Explore Candidates → President → Cynthia McKinney on Government and Elections
Cynthia McKinney
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Government and Elections
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From the 2008 Green Party Platform: "We propose comprehensive campaign finance reform, including caps on spending and contributions, at the national and state level; and / or full public financing of elections to remove undue influence in political campaigns."
"I have long been a supporter of publicly financed elections."
From the 2008 Green Party Platform: “We believe in multi-party democracy for partisan elections as the best way to guarantee majority rule, since more people will have representation at the table where policy is enacted. We assert that introduction of a multi-party democracy is essential because: 1) The change in the structure of electoral politics will moderate the influence of extremist views and domination by the larger parties, and offer more fair representation to a greater number of citizens; and 2) A third party can validate and raise other points of view that need to be heard.”
From the 2008 Green Party Platform: "The present winner-take-all system of election results in a narrow range of parties, a narrow spectrum of issues debated and the same narrow spectrum reflected by the media. Consequently, barely 50% of voters actually vote. We aim to replace winner-take-all with any of several systems, or combinations thereof, including: Proportional Representation; Cumulative voting or choice voting; Instant Run-off Voting. These formulae will widen the range of choice, widen the ability for candidates to enter the race, break the two-party hold on the system and enlarge the voting public.”
From the 2008 Green Party Platform: "To ensure transparency in government, lesser bodies such as neighborhood boards and county governments must have subpoena power over state governments, which, in turn, should have subpoena power over the national Congress."
From the 2004 Green Party Platform: "Open-source software is necessary to achieve personal, cultural, and organizational security in the face of technological threats brought by corporations and individual criminals. Government has a vital role in breaking up software monopolies, not so much by filing antitrust suits, but by buying nothing but open systems. The U.S. Government and the larger states are buyers large enough to influence the computer and software systems through their purchasing. It should be illegal for a government agency to create and store information vital to its operations in a format it doesn't control. Governments should always consider storing information with open-source software and in-house staff instead of only commercial systems, vendors and software. One way to achieve this would be to add a virtual bid for in-house open source deployment whenever a software purchase goes out for bid."
"Right now, public policy is made in a room where the door is locked. The people are outside; only two representatives [Democrats and Republicans] are in that room hammering out policy. Somebody gave the corporate lobbyists a key so they can come and go as they please. The Green Party will open the door for people who care about impeachment, the war, civil liberties, and economic justice. We will pull up a chair and be a part of the conversation. You'll get different results and people won't feel as if they were marginalized out of the process."
From the 2008 Green Party Platform: "We support significant lobbying regulation such as strict rules that disclose the extent of political lobbying via 'gifts' and contributions. Broad-based reforms of government operations, with congressional reorganization and ethics laws, must be instituted. At every level of government, we support Sunshine Laws that open up the political system to access by ordinary citizens."
From the 2008 Green Party Platform: "We will act to broaden voter participation and ballot access. We advocate universal voter registration and an election day holiday and/or conducting elections over more than one day (say on a weekend)."
From a joint statement of principles agreed to by Ralph Nader, Cynthia McKinney, Bob Barr, the Constitution Party’s Chuck Baldwin, and Ron Paul: "We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders."
“In taking his oath of office, the President swore to ‘faithfully execute the office of President of the United States.’ George Walker Bush, in his conduct while President of the United States, has consistently demonstrated disregard for that oath by obstructing and hindering the work of investigative bodies, by seeking to expand the scope of the powers of his office, by failing to ensure a swift response to a natural disaster where lives were in the balance, and by failing to appoint competent officials or to hold those whom he appoints or those to whom the government grants contracts accountable in cases of dereliction of duty, abuse and outright fraud…. George Walker Bush has subverted the very nature of his office by seeking to add to his office extraordinary and unconstitutional powers and privileges.”
Voted NO on the Line Item Veto Act of 1995 (H.R. 2), a bill "to authorize the President to propose the cancellation (line item veto) of any dollar amount of discretionary budget authority, item of direct spending, or targeted tax benefit within 45 days after its enactment." This bill never became law.
From the 2008 Green Party Platform: "We support statehood for the District of Columbia. The residents of D.C. must have the same rights and representation as all other U.S. citizens."
“The Green Party is the only national party that supports granting DC statehood status in its platform, a change that would free a community of color, with a majority of African Americans from being a colony, and provide real democracy and civil rights for those living there. The Democratic Party removed this from their platform in 2004.”
From the 2008 Green Party Platform: “We believe in majority rule and reject the present method of election without a majority. Accordingly, we call for the use of Instant Runoff Voting in chief executive races, (mayor, governor, president, etc.) where voters can rank their favorite candidates (1,2,3, etc.) to guarantee that the winner has majority support and that voters are not relegated to choosing between the lesser of two evils."