Term Limits
Impose term limits and require private sector experience between two different elected positions, preventing "career" politicians from merely climbing the status ladder and not doing the work.
Ranked Choice Voting
Push to adopt a RCV system and/or look into alternatives while abolishing the fraudulent debate commission. The people deserve more than two bad choices.
Independent Redistricting Commissions
Implement private sector and independent or non-partisan redistricting commissions in every state.
Data as a Property Right
Create a Digital Bill of Rights that clearly defines how companies are allowed to collect, use, and store this information about us. To address future breaches of personal data I will seek to implement an easily followed rubric for determining compensation for us.
Comprehensive and Educated Reform
The epidemic of overdose deaths has been on a rising trajectory for quite some time. Our first step in reducing this trend is to throttle back on, and one day eliminate, the practice of prosecution and imprisonment for non-violent drug crimes. By treating addiction as a health concern rather than a criminal matter, we can address the root of the problem and reduce the growing rates of recidivism and crime.
Cannabis
Fully decriminalize recreational cannabis with a legal age of 18 to consume or purchase. This will allow farmers to grow it as a cash crop. This will also encourage people to use the softer drug of cannabis instead of harder drugs like heroin or Fentanyl. However, the growth, sale, or distribution should not require a license or any other barriers to entry. This will make it easier for people in the black market to go legit. Potency should still be on the label of cannabis and THC products sold in retail outlets. Cannabis given or sold to friends, family, neighbors or farm-to-table should not require labeling due to personal networks of community trust.Collaborative Factual Drug Education
Promote drug education that is wholly rooted in fact, and created in combination with drug policy organizations including Drug Policy Alliance, Students for Sensible Drug Policy, and Families for Sensible Drug Policy.Reduce Opioid Overdoses
Use standing orders to allow pharmacists to sell Naloxone to as many people as possible to make it as easy as possible to survive an opioid overdose. Because some people will not seek professional medical help, this will save taxpayer money in addition to saving lives.Psychedelics
Currently, the Department of Defense and others are experimenting with psychedelic assisted therapy. The results have been extremely promising. We should allow doctors to write a note allowing the legal use of psychedelics for medical or psychological treatment, especially when combined with psychotherapy. This can be used to help treat our brave men and women who served, but now suffer from PTSD, as well as saving people from opioid addiction, people with depression and anxiety, etc. This will require legal production, sale, and distribution, just like with medical cannabis.
Choice in Healthcare
I believe that each person has the right to make their own
medical decisions and removing government meddling
from healthcare. I believe this is the best way to
improve quality of healthcare, increase access to healthcare, and
decrease prices of healthcare in our country.
Liability
Liability must lay fully on practitioners, manufacturers and producers with regard to medical procedures, medical devices, and medications. Liability must never be lessened or removed as this incentivizes poor practices that cause harm.
Right To Try
When medical professionals communicate directly with an individual capable of making their own decisions, or their guardian when not, any available drug or procedure should be allowed for cases of terminal illness or extreme suffering.
Right To Die
In cases of terminal illness or extreme prolonged suffering an individual of sound mind should have the right to utilize a consenting practitioner for medically assisted suicide. At the same time it is important to ensure that this is not covered by insurance, or that the insurance industry cannot provide or encourage medically assisted suicide without exhausting other treatments including counseling and any means of mental health therapy applicable. This process could be easily developed to prevent suicide by enabling the means to address mental illness, while still leaving the life of the individual in the individual's hands.
The Economy
I advocate for reducing and eliminating taxes whenever possible so people and businesses can do what they do best, removing unproductive and unnecessarily burdensome regulation, and getting government out of the way of innovation and job creation so that everyone can have a chance to succeed.
COVID-19 and the subsequent lock-downs have proven that certain sectors of our economy, such as food production, should be localized as much as possible while others, such as education or Telemedicine, can be remote, cost effective, efficient, and beneficial for many, even if not all. Both the localization of some industries and the remote options in others should be encouraged and incentivized through tax credits.
