NPR Weekend Edition story on Cynthia McKinney

Election 2008
Green Party Bids For The White House

Weekend Edition Saturday (NPR), October 25, 2008
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96134188


Presidential candidate Cynthia McKinney says the Green Party is often "put into a box." The Green Party is not just committed to a healthy environment, she says, but bases its policy on four pillars: ecological wisdom, peace, social justice and grass roots democracy.

To that end, the former U.S. representative from Georgia says, the Green Party has not supported the war and consistently supports anti-war candidates. McKinney also points to the 2004 elections, where the Green and Libertarian parties actively investigated voter complaints in Ohio.

To address the current economic crisis, McKinney offers a 14-point plan regarding the bailout. Among other things, the plan appoints former Comptroller General David Walker as auditor, overseeing the use of bailout funds.

McKinney would also like to see a national banking system created to provide credit to small business. She describes the Federal Reserve as "not federal." "Every dollar that is printed should not represent a debt to private bankers," she explains. "It should represent an investment potential in the common good, in the common needs of our country."

Not only would McKinney bring the troops home from Iraq and Afghanistan, she would also recall them from all bases abroad. "Because America has far more to offer the world than our bombs and missiles and our military technology," she says.

"I think we have an opportunity to let diplomacy work," McKinney says. Part of her platform, she adds, advocates the passing of legislation introduced by Dennis Kucinich that would establish a Department of Peace.