GPNM

Platform

GREEN PARTY OF NEW MEXICO

2020 PLATFORM

CALL TO ACTION

The Green Party of New Mexico (GPNM) encourages members to participate in the political process as candidates, voters, advocates, and citizen watchdogs. Legislative matters at local, state, and federal levels affect the quality of life of all New Mexicans and the natural environment of our state. GPNM calls for Green candidates to seek office on the Four Pillars platform and residents to hold public officials accountable to Green Values which seek to preserve and protect the natural environment; provide fair and equitable processes of law; open public governance to diverse candidates of differing viewpoints with broad access to voter information and opportunity; work to promote peaceful interactions among all residents and eliminate state-sponsored violence.

TEN KEY VALUES

  1. GRASSROOTS DEMOCRACY. 
Every human being deserves a say in the decisions that affect his or her life and not be subject to the will of another. Therefore, we will work to increase public participation at every level of government and to ensure that our public representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We will also work to create new types of political organizations which expand the process of participatory democracy by directly including citizens in the decision-making process.

  2. SOCIAL JUSTICE AND EQUAL OPPORTUNITY. 
All persons should have the rights and opportunity to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society at large barriers such as racism and class oppression, sexism and homophobia, and ageism and disability that act to deny fair treatment and equal justice under the law.

  3. ECOLOGICAL WISDOM. 
Human societies must operate with the understanding that we are part of nature, not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We support a sustainable society which uses resources in such a way that future generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end, we must practice agriculture which replenishes the soil, move to an energy efficient economy, and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.

  4. NON-VIOLENCE
. It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society’s current patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize and eliminate weapons of mass destruction without being naive about the intentions of other governments. We recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in helpless situations. We promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree, and we will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community, and global peace.

  5. DECENTRALIZATION. 
Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and economic injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. Therefore, we support a restructuring of social, political and economic institutions away from a system that is controlled by and mostly benefits the powerful few to a democratic, less bureaucratic system. Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local levels while assuring that civil rights are protected for all citizens.

  6. COMMUNITY-BASED ECONOMICS AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE. 
We recognize it is essential to create a vibrant and sustainable economic system–one that can create jobs and provide a decent standard of living for all people while maintaining a healthy ecological balance. A successful economic system will offer meaningful work with dignity while paying a wage that reflects the real value of a person’s work.

Local communities must look to economic development that assures protection of the environment and workers’ rights, broad citizen participation in planning, and enhancement of our quality of life. We support independently owned and operated companies which are socially responsible, as well as co-operatives and public enterprises that distribute resources and control to more people through democratic participation.

  1. FEMINISM AND GENDER EQUITY. 
We have inherited a social system based on male domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics of domination and control with more co-operative ways of interacting that respect differences of opinion and gender. Human values such as equity between the sexes, interpersonal responsibility, and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We should remember that the process that determines our decisions and actions is just as important as achieving the outcomes we want.

  2. RESPECT FOR DIVERSITY. 
We believe it is important to value cultural, ethnic, racial, sexual, religious, and spiritual diversity and to promote the development of respectful relationships across these lines. We believe that the many diverse elements of society should be reflected in our organizations and decision-making bodies, and we support the leadership of people who have been traditionally closed out of leadership roles. We acknowledge and encourage respect for other life forms than our own and the preservation of biodiversity.

  3. PERSONAL AND GLOBAL RESPONSIBILITY. 
We encourage individuals to act to improve their personal well-being and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social harmony. We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.

  4. FUTURE FOCUS AND SUSTAINABILITY. 
Our actions and policies should be motivated by long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources and safely disposing of or unmaking all waste we create while developing a sustainable economy that does not depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counterbalance the drive for short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions.

FOUR PILLARS IN NEW MEXICO

  1. Grassroots Democracy

    1. CORPORATE PERSONHOOD. We support a joint resolution from the New Mexico Legislature in support of declaring that fundamental rights of personhood apply to human beings not corporations and that money is not speech. Justice Stevens wrote, in his dissent to Citizens United v. FEC, 2010, “…corporations…are not themselves members of “We the People” by whom and for whom our Constitution was established.”

    2. BALLOT ACCESS. We believe burdensome ballot requirements represent a major barrier to participatory democracy. Voters must have meaningful choices. Minor party and independent candidates are vital elements of the electoral landscape and should have adequate opportunity to attain reasonable signature standards that take into account the geographic size and population density of the state.

