Ask Green Party Presidential Candidate David Cobb 919
Today you have the opportunity to ask questions of the
Green Party's candidate for President of the United States,
David Cobb. Standard interview rules apply: we'll select a dozen or so of the best questions and Mr. Cobb will give us his answers next week.
Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:3, Interesting)
In this world of political campaigning via direct attacks and dancing around the real issues, I am curious to know how you and your party have reacted to these attacks.
Additionally, what is your party and personal stance towards using the very methods I'm mentioning as return fodder for the 2 large parties?
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:4, Interesting)
If that's his opinion, then he's not running to win, in which case, he's not a real candidate at all, and just using the pretense of "running for president" to stand on a slightly taller soapbox while speaking about his ideas.
He has that right, but I see no reason at all why I should pay any more attention to this guy than any other spokesman of progressive/liberal issues.
When Ross Perot ran for president, he was running for president. He was actually gaining enough ground to look like he had a real shot at it, too, until he let a little too much "crazy talk" enter into his rhetoric.
When Jesse Ventura ran for governor of Minnesota, he ran to win, and did so.
These are examples of real third-party candidates. They actually wanted to hold the offices they were seeking.
Anybody who says "don't vote for me" to the people of certain states is not a real candidate, and so I'm not even going to bother to submit a question, because I have no plans to read his answers when they are published in a few days.
He's not running for president. He's pretending to run for the sake of the attention. I say, let's not give it to him.
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:4, Insightful)
Perhaps he feels, like many of us, that Bush is the worst president in a very long time, and has to go. Kerry, for all of his flaws, can't help but do a better job.
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Insightful)
What they need to do is build up. Get some mayors and aldermen. Work from there for state legislature. Then with that fame run a governor and some representatives, maybe a senator. Shooting at the presidency right now is a waste of time, money, and effort.
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:4, Insightful)
When the votes start getting tallied up, and 3rd parties or independants are getting 30, 40, 50+ percent of the vote, that sends a LOUD AND CLEAR message.
The message, is this: "You are president by purely a game of numbers, the majority of the citizens are sick of your policies and want change."
3rd party votes count, they've always counted. They scared the 2 major parties so much that they've twisted and warped the system to include 3rd parties as much as possible. Why? They're scared of them.
There've been plenty of 3rd party/independant congressmen, senators and governors. But when presidential elections come around, all of a sudden people tell you 3rd party votes are wasted?
Bah. The lesser of two evils still sucks. If you vote for Kerry, you send the message that you approve of Kerry and his positions, regardless of the fact that you merely voted because you don't like Bush.
Whore your vote out if you want, I vote for who I want to see run the country, not for who I don't.
I'm tired of "which of these two is less of an asshole" elections.
Kerry won't change anything Bush has done, and you're a fool to think he will. Reps and Dems are the same for all intents and purposes.
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Insightful)
"Reps and Dems are the same for all intents and purposes."
I think the last election proved once and for all just exactly how misguided and wrong this sentiment is. There is a profound difference between Bush and Kerry, if you can't see it then you are blind.
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Insightful)
I'll vote Third Party (Michael Badnarik of the Libertarian Party), because I do give a shit about who will run this country. As Mr. Badnarik said when he answered
The difference between these two influence peddling career politicians is not significant enough for many of us to distinguish between them. If you can't see that, then you are the blind one.
I'll agree that Kerry is the lesser of two evils, mostly due to the fact that a Republican Congress will oppose many of his ideas, but as Mr. Badnarik pointed out: if you vote for the lesser of two evils, you're still voting for evil.
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Insightful)
Similarly, these are also invalid arguments: some americans murder, therefore americans are murderers. Or, some american soldiers torture prisoners, therefore all americans are torturers of prisoners. Some Republicans are reactionary flat-earthers, therefore all Republicans are reactionary flat-earthers. Some Republicans are not like Democrats, therefore no Republicans are like Democrats, or Republicans are not like Democrats. These of course are not valid arguements.
I think what is meant is that for the most part, is that most party members of either party do similar things political things, and hold similar political stances.
As for there being a difference between Kerry and Bush, I agree. But if Bush happened to be a conservative Democrat, and Kerry a liberal republican, how much would this change?
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Insightful)
You are very misguided.
