>
> Just to chime in. I understood what John was saying when he said
> "Green Party" vs. greens, although he could have been a touch more
> clear. Ralph Nader actually isn't a member of the Green Party, he's
> just endorsed by them. He has stated publicly that he doesn't
> necessarily agree with anthing in their platform.
>
> Which is good, because the party platform of the Green Party is a bunch
> of nonsense. For instance, they propose a maximum wage...anything you
> make that is ten times more than the minumum wage is subject to 100%
> taxation.
agree with you here...esp hated the Luddite crap; couldn't tech save the
world as well as destroy it?
>
> The Green Party is really just another one of those socialist parties
> with an environmentalist wrapper.
>
> I could never support a movement that proposes to solve environmental
> problems by dismantling capitalism, just like I would not support a
> movement to solve environmental problems by repealing the Bill of
> Rights. Capitalism is one of the cornerstones of our freedom. We
> can't give up our freedom to solve environmental problems, it won't
> work. Dictatorship won't work because there is no way to hold the
> dictators accountable for their actions. Even if the dictators start
> out pro-environment, inevitably their only agenda is pro-dictator.
>
I wonder. Gut-level I don't like socialism, and experiments with it so far
haven't worked very well. But I wonder if mankind will ever be put on the
spot in having to choose between freedom and saving the environment,
because capitalism could turn out to be fundamentally incompatible with
the drastic measures that will be needed if things get too bad. It is
human nature that individuals pursue self interest and greed often at the
expense of the greateer good, and cannot think pas one generation
apparently. A corporation has a short planing horizon - *quarterly* profit
- even shorter than an individual, and individuals are selfish enough
(Look at all those SUVs)! otoh we are too greedy for socialism to work
either!
> Michael, this is the real reason that so many right-wing people seem so
> anti-environment to you. If the major plank of the Green Party is
> thinly disguised socialism of course they are going to oppose it. But
> they are not anti-environment, merely pro-capitalism.
>
Capitalism needs SOME restraints on it due to the afoirementioned greeed
instinct running amok! Many of the environmental gains made in recent
decades would not have happened without regulation, and much of that
regulation is being dismantled at the behest of wealthy and corporate
interests because it interferes with their profit.
Kristin
