RE: Your Ideal President
My ideal candidate would support the following platform:
Military and National Defense
o Supports a structured closing of all foreign soil military installations and the return of all troops stationed overseas. In addition, the candidate would support a reorganization of domestic base operations to provide a more cost efficient and capable defense network.
o Supports a responsible six-month withdrawal of all United States troops from Iraq. In addition, the candidate would support a policy to end the torture of political/foreign detainees and extradition of prisoners to countries without torture laws/regulations.
o Supports legislation to end the government's policy of no-bid contracts for the defense industry. The candidate would also support ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty.
Healthcare
o Understands that the healthcare issue is a complex, multifaceted problem that has been caused by doctors, insurance companies, politicians, the AMA, the medical education system, etc.
o Supports a federal licensing program that would standardize licensing between states. In addition, the candidate would support a federal accreditation program that would allow any university that met the federal requirements to open a medical school. The candidate would also support the removal of the AMA from both of these processes.
o Supports a National Health Insurance System, not a Socialized Medical System. Socialized medicine is a system in which doctors and hospitals work for and draw salaries from the government. Socialized health insurance, on the other hand, is a system in which the government pays for care that is delivered in the private (mostly not-for-profit) sector. The government does not own or manage medical practices or hospitals. In addition, the candidate would support a federal policy to turn hospitals back into non-profit organizations. Hospital, like the police and firefighters, provide a vital public service that should not be commodified.
o Supports a policy ensuring that clinical decisions remain a private matter between doctor and patient. The same policy would ensure that benefit packages, hospital budgets, health planning, the distribution of expensive technology, and the total budget for health care is set through a public, democratic process.
o Supports a policy wherein all publicly funded research is regarded as public property. Open licensing agreements would be applied to all research institutions which receive federal grants and federal research dollars.
Immigration
o Supports a policy of making English the official legal language of the United States.
o Supports a tougher policy to target employers who hire illegal immigrants. In addition to drastically increases the fines associated with hiring illegal workers, I would also like to see the possibility of jail time for flagrant offenders.
o Supports a policy to allow legal, naturalized immigrants to run for president. In addition, the candidate would support a “path to citizenship” only under the following conditions:
(1) when the illegal immigrant has substantial and verifiable proof to claim political asylum, refugee status, etc. Under this scenario, an illegal immigrants would be granted citizenship provided that they:
a) Pay a fine plus any backed taxes, fees, etc for violating immigration laws.
b) Pass a verbal and written English competency test.
c) Pass a citizen exam (covering American government, citizen rights, American history, etc).
d) Maintain a criminal free record (no major misdemeanors or felonies) and obtain steady employment.
e) Successfully serve a 6 year military term or a 10 year public service term.
(2) when illegal immigrants offer to undergo a federal term of service (military, public works, etc). Under this scenario, I believe illegal immigrants should be granted citizenship provided that they:
a) Pay a fine plus any backed taxes, fees, etc for violating immigration laws.
b) Pass a verbal and written English competency test.
c) Pass a citizen exam (covering American government, citizen rights, American history, etc).
d) Maintain a criminal free record (no major misdemeanors or felonies) and obtain steady employment.
e) Successfully serve a 6 year military term or a 10 year public service term.
o Support a policy of revising the United States' immigration quotas to reflect modern demographic shifts.
o Encourage immigration and citizenship through visa program revisions (i.e. place time limits on visas, limit the number of visas an individual can obtain).
Environmental Policy
o Supports a policy prohibiting the Federal government from leasing publicly held land to logging, mining, oil, and natural resource companies for private profit. In addition, the candidate would support a policy to prevent additional road construction on public lands and remove many of the logging/mining roads that exist on them currently.
o Support a policy to end federal subsidities to the timber, oil, coal, and natural resource industries. This would eliminate all subsidies, tax breaks, or government sponsored incentives.
o Support a policy to fund renewable energy research and implement ways to reduce our dependency on oil (raise government mandated fuel efficiency rates, lower speed limits on interstates, etc).
o Support a policy to strengthen the Endangered Species Act, particularly in the area of EPA pesticide usage regulations. The candidate would also support a policy to strengthen the Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act, particularly in the areas of vehicle and power plant emissions, fuel efficiency standards, wetland restoration and protection, watershed conservation, and testing the environmental impact of newly developed chemicals.
o Support a policy to replenish the Superfund Trust Fund via an “environmental degradation fee”. This fee would be assessed to the major polluting and environmentally damaging industries (e.g. chemical manufacturers, coal companies, logging corporations, and oil and gas companies)
o Support tougher revisions for the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) program. In particular, the new revisions need to address two primary areas:
(1) Create a fuel efficiency mandate of 35 mpg by 2013 for all motor vehicles sold within the United States. Any vehicle which was rated below 35 mpg would be subject to environmental penalties and fees. This would also close loopholes exploited by the trucking industry and auto manufactures.
