Voting makes real change- comprehensive, systemic change... not rhetoric, promises, incremental token actions meant to appease the masses. Seems like that's what we've gotten from decades of lobbying by the hundreds of non-profits- for environmental justice, animal rights, civil rights, peace, poverty, worker's rights.
No amount of lobbying has stopped war, pollution, human/civil rights abuses, economic fairness, climate catastrophe, destruction of Nature and wildlife. Elected government officials have not changed in the past 50 plus years.
Despite pressure from hundreds of non-profit organizations advocating for the environment, human rights, civil rights, animal rights, reproductive rights, peace, and integrity in government, everything continues to get worse; with the occasional small win. Those in power just don't care. They obviously have no intention of changing. So we must replace them with our people.
ONE: Nature, Earth, the environment, climate change.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. spent most of his career as an environmental lawyer, suing big polluters and government agencies that failed to enforce the law. He spent his career trying to protect ecosystems and people. We'll not get better.
From his website:
1. "We will shift agricultural subsidies so as to encourage regenerative practices. Today, a new generation of farmers and ranchers is building soil, replenishing groundwater, and detoxifying land, all while producing just as much food as conventional farmers and earning a decent livelihood."
2. "We will incentivize the transition of industry to zero-waste cycles and clean energy sources, and forge agreements with other countries to implement these policies throughout the global supply chain. These first two policies will vastly reduce the toxic waste, industrial poisons, and pesticides that make people and ecosystems sick."
3. "We will protect wild lands from further development, by curbing mining, logging, oil drilling, and suburban sprawl. We will become a global advocate for rainforest preservation and marine restoration. We will rethink development policies that promised economic growth while ignoring ecological sustainability, and ended up delivering neither".
4. "We will restore the USDA and the EPA to their proper role of protecting health and the environment. Today, corporate influence has severely compromised these agencies, resulting in a proliferation of highly toxic chemicals in our food, soil, air, and water. It’s time to clean it up!"
On war: "As President, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will start the process of unwinding empire. We will bring the troops home. We will stop racking up unpayable debt to fight one war after another. The military will return to its proper role of defending our country. We will end the proxy wars, bombing campaigns, covert operations, coups, paramilitaries, and everything else that has become so normal most people don’t know it’s happening. But it is happening, a constant drain on our strength. It’s time to come home and restore this country."
"It is time to end the imperial project and attend to all that has been neglected: the crumbling cities, the antiquated railways, the failing water systems, the decaying infrastructure, the ailing economy. "
TWO: War and Peace
Endless lobbying of our government and widespread protests have be ineffective at stopping U.S. -sponsored wars around the world. Our leaders in Washington continue to pass trillion dollar military budgets which include hundreds of billions annually to build more warships, jet fighters, attack submarines, bombs, and missiles and to upgrade our military's nuclear capability.
It's time to stop lobbying and start organizing your millions of members to vote for independent-minded candidates who oppose weapons and war.
