Stephen Gaskin for President.

[Stephen Gaskin is a candidate for the Green Party nomination for US President. -- Editor]

I support all the stuff that's in the Green Party platform, with emphasis on these planks:

Plank 1. Universal Health Care.

Everyone gets taken care of while we argue about the money. Immediately, in this rich country, we should start treating everyone, and planning how to share the expense fairly as we proceed. Health care must be taken away from the drug-industrial complex and returned to people, practitioners, and consumers. Alternative treatments which give greater responsibility to individuals for their own health must be promoted. I believe the crisis in individual health is related to the critical state of health of our planet. The environmental damage suffered by the planet is reflected in every living thing that draws its life from that same planet.

Treating our own bodies in a more natural and healthy way, along with stopping and repairing the damage to Mother Earth, is a key part of raising the standard of health on a global scale.

Plank 2. Campaign Finance & Election Reform.

The Airwaves belong to the people, and everybody gets a say. The people need to have choices in their political system that allow for broader representation and full citizen participation. Proportional representation is one way that's been pretty successful in Europe in giving people a share of the say-so in return for whatever vote they cast. Campaign spending needs to be capped, political action committees and lobbying groups need to be controlled, and the networks need to give up enough time. for the people to run their elections, free.

Plank 3. Choice in Education.

Let's educate the kids now, through junior college, on merit and argue about the money later. With all the money we save on elections, we can finally start educating our kids for the 21st century. Technology needs to be available to every kid that has an interest, whether they live in a government housing project or Indian reservation, or a middle class suburb. If people want to educate their children at home, we need to support them to do the best job they can.

If 10, 12 or 20 families want to get together and create a neighborhood school, then they should get the funding and the advice and the materials to help them do that. We need to be teaching conflict resolution and emotional literacy in all classrooms, and helping children to explore and accept the different ways of being in the world so that we...