If Major Parties Irritate You...

...stop and remember; it could be worse.

The Green Party has released its Vision for Saint Paul.

It's a five twenty year plan:

The Green Party's Vision for StPaul 2005-2025

Preamble

Imagine a city that is a model for the rest of the world in sustainable,
environmentally friendly living.

You mean like Portland?

A city that works not toward growth and sprawl at any cost but toward mutual support and quality of life for all its citizens.

Do you suppose the "vision" will include an idea of what they mean by "quality of life?"

A city where all children have access to superb free public education that teaches not only the basic skills needed for living but gives them
the incentive and confidence to become active, informed citizens of a democracy -- and of a peaceful global community.

Ah. We've been here before.

Two years ago, the Greens endorsed Richard Broderick for the St. Paul school board. In his announcement, he made the Greens' vision for education perfectly clear:

In order for our society to adopt these values -- as it must, if we are to survive on this planet -- we need to nurture the instinctively Green consciousness of our young people through the comprehensive application of these principles to curriculum, instruction, administration, and district-wide decision-making processes

In other words, the Greens see it as an imperative to use schools to indoctrinate children in Green philosophy.

Look - there are parts of the Green party I don't find obnoxious; their encouragement of participation in democracy is a laudable one, conceptually. But it's interesting that one of the few parts of their "vision" that isn't purely pie-in-the-sky is so corrosively totalitarian.

Imagine a city in which workers have the right to a living wage and where there is affordable housing and health care for all.

A city of thriving neighborhoods, community-based small businesses and co-ops, and an economy weaning itself from dependence on fossil fuel. A city where buildings are lighted, heated, and cooled with renewable energy.

And that renewable energy is...what?

A city where there is clean, low-fare mass transit night and day and
where air and water pollution are things of the past.
Imagine a city with a transparent and responsive government free of the
corrupting influence of big money,

Yeah, McCain-Feingold handled that so well...

with well-kept parks, scenic vistas,
and streets free from violence and fear.

And this magical removal of fear comes from...what?

"Well-kept parks" are easy - either through government action or volunteerism, it's not a problem. Vistas are not a government project (hopefully). But this "freedom from violence and fear"...huh?

Since Greens are broadly anti-"Law and order", and nearly to a person opposed the Minnesota Personal Protection Act, one wonders whose fear they oppose.

Let's skip way ahead:

...In the following pages we have outlined the main elements in realizing our vision. Those elements are based on the Green Party's four core values of Social and Economic Justice, Grassroots Democracy, Ecological Wisdom, and Nonviolence, localized to the unique character of our own home community. The main requirement is recognition that each step is not only the right thing to do but also practical and realistic, and that the long-term benefits are genuinely possible. We invite all citizens of St. Paul, no matter what their political affiliation, to join us in shaping this dream and suggesting the specific steps needed to make it come true by the year
2025.

And those steps are...:

Elements of the Vision:
Jobs and economic development
Education
Health Care
Taxation
Land use
Transportation
Housing
Energy
Environment
Local Government
Public Safety
Public Services
Cultural institutions and historic preservation

These elements are woven together like the threads of a tapestry, and they
cannot be separated.

Read: NO COMPROMISE! OUR WAY OR BUST!

Each rests on the others, just as the well-being of
each one of us rests on the health of family, neighborhood, town, state,
and the earth itself. St. Paul has already made some strides toward a
Green future. Its comprehensive plan calls for careful land use,
neighborhoods that are "urban villages," restoration of a healthy
Mississippi River, and expanded public transportation. Its District Energy
system has led the region in efficiently conserving resources and in
reducing pollution that leads to global warming. These all point in the
direction of our Green vision, but the existing plan assumes constant
growth. In a world of diminishing natural wealth and imminent depletion of
fossil fuels, perpetual growth is impossible. New visions and plans must
address the need for sustainability within limits, and thus for broader
community action, for equitable distribution of society's benefits, and
for fair sharing of burdens. We recognize that some measures included in
our vision will require not only action by the city but cooperation from
the state and nation and from Ramsey County.

The twelve steps, we're told, are on the way.

You might ask "why should we care?" And you'd be right to ask.

But the Greens hold a disproportionate amount of power in the Twin Cities; Metro-area DFLers who think the Democrats have gotten too conservative gave Ralph Nader some of his best results in 2000, and have put Greens on the Minneapolis City Council.

We'll go over many of the "12 steps" as they come out.

Posted by Mitch at July 12, 2005 08:55 AM | TrackBack