This is a duplicate posting of a post on my political blog. Wonky Thoughts includes topics of economics and policy, so the post belongs here as well. We are advancing far too slowly in a number of political, social, environmental and technical areas, and radical policies are needed to promote progress.
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This is a list of radical policy proposals, mostly at the
Federal level. These proposals reflect
my view that the United States Federal Government is the finest institution on
earth. I believe that the U.S. government should do more to establish justice, promote the general
welfare and secure the blessings of liberty for ourselves and our
posterity. I believe that as a society
grows more prosperous, its government should grow as a proportion of the economy
and national activity. Since
the United
States is the wealthiest society in the world, its government should be
the
largest, proportionally, as a percentage of GDP, but it is not. There
are persistent attempts to limit government and stymie its mission. I believe that the idea of “small government”
as proposed by conservatives is false and detrimental to the general welfare of
the country (see my earlier post, “The Problem of Governing Least” https://debatablypolitical.blogspot.com/2022/01/the-problem-with-governing-least.html).
What qualifies as a radical policy proposal? I chose three criteria for determining ideas
that made the list. First, the ideas had
to represent a sharp break from long-standing policies or practices. Second, the ideas had to make a meaningful
positive impact on some aspect of American (or global) life. Third, the ideas are politically
controversial and highly unlikely to be realized in my lifetime.
Theories of progress across various fields all note a
pattern. A system becomes established,
and gains are made incrementally according to the rules and standards of that
system. Eventually, however, problems
increasingly accumulate as the previous paradigm no longer represents current
conditions or information. After a
period of stagnation, a new paradigm is needed, requiring radical change in how
people think and how the system works.
Discussion of this notion of punctuated change include Joseph Schumpeter’s
idea of Creative Destruction, Thomas Kuhn’s “The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions”, and M. Hammer and J. Champy’s “Reengineering the
Corporation”. In the biological world,
Stephen J. Gould makes an analogous point about punctuated equilibrium in
evolution.
Martin Luther, nailing 95 radical theses to the door of the cathedral. Artist unknown.
Inefficient, failing institutions persist of their own
inertia, long after the need for change is apparent.
At these times, radical or revolutionary
changes are needed to break out of the prior constraining mold and make new
progress.
For American society and
government, that time is now.
We are
stuck in a rut of doing things badly, simply because that’s how things have
always been done.
We cannot progress
without undoing some of the constraining parts of our system, including
modifying the constitution.
But it may
take years before that conclusion is generally recognized.
This post is a list of proposals for radical change. The intent of these proposals is many fold:
> To improve fairness
for all citizens in representative government, taxation, accumulation of wealth
and treatment under the law.
> To improve prosperity for working generations.
> To take responsibility
for our government debt, our climate and the health of
the environment, instead of putting these burdens on future generations.
> To have more
empathy for those citizens struggling to find prosperity, and for potential
immigrants seeking a better life in this country.
> To achieve
progress in improving the efficiency of government, the justice system,
transportation, public safety, public health and science.
“The creative personality is always one that looks on
the world as fit for change and on himself as an instrument of change. Otherwise, what are you creating for? If the world is perfectly all right the way
it is, you have no place in it. The
creative personality thinks of the world as a canvas for change and of himself
as a divine agent of change.” – Jacob Bronowski, “Law and Individual
Responsibility”, Silliman Lectures at Yale University, 1967, In The Origins of
Knowledge and Imagination, p. 123.
“Go do something meaningful.” – Philanthropist Eugene
M. Grant
Some of the following ideas, particularly the political
reforms, could be implemented right away (but won’t). Many of the ideas require more funding than
is currently possible, given the level of government debt. Therefore, proposals to bring in more revenue
must happen first to pay down the debt, and ambitious programs requiring
funding must wait until funding is available.
New blog posts on the government debt crisis and taxing unrealized
capital gains will be published soon.
Here are one hundred and twelve ideas for radical policy changes needed
for American progress.
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Constitutional Reform
The balance of power established under the U.S. Constitution
in 1789 has changed, due to the addition of states and population growth. These changes have led to a permanent
situation of disproportionate power given to small states, which exercise
disproportionate control over two and one-half of the three branches of government. See my blog post, “The United States of
Minority Rule”, https://debatablypolitical.blogspot.com/2024/08/the-united-states-of-minority-rule.html.