"Democracy is the worst form of government, apart from all the rest" - can't remember who said it
The power of democracy is not in voting people in, its in voting people out. Given enough time even the most honest man will be corrupted by power or screwup in some other way. Then its time to vote in the people that have learnt from the previous governments mistake.
It doesn't really matter exactly who gets in power and when, all that matters is that we keep changing our government regularly, pushing politicians to work for their people whatever party they ascribe to.
Democracy is as much of a negative process as a positive one.
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Insightful)
For that matter, how do you respond to donations from Republicans :)
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:4, Interesting)
I'd consider that if it didn't mean I have to vote for Dubya. As it stands, my personal fiscally conservative, socially liberal, world-aware agenda fits much better with Kerry than with Dubya. Perhaps if the Republicans put forth a candidate that was less of a radical on the international front, wasn't trying to write discrimination into the constitution, was making an effort to keep the deficit under control AND made every right to uphold civil liberties at home, they could attract a lot of folks like me. As it stands, however, I'm voting for Kerry, mostly because as a different person, he can put in a different administration,and start cleaning up the mess left by this one. If that makes me a Democrat, I'll be one for this election. After that, we'll see.
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Insightful)
Would you favor a voting system that makes it easy for a new party to spring up?
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:3, Interesting)
Could we alter the political party landscape (which, IIRC, has no mention in the Constitution) towards a parliamentary-style arrangement (repeat: darn little of the apparatus currently used actually exists within the Constitution).
What would we require for such, and what, besides consciousness and intellect, would be required of the electorate to implement substantial change?
Re:Proportional Representation (Score:4, Informative)
Were every state government to do a parliamentary-esque division of their electors to each party by % of popular vote, the electoral college system could remain in place, and you'd ahve viable third party candidates. In fact, they'd have the power to give their votes to one major party or the other if there was no clear majority. Which would put the selection of president even farther away from the popular vote, and even more contingent on the decisions of select party leadership, but eh, whatcha gonna do?
What the electoral college does do is allow for the possibility of a president who didn't win the popular vote, weigh the election in favor of the eastern seaboard's tiny states, and gaurantee that candidates have to campaign in every state, rather than focusing (as much) on the major population centers.
Badnarik, the libertarian candidate, supports the electoral college system (look up his recent
Nader backlash? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Your vote is Dubya's Vote? (Score:5, Informative)
He supports instant runoff voting [votecobb.org]. I prefer approval voting [wikipedia.org] myself, since it's a bit simpler, but almost anything would be better than plurality voting [sciencenews.org].
-jim
Are you serious? (Score:5, Interesting)
Mr. Cobb. Given that you're on record saying you won't even vote for yourself if your state is close, how can anyone possibly take you seriously as a candidate for President? Given that it seems you won the nomination over Nader by taking this position, how can your party be seen as anything but an astroturf campaign for the Democrats?
Obvious answer (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Obvious answer (Score:3, Insightful)
Bullshit. Did you forget or purposely omit Michael Badnarik [badnarik.org]? Badnarik will be on 49 state ballots. Can Cobb say that? No!
Cut it out with the 'obvious' crap and trying to mislead people.
The Nature of Grassroots (Score:5, Interesting)
Thank you for taking our questions.
The first of the ten key values of the Green Party is "Grssroots Democracy". Over the past few years, the American Green Party has made significant steps forward, but (as best I can tell) is still growing at a local level. While I understand the appeal of national coverage, is running a presidential campaign really in the spirit or the best interests of the party? Wouldn't those funds be more effective in campaigning for more local offices, or launching a statewide candidate in an area where the Greens have a solid foothold? Isn't that how grassroots is supposed to work--from the bottom up and not from the top down?
Next one... (Score:4, Funny)
What's your strategy (Score:4, Interesting)
Mainstream Perception (Score:5, Interesting)
What do you think might be the best approach to educate the masses about the rest of Green Party polices?
Re:Mainstream Perception (Score:3, Insightful)
Whta kind of political party would have a "policy" on same sex marriage, beyond saying that it's none of their business?
Let's ask about their policy on oral sex next.
