About the Campaign
Simone's Platform
1. Universal Single-Payer Healthcare
According to a worldwide survey of national health systems
conducted by WHOSIS (World Health Organization Source of
Information and Statistics; an affiliate of the UN), the United
States ranks 17th in health care delivery, the lowest of all
developed countries. Nonetheless, the United States manages to
spend the most per capita on health care of any country. Many
people in the United States are uninsured, while those with
coverage are being charged increasing premiums for decreasing
coverage by for-profit HMO's.
A universal "single-payer" healthcare system would
decrease costs by eliminating private insurance companies. These
companies would be replaced by a single state fund for all of
Connecticut's citizens to provide payment for health care in a
manner similar to Medicare. This measure would not only decrease
costs, but would also increase coverage to include eye care,
mental health, dental care, long term care, and people who
currently lack health coverage.
Such systems have proved successful at the state level in
Massachusetts and Maryland. They are also in place at a national
level in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the UK -- those
countries with the highest quality of life according the UN.
Simone Mason has fought for universal single-payer health care
without relent, and it is a core issue in her campaign. Please
help us make sure that her voice will be heard in Hartford by
volunteering!
2. Worker's Rights and the Living Wage
Many workers in the United States are paid a minimum wage with
little or no pension or benefits. It is difficult enough for one
person to get along on $6 or $7, with rent, utilities, food, and
other bills to pay. Many of these people wind up taking on another
job. When you're supporting an entire family, then forget about
it. Perhaps most frightening of the above circumstances is that
they often effect health-care workers, who then must work other
jobs and long shifts to support themselves and their families.
(Would you want a technician to change your IV at the end of her
12 hour shift?)
A living wage requires major employers who hold contracts with
the city to guarantee their workers a wage proportionate to their
needs, so that they do not have to work 2 or 3 jobs to support
themselves. Simone Mason actively supports a living wage for all
workers, but especially for those workers in the caregiving
professions, for whom she also advocates special benefits and
pensions.
3. Community Policing
Simone has worked with the Hamden police force to improve their
relationship with the community, and advocates community policing
as an effective solution to law enforcement and crime prevention
in Hamden. Community policing involves individual officers from
the community becoming familiar and friendly with a neighborhood
and its residents. They operate from a storefront or a
decentralized mini-station, patrol on foot or on bicycle, and work
with individual citizens local grassroots organizations, and
churches. This program has been very successful all over the
world!
4. Clean politics
Recent corporate scandals have further revealed the incestuous
nature of the relationship between big business and politics in
America today. The New Haven County Green Party has always
abstained from such relations, and does not accept contributions
from any PACs (Political Action Committees) or corporations. Thus,
our candidate advocates corporate accountability -- with a voice
untainted by any stock options.
Why you should vote Green:
Ralph Nader is right: the two-party system has been thoroughly corrupted by huge sums of private money and
unchecked corporate power. More and more people, especially young people, are staying away from the polls,
having given up on this corrupt political process. Meanwhile, the nation drifts toward a state of permanent war and
social decline. The Green Party offers the best hope for the future- either by taking power or by forcing the major
parties to represent people, not corporations.
The Green Party is the party of the future. Greens will run issue-oriented campaigns with integrity and idealism.
Green Party Values:
- Grassroots Democracy
- Social Justice & Equal Opportunity
- Ecological Wisdom
- Nonviolence
- Decentralization
- Community Based Economics
- Economic Justice
- Feminism & Gender Equality
- Respect for Diversity
- Personal & Global Responsibility
- Future Focus & Sustainability
VOTE GREEN, NOT MACHINE!
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