Mark Swaney is a Green Party candidate for Governor of Arkansas in 2014. In 2010 he was a Green candidate for State House & received 24.82% against a Republican in a 2-way race. Originally posted to the Green Party of Arkansas Facebook page:
Greens,
As part of my preparation for the campaign, I have been reviewing and analyzing the platforms of the Democratic and Republican parties of Arkansas. Sometimes people are confused as to the difference between the Green Party and the Democrats. They are pretty clear that the Republicans are conservative and the Democrats are supposed to be the “liberal” party, but since the Green Party is also a “liberal” party, they wonder “what’s the difference?”.
Well, it is worth your time to review the platforms of the two major parties, and if you Google “Arkansas Democratic Party platform 2012-2014” you can read it for yourself. I am reading and re-reading it now. The Republican party platform is a whole other topic. So that this is not a super-long post, I will simply start the analysis by pointing out some initial facts.
There is no mention of the death penalty in the Democratic party platform.
There is no mention of the minimum wage, it does mention a “living wage”, but with no specifics as to what they mean by that.
There is no mention of reproductive rights – no mention at all about the right of women to make their own decisions about their bodies and their own families. This is somewhat astounding considering the horrendous laws passed by the legislature in its last session.
In the section on “Civil Rights and Civil Liberties” – there is not one word supporting marriage equality.
In the same section there is not one word about the EXECUTION OF AMERICANS WITHOUT TRIAL – I have used capitols because of the extreme danger, the extreme assault on our protection from arbitrary government action. There is also not one word about indefinite detention without trial which the Obama administration tried to pass into law.
In the Democratic Party of Arkansas 2012-2014 platform there is not one word about income inequality in America, and the danger that it poses to the economic well-being of the entire country.
There is no mention of the separation of church and state, a crucial and traditional aspect of American government since the founding of the Republic, and essential to the protections of the rights of all Americans, whether Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or any other religion. And most especially, the separation of church and state is crucial to rights of non-religious Americans.
There is no mention of election reform – specifically, instant run-off voting – which saves tax dollars and allows voters a wider choice in elections.
Folks, I could go on, and I promise I will, but this is enough for today.
Mark Swaney
http://www.gp.org/index.php/the-real-difference.html