1. We should change
the rules for representation in the Senate to address the imbalance of power between large
and small states. Two possible fixes are
proposed.
A.
Change the representation of States in the US Senate, giving more seats
to larger states, and fewer seats to smaller states. For example, give one seat for every 2.1
million people (the population of New Mexico, the state at the 30th
percentile in population), rounded, with one Senator for states with fewer
people. That would leave 18 states with
one Senator each, increasing with population to 18 seats for California, for
a total of 167 Senators. We should
reapportion Senate seats after each census, as House seats are reapportioned.
B.
Alternatively, redistrict state boundaries, creating 50 states with an
average population of 6.7 million people each.
Keep Senate seats at two per state, but redistrict state boundaries
every 30 years. Establish a schedule for
reapportionment of states.
2. Require the Senate
to vote within 30 days on all Presidential judicial nominations. If the Senate fails to confirm the first two
choices the 3rd choice is appointed without confirmation.
Statehood for All Citizens
The United States should have equal rights for all
citizens. Currently, citizens of
Washington D.C. and US Territories lack the rights given to citizens of
states. These proposals address that
issue.
3. Admit Washington
DC as a state.
4. Administer a
referendum in Puerto Rico requiring either a transition to statehood or
independence.
5. Add Guam, American
Samoa, and U.S. Mariana Islands as counties of Hawaii for statewide voting
purposes. If Puerto Rico becomes a
state, add the US Virgin Islands as a unit of Puerto Rico. Otherwise, add the U.S. Virgin Islands to
Florida.
Elections
6. Implement Top-4
open primaries and ranked-choice general elections nationwide.
Recent decades have been marked by
increasing political division and toxic partisanship. Top-4 open primaries and ranked-choice
general elections are two powerful methods to assert democracy and counter
extremism promoted by our current system.
The Republican party has used
closed primaries as a tool to enforce party discipline and punish Republican
legislators who oppose certain extreme partisan policies. High-profile Republicans who were primaried
or chose to retire in the face of extreme party opposition include John
Boehner, Eric Cantor, Paul Ryan, Kevin McCarthy, Liz Cheney, Fred Upton, Jeff
Flake, Bob Corker, Fred Thompson, Peter Meijer and Adam Kinzinger. Many state legislators have also been
primaried for the simple act of cooperating with Democrats on legislation. Closed primaries allow a small cadre of
partisan extremists to control access to the ballot, and enact an extreme
political agenda.
Republicans have increasingly employed false-flag and spoiler candidates as a
way to deceive low-information voters and unethically win elections. Ranked-choice voting greatly reduces the
effectiveness of these tactics.
Ranked-choice elections are a
better expression of democracy, because at the end of the process, the winning
candidate must carry the assent of the majority of participating voters.
7. Pass a Federal
voting reform act.
Establish nationwide standards for voting
hours and early voting.
Establish a standard for less than one hour
of waiting time at polls. If polls are
in non-attainment of the standard, the Federal government must take control of
the local voting process for two years.
Implement nationwide vote-by-mail. Replace signature verification with a code
sent by text to a verified phone # or email.
Leave signature verification as a last-resort option for those who
decline phone or email verification.
Establish standardized process for curing ballots.
Standardize universal voter registration.
Standardize voter photo ID, with government
responsibility to provide IDs to everyone.
8. Standardized
re-districting nationwide.
Standardize non-partisan appointment of
re-districting authorities.
Implement a standard formula to prevent
gerrymandering.
Government and Government Efficiency
9. Set a maximum age
of 72 to serve as President, a member of Congress or the Supreme Court.
10. Establish a
government efficiency commission to review parts of Federal and State
governments for current relevance and efficiency.
The
commission should provide recommendations to Congress and State legislatures every two years.
11. Require audit, review and
remediation of all government services that cause lines and delays.
Examples include DMV offices, TSA
screenings, customs and immigration at border crossings and airports. Require remediation of all government
services which externalize costs by placing the burden of waiting on the people
they serve. Remediation can include both
increases in staffing and infrastructure investments. Audits should be required to ensure
compliance.
Supreme Court Reversals and Codifications
12. Codify Roe v.
Wade, guaranteeing the nationwide right to abortion.