  2. Social Justice

    1. FOOD INSECURITY. Food insecurity threatens one in six New Mexicans according to the 2018 USDA food security report. We support state incentives for local initiatives toward regenerative agriculture and community-based food systems. All efforts should be made to preserve agricultural lands for nutritional sustenance and other agricultural products. The next generation of farmers and ranchers should not be subject to the high risk machinations of Wall Street and Big Ag. We support a legislative resolution for a return to parity pricing as a sustainable policy to promote long-term farming and ranching. Emphasis should be on organic methods of production that promote healthy soils and are consistent with reduction of environmental and climate effects . We assert that oversight and performance of petroleum measurements are more appropriate to the purview of the Department of Energy, Minerals, and Natural Resources (Ch57 Article 19); the Department of Agriculture should focus on agricultural issues.

      Food security can not be achieved by families and individuals with incomes inadequate to meet basic necessities. A living wage, enforced at the state level, is paramount for all full-time workers to have access to nutritious foods for themsleves and their families. Food security includes planning and provision for catastrophic events that assure nutritional requirements for all residents are met.

    2. HOUSING SECURITY. New Mexico real estate contracts must be revised to provide purchaser protections against all types of fraud. They need a broader description of force majeure and a description of a right to appeal to court to stay non-judicial foreclosure. Housing security must be addressed during good economic and bad economic times, including catastrophic events.

    3. LAND USE. Land use conversions involving previously irrigated lands, agricultural lands, and industrial areas must be subject to environmental assessment with regard to contaminants such as but not limited to herbicides, inorganic pesticides, volatile compounds, and known and suspected carcinogens.

    4. REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS. The Green Party recognizes and endorses the right of bodily autonomy of women and girls. The decision to introduce children into the world is a personal one for each potential parent. Guaranteeing safe and accessible reproductive care for all New Mexicans is imperative. We strongly support repeal of any and all elements of §30-5 NMSA that impede access to safe abortion care.

    5. LAW ENFORCEMENT and CRIMINAL JUSTICE REFORM. All law enforcements officers in New Mexico should be required to wear lapel cameras while on duty and to record interactions with the public. Funding for technology and data storage should be shared between local and county agencies and the State of New Mexico.

      We seek to end the school-to-prison pipeline that disproportionately collects youths of color and those with special needs. Prosecution and sentencing standards must correct historical race- and sex-based biases in the judicial system. The abuses of authority by correctional workers over those incarcerated have been well documented. The legal system allows for deprivation of freedom of movement for those convicted of crimes; it does not allow for inhumane conditions, sexual abuse, or denial of care. We call for the end of commercial, for-profit prisons and the use of prisoner labor at less-than-prevailing industry wages for private commercial purposes.

    6. DOMESTIC SURVEILLANCE. We will work to revoke the role of the Central Intelligence Agency to actively be on the campuses of any of the State’s land grant institutions.

    7. IMMIGRATION AND BORDER SECURITY. Federal policy has a direct impacton New Mexico, a border state. We call for national immigration reform which respects the rights of
      asylum seekers and political refugees and which changes the focus of immigration enforcement away from deportation of undocumented workers toward sanctions against the employers who hire them. New Mexico’s work force faces challenges with shortages from so-called unskilled labor to professionals. Prudent immigration and licensure processes would help address these shortages. Immigrant detention centers must be closed and children reunited with their families. The wasteful funding of the ineffective border wall must cease.

  3. Ecological Wisdom

    The climate crisis threatens all life on the planet and must be considered as a central focus of Green Party activity. We fill an important role since the two traditional parties–the duopoly– seem to be blind, deaf and dumb to any kind of meaningful position on the climate. The United States should take a leadership role in phasing out fossil fuels and adopting innovative and renewable solutions for our energy needs. GPNM is attentive to supporting and promoting local and state level initiatives which safeguard the health of the planet and, wherever possible, providing or facilitating expert advice to lawmakers.

