Ten Key Values Political Vision Ecology and Earth Stewardship Social Justice and Liveable Communities Peace and Nonviolence Disarmament Economic Conversion Foreign Policy Global Fair Trade Militarism and Involuntary Servitude Nonviolence Peace Dividend Third World Debt Democracy and Electoral Reform Community-Based Sustainable Economics

Green Party Platform:
Peace Dividend

Green philosophy emphasizes the need to enable people to meet basic needs of quality food, housing, health care, education and employment. Our country urgently needs economic and social revitalization that can only be achieved through sane resource use and future-focused planning.

Use of resources to meet basic human needs has long been sacrificed to pay for a huge military budget. This level of military spending is the result of a bloated defense budget based on unrealistic assessments of foreign military threats, inefficient and wasteful procurement practices, self-serving competition between different branches of the military and duplication of military functions. Local economies have become so dependent on military spending that "pork-barrel" legislation has become an accepted practice.

The Green Party advocates a major shift in the allocation of resources:

• Redefine the military's role in the light of post-Cold War circumstances, multi-national economics and the emergence of developing nations.

• Develop a new national defense policy with participation by citizen and governmental representatives as well as the military. The Pentagon's "bottom-up review"--which concluded that funding is needed to support two major regional conflicts simultaneously-- has been strongly criticized both inside and outside military circles.

• We should reduce military spending to 25% of Cold War levels. Several studies supported the possibility of reducing such expenditures by 50% during the USSR's waning years. Today, no superpower threats justify even that spending level. While a 75% reduction is an arbitrary target, the Government and military should be made to explain to the country's citizens why they would need more.

• The resulting Peace Dividend should, in part, be distributed to state and local governments to handle the multitude of neglected problems in social welfare, the environment and the economy.

• Simplify and decentralize the military procurement system, and consolidate military functions to eliminate duplication.