Re:Mainstream Perception (Score:3)
If you think that marriage should be none of the governments business, are you saying that it shouldn't be a government sanctioned activity? Good l
Switching (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Switching (Score:3, Funny)
A "true" third party (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A "true" third party (Score:5, Insightful)
I very humbly think that the Iraq issue should be the starting point for the green party to finally become a strong, third US party. Your party was clearly opposed to the US/British invasion on Irak, while the Democrats were somehow shy in their criticism before the military actions started, and explicitly supported the so-called war afterwards. Shouldn't you be making it more clear that the two big parties are essentially the same, and that you represent a fundamentally different, actually progressive perspective ? Are you doing it ? What are your thoughts in this regard ?
Re:A "true" third party (Score:4, Interesting)
Take your statement. Switch the sides. You have exactly what some other of my friends believe.
You have been taken in the professional wrestling match that the media has presented. They are both 99.99% the same. They also would ALWAYS have you believe "now is the not the time to experiment" because they would prefer to POSSIBLY lose to the other party than DEFINITELY lose to a third.
Make your vote count! Vote Independent. Green, Libertarian, Freedom, WHATEVER!
Vote for real change.
What's your ultimate goal? (Score:5, Interesting)
Bottom line, do you ever think that you can truly win political office in the United States, now or in the future?
Affirmative Action (Score:5, Interesting)
Nader (Score:5, Interesting)
Presidential versus other elections (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it a PR thing? If you look at the Greens in Germany (granted, very different system) you see that they rose slowly over time from the smallest contests to eventually having Cabinet positions.
What is the American Green Party's overall strategy to increase their representation, and how does an unwinnable Presidential election fit into it?
Taxes (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Taxes (Score:3, Interesting)
Thus, a (comparatively well-to-do) American making $75,000 a year would probably be expected to pay a fairly hefty tax rate, say 30-35%. It'd keep you from buying a lot of nifty toys, and you'll probably need to settle on a humbler house than you'd otherwise want, but it's not really not that hard a price to pay.
Re:Taxes (Score:4, Insightful)
The states, 14% source [mecep.org]
So, I don't know that your taxes would be that much higher
Re:Taxes (Score:4, Interesting)
Bah, I wanted to moderate rather than post in this thread, but you've baited me into it. If you think an average American makes $75,000 a year, you are completely out of touch. The median household income for the US was $43,318 [census.gov] last year. Per capita income was 35,000, but that counts children, so isn't really applicable.
Also, it's rather naive to talk about "tax percentages" as if there were only one tax out there and it affected everyone equally. Most people pay a variety of state and local taxes along with federal income tax (progressively graduated) and federal payroll taxes (slightly regressive because of how it's capped). Tax reform is a complex subject, and it can't be reduced to "what do you think the rate should be." If you're interested, you should have a look at a very good overview [proaxis.com] of the different possibilities and their consequences.
Re:Taxes (Score:3, Insightful)
Given that it is a Slashdot audience that will read the answers, bias is appropriate. Although we might try to convince people otherwise, our natural reaction to any kind of change is to seek what impact it will have on us personally. Will we be better or worse off, and by how much? Actually caring about others usually takes place after we've assessed the potential damage to ourselves.
Voting Rights for Noncitizens? (Score:5, Interesting)
Thank you for your time. Recently in San Francisco, Matt Gonzalez, a popular local Green Party politico, has been pushing for the ability for noncitizens to vote in some of the local elections. While there are other places that offer this long before SF, it seems as though this erodes the differences between having citizenship or not. Rather than expanding the franchise this way, why not work to streamline the process for getting citizenship and encourage people to seek it?
Can you expound and explain a bit on your stance on this?
Meta-game strategy (Score:5, Interesting)
what is a President's role with the environment? (Score:5, Interesting)
As President, you would at best be able to veto bills and direct some agency policies (within the confines of legislation).
Why are you seeking the presidency, particularly? Why is it the best strategy for achieving your goals?
National debt? (Score:3, Interesting)
What in your view is the proper scope and size of the federal government?
Do you think environental issues are best solved at the federal, or local (state county etc) level?
DOH! (Score:5, Interesting)
Mr Cobb,
What is your view of our national debt versus
current entitlement programs? How would you
balance the federal budget and would you support
paying off the national debt?
What in your view is the proper scope and size of the federal government?
