I would really like to run for office someday, and I figure it would be nice to be a candidate that actually came to the plate with some ideas, not just vague soundbites that might get a "whoo-hoo" but are worth nothing in the area of implementation. So here is my platform so far, think it would be electable?
I. Government
A) Government salaries for all Representatives will be equal to the previous years median income for all citizens. Senators will get an extra $25,000 for the extra work of the office and the President will make $500,000. Mostly because that has got to be the most stressful, most un-rewarding job while you're in it. Plus, he/she must not make so little as to be easily bribed. Pensions end and no grandfathering unless you are over 80. Institute a standard 401k, then maybe we can get rid of that fraud styled retirement. No medical insurance. Not until all other citizens have it.
B) Re-instituting the filibuster in the Senate. The real filibuster. 51 votes is supposed to decide legislation. The filibuster wasn't a winning tactic, it was a way of getting attention. And you had to stand there, no bathroom breaks, no sitting down, no food, UNLESS another senator gave you a break by taking the floor and asking a 5 minute question. 60 votes are enough to end it, but now it takes 60 to pass anything because the other side will say, "we will filibuster". Then do it.
1) And here is an important addendum. All bills must be singular. All bills. And no bill can be longer than 3 pages. This has a multi pronged effect. Now there can be no baloney claims by opponents because of some minuscule good rider on a horrible bill. If you vote for or against a bill, it will be clear what you stand for and will face referendum on election day. And finally, if you filibuster, you are stating loudly that you oppose a bill and with the bills being short and singular, you better be damn sure your constituents are going to be okay with it. And every day, and organized by the day, week, month or year you can see each bill, which is short enough to read, and see how your electee has voted. And there will be facebook and twitter links so if you do something that is bad for the people, they will know it, and fast.
C) Campaign finance reform. Immediately instituted caps. $500,000 for all congressional races. $1 million for Senate races and $10,000,000 for Presidential races. That money won't go far, so you better come to the table with a clear set of objectives and you are going to have to have a lot of town hall meetings and lots of debates. THE CANDIDATE must sign off personally on all expenditures, penalties for exceeding the caps include 5 years in prison and at minimum, being barred from ever holding elected office. All non-campaign political adds will carry a 200%(you pay 200% times what the channel charged you to run the commercial) tax rate. Nearly all campaign and 100% of non campaign commercials are negative adds, the statements of fact and wildly manipulated. So spend a fortune on them, even though no one wants to watch them. This will also greatly reduce the influence of wealthy over poor and quiet the voice of business or corporate interests. This is a government of the people. That's it.
D) Felons no longer in prison have the right to vote.
II. Business:
A) Corporate personhood is explicitly legislatively abolished. Person hood is reserved for living human beings whom have to deal with morals, guilt, compassion, empathy, sympathy, love, hate and joy. No emotions, no person hood. Also, businesses can't have bankruptcy protection like a person. You screw over a customer and jury awards a huge settlement? You sell everything you have by that business or subsidies have to pay them off (and yes it comes first, if as a business you allow supplies on the promise of payment (credit), you take the risk. Welcome to Capitalism. You go under? Fine, someone will take your place and do better. And if you are a personal or home business and you aren't incorporated, that's a you problem for not taking the 1 days effort to research the 1,000 reasons its what you should do.
B) Regulation. Regulation is probably the single most important issue to have successful Capitalism. Booms create busts, busts create recessions, recessions are bad for everyone. Recessions are bigger, the bigger the bust, hence the bigger the boom. Booms come from un-fettered and unregulated business. But we do it wrong. One we have a FED, we abolish that and create the National Bank of the United States, under control of Congress and the sole power to print money comes back to the Government like Jefferson told us. But regulation is very important but needs to be greatly streamlined. Now we have a regulation, it doesn't work right or is easy to work around, so a more complicated patch is addendum-ed to the law. Wrong approach. Get simpler, not more complex, that gets you closer to the spirit of the law and loopholes become impossible. Regulations will include 3 areas.
1) Environmental Degradation. This is a threat to national security. If our soil, water or air become to intoxicated we will reduce our mortality and increase our morbidity. So there will be two types of ED regulation.
a) Human Mortality: Pollution of any medium cannot exceed the threshold of reducing mortality. And executives of companies must live in the same state counties where their production facilities live. If you pollute, you pollute your own family. (ok, that last one is impossible but it IS a good idea).
b) Human Morbidity: If you a polluting to a level where you are increasing society wide morbidity,you must reduce or get shut down. Maybe you have to pay for disposal and storage, well, better invest some of that in R&D to get more sustainable. (and think of the jobs created by that new industry, BIG DOLLARS)
2)Financial and Bank regulation. This is absolutely critical in an economy where a lot of wealth has been "created" not by goods or services but on complex financial equations and trading. For business, you make the board of directors personally financially responsible for fraudulent activities. No bailouts, period, and if you sell intentionally rip off you clientele with fraudulent practices, you get financially ruined. Bankruptcy doesn't save you. And this is INTENTIONAL fraud. If you offer an investment with a contract that EXPLICITLY announces the risk, then its buyer beware.
For Banks, remember, we already abolished the FED. Now we begin massive anti-trust on banks. All banks must be State bound. All ownership of banks must also be in-state or better yet, in county. Many small banks make for a very healthy competitive banking system and is very stabilizing. Bank profit is supposed to mainly from interest on loans, and if you try to gouge, you loose business to another bank, remember competition is good. And regulation will constrain bank investments to in-state, and to further encompass banks in their communities, usury laws will be widely re-instituted, and selling of credit is not allowed (you can't sell a debt you hold to another entity.) Though banks will be allowed to purchase in state corporate bonds, investment in small and medium business is good.