Taxation
No new funding for federal agencies without auditing cost effectiveness and productivity resulting from current budgets. Third parties exist to do this for corporations arguably more complex than any agency. The IRS doesn't allow a business or individual to audit their-self and we should expect the same of our government. Trim the fat and end pork-barreling; budgets and laws passed should not include provisions for unrelated issues, this is a costly practice that undermines representation.
Government Debt
Government should not incur debt which burdens future generations
without their consent. I support the passage of a “Balanced Budget
Amendment” to the U.S. Constitution, provided that the budget is
balanced exclusively by cutting unnecessary or redundant expenditures, and not by raising taxes.
Reform the System
For too long, the mismatch between the good intentions of our incredibly broken criminal justice system has
allowed for a culture of police brutality and racial discrimination to remain. Bad cops and crooked politicians take
advantage, while well intentioned cops face the unenviable choice of
either going to war with their own departments or staying silent and
becoming part of the problem. All the while, marginalized communities,
especially those of color, continue to be victimized to the point of
death. This cycle must be stopped. The recent attention on police brutality
is a sign that the country is fed up and demands change.
Abolish all mandatory minimums.
A
judge should not be forced to lock up someone longer than they believe
is necessary. Far too often, the people who bear the brunt of these
minimums are poorer black and Hispanic people, which perpetuates
systemic racial injustice. Regardless of color, the people deserve better. Electing good judges and ridding our clogged justice systems of victimless crime backlogs should enable better judicial discretion.
Eliminate civil asset forfeiture.
Allowing the police to profit from seizing personal property creates a
perverse incentive to maximize these seizures and forces people to have
to sustain lengthy and expensive legal battles to reclaim their
belongings. These battles are often out of reach for people without the
disposable income and time to wage them, resulting in poorer communities
suffering significant losses by overeager police departments.
Mandate body cameras for all
police officers.
This allows the police and those they serve to have a
public record of the interactions that they have. Filmed police
interactions have proven indispensable for identifying police
misconduct, and they provide a strong defense for officers falsely
accused of wrongdoing.
Police training must overhauled.
The events of the last few years have shown that we do not train our
officers to deescalate properly, and until we have more harmony between
the police and people, we must ensure that officers are only allowed
onto the force when they are capable of keeping the peace. This keeps everyone, including the police, more safe.
Three strikes laws must be
eliminated.
Similar to the issue with mandatory minimums, judges need
more discretion in deciding who really needs to be in jail and who
doesn’t. Incarceration comes with risks to the person incarcerated,
their family, and the community as a whole. That risk needs to be
balanced on a case by case basis with the risk of the person staying in
their community. This could significantly reduce imprisonment costs.
Abolish qualified immunity.
The people pay for the police and they should have the right to both know the track record of an officer and feel safe that a criminal isn't walking around with a badge. We see time and time again that when an officer is found guilty of wrong doing that they had a track record previously unknown. Personnel records must follow officers who move and stay in the profession, I advocate for keeping their records on the blockchain or any method of permanence that can be accessed.
Government Should Refrain From Tyrany
I will oppose any legislation that uses Government coercion against individuals and businesses. However, private businesses and organizations retain the previously existing right to require their own safety requirements upon entry.
Emergency Powers
Any such occasion that a President or Governor receives any sort of emergency powers those powers must be renewed and adequately justified by their own legislature every 30 days or else be considered to be ended. During times of an epidemic or pandemic, I oppose government, at any level,
seizing the opportunity to curtail our liberties. They present
serious problems for individuals and for society which must be
addressed, but as with all other challenges they must be addressed while
respecting individual rights, and they can best be addressed through a free healthcare market. Experience has shown
that failure to adhere to these principles has led to widespread
violations of rights, loss of life that could have been avoided, poor
allocation of resources in addressing the problem, and severe damage to
the economy and society as a whole.
Mandates
Mandates of medical procedures, treatments, drugs or vaccines upon individuals is inherently wrong. Absolutely no procedure, treatment, drug or vaccine has ever proven to be completely free of risk. Individuals must assess that risk themselves and our government would serve us better with advice that rebuilds the long damaged trust relationship with it's people. Threats of fines and other punishment only serve to further damage that trust relationship.
