InTheArenaOnline

 

CAMPAIGN FINANCE NEEDS REFORMATION IN ORDER TO QUELL THE CORRUPTING INFLUENCE OF MONEY IN POLITICS.

 

It’s abundantly clear that while the super rich are an extreme minority in our country, their voice is the most over represented in Congress.

 

In 2010 the Supreme Court made a bad call in their Citizens United decision. It is for these mistakes that we have checks and balances. Corporate money has no place in democratic elections, and the U.S. Constitution should reflect that. I support a constitutional amendment about campaign finance reform that overturns Citizens United, clarifies that corporations are not people and money is not speech.

 

I also support a nationwide system similar to the Political Contribution Refund (PCR) system that we have in Minnesota so that all Americans have an opportunity to donate money to causes or politicians they are passionate about.

 

Environment

I’M COMMITTED TO FIGHTING AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE BY INVESTING IN CLEAN ENERGY.

 

Our environment is indispensable and must be protected. I’m committed to fighting against climate change by investing in clean energy and education that focuses on science and innovation.

 

Investing in clean energy will protect our environment and our coastal cities while making us a global leader in green energy. This will release us from our reliance on foreign oil, and make us one of the world’s top exporters of green energy technology.

 

The country is moving towards a system that relies more heavily on clean and green energy so we must focus on training for those jobs, and retraining folks who lost their positions working in coal and oil industries.

 

I am strongly against sulfide mining. We must protect our precious Boundary Waters and not waver for corporate interests.

 

Science & Technology

IT’S TIME TO RENEW OUR INVESTMENT INTO FUTURE TECHNOLOGY.

 

In the 1960s, the United States government funneled money into advancing technology and it paid off. We put a man on the moon, and made strides towards developing modern day cell phones and computers. It’s time to renew our investment in future technology.

 

Our investments in technology and science are what made the United States a global power in both the economic and military spheres. It’s time we start ensuring we’re ahead of the curve and keeping America as the clear epicenter of technological advancement.

 

I advocate for allocating more money to fund educational programs in science and technology as well as creating an incentive program that makes it more enticing for great scientific minds to become teachers.

 

Education

THE FUTURE SUCCESS OF A COUNTRY DEPENDS ON ITS YOUTH.

 

The future success of our country depends on its youth, that’s why we must make education a priority. We have to make college and technical school affordable so that our workforce can be well-educated and skilled.

 

In order to make college more affordable, we have to change the current support structure because in the current moment all public and community colleges could be free if pell grants were redirected to making college free. Under a fair progressive tax rate, we would also make enough revenue for the State to subsidize college entirely.

 

I also believe in subsidized, universal childcare and putting more money into public education funded by a fair progressive tax rate.

 

Military

WE CAN DO MORE WITH THE MONEY WE SPEND ON DEFENSE.

 

Today, we are overpaying for technology that has failed to advance. Rather than putting research and development solely in the hands of a few companies who only care about their bottom line, we need to double down our investment in organizations like DARPA.

 

We also need to negotiate harder with the large government contracting companies. They sell us software, hardware and services at inflated prices that would never be sustainable in a free market. We need to open up competition to new players in defense technology.

 

Further, we need to end the wasteful system of annual budget. “Use it or lose it” budgets are costing United States tax payers millions of dollars each year.

 

Immigration

WE MUST CREATE A CLEAR PATH TO CITIZENSHIP FOR DACA RECIPIENTS AND REFORM OUR IMMIGRATION SYSTEM.

 

Why is it so hard to become a citizen? The path to citizenship is unreasonably long, complicated and expensive. Not only is it time to grant the people who want to become Americans a real chance to become Americans, it’s time to treat everyone with respect regardless of where they are in the process.

 

We can’t continue to allow ICE agents to freely disrupt our communities and take people away for the crime of wanting to be an American.

 

The solution to undocumented immigration is not scare tactics, it’s a reform of the immigration process that promotes simplicity, and the right to apply for legal residence even if initial entry wasn’t documented.

 

Healthcare

HEALTHCARE IS A RIGHT, NOT A PRIVILEGE.

 

Healthcare is a human right, not a privilege. Every person has the right to affordable, consistent and great healthcare.

 

Medical decisions are between you and your doctor. I believe that if your doctor says you need it, then you need it and it should be paid for––no questions asked. The quality of healthcare that a person receives cannot be dependent on their career.