Do you think environental issues are best solved at the federal, or local (state county etc) level?
Voting Machines (Score:3, Interesting)
Reparations (Score:5, Interesting)
Where would this money come from, if this plan was enacted and how would the recipients be determined? If the money would come from tax dollars, what do you say to people, such as myself, whose ancestors had no part in slavery or major racial discrimination and don't think their tax dollars should be spent on these reparations?
Re:Reparations (Score:5, Insightful)
Yes, I beleive we should acknowledge that slavery was wrong and appologize for it. But the whole concept of reparations is flawed on two fundamental issues: who should receive reparations, and who should pay?. Ancestry is nearly impossible to trace; should someone whose great-great-great grandparent was a slave receive 1/32 of a reparation payment? Not all blacks are descended from slaves. A few blacks were even slave owners! This issue is simply not as black-and-white as everybody seems to think...
Re:Reparations (Score:3, Insightful)
Over 360,000 Union soldiers died during the Civil War, largely to put an end to slavery. How much more can possibly be said?
Re:Reparations (Score:5, Insightful)
Well, how 'bout the bit about the War between the States not being even remotely related to slavery? You know, that whole thing about it being a federal gov't vs. states' rights thing, and Lincoln using the elimination of slavery as a tool to win that war.
I was raised in the North, and didn't fully grasp the lies I was taught as a child in school until I read a letter in Lincoln's own hand spelling out his feelings on the slavery issue (the letter I read is currently part of the collection at the Wadsworth Atheneum in Hartford, CT). I don't mean to imply that I'm in favour of reparations--I'm not, doubly-so since my ancestors weren't even in this country during the time period in question. I do think it's important to do things for the right reasons, though.
Copyright and Digital Law (Score:5, Interesting)
Also, on the concept of intellectual property and copyright laws. What are your party's and your feelings on the current trend of extending the length of copyright terms? Do you have any plans to reverse the current trend or perhaps to set the lengths back to their original terms?
Thanks.
---Nick Fury
Drug Reform (Score:5, Interesting)
Furthermore, How will you deal with our budget deficit and reform the GOP's relentless tax cuts and the Democratic Party's exorbanent spending?
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Simple question (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Simple question (Score:4, Interesting)
Do you really think nuke plants could get built without government subsidy? No one has ever really tried to convince me, but maybe it's possible.
In the event you win, what about congress? (Score:3, Insightful)
Viable Third-parties (Score:5, Interesting)
What do you believe is necessary for your party or any other to become a viable third party in American elections? Even though George Washington warned against having a partisan political system in his farewell speech, America seems to have developed a two-party system that forces third-parties out of the political process.
Also, what do you think of the Democratic and Republican parties shift away from what's good for America toward what is good for their respective parties and the businesses / people that support them while leaving the majority of Americans out?
Corporate News (Score:5, Interesting)
Thanks!
All politics is local (Score:5, Insightful)
What is this desire to aim directly for the Whitehouse? Why not pool resources and fight the local battles? By aiming for the presidency (and ignoring the local politics), you are setting yourselves up for a fall. We all know that in a 2-party system, rigged the way it is, your chances of winning the Whitehouse are somewhere between 0.00 and 0.000. Then why waste the resources on this race?
How many members of Congress do you have? How many locally elected officials does the Green Party have? How many judicial appointees do you have? See the pattern here?
Maybe this isn't a question as much as a rant, but if you feel like, please answer why you are wasting the time and effort on a run for the Whitehouse, when the same resources, applied at local levels, would yield immensely more benefit.
The Constitution & The Green Party (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:The Constitution & The Green Party (Score:3, Informative)
In fact, its my view of freedom.
What is the best way to move America leftwards? (Score:5, Interesting)
The more visible component of this propaganda machine are the talk radio shows and the cable tv news shows. But they sprang from, and still largely depend on, fodder from the think tanks and foundations.
Many on the American Left now accept that unless this inexorable flood of rightwnig propaganda is somehow countered or neutralized, electoral politicking (e.g., fighting to elect Kerry, or voting 3rd party) is somewhat moot, because this decades-old flood of propaganda has also moved the Democratic party to the right much the same as the GOP. Also, the undemocratic structure of the electoral political machine in America (single member, winner take all districts, etc) would seem to disempower 3rd parties except for a spoiler role.