Anyone who has an increased need to defend themselves shall not be denied either a gun or permit. This includes people who face increased risk of violence, including people who have disabilities, are LGBTQ+ and/or victims of domestic violence. The States should be required to execute issuance of permits for any such individuals and the wait period to own a gun should take no longer than 5 business days.
Self-defense with guns should be fully decriminalized. Currently,
anyone who shoots someone in defense of people or property may be considered
a violent felon. This is a travesty. This must be fixed. I support requiring the establishment of true guilt before incarceration or the removal of any property, including guns. Local judges should still be able to remand anyone without bail when sufficient evidence of risk to others is provided.
Discriminatory law enforcement practices toward certain various demographics in relation to guns must end. Policies like stop and frisk, which are used to search people for guns, should be abolished. Law enforcement must not react violently to anyone just because they have a gun. All people should feel safe owning and carrying arms without fear of how law enforcement will react.
Basis for Cryptocurrency Support
I support cryptocurrency for many reasons, most on the basis that it deconcentrates power from the hands of the few and puts it back into the hands of many. Cryptocurrencies offer an alternative for Americans to maintain their wealth in a time when the value of the U.S. Dollar is more turbulent than it has been in thirty years. The U.S. inflation rate as of May 2022 is 8.6%, the highest rate inflation has ever reached. While cryptocurrencies don't themselves offer a fixed or necessarily stable value, they do offer consumers choice in another medium to store their money. Additionally, cryptocurrencies also offer the potential to reduce corporate power by removing the need for financial intermediaries. Such intermediaries can often command high fees for their services and collect extensive information from customers, even though much of it is irrelevant to their business. Cryptocurrencies offer users autonomy and privacy through decentralized networks where no one central authority controls transactions.
Allow Cryptocurrency To Operate Decentralized
One of the biggest changes to our economic landscape over the past ten years has been the emergence of cryptocurrencies. A Bitcoin worth $.30 in 2011 is now worth anywhere from $30,000 to $65,000. The emergence of cryptocurrency largely has been possible due to its decentralized nature and the ability of individuals to assign value as the free market sees fit. However, due to its high profile growth, state actors now want to regulate a market that was created on the basis of existing outside of government regulation and centralization. We should not regulate a market that has been highly successful without interference and provides ample opportunity to everyday Americans.
Deregulate Crypto Lending-Earning Products
Crypto lending-earning products allow customers to take out loans using crypto as collateral. Platforms use interest from these loans to pay off investors, ultimately resulting in rates that can be up to ten times more than what customers would find in traditional savings accounts. However, some authorities want these assets to be classified as securities, which have strict barriers to entry and give legislators more control over their operations. We should maintain cryptocurrency exchanges as their own commodity in order to provide Americans free reign over their own financial decisions.
Grant Bitcoin Legal Tender Currency Status
While cryptocurrencies are the most well-known and utilized blockchain-based asset, other such
As the most utilized cryptocurrency on the market, Legal Tender status would allow Bitcoin to gain accelerated popular support and supplement the US dollar as an accepted currency across businesses. Rather than just serving as an investment tool for most, this could allow Bitcoin to be used by everyday consumers as an alternative payment option for purchasing good/services and paying off debts.
Fight Inflation through Bitcoin
In our current state of high-inflation, consumers need assets that gain value - not lose it. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are considered by many to be slightly deflationary in nature, the opposite of inflationary, because they tend to gain value over time. An increase in usage of cryptocurrency (see the above legal tender point) can potentially help fight the current stifling inflation rates by stabilizing the value of everyday Americans’ wealth despite devaluation of the USD.
Protection for other Blockchain-Based Assets
While cryptocurrencies are the most well-known and utilized blockchain-based asset, other such assets are beginning to gain notoriety (such as non-fungible tokens or NFTs). These assets also should not be faced with overbearing regulation that limits opportunities for Americans to choose to interact with such options and decreases their value.
Food Production
Our nation does not suffer from food shortage. We do, however, have an obesity and diabetes epidemic making our population more susceptible to nearly all infectious diseases. Ending the practice of externalizing costs, that large food producers can absorb, by reaping taxpayer funded subsidies will help localize and diversify our food production.