13. Overturn
Citizen’s United ruling. Set limits on
PAC donations, total funding and spending, whether for candidates or
issues.
Restore limits on corporate
political activity set by McCain-Feingold in 2002.
Break up PACs with existing
endowments over a limit, dispersing the assets into non-political vehicles by
judicial ruling, if original donors no longer exist.
14. Grant authority
to Federal Agencies to set regulations, restoring the standard of Chevron v.
NRDC.
Tax and Economy
The United States is in a government debt crisis. The crisis is not rooted in spending, but in
over 40 years of deliberate under-taxation intended to restrain the growth of
government. The US has a Federal tax
rate that is 50% of the OECD average tax rate (as a percentage of GDP); and a
total tax rate that is 75% of the OECD average.
Federal debt in 1980 was about 30% of GDP, today federal debt is
123%. Total government debt, including
intra-governmental and state debt is now about 135% of GDP, a level which
economists consider unstable. That level
of debt is competing with private investment and impairing economic growth.
Unrealized capital gains are a major source of economic
output which is untaxed, or at least not taxed in timely fashion. Indeed, up to $10 million in assets are given
a step-up in basis at death, so that no tax is ever placed on this share of the
economy.
15. Tax Unrealized
Capital Gains.
A. Set the tax equal to the progressive tax on
ordinary income.
B.
Assess the tax every 5 years from the date an asset is acquired, and
re-set the cost basis when the tax is paid.
C.
Exclude illiquid assets, but charge a higher rate on excluded
assets. Assess the tax at the time the
asset is sold, at the time of inheritance or transfer to another party. There should be no exceptions for charitable
donations.
D. Eliminate capital gains tax on primary
residences.
E.
At the time the tax on unrealized gains is implemented, enact a one-time wealth tax (including
unrealized gains) of 1% on more than $10 million in assets for married couples,
3% on more than $100 million, and 5% on more than $1 billion.
F.
Eliminate tax-free step-up in cost basis for heirs inheriting
appreciated assets.
G.
Reduce the excluded amount on estate tax from $13.61 million per
individual ($27.22 million per married couple) to $2.0 million, which was the
excluded amount in 2008. Assess a tax
percentage equal to the tax on unrealized capital gains, and more for
unrealized capital gains on illiquid assets which have not been previously
subjected to tax.
H.
Review and reduce the number of 401c3 charitable organizations
qualifying for tax-free donations, eliminating politically-oriented
organizations and charities with limited societal benefit.
16. Provide corporate
tax deductions based on how many good jobs are created, and tax companies that
do not provide enough good jobs in proportion to their profits.
Corporations have a responsibility
to society to provide employment with good pay.
Society has a fair expectation that businesses provide those jobs, in
exchange for the privilege of operating where the government has created a
landscape for profitable businesses.
Incentives should be given to those companies which fulfill the
responsibility of creating good jobs.
Companies fail to provide good jobs on both ends of the spectrum. McDonald’s and Walmart create many
minimum-wage jobs, but society subsidizes these companies by social programs
addressing the poverty of those employees.
On the other hand, Goldman Sachs produces enormous profits with very few
employees, and paying those employees exorbitant salaries. All three companies are failing in their
social contract to support the society that supports the company.
A.
Define “good jobs” as jobs paying between 2x minimum wage to 10x minimum
wage (while noting that the current minimum wage needs to be raised, proposal
#77). Jobs paying less than 2x minimum
wage or more than 10x minimum wage do not
qualify for tax benefits.
B.
Each “good job” should provide a corporate income exclusion for tax
purposes equal to 20% of the annual wage of the “good job”.
C.
Corporate taxes should set a standard taxable profit for each good job,
based on national statistics. These
profits are subject to standard corporate income tax rates. Companies earning profits in excess of the
standard profit should be assessed additional tax on a progressive scale, up to
50% of corporate income.
17. Require Congress
and the Federal Open Market Committee to coordinate monetary and fiscal
economic policy measures.
Establish a Federal Taxation Agency
that specifies how much tax must be raised each year, and Congress is left to
decide how to do it. Currently, the
monetary policy folks (the Fed) ignore fiscal policy, and Congress and the
President use fiscal policy as a ratchet only in one direction, for stimulus,
and never for tightening. Coordinated
policies would be more effective and cause less economic disruption in managing
the economy.
