funcrunch.org — politics

I am currently registered as "Decline to State," after having been registered in the Green Party for many years. I voted for Ralph Nader in the 1996, 2000, and 2004 presidential elections, for Cynthia McKinney in 2008, and Jill Stein in 2012. Voting for a Democrat to keep a Republican out of the White House is not an acceptable compromise for me. Participating in the current political system at all is the compromise.

I believe that protecting what remains of the Earth's resources should be the primary goal of every government. We are not masters of the Earth, we are a very part of its living body.

I believe in the Wiccan Rede, "An it harm none, do as ye will." I am strongly pro-free speech and opposed to arbitrary restrictions on personal behavior based on the dominant culture's religious or moral views.

I believe that workers should own their own companies, and stock ownership by outsiders should be forbidden. I believe in a universal health care system and a guaranteed living wage. I believe we should have a maximum income level — something very generous, say 10 million in 2015 dollars annually — above which one should be taxed 100%. We have too many riches concentrated among too few people while millions lie starving and dying.

I do, however, believe that people should be able to own private property. I don't believe that pure Communism is tenable or even desirable. People have different needs and are naturally selfish for self-protection; we shouldn't try to make everyone the same.

I am also adamantly pacifist, against violence for any reason other than direct personal self-defense. A bloodless revolution may not be possible, but I for one will not be taking up arms.

Ecotopia by Ernest Callenbach is a book that comes close to my ideal vision of the future. Other visionaries I admire in that regard are Starhawk (The Fifth Sacred Thing) and Ursula K. Le Guin (A Fisherman of the Inland Sea).

Washington D.C., September 2002. Photo by Julie Bernstein.

Washington D.C., September 2002.
Photo by Julie Bernstein.


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Last modified August 6, 2015