I support H. R. 2240:  One Subject at a Time Act,  which limits the length and scope of bills and will make it possible for all voters (as well as representatives) to read and understand the bills before they go up for a vote. If voter participation on a bill surpasses a super majority threshold and the outcome contradicts my position, I will either change my vote or abstain from voting. This will mean that no lobbyists will be able to buy my vote because the people will have veto power. Ultimately, I would like to see far fewer laws being decided at the Federal level. I want to work toward moving the power of decision-making to the people affected by the decisions.  For instance, decisions about health and medicine should be made locally by health professionals (researchers, doctors, nurses, etc), their patients and the wider community they serve.

I would like to see all Federal alphabet agencies converted to cooperatively-run agencies, involving all stakeholders, with no more top-down control of industry. I also support democracy in the workplace with cooperative corporations, for which I would like to see a reduction in taxes and a reduction in labor regulations. I support publicly-owned utility cooperatives and Internet platform co-ops. In fact, I see public communication as essential to freedom and democracy and I believe public Internet access should be protected under the Constitution as the modern U.S. Postal Service, with full protection of free speech and privacy.  In general, I see government providing the funds for building infrastructure and I see the people who use the infrastructure running it.  We have too much top-down control.  I do not advocate a Direct Democracy system in which a national majority of voters decide on Federal laws controlling everyone. That would be a tyranny of the majority. I advocate local decision-making.

Funding wars and making surplus offensive weaponry creates enemies and makes us less safe, not more safe. To decrease our vulnerability to attack, we should also strive toward energy independence and decentralize and localize our communication, energy, and food production systems. We need to build a strong production economy at home. I support the Repeal of the Authorization for Use of Force H. R. H.R. 1274.

We must phase out fractional-reserve banking and debt-based currency by gradually raising the reserve amount to 100%. Banks should only be able to loan money that is deposited in regulated savings accounts. All newly created dollars would enter the economy at the middle income level, not at the top. Using direct Treasury funds for infrastructure (together with cutting the war budget), would entirely eliminate the need for the bottom 90% of Americans to pay income tax as well as reduce the need for states to collect property taxes to build and maintain public infrastructure. The role of the Treasury would not be to try to manage the economy, nor to set interest rates, nor to loan money, nor to borrow money. Its role would only be funding the creation of public assets. Any inflation caused by the influx of new Treasury dollars into the economy could be offset by raising the user fees and taxing the top 1 -10% of income. Using Treasury dollars to fund infrastructure, instead of taxing, would not give Congress more power since Congress already decides budgets. I support the Federal legislation to abolish the Federal Reserve and a reconsideration (without the public dividend) of the National Emergency Employment Defense Act H.R. 2990.

With such a system, those who take care of their health would not be expected to subsidize those who do not take care of their health. And no one would suffer economic hardships as a consequences of illnesses that are beyond his/her control.  No citizen would be forced to buy insurance or pay a Federal or state tax for this health care program. Businesses would not be required to provide health insurance for employees. All government employees and elected representatives would be covered through this plan. Individual states should have the option of levying consumption taxes to further support catastrophic health care and the option of including charity-run health centers in their programs. The public health care system would operate alongside a private health care system, and citizens would have a choice to use one or the other. Private health insurance companies could still operate and people could choose to buy insurance rather than pay out of pocket for routine care.

  We can  require all convicted criminals to perform community service to support and rebuild poor communities and to provide resources to welfare programs, for example, growing food, establishing community gardens, building affordable housing and renovating and repairing derelict houses, apartments and storefronts to offer to the working poor on an affordable rent-to-own basis. No inmates should work for private corporations, the Department of Defense or any local government agency, as they do now. Instead they should be performing work that will most likely end the conditions that led to their crimes.The criminal justice system would become the mechanism for maintaining welfare programs thereby reducing the amount of tax revenue that is currently put toward these programs. Racial bias and economic discrimination in our current criminal justice system is a leading contributor to poverty, crime and drug abuse. If we fix the criminal justice system, we can also fix many economic and social problems in the process.
Defund the Police?

  The most significant electoral reform would be to implement RCV in all 50 states. With RCV, you get to rank candidates in order of preference, and if your first choice doesn’t win, your vote goes to your second choice and etc until a candidate wins 51% of the vote.  I support the New York state effort to pass RCV, and at the Federal level, I support HR 4464 the Ranked Choice Voting Act. Since 2018, I have been advocating for RCV locally and I helped launch a statewide movement Ranked Choice NY.

  Such agreements  not only distort U.S. industry but can also adversely affect the local economies of trading partners and force migration of cheap labor to the U.S., which, in turn, further harms the U.S. labor market.  A low tariff on all imports would tend to encourage domestic production of goods and keep wealth circulating domestically.  It is the circulation of wealth, not so much the amount of wealth in existence, that results in more products and more improvements at home.

In exchange for a free college education, graduates should be required to work for a state institution for some number of years. Such a scholarship program would also help states provide quality public programs at lower costs. Funding should come directly from the US Treasury (See Stop Creating Debt-Based Currency above), but Congress should have no influence on the curriculum. Research and administrative decisions should be made cooperatively by faculty, students and administration. I do not support the idea that the purpose of higher education is to help graduates earn more money. The purpose of education is education, irrespective of whether it provides an economic benefit to the individual. Government does not need to provide job-training for the corporate or private sector, which needs to step up and solve its own labor problems by offering employees tuition support, paid internships or entry level positions.

  Federal, state, and local governments should  primarily be concerned with enforcing the law and operating as a construction and maintenance department for public infrastructure, building, equipping and maintaining transportation systems, communication systems, and energy grids, as well as public hospitals and schools.  I do not see a role for government in running those systems or institutions. Instead, the people who use and manage the systems should have local democratic control of them and run them like non-profit cooperative corporations. I am against the privatization of public infrastructure and public services, as this is a form of crony capitalism. We also need a  viable non-profit sector to provide those services, mainly having to do with our intellectual life and access to information, that neither the state nor the free market is suited to provide. For example programs in education, culture, scientific research and journalism are best supported by non-profits, not government or business. I support a 100% tax deduction to charities and non-profits, but I also think that many non-profits, e.g. political think tanks, sports organizations and religious organizations or charities that have inequitable administrative pay, should have their non-profit status revoked.