From the Green Party of the United States: Ugh. This morning the Supreme Court released its decision in the McCutcheon v. Federal Election Commission case, striking down current limits on the amount an individual donor may contribute to political campaigns. The majority of the justices decided that the right to free speech includes the right to spend money on political campaigns.  Although reasonable campaign finance rules had already been gutted by the 2010 Citizens United decision, today's decision reinforces the idea that money is speech and the richest 1% of Americans should have the right to buy and sell limitless political influence.In contrast, the Green Party continues to work for a truly democratic electoral system including public financing of federal, state, and local elections. We support a Constitutional amendment declaring that corporations are NOT persons and money is NOT speech. Finally, it is important to have a vigorous, well-funded government watchdog empowered to enforce federal campaign laws. The Green Party is working to overturn the new regime of corporate elections. Citizens United allowed unlimited spending on independent campaigning, and now McCutcheon has struck down more limits on contributions to candidates and elected officials. Join us as we work to end the madness! 

From the Green Party of the United States: The Green Party is holding our Annual National Meeting in Saint Paul, Minnesota this July, and we hope you will attend! The meeting will be a great place to connect with hundreds of Greens from across the country, see Green elected officials and candidates, and learn new campaigning and organizing skills.  Early registration is open until Monday, March 31st. Take advantage of low prices by registering now!  Click here to register today! As we celebrate a milestone anniversary in our party's history, the theme of this year's meeting is Back to Our Roots: People. Planet. Principles. Join us as we celebrate 30 years of Green Party organizing in the United States!  We are working to shedule informative workshops on party-building skills, candidate training, and Green issues. Our first confirmed speaker is Charles Eisenstein, author of Sacred Economics and other works on civilization, consciousness, and cultural evolution.   This year's meeting will be held on the campus of Macalester College from July 24-27, 2014. Lodging and meals will be available in university facilities.  You can purchase meals plans and lodging here. Click here to register now to take advantage of early registration rates. We'll see you this July in Saint Paul!

The U.S. and NATO must cease meddling in Ukraine and attempting to manipulate the Crimean crisis for geopolitical advantage, said leaders of the Green Party of the United States.Greens said that the complex crisis must be resolved by Ukraine, Russia, and other countries in the region, and that the U.S. should encourage negotiation and respect the democratic rights of Ukrainians without outside interference. Such interference includes military and economic pressure.Read the full statement here.

The Green Party of the United States is seeking proposed amendments for the party's national platform. According to the national party's rules, amendments can only be proposed by a state party, caucus, or committee. The Maryland Green Party is currently considering amendments to submit. If you would like to suggest a specific amendment to the Green Party platform, please e-mail your proposal to the Maryland Green Party at [email protected] as soon as possible. Guidelines for proposing amendments are available here.  Proposals will be discussed and voted on by the Green National Committee this summer. 

From the Baltimore City Paper: Baltimore City state Senator Bill Ferguson (D-46th District) is worried about the state of democracy in Baltimore, across Maryland, and countrywide. "Voting is the fundamental building block of any democracy," he says, "and the numbers of those voting is a smaller percentage than it should or could be, particularly if you look at age cohorts of young and middle-aged voters." This creates a "looming" problem for democracy, he concludes, so lawmakers need to find "new ways to reach citizens no matter their political persuasion," so that society has "an informed populace that engages in the process" of electing its leaders. The dismal state of voting affairs in Baltimore City were made manifest, to much public hand-wringing, in the 2011 mayoral election. In the Democratic primary - the tally that, by default, determines the winner in this nearly one-party burg - victor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake got 39,829 votes, 8% of Baltimore's voting-age population. Less than 10% of some districts' electorates backed the winners in the City Council races. Given this, perhaps Ferguson's crisis isn't so much looming as here already, at least in Baltimore. So Ferguson has introduced two bills in the current Maryland General Assembly session that aim to ease the way for those who aren't Republicans or Democrats to engage in political life. One would make it easier for third parties, like the Green Party or the Libertarian Party, to retain status as officially recognized parties in the Free State...Click here for the full article.