Articles of Association of the Green Party of Southwest Missouri

Article 1: Name
● The name of the Association shall be “Green Party of Southwest Missouri”, referred to
afterwards as ‘the Association.’
Article 2: Address
● The address of the Association is designated by the officers of the Association.
Article 3: Duration
● The duration of the Association is perpetual.
Article 4: Purpose
● 4.1 The Green Party of Southwest Missouri is an unincorporated Association that serves
as a regional affiliate of the Missouri Green Party located in Southwest Missouri with a
membership specifically dedicated to supporting working class issues and seeking to ally
ourselves with under-represented groups such as: LGBTQ+, people of various colors,
creeds, and genders, indigenous peoples, immigrants, and labor unions.
● While this Association is a regional affiliate of the Missouri Green Party with all the
accompanying rights and responsibilities as described in the Missouri Green Party’s
bylaws, this Association is a self-contained independent organization.
● 4.2 Animal Rights / Biocentrism
● 4.3 As a regional affiliate of the Missouri Green Party, this Association intends to create
a society that reflects the following 10 Key Values as defined by the Green Party of the
United States (GPUS):
1. Grassroots Democracy – All human beings must be allowed a say in decisions that
affect their lives; no one should be subject to the will of another. We work to improve
public participation in every aspect of government and seek to ensure that our public
representatives are fully accountable to the people who elect them. We also work to
create new types of political organizations that expand the process of participatory
democracy by directly including citizens in decision-making.
2. Social Justice and Equitable Opportunity – As a matter of right, all persons must have
the opportunity to benefit equitably from the resources afforded us by society and the
environment. We must consciously confront in ourselves, our organizations, and society
at large, any discrimination by race, class, gender, sexual orientation, age, nationality,
religion, or physical or mental ability that denies fair treatment and equal justice under
the law.
3. Ecological Wisdom – Human societies must function with the understanding that we
are part of nature, not separate from nature. We must maintain an ecological balance
and live within the ecological and resource limits of our communities and our planet. We
support a sustainable society that utilizes resources in such a way that future
generations will benefit and not suffer from the practices of our generation. To this end
we must practice agriculture that replenishes the soil, move to a degrowth economy in
the US, and live in ways that respect the integrity of natural systems.
4. Non-Violence – It is essential that we develop effective alternatives to society’s current
patterns of violence. We will work to demilitarize and eliminate weapons of mass
destruction, without being naive about the intentions of other governments. We
recognize the need for self-defense and the defense of others who are in danger. We
promote non-violent methods to oppose practices and policies with which we disagree,
and will guide our actions toward lasting personal, community and global peace.
5. Decentralization – Centralization of wealth and power contributes to social and
economic injustice, environmental destruction, and militarization. We seek a
restructuring of social, political and economic institutions away from a system controlled
by and mostly benefiting the powerful few, to a democratic, less bureaucratic system.
Decision-making should, as much as possible, remain at the individual and local level,
while assuring that civil rights are protected for all.
6. Community-Based Economics – We support redesigning our work structures to
encourage employee ownership and workplace democracy. We support developing new
economic activities and institutions that allow us to use technology in ways that are
humane, freeing, ecological, and responsive and accountable to communities. We
support establishing a form of basic economic security open to all. We call for moving
beyond the narrow “job ethic” to new definitions of “work,” “jobs” and “income” in a
cooperative and democratic economy. We support restructuring our patterns of income
distribution to reflect the wealth created by those outside the formal monetary economy –
those who take responsibility for parenting, housekeeping, home gardens, community
volunteer work, and the like. We support restricting the size and concentrated power of
corporations without discouraging superior efficiency or technological innovation.
7. Feminism and Gender Equity – We have inherited a social system based on male
domination of politics and economics. We call for the replacement of the cultural ethics
of domination and control with cooperative ways of interacting that respect differences of
opinion and gender. Human values such as gender equity, interpersonal responsibility,
and honesty must be developed with moral conscience. We recognize that the
processes for determining our decisions and actions are just as important as achieving
the outcomes we want.
8. Respect for Diversity – We believe it is important to value cultural, ethnic, racial,
sexual, religious and spiritual diversity, and to promote the development of respectful
relationships across the human spectrum. We believe that the many diverse elements of
society should be reflected in our organizations and decision-making bodies, and we
support the leadership of people who have been traditionally closed out of leadership
roles. We encourage respect for all life forms, and increased attention to the
preservation of biodiversity.
9. Personal and Global Responsibility – We encourage individuals to act to improve their
personal wellbeing and, at the same time, to enhance ecological balance and social
harmony. We seek to join with people and organizations around the world to foster
peace, economic justice, and the health of the planet.
10. Future Focus and Sustainability – Our actions and policies should be motivated by
long-term goals. We seek to protect valuable natural resources, safely disposing of or
“unmaking” all waste we create, while developing a sustainable economics that does not
depend on continual expansion for survival. We must counterbalance the drive for
short-term profits by assuring that economic development, new technologies, and fiscal
policies are responsible to future generations who will inherit the results of our actions.
We must make the quality of all lives, rather than open-ended economic growth the
focus of future thinking and policy.
This Association goes beyond the 10 key value calls for future focus and sustainability to
explicitly line our policies with self determination of all people to control their own land
and resources which includes land back and reparations to return stolen land and labor.
To achieve the goal of a society reflecting these 10 Key Values, the Association engages
electoral political activity and social activism within the local, state, national, and international
community.
Article 5: Membership
● The Association has members. The rights, privileges, responsibilities, and qualifications
of the members are described in the Bylaws.
Article 6: Governance
● The Association’s affairs shall be managed and its assets overseen by the officers of the
Association. The number of officers, and their rights, privileges, responsibilities, and
qualifications are described in the Bylaws.
Article 7: Use of Funds
● The Association’s net earnings will be used to accomplish the Association’s purposes
that are described in Article 4. The Association will not use its net earnings of the
Association to personally benefit any of the Association’s members or officers, except to
compensate them for services and to make payments that further the Association’s
purposes.
Article 8: Dissolution
● When this Association dissolves, the officers shall pay or make arrangements to pay all
of the Association’s liabilities. After paying the liabilities, the officers shall distribute the
remaining assets for one or more lawful purposes that the officers see fit. Any such
assets not so disposed of shall be disposed of by a Court of Competent Jurisdiction of
the county in which the principal office of the Association is then located. The assets
shall be distributed by the Court for such purposes or to such organizations or
organizations as said Court shall determine.
Article 9: Amendment
● These Articles may be amended by a three fourths vote of a quorum (as defined by the
Bylaws) at a General Meeting of the membership.
Article 10: Public Inspection
● A copy of these Articles will be available for public viewing on the Association’s website.