GBI - Greater Bronxville Indivisible

Core Issues

The following is a list of core issues of concern for GBI, as they relate to legislative and executive actions under the current Administration:

Democratic Process, Function and Values

• Protection of voting rights for minorities
• Electoral reform, including the gerrymandering of districts, and reform of the Electoral College
• Respect for an independent judiciary
• Concern about ethics violations in the Administration, including the Presidents’ myriad conflicts of interest, potential violations of the emoluments clause, and general lack of transparency
• Respect for the freedom of the press, freedom of speech
• Checks on presidential power: monitor against creeping authoritarianism; protect the separation of powers and checks and balances; monitor for attempts to arbitrarily
• Maintenance of the separation of church and state

Civil and Political Rights

• Protection of individuals’ rights against infringement by the government, by social organizations, or by private entities, including but not limited to: voting rights, the rights of natural justice, minority rights, privacy rights of all citizens, rights against discrimination, and basic international human rights

Women’s Rights

• Protection against any rollback of reproductive rights and the right of individual women to choose
• Protection of women’s rights to self-determination over women’s health care issues
• Protection of the right to equal pay for equal work and the right to equal protection under the law

Climate Change

• Protection against the silencing of the scientific community in terms of the time-honored practice of sharing research and data, especially that which supports the broad consensus of the scientific community regarding human-led damage to the planet in general and fossil-fuel damage to the climate in particular. 
• Fulfill our international treaty obligations to reduce carbon emissions and fossil fuel consumption.
• Concern that the EPA will be gutted by the current administration and its ability to regulate polluters will be reduced or eliminated.

Immigration

• Concern over the threatening behavior of the Administration and ICE towards undocumented immigrants and their children
• Concern over the Administration's threatened punitive measures against sanctuary cities
• Concern over potential mass deportation of otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants, and its moral/economic cost to the US
• Concern over the moral/economic cost of constructing a border wall between Mexico and the US
• Concern over the moral cost of closing our doors to refugees in general and to Syrian refugees in particular
• Concern over the moral and legal implications of a travel ban that targets particular religious groups and has no apparent rational basis other than religious discrimination

Tolerance for Minorities

• Strive for policies that foster inclusion and tolerance for ethnic and racial minorities 
• Guard against the creation of a negative/hostile environment by the Administration’s use of inflammatory language, and in particular, but not limited to, members of religious minorities, ethnic minorities, racial minorities and women and LGBTQ communities
• Concern over racial profiling in law enforcement and the high rates of incarceration for members of minority groups
• Concern over any religious tests in distribution of rights
• Monitor for discrimination based on membership in any of the above minority groups

LGBTQ Rights

• Protect against rollback by the Administration of LGBTQ Rights to equal protection under the law; and in particular the right to marriage equality 
• Support continued progress towards, and protection of, inclusivity rules

Health Insurance

• Protect ACA/ObamaCare, with agreement to continue to work for improvements to ObamaCare
• Ensure that the Administration’s replacement plan does not result in net reduction in benefits to millions of the newly insured

Gun Safety Laws

• Concern over the erosion of existing, albeit limited, checks on gun ownership, such as basic background checks, and protecting the limited rules preventing gun purchases by mentally ill and/or incompetent individuals, or by criminals
• Concern over congressional aversion to gun safety regulation and perceived out-sized influence of NRA on congressional voting record on gun safety

Education

• Threats to public education, federal funding

US Foreign Policy

• Desire that the Administration and Congress continue to support our traditional allies and respect our international treaty obligations
• Support for the paramountcy of diplomacy and negotiation for the protection of US interests and allies abroad, with use of military
• Continued reliance on the expertise of the State Department, in consultation with Defense Department, on matters of international conflict and dispute resolution