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Arts and Culture The Socialist Party believes that art is an integral part of daily life, and should not be treated as a commodity produced by the activity of an elite group. All members of society should have ample opportunities for participation in art and cultural activities. 1. We support the formation of collectives, arts centers and schools, independent media, theaters and festivals to advance such cultural endeavors as music, poetry, prose, drama, dance, storytelling, visual art, and videography. 2. We support guaranteed incomes and grants for artists and performers. 3. We support making schools and workplaces available as cultural centers. 4. We call for full funding of community and school arts programs for people of all ages. 5. We call for full funding to keep libraries, museums, cultural centers, and historic sites open and accessible to all. 6. We call for the preservation of literature, art, music, dance, oral traditions, and audio and video recordings that have arisen out of people's experiences: young and old, of all nationalities and colors, sexual preferences, working, un- and under-employed, and disabled. 7. We support the autonomy of artists of color, women artists, and disabled artists in their creative work. 8. We support the right of artists to join and form unions to protect their labor rights and to form collectives to advance common artistic visions. Education The Socialist Party recognizes the right of students of all ages to a free, quality education in a safe and supportive environment, and of all school employees to good wages, benefits, and working conditions. 1. We call for full and equal funding of public education; for the restoration of a comprehensive K-12 curriculum, including art, music, world languages, and physical education; for an end to all public funding of private schools; and for free tuition and full-time teachers with full benefits (not "adjuncts") at the post-secondary level. 2. We support public child care starting from infancy, and public education starting at age three, with caregivers and teachers of young children receiving training, wages, and benefits comparable to that of teachers at every other level of the educational system. 3. We oppose merit pay for teachers, standardized testing, competition between schools within the same district, the sale of on-campus advertising in order to raise funds, and the increasing dependence of post-secondary institutions on corporate funding. 4. We call for an egalitarian educational system with teaching methods that accommodate the wide range of teaching and learning styles, and that provides all students with the means to obtain the post-secondary education they desire. We call a maximum of 15 students per teacher for grades K-12, and a maximum of 50 students per teacher at the post-secondary level. 5. We call for vigorous affirmative action programs so that the faculty and student-body of all schools reflect the community at large in terms of race/ethnicity, gender, and economic background. We support multicultural, multilingual, experimental education at all levels. 6. We support student, parent, and teacher control of curriculum formation, and in the hiring and dismissal procedures of school personnel, through the formation of local school/community committees. 7. We call for student representation on school boards, and for those boards to be fully accountable to students, parents, teachers, and school workers. 8. We call for opportunities for lifelong self-education, with retraining programs and transitional financial support for workers displaced by technological advances. 9. We support full and unrestricted health education programs, including sex education, with curriculum input from parents, students, teachers, and health care professionals. 10. We oppose school-sponsored prayer or any other religious practice in public schools, and all efforts to limit the teaching of evolution or to combine it with non-scientific theories. 11. We call for free and open access to information, including the public ownership of all large databases. Health Care The Socialist Party stands for a socialized health care system based on universal coverage, salaried doctors and health care workers, and revenues derived from a steeply graduated income tax. 1. We support a national health program with full standard and alternative medical, dental, vision, and mental health coverage for all, publicly funded through progressive taxation and controlled by democratically elected assemblies of health care workers and patients. The National Health Program should extend, and replace, Medicare and Medicaid. 2. We call for a health care system that emphasizes preventive care, respects patients' privacy, gives special attention to the needs of the physically and mentally disabled, and conducts treatment and research unimpaired by sexism, racism, or homophobia. 3. We call for full funding for AIDS research, prevention, and treatment. We demand full civil rights for people living with AIDS. 4. We call for public ownership and worker and community control of the pharmaceutical industry. 5. We call for educational programs to help prevent drug addiction; for voluntary treatment programs for addicts and alcoholics; and for the availability of free, sterile needles for those still using IV drugs. 6. We call for the reinstatement of funding to community mental health services so that low-cost or no-cost treatment is available on a voluntary basis, with clients' rights respected. We oppose involuntary incarceration for treatment without due process. 7. We support the right to choose or refuse medical treatment, the right to die, and the right to assisted suicide. Housing The Socialist Party recognizes the right of all people to high quality, low cost housing. 1. We call for a vast increase in Section 8 housing subsidies as one element of major public investment in the construction of low cost, scattered site, community-based, high quality housing. 2. We call for rent control for all rental units, and the right of tenants to organize. 3. We support the formation of non-profit land trusts and of socially owned, tenant controlled housing cooperatives. 4. We call for the organization of a housing rehabilitation program aimed at renovating and remodeling existing homes to bring them up to housing and safety codes, as part of a broader public works program. 5. We call for an end to home foreclosures Transportation The Socialist Party calls for extensive public transportation in both urban and rural areas. 1. We call for the creation of a fully funded high-speed national rail system with fares set low enough to be a viable alternative to the use of the automobile. 2. We call for an end to the expansion of the interstate highway system and the reduction of combustion engine/auto based transport. 3. We call for government subsidized programs to expand safe routes for foot and bicycle paths. 4. We call for pedestrian ways, accessible by mass transit, which exclude vehicles from the downtown area of cities and towns. 5. We support publicly funded development of renewable fuels. 6. We support federally funded auto insurance. 7. We call for public ownership and worker control of the airline industry.
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Socialist Party
USA 339 Lafayette St. #303 New York, NY 10012 |