3) Trade and Tariffs. Free trade agreements will be dismantled. It is unhealthy for the largest national economy in the world. If you want to import your goods here, or as an American business you produce your goods overseas for tiny costs, and then bring in to America and mark way up, you will now face tariffs that will greatly reduce your marginal profit.
10 years from the inception of this new regulatory structure, there will be a 10 year transition. Each area in turn implemented, while all current regulatory laws expire in 500 days from passage of a replacing legislation. At the end of 10 years, all laws not replaced, expire.
III. Spending: This is ridiculous. How can we possibly be hemorrhaging money like this?
1) Military. Immediate closure of 2/3 of foreign military bases. We don't need to be everyone's police. And we stop supplying tons of weapons at cheap prices. Let business sell them to them, we need not subsidize. And of course you have a No-Sell list of countries. Better yet, a list of Pro-sell countries. People who will use it for defense. And remove all military presence from the middle east. They need to figure out their issues, not have us do it for them. Also, we cut contractor spending by 2/3 for R&D. Let business pay for it if they want and the military can buy it if its good. We don't need a huge physically imposing military or 20% of the nukes we have. War doesn't work that way anymore. That's what an Ocean on both sides does for you. Hell of a moat, let's use it. Out of these massive savings, we will raise the funds for VA hospitals, mental therapy for returning soldiers (of which we will have many less) and fully fund the GI bill. Serve 4 years, get a free education. And if you take a bullet or shrapnel, you are guaranteed a minimum of a room in a "Vets Home" with 3 squares a day. Stop posting a bumper sticker that says you support the troops and actually do it.
2) Social Security. The trust fund and it yearly interest cannot be touched. Remove it from the budget. It is self sustaining. Do you realize the amount of interest even at just 3% for the trust? No realize a loaning of the budget (except by the National Bank, to smaller banks to subsidize reserves for the night to meet reserve requirements. These massive profits now earned by the FED, and are as low risk as it gets, makes a fortune every day. Now that money goes into the Trust so it is solvent to 75 years, and excess goes to medicare, and then when that is solvent to 75 years, the excess goes half to the debt, and half to the rainy day fund. This rainy day fund (used for national emergencies by natural disasters, routine infrastructure upkeep and public education building modernizing and repair for schools.) When this "rainy day" fund reaches 10% of GDP, every dollar over will be distributed, in equal dollar amounts to taxpayers who pay taxes at the end of the year. If you receive an amount that equals the taxes you owe, you receive no more excess of that year. This puts and investment incentive to taxation that will favor those who pay the most taxes. With a system like this and smart spending cuts, we could lower taxes greatly overall for everyone.
3)Business Welfare: businesses don't need money from the government, and the government should not be creating monopolies. The state centered businesses will serve their customers correctly due to competition and the farming subsidies are not needed with the tariff structure. Let business succeed or die, that's what leads to good customer service for god's sake. And remember, just because a business is local, doesn't mean it can't sell across state lines. but states are within their right to tariff and create free trade deals between states. This helps with creating specialization, greatly increasing efficiency and should lower costs.
4) with the elimination of riders, or "earmarks", they will all expire soon enough and reupping would require single bill votes, and good luck passing those. With this waste, and the waste of military and SS money no longer an issue, along with no more FED, means debt should quickly no longer be an issue.
IV. Social Issues:
1) The right to bear arms will not be restricted, but the means of turning them into mass murdering machines will be. No automation, no extended clips, no silencers. But you can own normal guns and all types of hunting weapons. That's fine. And let's not argue that automation or extended clips are necessary for the populace to be able to stand up to the military, give me a break. Number 1, most of our soldiers are good citizens, have some respect; and Number 2, you would last 24 hours no matter the size of your militia, and you only last that long because they would try to end it peacefully first.
2) A human life is worth more than a potential life. Period. The Federal Government won't fund abortions in any way. But the right of a woman to have domain over her body is absolute.
3) Flag burning is allowed. The Flag, and more our country isn't just the people, or the land, or the products, like no other country it is about ideas, freely expressed. The Flag stands for those ideals, and a citizen has the freedom to criticize that idea through desecration.
4) Gay Marriage is legal. Marriage is legal. Marriage by the government is the contractual establishment of a familial unit. Doesn't matter if the structure is one you agree with. Gay, Polygamist, Threesome. Whatever. It just establishes medical and inheritance combination, that's all. And raise the age of marriage to 20, with the only exception being if one member of the unit is actively in the military.
5) There is no establishment of Religion. Its a free country and most of the first settler waves came in search of religious freedom, and they were ALL Christians. They wanted protection from their own religion, so they want it from other religions as well. And we can achieve that by never establishing government religion. And also from not infringing on religion. The government is secular, that is critical for a Republic. This means no saying you can't practice how you want (assuring you don't threaten another's life or liberty). It also means no prayer in school (biggest reason? The Muslim or Jewish or Wicca or Hindu child who gets threatened for not praying like a Christian), no holiday decorations of obvious religious implication. So no cross or nativity scene, but wreaths, trees, lights, Santa's, that's all fine to celebrate an important societal Holiday. And this is for GOVERNMENT buildings. Private businesses, clubs, schools, houses, organizations can put up whatever they want. As long as it is non inflammatory, like a burning Cross. It also means no ten commandments in a Court. The government will NEVER infringe on your religion, but it won't establish it either.
Do you notice a theme? Freedom. Not spoken of, but practiced. In your personal life you do what you feel is correct, as long as you don't restrict freedom or mortality of a fellow citizen. If you want to live freedom, here is a well expressed speech from a movie.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUxGqU6LwVI
I have some other ideas about immigration and unions but that is a lot more complex. But for the above, do you think I could get a vote with this platform?