Climate Change
Cannabis is a major carbon sink that can help us greatly reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the air as well as replace many petroleum based products. I seek to deregulate Cannabis federally and remove subsidies for its competitors, while encouraging states to do the same.
It's important to work with expert scientists and engineers on the upcoming next generations of nuclear power plants. Our present innovation-discouraging nuclear regulatory policy is an excellent example of regulatory capture by the obsolete light water reactor industry. Molten Salt Reactors using thorium can use gravity and a plug of (normally) frozen salt to stay safe passively, without needing any people or pumps. These reactors can also burn up many kinds of nuclear waste as fuel. If the cost of electricity goes down enough due to the efficiency and energy density of nuclear power, then CO2 can be profitably sucked right out of the air & combined with hydrogen split from water to produce cheap, carbon-neutral liquid fuels replacing both gas & diesel. We must decommission as many nuclear warheads as possible for use in power generation.
Encourage firms and government institutions to utilize or make permanent working from home and telecommuting to reduce traffic congestion and carbon emissions from vehicles.
Ending war, ending the overseas military empire, and minimizing the explosion of munitions will greatly reduce emissions.
End all subsidies and tax breaks for energy exploration and production.
Environmental Disasters
Environmental disasters are a serious problem in America. Even when there is relief for victims and action taken, money is often mis-allocated and portions of it are often diverted away to other things. To make matters worse, EPA regulations mandate how cleanups must happen and what tools must be used. These regulations are perpetually out of date. Oftentimes, it is impossible to clean things up because the means to clean up a disaster no longer exists, but more modern ways to handle it are not allowed. Super-funds and other payouts designed to deal with environmental disasters are effectively used as a form of corporate welfare that fails to properly incentivize firms to take the necessary precautions to prevent a major disaster.
Liability caps are also a problem and should be removed. Federal and state government should only pay for damages after a company is unable to pay further...including after liquidating it.
Replace mandates on how disasters are handled to allow flexibility. Firms may not continue relevant operations after a disaster until the cause is resolved. However, damages and payouts must go toward cleanup and medical expenses of victims first. Once these are covered, the other considerations like saving affected wildlife should be considered.
Discriminatory legislation will always be opposed by Thomas if ever
introduced. What happens between consenting adults is their own business. The government in no way has any authority over the choice of who consenting adults marry nor do they have any authority to define someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity. All governments will be restricted from discrimination against people based on their sex, gender, and/or sexual orientation. LGBTQ+ rights shall be protected the same as those of any other person.
Needed Labor
With a shortage of workers in industries like healthcare, we should be accepting all immigrants skilled in those industries and who have no known criminal record. Our own statistics show that immigrants are less likely to commit crime than the rest of us. Most just want to be productive members of society.
End The Dupe
Often an "illegal" immigrant began as a student or work visa recipient and only became "illegal" when they failed to re-apply. Often this is due to having to move and not getting their mail, or not yet being able to read english well enough to understand their mail.
Safely Phase Down
- Decommission and/or sell any bases, weaponry, and equipment that is not cost effective to bring home. Do not leave viable weaponry unless selling to allies.
- Bring the troops home in an appropriate manner and ensure all veterans receive the proper care that they deserve.
- Exit NATO and the UN and stop interventionism, keep those funds in the pockets of our people.
- No funds for first world country's defense.
- End Selective Service and the draft
- Focus on domestic defense and cyber defense
Protecting Human Rights through Decriminalizing Sex Work
- Decriminalize Sex Work
In order to protect the rights of all workers, we must work to decriminalize sex work. First and foremost, the criminalization of a voluntary and consensual activity between individuals is incompatible with the rights to privacy, personal autonomy, and overall freedom. Secondly, the criminalization of sex work puts vulnerable individuals in even more dangerous situations. After years of review, this is a consensus stance agreed upon among human rights organizations. These orgainizations have found that criminalization can expose sex workers to increased violence and abuse on multiple fronts.
