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THE NATURAL LAW PARTY supports a comprehensive, cost-effective plan to revitalize our inner cities. Our plan includes proven programs for education; job, technical, and management training; crime prevention; drug rehabilitation; urban revitalization; social welfare; economic development; and the development of a stronger sense of community. To guarantee the plan's success, we would supplement all these programs with scientifically validated technologies to reduce social stress and unfold the full creative potential of people of all ages.

THE PROBLEM

America's decaying urban centers are monuments to decades of flawed public policies. Billions of dollars are wasted on programs that fail to revitalize our cities because they do not go to the root of the problem. They fail to unlock the inner creative genius of the people, and they fail to reduce the alarming rise of stress in society, which is at the basis of the widespread epidemic of crime, violence, alcohol and drug abuse, and disease. For example, a recent report from the U.S. Justice Department noted that 81% of weapons arrests take place in cities, and that teenagers accounted for 23% of these arrests. University of Cincinnati criminologist Frank Cullen commented in USA Today that this trend relates “to an absence of family and social structure to support them. Together, that's a lethal combination.”

Without addressing the root causes of stress at the basis of urban decay and unrest, all other efforts for economic recovery and urban renewal are destined to fail.

THE SOLUTION

The Natural Law Party offers something new -- something that has been shown by scientific evidence to actually work. This approach involves two steps: (1) reduction of built-up social stress, followed by (2) implementation of practical programs to improve community life and solve costly social problems.

To reduce stress, the Natural Law Party supports the establishment of coherence-creating groups practicing the Transcendental Meditation and TM-Sidhi program. Extensive research, published in leading scientific journals, has found that when a small proportion of a population collectively practices this program there is a significant reduction in negative tendencies, such as crime, violence, sickness, and accidents, and a strengthening of positive social and economic trends in the population as a whole. Such programs will prevent the accumulation of stress and frustration that has erupted as violence in cities across the nation. In the more harmonious atmosphere generated by these programs, a deeper and more integrated sense of community will emerge as the best security against inner city crime and decay.

After reducing social stress and creating a more coherent social atmosphere, the Natural Law Party will introduce practical solutions to costly social problems and specific programs to promote progress in every city. We will use federally guaranteed loans and targeted capital-gains tax breaks to stimulate capital investment for start-up industries in urban "enterprise zones." We will rebuild urban infrastructure and promote community planning that includes ample parks and green spaces and the construction of homes and buildings that are human friendly, nontoxic, and in harmony with natural law. In addition:

• To improve public health and curb rising health care costs, the Natural Law Party would support prevention-oriented health education and natural medicines that have been shown scientifically to prevent disease, promote health, and cut health care costs in half (see our Health section).

• To boost the economy, the Natural Law Party would propose significantly lower taxes, made possible through its cost-effective solutions to social problems; effective vocational and management training programs; and simplified governmental administration for reduced government waste (see our Economy section).

• To improve education, the Natural Law Party would support programs that develop the inner creative genius of all students, along with the ability to conduct their lives in accord with natural law. Only education that is perceived as directly relevant to the student's own life -- education that unfolds full mental potential and the ability to fulfill desires in harmony with natural law -- can prevent drop-outs, who become the primary targets of inner city crime and drug abuse (see our Education section).

• To improve public safety, the Natural Law Party would support proven, cost-effective programs that have been shown to rehabilitate criminal offenders; prevention programs that target at-risk youth before they become involved in crime; effective programs to prevent and cure alcohol and drug abuse; and a permanent coherence-creating group to reduce stress and create a more harmonious social atmosphere throughout the city (see our Crime and Rehabilitation section).

• To rebuild the inner city, the Natural Law Party would help plan urban infrastructure and housing that improve health, reduce crime, and restore a sense of community. The Natural Law Party would promote the development of nonpolluting automobiles and public transportation, human-scale housing that discourages crime and supports neighborhoods in which families can grow and prosper, and the development of more parks and green spaces (see our Energy and Environment section).