    1. WATER. The Abeyta Settlement over water rights in the Taos Valley recognized that it was mutually beneficial to of all signatories of the agreement to share some of the water in the Taos Valley with non-Pueblo users. The State Engineer’s hydrological survey of 1969 in essence established a water budget for Taos Valley water users. The Settlement contains within its terms the responsibility of any one or more of its signatories to request adjustment of the hydrologic model if aspects of the model are not consistent with new information. As climate change concerns have gain public attention with wild variations in precipitation from year to year increasingly difficult to ignore, governments at all levels throughout New Mexico must adopt and implement policies following the spirit of the Abeyta Settlement and control for use, storage, conservation and sustainability of our shared water in a water-scarce state.

      1. Acequias, Wetlands, and Aquifers. Restoring acequias and wetlands are systemic tactics to increase water-use and water-retention capacities of natural flows and precipitiation that can aid in aquifer recharge. Revitalizing local agriculture with healthy acequias will promote stronger, self-sustaining local watersheds and economies. A state-wide assessment of aquifer sourcing to determine and designate all sole-source aquifers is essential to provide appropriate protection to the drinking water supply.

      2. Produced Water. Water used during oil and gas production becomes contaminated and far exceeds the amount of oil produced. Immediate attention to reduction of produced water and provision for reclamation is essential. A moratorium on new wells would allow New Mexico to produce and test approaches to efficient reclamation and distribution systems. In no case should produced water be allowed for agricultural use or allowed to mix with surface water or aquifers.

      3. Compact Obligations. New Mexico must deliver water to Texas pursuant to the Rio Grande and Pecos River Compacts. The United States must deliver water to Mexico. We support renegotiation of the water-sharing agreements to reflect the effects of climate change on water flows and the demands of population growth while promoting water-conservation efforts and preservation of the agricultural heritage of New Mexico. The over-riding goal of any water-sharing compact should be preservation of each river‘s integrity throughout its course for future generations and wildlife.

    2. PESTICIDE USE. We call for all municipalities, counties, and the state to adopt integrated pest management (IPM) strategies to maintain parks, open spaces, medians, roadways, and facility grounds. IPM protocols should exclude the use of synthetic chemical agents that increase the risk of malignancy, disrupt endocrine systems, or have shown neurotoxicity in animals or humans. We strongly encourage consideration of a state-wide ban on the sale and distribution of these agents and adoption of policies that restore and promote landscapes and streetscapes appropriate to a high-desert and mountain climates.

  4. Non-violence

    1. ANIMAL WELFARE

      1. Trapping and Hunting. Roxy’s Law, as presented in 2019, would ban leg holds, neck traps, snares, and poisons on public lands. The Green Party strongly encourages passage of this measure to prohibit these inhumane and indiscriminate practices.

        State trust lands have long been open to hunting and trapping. On trust lands and wildlife refuges near educational or residential areas or in urban wildlife sectors, we support prohibitions on firearm and bow hunting and trapping not related to wildlife management beneficial to species maintenance.

      2. Animal Protection. The Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture (PACT) law enables federal intervention when acts of cruelty extend beyond the reach or resources of state prosecution. GPNM supports the use of a registry of convicted violators of PACT and for the purpose of perpetrator entry into a mandatory state-level intervention program aimed at preventing future acts of violence. We support mandatory animal cruelty prevention and education programs for those convicted of violating New Mexico’s Animal Cruelty statutes irrespective of other punitive measures.

      3. Animal Research. New Mexico has been home to animal research facilities found in violation of the Animal Welfare Act. GPNM supports creation and enforcement of regulations based on ethical guidelines similar to those for human subjects. Of particular concern is the treatment, care, and housing of primates currently or formerly captive for commercial or medical testing. All remaining primates should be transferred to a sanctuary in accordance with the Chimpanzee Health Improvement, Maintenance, and Protection Act.

    2. MILITARY. The military’s political influence creates difficulty for domestic policy and the state’s economy. The Los Alamos Study Group has done extensive work in analyzing the costs of nuclear weapons production in New Mexico and recently highlighted a $25 billion omission in life-cycle costs for plutonium pit production. Weapons production and maintenance of military facilities in the state have led to environmental contamination of water supplies of host communities and surrounding areas. New Mexico continues to serve as a long-term repository of nuclear waste from weapons production. We demand that all federal and state agencies charged with protecting our land, air, and water hold the Department of Defense and subordinate agencies responsible for remediation of their hazardous wastes that have contaminated our environment.

      State-sponsored violence at home and abroad often targets civilian populations. Armed attacks against peaceful protesters and people engaged in non-violent daily activities are reprehensible and must stop.