Organic Consumers/Regeneration Candidate Questionnaire

Transcription

1 Organic Consumers/Regeneration Candidate Questionnaire Contact information: Candidate's Full Name: Candidate suggested by (if applicable): State: Office sought/district: Campaign contact: Phone: Website: Facebook: Twitter: Race Information: Type of election: Date of Primary: Date of election: About the candidate: Political Party Affiliation (Check 1): Democratic Party Independent/Unaffiliated Green Party Working Families Party Libertarian Party Republican Party n-partisan Election Does the candidate currently hold or has he/she ever held elected office? If yes, please indicate position: About the Candidate s Platform Briefly summarize the general platform you are running on:

2 Candidate Questionnaire: I. Economic Justice and Foreign Policy. Many of your constituents were among the 13 million Americans who voted for Democratic Socialist Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 Presidential Primaries, and helped raise $230 million for his campaign. Current polls indicate that Sanders is the most popular political figure in the nation. Groups like Brand New Congress and Our Revolution, which arose from the Sanders campaign, are now recruiting and endorsing candidates across the nation for local, state, and federal office. Our network of Organic Consumers and Regeneration activists across the U.S. are doing the same. A. Do you support the basic peace and economic justice platform popularized by Bernie Sanders in his 2016 Presidential Primary campaign, including: (a) Free tuition to public colleges and universities; (b) A moratorium, cancellation, or renegotiation of student loan debts; (c) Raising taxes on the rich and the large corporations; including a transaction tax on Wall Street speculation; (d) A withdrawal from wars in the Middle East and a change in overall foreign policy emphasizing cooperation with all nations on pressing international issues such as reversing global warming and poverty, and preservation of the environment; (e) A non-profit, publicly-funded, Medicare-for-All health care system; (f) Reversing the Citizen s United Ruling that has given the wealthy and corporations unlimited power to covertly or overtly buy and control elections and public officials; (g) Moving the nation as quickly as possible to zero fossil fuel emissions (by 2050 at the latest) and 100% renewable energy as we pledged at the 2015 Paris Climate Summit. Do you support this basic peace and economic justice platform? II. Healthcare. A. Do you support a publicly funded universal Medicare-for-all healthcare program? B. Do you believe all healthcare programs should cover preventive and complementary natural and alternative healthcare choices, such as homeopathy, naturopathy, diet-based therapies, acupuncture, physical therapy and chiropractic medicine?

3 C. Do you support "Health Freedom," the right of consumers to choose the type of healthcare they want, including the right to opt out on behalf of themselves or their minor children of vaccine programs they consider to be over aggressive or potentially harmful to their health? II. Food. A. Do you support the strengthening of USDA organic standards and expansion of the National Organic Program? B. Do you support local/state/or federal programs to require schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other institutions that cater to young and/or vulnerable populations to source local and/or organic food? C. Do you support state/federal laws requiring food companies to truthfully and accurately label all of the ingredients in their products, including those produced using genetic engineering, nanotechnology, synthetic biology and other methods not found in nature? D. Do you believe the FDA and USDA should prioritize foods produced using organic and regenerative agriculture when issuing official dietary guidelines? III. Agriculture A. Do you believe the USDA should reform its policies, especially its crop insurance and subsidy programs, in order to provide greater incentives and support for local organic and regenerative agriculture practices that increase soil fertility and nutrition density in foods rather than subsidizing chemical and energy-intensive GMO monoculture commodities, such as corn, soy, beets, alfalfa, etc.?

4 B. Do you support programs such as the Conservation Stewardship Program, which provide technical and financial assistance to farmers who commit to good stewardship of their land? C. Do you support changes in federal regulations on crop insurance and grazing on federal lands that would encourage greater use of cover crops, holistic management, and soil carbon sequestration? D. Do you support the right of local citizens to monitor the pollution coming from factory farms in their communities, as well as the treatment of animals at those facilities? E. Do you support the right of local and state governments to reject the citing of new factory farms within local and state jurisdictions? F. Would you support an initiative in your city, county or state similar to California s Healthy Soils Initiative, launched Jan. 11 in Sacramento by the National Resource Conservation Service and the California Department of Agriculture, which encourages farmers to adopt carbon-friendly farming methods by offering incentives such as grants and training assistance?

5 IV. Environment A. Do you support strengthening the EPA scientific research program and supporting the right of EPA scientists to publicly reveal the results of their research without fear of recrimination? B. Do you believe that the EPA should apply the precautionary principle, when reviewing toxic chemicals, including pesticides? In other words, should the EPA reject chemicals until the chemical maker can prove, beyond a reasonable doubt, that a chemical will not cause harm to the environment instead of approving it first, then taking a wait-andsee approach? V. Climate Change and Global Warming. A. Do you believe that human behavior plays a primary role in global warming and that addressing climate change should be a high priority for all elected officials and policy decisions? B. Do you support state/federal policies that provide incentives for the development of alternative renewable energy, such as solar and wind power? C. Do you support policy reform that rewards farmers and ranchers who use practices (sometimes referred to as carbon farming) that restore the potential of soil to draw down carbon from the atmosphere, and store it in the ground?

6 VI. Living Wage A. Do you support a minimum wage of $15/per hour for all workers, including farm laborers and restaurant workers? VII. Civil Rights A. Do you support Civil Rights for all, including no discrimination against women, LGBT, or people of color? VII. Immigration A. Do you support a foreign policy and trade program that enhances peace, justice, environmental preservation, and rural (and urban) prosperity in immigrants home areas as a solution to mass migration? B. Do you support a path to citizenship for all currently undocumented residents, students, and workers in the U.S. (except for those convicted of violent crimes)?