive defense of US territory. US foreign policy should focus strictly on humanitarian aid, respect for human rights, fair trade, and support for environmental sustainability.
On October 30th, there will be a so-called “Rally to Restore Sanity” in Denver’s City Park. What does it mean to restore sanity? When was sanity ever an American political value? Sane people don't build and maintain an arsenal of nuclear weapons capable of exterminating all life on Earth. Sane people don't pollute their environment to the point that they alter the planet's climate and cause the mass extinction of other species. Sane people don't sponsor dictatorships and death squads in the name of democracy. Sane people don't vote for genocidal sociopaths like Barack Obama, Michael Bennett and Diana DeGette. Sane people don't believe ridiculous fairy tales about Muslim terrorists who “hate our freedom.” Sane people deal with reality and focus on what's important rather than pursuing a narrow agenda of cultural warfare.
Tom Tancredo is the only minor party candidate who has received significant media attention in Colorado this year. Tancredo is running for governor on an agenda of anti-immigrant bigotry. If he gets more than 10% of the vote, the American Constitution Party will qualify as a major party. Despite its name, the Constitution Party advocates theocratic government based upon biblical law. We already have two fascist major parties in Colorado. We don’t need a third.
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; globalist economic 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. Permanent border passes should be granted to citizens of Mexico and Canada. It should be easy to get 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 6.8 billion now. About one billion people around the world suffer from chronic malnutrition. More than one billion people lack access to safe drinking water. The World Wildlife Foundation’s “Living Planet Report, 2008” estimated that human ecological impact exceeds the Earth’s carrying capacity by 25%. About 5% of the world’s population lives in the United States, but the US accounts for 25% of global consumption and carbon dioxide emissions. If the average human 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.
The Democratic Party has enacted health insurance policies based on corporate profits rather than public health. I support real health care reform through the creation of a single payer Medicare for All health insurance system that is not tied to employment. I support full public funding for family planning programs and public education about the overpopulation crisis.
I encourage you to not vote for any major party candidates for any office. The Democrats and Republicans represent a political culture of death and destruction. They represent illegal wars without end, environmental devastation, corporate greed, and contempt for human rights. A vote for a Democrat or a Republican is a vote to deny reality and bury your head in the tar sands.
Help grow the Green Party as a voice for genuine reform. Let’s work together to create an environmentally sustainable future based on social justice and respect for human rights, a future that values people over profits.
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