This includes:
- Being forced to work in dangerous locations, such as street corners or alleyways, to avoid contact with police.
- Criminalization undermines sex workers’ ability to seek retribution for violent crimes against them for fear of being arrested for prostitution. This also stigmatizes them among abusers as easy targets who are unlikely to report robbery, battery, rape, or other abuses to police.
- Exploitation by corrupt members of law enforcement who can use their authority/power to extort money or force sexual favors from sex workers.
Decriminalization vs Legalization
For those who support the decriminilization of sex work, the two soultions presented are often decrimilization vs legalization. While many people may inadvertently assume that legalization affords sex workers the most protection, the truth is that many in the field would prefer decrimilization over legalization. This is because many of the bureaucratic regulations imposed through legalization would limit where, when and how sex workers could operate. This often limits sex workers to practice only in brothels, where unscrupulous managers can take advantage of them financially and otherwise. Those who don’t comply with the legal regulations would face arrest and the same dangers described above. A good point of reference here is Nevada, the only state that offers legalized prostitution, also has the Highest Rate Of Arrests For Prostitution Per Capita. Decriminalization, in comparison, eliminates all criminal penalities against sex work, and prohibits law enforcement to intervene in these activities unless other laws are being broken. This most protects the freedom and agency of sex workers by allowing them to choose when, where, and how they work, whether it be through a legally operated brothel or within their own practice. No one should have to fill out a government form or acquire a license in order to engage with another consenting adult.
Support of H.R.5448 and Online Platforming Freedom
H.R.5448 (or the SAFE SEX Workers Study Act) essentially asks for an examination into how the loss of interactive computer services that host information related to sexual exchange impacts the health and safety of potentially vunerable sex workers who use these services. This resolution comes on the heels of multiple attempts by government entities to shut down websites such as Backpage that allow sex workers to advertise through their platform. Online platforming provides many benefits and protections to sex workers. First and foremost, in a world where prostitution is still illegal, it allows sex workers to find, schedule, and screen clients online rather than operating in risky places (I.E. the streets) or through the assistance of dangerous and violent third parties, such as pimps. Online platforms also must work with law enforcement to prevent morally corrupt actors who promote forced prostitution from operating, rather than the free reign such actors currently experience on the streets or dark web. Finally, online platforming allows sex workers to better screen their clients to best ensure that they don’t pose a threat to the sex workers. Sex workers trying to screen potential clientele on the streets are forced to rely on snapshot judgment, often in dark environments. This may push sex workers to feel that they need to work under a manager (sometimes called a “pimp”) for added protection. However, this could also put the sex worker in a vulnerable position, as some managers are abusive and leave the sex worker with little to no voice in the clientele. Online platforming provides sex workers with the most time and choice to decide whom they engage with, thus offering them the most protection and freedom.
Targeting Traffickers through Decriminalizing Consentual Sex Work
Sex Trafficking is a real a serious issue in the world. So why are our leaders consistently prompting laws that target consentual sex work in the name of trafficking? One example of this is the recently passed FOSTA/SESTA joint proposal, which has a written intent of targeting interactive online services who knowingly facilitate, assist or support a violation of sex trafficking laws, but in reality uses very vague language to differentiate consensual sex trade from illegal sex trafficking. This has prompted many of the challenges outlined in the above paragraph. While these online websites were known to block and report any ads that “Directly Indicated Underage Or Forced Prostitution” And Had Previously Been “Applauded For Helping Make Cases Against Predators And Locating Runaway Teens,” now the sites have been shut down and unable to help track and prosecute any real trafficking. Another example is found in “trafficking” raids in Florida such as “Operation Trade Secrets II” in which 28 consentual sex workers charged with prostitution and sixty-three others were charged with soliciting. Rather than wasting valuable resources on tracking, arresting, and prosecuting consentual sex workers, law enforcement should focus effort on real human trafficking, defined as the transporting, soliciting, recruiting, harboring, providing, enticing, maintaining, or obtaining another person for the purpose of exploitation of that person. Our laws should reflect this sentiment rather than allowing vague interpretations that harm consenting adults and direct resources and effort away from true traffickers.