18. Set an automatic
trigger for tax increases to reduce government debt.
If US government debt, including
intra-government debt and state government debts, exceeds 120% of GDP on a
5-year rolling average, income tax schedules are increased by 5% per year until
the debt/GDP ratio is under 120%.
Higher rates must prevail until debt/GDP is under 100%.
19. Study and
identify cost drivers for disproportionate increases in costs for health care,
medicine and education.
Require
implementation of combined market & government actions to reduce costs.
20. Tax churches as
ordinary businesses for income and property.
21. Remove the salary
ceiling on payment of FICA and Medicare taxes.
22. Tax investment
income equally or more than wage income for FICA and Medicare.
Climate Change
23. Place a carbon
tax on fuels, proportional to relative CO2 emissions, increasing the tax until
emissions goals are met.
The United States has released a
disproportionate share of greenhouse gases in the past, bringing the the world
to the brink of a climate crisis.
Therefore, the United States should take responsibility for its past actions
and take a leading role in reducing carbon emissions ahead of the rest of the
world.
The fuel tax could be imposed at the production site, the transport system, or
at the end user. I don’t care.
Tax goods which produce significant
carbon emissions in manufacturing, apart from fuel usage.
Implement trade agreements with
other countries requiring an identical carbon tax, or impose tariffs equivalent
to the carbon intensity of each imported product.
Provide
tradable tax credits for
CO2 sequestration that achieves permanent sequestration. Disallow
credits for CO2 industrial use that does not achieve permanent
sequestration.
Education
24. Provide
government-paid tuition for college and vocational training for up to four
years.
Community colleges, state
universities, and technical and trade schools should be eligible for
government-paid tuition. A stipend for
living expenses should also be provided.
Social Welfare
25. Provide federal
government-paid breakfast and lunch to all school children.
Implement meal delivery for needy
students during summer and school holidays.
26. Establish
guaranteed basic minimum income for all citizens.
Similar
to the Alaska PFD, the universal basic income should be funded by a
sovereign wealth fund, and distribute dividends on an as-needed basis.
An additional stipend should be given for the first two children. See
proposal #77 on minimum wage.
27. Repeal Daylight Savings Time
Time
changes to and from Daylight Savings Time are known to cause higher
accident rates, a variety of health risks, lost productivity, fatigue
and sleep disruption. Sleep experts recommend year-round standard time
for better health.
Repeal Daylight Savings Time, and institute year-round Standard Time
28. Implement
a program of reparations for descendants of enslaved people and Native
Americans, proportionally determined by DNA analysis.
29. Establish a
national commission on homelessness.
Focus on subdividing the problem,
separately identifying people down on their luck, those suffering from
addiction, those suffering from mental illness, those who are simply
independent spirits, those who are predatory on others, etc. Propose subdivided solutions for different
parts of the problem.
Social Security
30. Replace the
current Social Security system with a national pension based solely on age and
health.
We should provide for the
well-being of the elderly, not because of their earlier contributions to the
economy, but because we honor and respect old people. Social Security awards benefits depending on work history, and fails to cover those who did not have
conventional, paid employment. There are
many citizens who are unable to work, or have no work history because of a
lifetime of caregiving to others. Also,
various government employees are ineligible for Social Security, and receive
inadequate or no pension benefits. These
citizens deserve support in their elderly years, too.
31. Tax wealthy elderly citizens to fund pensions for poorer seniors.
Elderly
Americans hold a disproportionate amount of the nation’s wealth.
Americans over the age of 55 hold ten times the wealth of Americans
under the age of 40. However, there is a bi-modal distribution of
wealth among the elderly. Half of retired Americans are very wealthy,
but the other half are impoverished. Currently, payroll taxes on young
workers trying to raise families, to fund Social Security. Instead, we
should increase taxes on very wealthy elderly citizens as a function of
age, with an additional 5% of tax on income beginning at age 70,
increasing by 5% every five years, and use the proceeds to fun either
Social Security or a national pension.
Health Care
32. Take the
responsibility of providing health insurance away from employers, and make it a
government function covering everyone.
33. Implement an
optional single-payer insurance system.
