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Greens plan 2004 Congressional challenge Editor's note: In this issue of Green Focus, we will review the Northern California congressional candidates. In our next issue we plan to cover the congressional candidates in Southern California.By Larry Shoup Six Northern California Green Party Congressional candidates have stepped forward to challenge the "Republicrats" and raise key state, national and international issues during the coming year. - Terry Baum (lilitheater@hotmail.com), in San Francisco
- Patrick Driscoll (www.driscollforcongress.org), in Sacramento
- Ray Glock-Grueneich (grws@baymoon.com), in Santa Cruz;
- Patricia Gray (www.patgray.org), in San Mateo
- Larry Mullen (MULLENLR@aol.com), in Fresno
- Bill Meyers (www.williampmeyers.org), in Gualala
They are collecting the necessary signatures and doing the needed filings to run in six Congressional districts located from Fresno north to Eureka. As much coordination as possible between these campaigns is planned and two meetings have already brought together candidates to work on common message, joint campaign appearances, ways and means to activate our base, and possible joint fundraising. Among the central issues motivating our Green Congressional candidates is the desire to expose and critique Bush's permanent war abroad and the related war on the rank and file here at home. As we are all aware, both of these wars are being conducted with significant assistance from Democrats in Congress. These two interconnected wars represent gigantic swindles perpetuated on the American people and the people of the world. The Bush led invasion and occupation of Iraq is being conducted under the doctrine of preventative war, which is itself terrorist. This doctrine also tends to unite the entire globe against our country, making us less secure and more subject to attacks. The real aim of Bush's action is to create a new profit making frontier for some of the biggest United States multinational corporations, like Bechtel, Halliburton and MCI. Our troops and tax dollars are being used to conquer Iraq so that its oil and state controlled industry can be privatized into the hands of these profit hungry and ecology destroying corporations. But this is not the only large scale swindle being foisted on us by Bush and his Republican and Democratic supporters in Congress. Bush's domestic plan is to create such a vast budget deficit through out of control war and occupation spending and massive tax cuts for the wealthy that public sector spending-for education, health care, and other governmental services-will have to be seriously reduced in favor of privatization. This will, of course, leave the rank and file without such services because they cannot afford to pay for them individually. What really needs to be done is to cut military spending to fund ecologically sound social and economic development, spearheading a massive worldwide crash program to rewire the world for ecologically sane alternative energy development, education and health care for all and thereby moving towards a just, ethical, and peaceful world. This approach would undermine and eventually end terrorism by giving people hope for a dignified future for themselves and their loved ones. It will be the responsibility of our Green Congressional candidates to set the agenda for debate, make our party more visible and build it by raising these and other key issues of central interest to California's rank and file. As always, funding and volunteers are urgently needed to give our candidates a chance to make a real impact against the corporate funded Republicans and Democrats. Contact one or more of the candidates listed above to donate and volunteer. ###
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