 

In the immediate future, I support a Medicare-for-All system. Beyond that, I advocate for a single payer system.

 

Labor

I CAN THINK OF FEW THINGS MORE IMPORTANT THAN PRESERVING THE RIGHT OF WORKERS TO BE FAIRLY COMPENSATED FOR THEIR LABOR.

I support unions. Corporate profits have reached all time highs and keep increasing, yet our wages have remained stagnant. Money in politics has attacked few things quite as hard as our right to unionize, and the effects have been devastating. The vast majority of America is the working class, and we the people have valid demands that we can only reasonably make when we organize.

We deserve fair compensation, we deserve benefits, we deserve health and safety standards, and we most certainly deserve the right to air our grievances without the fear of retribution.

I will always fight to defend labor and our right to unionize, and I will always stand against right to work laws and other disgusting tools used to undermine our labor unions.

Trade

IT’S TIME TO RETHINK HOW WE TRADE WITH THE REST OF THE WORLD.

 

It is a moral imperative that we cease trading with nations that allow slave or child labor. In addition, any multinational company that makes money through the exploitation of slaves or children should immediately be disconnected from our markets.

 

If, and only if, a nation is showing real progress and a commitment to end child or slave labor, can we resume trade with that country.

 

This nation is built on freedom, and it’s time our trade policy reflects our ideals.

 

Tax Reform

TAX REFORM NEEDS TO START IN AN HONEST PLACE, AND ANY DISCUSSION ABOUT HOW WE COLLECT REVENUE NEEDS TO RESPECT THE DEBT OUR NATION IS IN.

 

At the end of 2017, the Republican-majority Congress and President Trump pushed through a tax plan that was great for corporations and the richest 1% but not for the average American person. I advocate for a simplified tax code that relies on a progressive tax rate so that a middle-class family isn’t paying a higher tax rate than a corporation or a billionaire.

 

One of the things I’m passionate about is making taxes on businesses more fair for small businesses and startups by linking the tax rate to the level of discrepancy between a company’s highest paid and lowest paid employee. This means that a company where the highest paid employee is paid 300 times more than the lowest paid employee will pay a higher tax rate than a company where the highest paid employee is compensated more closely to the lowest paid employee.

 

Additionally, a company where the highest paid and lowest paid employee are compensated 1:1 which is the instance in many new, or small businesses, that company would pay zero percent in taxes.

 

Infrastructure

WE NEED TO INCREASE OUR COMMITMENT TO RESTORING AND EXPANDING OUR INFRASTRUCTURE.

 

This includes: repairing and expanding roads, bridges and tunnels, keeping our public property clean and in good repair, modernizing our electrical grid, and bringing access to broadband internet to all Americans.

 

We can do this by creating jobs programs aimed at improving our infrastructure and maintaining our existing infrastructure. Infrastructure is what makes America the beautiful, accessible country we all know and love.

 

LGBTQ+

WE CAN’T DISCRIMINATE AGAINST PEOPLE BASED ON SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR GENDER IDENTITY.

 

Right now, we are lucky to live in a time where everyone is equal under the law. No one is excluded because of people who fought for Americans’ rights. Ideally, this would be understood across our country, but as far too many members of the LGBTQ+ community can attest, this is not the case.

 

When the civil rights of our fellow citizens are in jeopardy, the courts and legislators must act to solidify those protections. Legislation like the Equality Act can help ease the burden discrimination plays in the lives of our fellow citizens and send the message that American culture is one of acceptance, respect, and inalienable rights for all.

 

Gun Control

WE NEED COMMON SENSE GUN CONTROL THAT THE MAJORITY OF AMERICANS AGREE WITH.

 

We need to implement universal background checks because they work. The vast majority of gun owners are law abiding citizens who just love to hunt or are concerned with protecting themselves. There’s no reason background checks can’t be done like TSA pre-checks with simple review processes done like obtaining a new fishing or hunting license (it could be done at the same time, in fact). To provide further ease to this system, we need to allow electronic registration of firearms. All firearms are required to be registered already, but for some ungodly reason, it has to be done by paper. We need to usher the industry into the new century, like everything else.

 

Finally, we must also repeal the Dickey Amendment. Gun violence must be researched in order to combat this problem. Even Dickey himself regretted the amendment and recognized the importance of gun violence research.