War is not Peace.
Freedom is not Slavery.
Ignorance is not Strength.
Gary Swing
for
U.S. Representative
District 1, Colorado
Green Party Nomination Speech, May 1, 2010
My name is Gary Swing. I stand before you today to ask for the Colorado Green Party’s nomination for Congress from District 1. I was a Green Party candidate for state representative in 1996.
For the past ten years, I have worked as a promoter for local cultural events and festivals in Denver. I worked previously as a public policy research assistant and as a bicycle messenger. I commute by bicycle and I’ve been a vegetarian for more than 20 years. I plan to bicycle, walk, or use public transportation for all campaign appearances within my district.
I view my candidacy as an exercise in speaking “truth to power.” I am running to expose and oppose the U.S. government’s crimes against humanity. The message of my campaign is strong opposition to American militarism and imperialism, with a focus on creating a sustainable society.
The United States has been engaged in an undeclared state of war for most of its history. The real objective of American foreign policy is to maintain world domination. The United States has the most powerful empire in history with American soldiers stationed in 156 countries. Since the end of World War Two, the U.S. has launched illegal military attacks against the people of more than 70 nations, killing millions of people. These undeclared wars of aggression are always sold to the public on a foundation of lies and doublespeak. In the name of freedom, the United States sponsors dictatorships and death squads throughout the world.
We must end all foreign wars, abolish the CIA, remove all American soldiers from foreign countries, and limit the military to non-offensive defense of U.S. territory. I call for the abolition of all weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear, biological, chemical, and conventional weapons of mass destruction. I support a National Truth Commission to publicly expose the crimes of the U.S. government, prosecution of American war criminals, and a real criminal investigation into the U.S. government’s role in the 9/11 attacks. It’s time to end the fake war on terror, the fraudulent war on drugs, and the perpetual war on truth. The American foreign policy of imperialism and genocide must be replaced by a nonviolent foreign policy based on respect for human rights.
We have an economy based on infinite growth in a world of dwindling resources. The convergence of overpopulation, over-consumption, ecological destruction, and depletion of our planet’s natural resources will lead to the collapse of modern society unless we radically restructure our way of life. World population has rapidly increased from 1 billion in 1804 to 3 billion in 1960, and 6.8 billion today.
In 2008, the World Wildlife Foundation estimated that human ecological impact exceeds the Earth’s carrying capacity by 25%. The United States has an ecological footprint about twice the carrying capacity of its land. We have the world’s worst overpopulation problem because we consume and waste the most. About 5% of the world’s population lives in the United States, but we account for one fourth of global consumption and carbon dioxide emissions.
If the average human had the same ecological impact as the average American, the Earth could now sustain a maximum of one and half billion people. The “American way of life” that George Bush Senior said is “not negotiable,” is only possible by extracting the wealth of other nations through imperialism.
We need to move away from global imperialism towards local self-sufficiency. With the peak of global oil and natural gas production, our system of petrochemical based factory farming is not sustainable. We can grow more food for people if we stop growing so much food for livestock. We should eliminate public funding for animal agriculture and apply animal cruelty laws to farmed animals. Agricultural subsidies should be used to promote organic farming.
We need to restructure our economy to be based on sustainable, ecological principles. We need a way of life that doesn’t revolve around automobiles and mass consumption. We can shift our tax system away from income to a national sales tax. This would discourage consumption, while encouraging saving and investment. Monthly tax rebates can be used to secure a guaranteed minimum income for U.S. citizens. We should reduce, reuse, and recycle. We can use carbon taxes to include environmental impacts in the cost of new products. We need to conserve, improve energy efficiency and transition away from fossil fuels and nuclear energy towards solar, wind, and geothermal energy. We a need a major worldwide public education campaign about the seriousness of the overpopulation crisis, with full funding for family planning programs at all levels.
As a candidate for Congress, I support a single payer health insurance system, proportional representation for legislative elections, fair trade policies, freedom of travel, and international work permits.
Patrick Henry wrote: “It is natural for people to indulge in the illusion of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth... For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth; to know the worst, and to provide for it." The Democratic Party repackages the denial of reality as the audacity of false hope and the illusion of change. The reality we face today is that the world stands on the brink of ecological and economic catastrophes.
A strong Green Party is desperately needed. The Green Party’s core values of nonviolence, ecological wisdom, grassroots democracy, decentralization, and social justice offer a path to a more livable world. I ask for your support as a candidate to represent Green values in the upcoming election.
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Gary Swing for Congress, 1311 Cook Street #103, Denver, CO 80206
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