Given the situation outlined above, what good does it do to engage in 3rd party electoral politics?
And more to the point, what can American leftists do to move America to the left, given the power that 3 decades of rightwing propaganda has had on the American political mind?
Would it be more productive trying to land a talk radio gig somewhere?
here goes again (Score:5, Insightful)
Would you approve of, and what would you think would be the results of, the following election reforms:
1. Abolition of electoral college, president is elected by simple popular vote.
2. Federal mandate that electoral votes from a state be split proportional to the popular vote within that state. (e.g. if California splits 60-40 Kerry-Bush, then their electoral votes are split 60-40 as well). This helps move away from the very brittle "all or nothing" electoral system, where as few as 1 fraudulent or defrauded vote can change the outcome of the national election for president.
3. Constitutional amendment granting naturalised citizens the eligibility to run for president or vice president. This would allow for the 2008 ticket for the new political party, C.O.P. (Cast Of Predator) to field Arnold Schwartzeneggar and Jesse Venutra as their presidential ticket.
Lastly a question: is the democratic system as instituted in the United States hopelessly mired in a two-party stranglehold, leaving corporate interest in defacto charge of the discussion? Is legal election reform necessary, or even possible?
Re:here goes again (Score:3, Insightful)
Abolition of electoral college, president is elected by simple popular vote.
As a practical matter, not even worth discussion as a Constitutional ammendment to this effect will never happen. There is no way that the small states for whom the EC gives more voting power would vote for this, hence this ammendment will never be ratified. Nevermind the discussion on whether or
Want my vote? (Score:3, Funny)
Will make it a more difficult target for terrorists too. Camoflague!
Party Image (Score:3, Insightful)
However, the name "Green Party" invokes in many people images of socialism and even ecoterrorism. The ecological movement has been painted as an anti-worker and even anti-American concept by people who believe that conservation and the reduction of pollution should be voluntary undertakings. I know that's not what the party is about, but that's doesn't stop older voters like my father from equating the movement with, for lack of a better term, neo-hippism.
How does the party plan to improve its public image and distance itself from more radical anti-corporate, anti-ecological groups? And how do you intend to endear your humanistic social goals to the institutions that currently fund the political system, namely rich individuals and corporations?
Gun Control. (Score:4, Interesting)
What exactly does that mean? Registration? Licensing? Confiscation?
racism (Score:3, Interesting)
Can we take you seriously? (Score:5, Interesting)
My question is: are you guys ready or able to play on the same stage as the Democrats and Republicans, can you get the attention of the media, and can you sell your message to the average american? Convince me that voting for you would be of more use than voting for the lesser of two evils.
Public financing for elections (Score:5, Insightful)
The Bible (Score:4, Insightful)
A green global policy? (Score:4, Interesting)
Nuclear Power (Score:5, Insightful)
Thank you for taking our questions, Mr. Cobb.
Your party's issue statement on nuclear power [gp.org] calls for "the early retirement of nuclear power reactors as soon as possible." Could you please explain your party's position on nuclear energy (1) in light of new [wikipedia.org], safe reactor designs and (2) in light of the necessity of the United States to wean its dependence on foreign oil?
Thank you.
Is the Green Party a tool of the Democratic Party? (Score:3, Insightful)
the Green Party and your candidacy in particular has been accused of being dominated by Democratic Party insiders who seek to undermine Nader's campaign using un-democratic methods.
A well-researched example [counterpunch.org] of this is Marnie Glickman, one of the three members of the Green Party's National Co-ordinating Committee, who has a history as a committed and succesful (over $10 million) Democratic Party fundraiser.
The article referenced above concludes:
Given that your campaign would appear to have a number of recent "ex Democratic Party" activists and that your campaign seems mainly to have served to attack Nader's candidacy do you feel that you've been played for a patsy by more experienced politicos?
* PGP = Pacific Green Party
Give me a pragmatic reason to vote for you. (Score:5, Interesting)
I am what is usually described in the United States as a 'liberal' or 'progressive'. As such, I share most, if not almost all of your party's ideals and goals.
Nevertheless, neither I nor anyone I know who shares my political views plan to vote for you in November. While your positions on the issues may match my own more closely than any other candidate, I believe I have a better chance of seeing at least some of my positions enacted as public policy if I vote for John Kerry.
