[Peace-discuss] Remarks to Champaign County Democrats

[David Green]

These comments will be delivered at the Democratic Party dinner this evening.
 
My campaign invokes FDR’s New Deal and the Occupy movement of the 99%; it is rooted in the idea that the idleness of those who want to work is needless and to nobody’s benefit, that we are a rich country that must choose not to have poor people and especially poor children, that there is enough for everyone, and that it is the right of everyone to have enough. It is a campaign of analysis, ideas, compassion, and vision. 
My campaign is also in opposition to U.S.-driven predatory global capitalism and the immoral wars needed to maintain an unjust and class-driven system of radical inequality, increased poverty, and species-threatening climate change, all while recklessly flirting with the threat of nuclear war.
My experience in grassroots politics is as an antiwar activist and an activist for peace with justice in Israel and Palestine. I have a public record of taking firm stands on vital issues of global importance, including active and vocal opposition to our immoral wars in Afghanistan and Iraq from prior to their inceptions. My published record and both foreign and domestic topics is extensive, comprehensive, and clear.
I support single-payer universal healthcare or Medicare for All, which will save hundreds of billions of dollars and achieve better outcomes. Our current healthcare system is killing our economy and many citizens, and will continue to do so under the ACA.
I support the federal government funding a job for everyone who wants one; that is, the creation of at least 10 million living wage jobs by ongoing federal spending at federal, state, and local levels—in  infrastructure, transportation, connectivity, conservation, and education, including free pre-schools and daycare centers. I support increased taxes on the wealthy to help pay for these programs. They can also be paid for by healthcare savings and cuts in military spending.
In this light, it must be said that tax incentives for small businesses are a trivial, unproven, and often abused way of creating good jobs. Both small and large businesses need a growing, living wage economy that can only be the result of demand created by federally-funded jobs programs.
The poverty level in the world’s richest country is outrageous. It can and should be eliminated by a dramatic increase in the minimum wage and other programmatic safety net measures. The middle class has always been in fact a vulnerable working class. Workers need unions and legislative protections for joining them and asserting their rights.
The notion of an educational “skills gap” among our workforce is unproved and unfounded. Millions of workers did not suddenly lose their skills in 2008. It is not the educational system that has failed the job market; corporate profiteers have failed American working families.
I support justice for all, including Wall Street bankers and other criminals among the 1%.
The African American community rightly perceives that the drug war has engendered a New Jim Crow, decimated their communities, and is indeed a racist war against black males largely engaged in victimless crimes. I advocate ending the drug war and other policies related to mass incarceration, which make our prison population the largest in the world, and an international shame. Drug use should in general be seen as a public health problem, not a criminal justice problem.
I support an absolute ban on fracking. We need to move decisively toward a post-carbon economy without destroying the earth and its inhabitants of all kinds any more than we already have.
I want to end American state-sponsored violence around the world, to bring our troops home; to dismantle our empire of bases; to stop intimidating democratically elected leaders in Iran and Latin America; and to stop supporting and funding Israeli apartheid.
Regarding whistleblowers and the surveillance state, I support the former and oppose the latter. Our government’s tactics put the lie to the notion that they are fighting to defend our freedoms.
I oppose trade treaties like NAFTA and the TPP that have devastated American and foreign workers. We need fair trade and a fairly valued dollar, which is now set artificially high, leading to an unnecessary trade deficit and costing millions of American jobs.
In conclusion, if the name of this party is to be taken seriously, let an informed citizenry decide which among us has accuracy and fairness, as well as compassion and vision, on our side. I challenge my opponents to engage in frequent debates with me all around our district in the coming months.
www.davidgreenforcongress.com
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