(2) Create “pollution penalties” for automobile manufactures that choose to produce fuel inefficient vehicles (less than 35 mpg) such as trucks, SUVs, Jeeps, or inefficient cars. An example of a fee would be a $2,000 pollution tax collected on each inefficient vehicle that is produced. In addition, the bill would also feature a scaling pollution tax for citizens that elect to buy fuel inefficient vehicles. Citizens who choose to purchase and/or maintain fuel inefficient vehicle would be required to pay a federal pollution tax when they register their vehicle each year. The amount of this tax would be scaled depending on how inefficient the vehicle was (i.e. how far below the mandate the vehicle actually was).
o Support passage of a “Clean Energy Act”. The CEA would target two primary areas:
(1) Renewable Energy. The CEA would mandate a national renewable electricity standard that would require 20% of our energy to come from renewable sources by 2020.
(2) Energy Efficiency. The CEA would mandate a national energy efficiency standard that would require 50% of appliances sold to be energy star rated by 2015 and 100% of appliances sold to be energy star rated by 2020. This provision would also mandate strict energy efficiency requirements for new homes and commercial developments.
o Support a policy to end commercial whaling both within the United States and internationally. The candidate would also support regulations to prevent the overfishing of North American fisheries.
Education
o Support a policy that would encourage states to adopt a Federal education program. This policy would include:
(1) Redistribution of educational funding. This provision would encourage a state-wide distribution system that provides an equal distribution of money to each school based on student population as opposed to the current district based distribution format.
(2) Bill of parent's rights. This provision would guarantee the right of parents to choose the kind of education that their children receive (i.e. private, home school, etc) so long as the educational requirements of the state are met. This provision would also ensure government support of public schools; but not private nor parochial schools.
o Support a policy to end school voucher programs as they undermine public schools without addressing the problem.
o Support a policy to outlaw predatory student college loan rates over 10%. I also believe that college loan practices are in serious need of government reform and oversight.
o Supports the teaching of actual science in science classroom (i.e supports the court ruling in the case of Kitzmiller v. Dover).
o Supports sexual health education for children once they reach the age of puberty. The candidate would support sexual education programs that discussed the use of contraceptives, the effectiveness of various forms of contraception, sexually transmitted diseases, and abstinence.
o Supports the complete separation of church and public schools. Religious activities and religious ideals would neither be condoned nor condemned by public education.
o Supports a policy to offer incentives for individuals who seek professional (doctor, nurses, research scientists, engineers, teachers, etc) or vocational training. This policy might include loan forgiveness, decreased interest rates, etc.
Social Policy
o Supports a policy that allows adults of full age, without any limitation due to race, color, nationality, sex, gender, sexual preference, political or other opinion, language, or religion, the right to form a civil union. This policy would allow domestic partner benefits to be extend to both heterosexual and homosexual couples that have formed a civil union.
o Support a policy to repeal laws regulating sexual relations between consenting adults. The government has no place in people's bedrooms.
o Support tax breaks on up to two children only to encourage responsible family planning.
o Support a policy that guarantees women of their reproductive rights, which includes access to sexual education; access to safe and legal abortion, contraception, and fertility treatments; and legal protection from forced abortion. I believe the government should guarantee a woman’s right to privacy.
o Support a policy that allows abortion until neurological activity begins (~25 weeks).
o Support a policy prohibiting the death penalty as punishment for crimes.
Government and Business Reform
o Supports policy to limit legislative and judicial terms.
o Supports decriminalization of marijuana.
o Support a federal policy that standardizes ballot access in all of the states. In addition, the policy would also remove information regarding a candidates political affiliation from ballets (i.e. it would simply list the office and the names of the candidates).
o Support campaign finance reform and full disclosure of campaign finances. This policy would also allow some free access to ballot qualified candidates on television and radio
o Support corporate business reform via the following policies:
(1) Ban corporate criminals from government contracts
(2) Crack down on corporate tax avoidance
(3) Allow shareholders a greater say in how a corporation is run (i.e.
the right to democratically nominate and elect the corporate board of directors, the right to vote on approval of all major business decision, the right to vote on pay increases and decreases for corporate executives, etc.)
(4) Expand Corporate Disclosure (i.e. corporate sunshine laws)
(5) Executive reform. Tax deductions for compensation 25 times above the compensation received by the lowest paid worker in a corporation would be eliminated, stock options would be counted on financial statements as an expense, etc.)
(6) Eliminate publicly funded bailouts.
(7) Grant workers the right to control their own 401(k) plans.
(8) Repeal the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 which blocks defrauded investors from seeking private restitution.
(9) Regulate Derivatives Trading to ensure market transparency
(10) Separate commercial and investment banking services.
o Start a new Civilian Conservation Corp as an option to continue to receive unemployment benefits (an excellent idea IMO)
o Offer some form of representation to the residents of D.C. (either by assign D.C. to Maryland/Virginia for representation or allowing the city its own representatives)
o Offer Peurto Rico and other American territories that meet the minimum criteria the choice between statehood or independence.
o Support passage of an Employee Bill of Rights.
o Support tax reform that simplifies the system (either a straight flat tax or a progressive tax with extremely limited deductibles).
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