With all due respect, Mr. Cobb, you are not going to win the election this year. To a certainty, the winner will be either John Kerry or George Bush. If George Bush is the winner, then he will continue to govern according to his extreme right-wing beliefs. Most, if not all progressive causes that you and I support will suffer significant setbacks. As President Bush will most likely be able to nominate one or more Supreme Court judges during a second term, those setbacks would long outlive his administration.
If, on the other hand, John Kerry is elected, he will govern according to the political preferences of the Democratic party. While Kerry and the Democrats are, in general, quite a bit more conservative than I am, the simple fact is that the progressive causes I support would fare far better under Kerry than they would under Bush. I am sure that a President Kerry would do things that I strongly disagree with, but I am also sure that his goals and mine are not fundamentally incompatible. In short, I am certain that I can live with Kerry, just as I am certain that I cannot live with George Bush.
According to the polls, this election is going to be extremely close. If John Kerry is to win, he needs every vote he can get. I do not have the luxury of knowing that whoever ultimately wins the election will be at least somethat acceptable to me. Bush must be defeated or the ideals I stand for will be in serious jeopardy.
Thus, my question to you is: How is voting for you, as opposed to Kerry, make it more likely that the ideals I support will be reflected in public policy? Is there a *pragmatic* reason why I and other progressives should vote for you?
Health Care (Score:3, Interesting)
as drug treatment, dental care, medication for chronic and terminal illness, equal coverage of
mental illness, and abortion."
Does this mean that you would make it illegal for a person to pay for medical care themselves? If not, how do you plan on inforcing the 'single-payer' portion of your plan?
What about wages in the medical field? Would you limit how much hourly workers like nurses are paid?
Home Schoo; / Private School? (Score:3, Interesting)
Clean Campaign (Score:3, Insightful)
If the price of admission is trashing the environment - so how does the good side compete?
(Arrested in NC for cleaning up illegal signs - including political signs.)
AIK
maximum wage? (Score:4, Interesting)
"Maximum Income: Build into the progressive income tax a 100% tax on all income, regardless of source, over ten times the minimum wage. With this Ten Times Rule in effect under today's extremely unequal distribution of income in the U.S., a 100% tax on income above ten times the minimum wage would allow us to cut the income taxes of everyone in the bottom 99%, by over half for the top brackets, by over three-quarters in the middle brackets, and totally for the lower brackets--and still generate about 40% more tax revenues than under the current income tax structure."
Iraq, War on Terror (Score:4, Insightful)
Allies in the Non-corporate parties (Score:5, Interesting)
While I'm sure this at least partially stems from neither of you having entrenched political positions to protect, it also mirrors my recent experience. I lean towards the Green platform, and I have many friends who are Libertarians. Our political discussions, while spirited, show some fundamental agreement on the kinds of urgent systemic change required in this country.
My question to you is, do you see an opportunity to build consensus among those of us who see through the corporate oligarchy masquerading as democracy and focus on our areas of agreement rather than our differences? Specifically, would you support the Green party and the Libertarian party running joint drives in support of campaign finance reform, control of corporatism, ballot access and voting system reform?
Three Contentious Technologies (Score:5, Interesting)
- Nuclear energy.
- High-temperature garbage incineration.
- Genetically modified foods.
All of these technologies have drawbacks, but they also have many advantages over the alternatives. Nuclear energy does not produce greenhouse gases, incineration destroys toxic chemicals and does not require land fill, and GM foods can greatly reduce the amounts of pesticide, herbicide, fertilizer, or water needed to grow food.What is the Green Parties' stance on these, and do you see them changing their stance in the near future?
Single Payer Healthcare (Score:4, Interesting)
The dilemma amounts to this: as medical science continues to advance, and as we in general live longer and longer, the amount of things that can be done continues to expand, along with the costs involved with any new technologically advanced treatments. Because of this, the costs of providing complete healthcare continue to expand at a rate faster than we can pay for. With healthcare, if something is possible, people tend to demand that it be done, even if we do not have the resources to do it.
Complete provision of healthcare simply isn't a sustainable practice as the costs are not proportionally bound by population (and hence very roughly speaking, government income), but instead by the ever expanding limits of medical science.
How do you intend to deal with this dilemma? Do you only plan to provide single payer healthcare for core and emergency services only? Do you intend to allow a parallel private health system to provide the more expensive treatments?
Thank you.
Jedidiah.
Single Transferable Vote voting system (Score:4, Insightful)
Colorado (Score:5, Interesting)
What is your opinion of the proposal in Colorado to award electoral votes proportionally to the popular vote? It would seem this could potentially be a great benefit to your party, firstly by making the state uninteresting to the Democrats and Republicans (it would only have one or two electoral votes in play instead of nine), and also by allowing third parties to win an electoral vote with only 11% of a state rather than needing a plurality across a state (or district). How signifigant would such a change be for your party? Of other changes to the voting system that have been proposed, such as approval voting, Borda counts, etc. which would you favor to improve the viability of third parties?
OT - well, kind of (Score:4, Insightful)
This isn't a question to the Green party candidate, but to the slashdot person(s) who organize these interviews; well, where are the interviews with Kerry and Bush?
I would tend to think that a medium with the traffic and mindshare of slashdot, the credentials in terms of all the people it had interviewed in the past, the political nature of many of the issues discussed on slashdot in 2004, and the fact that these elections may prove to be a one in which every vote counts would be ver persuasive to them to respond. After all, and without meaning to disrespect other candidates, it's either one of those two that is going to be the next president of the US and "leader of the free world".
How do you avoid corruption? (Score:5, Interesting)
How do you propose to have such strong government controlled regulation, without falling victim to the corruption inherent in a bureaucratic system?
Power Corrupts (Score:5, Insightful)
Oil is near or at the Hubbert peak for global production. Greens apparently are opposed to both fossil fuels and fission-based nuclear power. Hydrogen, while perhaps a viable storage mechanism, is not naturally available chemically unbound in measurable quantities, much less enough to constitute a fuel source. Modern American civilization is highly dependent on economical electricity and low-cost long range transportation of manufactured materials. And the Nixon era demonstrated the nasty effects of supply shocks on the economy, especially for something as fundamental as the cost of energy.
Annual energy use in the United States is on the rough order of 100 quad. How would you propose that the United States continue to meet demand? Or, in three specific parts: What long-term technologies do you think we should pursue? What percentage reduction by conservation in the US annual energy use do you feel we should realistically try to achieve? And, most important, what technologies to you propose for use in the short term to sustain the supply needed (despite conservation) until whatever long-term technologies you plan for are successfully deployed?
What do you think of the Free State Project (Score:4, Insightful)
Do you think a similar push by Greens would work, and would would you personally move to a place where green activists chose to concentrate their presence?
Re: wow... That was wierd. (Score:5, Informative)
The Florida Supreme Court tried to apply alternate vote-counting rules not allowed under Florida law to ballots in specific counties. This was overturned on a 7-2 decision of the US Supreme Court. The FSC also tried to extend the date of certification when the certification date also was clearly stated under Florida law. This is the vote that was overturned on a 5-4 decision. The USSC basically said that the election results as then-currently counted under Florida law had to stay put, because the FSC was trying to rewrite election law on its own, which is not its role in the system.
And to correct your other point, the limit is ten years in office, which usually translates to two elected terms as president with some overlap in case the VP is moved up a notch. So no, even if you were right, he wouldn't be able to run twice more.
Re: wow... That was wierd. (Score:3, Informative)
Recount analysis by NYT [nytimes.com] (no reg required)
I don't like Bush either, but you don't see me resorting to FUD to try to sway people's opinions.
-Jem
Re: wow... That was wierd. (Score:3, Insightful)
I think it's acceptable in some parks not in all. You can't ride in all areas... ask a better question. A park isn't museum, it's also a recreational area.
what the point is behind conflict of interest stanzas in employment contracts
what do you think the point is?
ask him why we have a national oil reserve
We have a national oil reserve so that if the production of oil stops and there is a dire need for oil, we will have some. dire need
Re:I love their protest slogan... (Score:3, Insightful)
We all know no what a crock that was. Kerry has said as much. What's unfortunate is that this inaccurate right-wing trope ha
Re:I love their protest slogan... (Score:3, Interesting)