Have a nationwide, minimum-care insurance system as an entitlement for
all citizens and legal residents.
34. Establish a
nationwide system of government-run local clinics, delivering most care through
nurse-practitioners, with a doctor on-site for more severe problems.
35. Double the number
of accredited medical student positions, and allocate a higher percentage of
those to American citizens.
Ensure
that there is at least one medical school in every state.
36. Fund research into broad-spectrum cold vaccines and one-time flu vaccines.
37. Reassess
nutritional guidelines for baby formula, including maximum recommended daily
intake. Establish standards for infant
weight gain, and require counseling of new parents by pediatricians on infant
feeding to abate the obesity epidemic.
38. Run
government-funded clinical studies on health benefits of non-pharmacological
foods (e.g., blueberries, menthol) and health-food supplements.
Transportation
39. Redesign the 30
largest American cities.
Establish a car-free city center
with parking at the perimeter, and alternative transportation within the city
center. Connect all downtown buildings
with indoor concourses, with shopping and airport-style people-moving
technologies. Build express trains to
suburban centers, build light-rail for near-center residents, improve local bus
service in midtown and suburbs. Build
transfer stations and parking at the edge of the city center and near major
suburban hubs.
40. Implement a
significant tax on heavy vehicles.
Heavy personal-use vehicles have a
large impact on traffic-accident fatalities.
The baseline probability of being killed in a vehicle collision
increases by 47% for a 1000-pound increase in the weight of the other
vehicle. The increase is 61% if the
other vehicle is an SUV, pickup, or minivan.
Large vehicles also cause a disproportionate number of fatalities in
accidents involving pedestrians and bicyclists.
Further, heavy vehicles contribute unnecessarily to carbon emissions and
reduce American energy independence. We
should implement a 50% tax on vehicles weighing more than 4500 pounds, with a
ramp to zero tax for vehicles less than 3500 pounds. Exempt business vehicles making deliveries
for more than 150 days per year, and farm vehicles on farms with more than
$100,000 in annual agricultural sales.
Electric vehicles are necessarily heavier due to batteries, but are also
necessary for climate action. Add a
battery allowance of 500 pounds for fully electric vehicles to the tax
thresholds.
41. Regulate bumper
height and shape to reduce pedestrian and bicycle fatalities from large
vehicles.
High bumpers on large vehicles
cause 45% more fatalities in collisions with pedestrians and bicyclists.
Ban right turns on red to save pedestrian lives.
42. Install smart
traffic lights at every controlled intersection in America.
Lights should detect pedestrians,
and waiting and oncoming traffic. Lights
should optimize transit through the intersection with minimum overall waiting
time.
43. Research
automatic vehicle braking at red lights.
Develop automatic driving AI that
will prevent running red lights. Include
equipment for a deliberate override of the system for emergency
situations. Mandate inclusion on all vehicles
when technology is available.
44. Elderly Driver Competency Testing
Test
elderly drivers for sight, hearing, reaction time, attention and memory
to maintain drivers’ licenses. Testing should be done at age 70, 74,
78, 80, and annually thereafter.
45. Significantly
increase air travel taxes to reduce demand and fund development of
infrastructure in alternative transportation.
Air traffic has exceeded maximum
volume for reliable travel. The system
is fragile due to overloading of airports, designated airways, personnel, and
air traffic control. The system is
subject to cascading shutdowns due to weather, technological failures or
terrorism. Alternative methods of
high-speed transportation between cities must be developed (i.e., high-speed
rail and or vacuum-tube trains).
Revenues from an air traffic tax can be used to research and build
alternative infrastructure.
46. Build high-speed
rail or vacuum tube trains between major cities.
Plan to reduce air traffic by 50%
or more with improved high-speed rail.
47. Work with
trucking companies and technology companies to develop long-distance roads
pre-adapted to autonomous electric vehicles.
48. Require tug
escorts for freight passage through critical infrastructure, water hazards and
sensitive environments.
49. Ban re-treaded
tires.
Failed re-treaded tires litter
major highways with dangerous debris, litter, and distribute environmentally
damaging micro-plastics. The
externalized cost of these tires exceeds the benefit to society.
50. Require oil companies to disclose the country of origin for gasoline sold, on annual reports and at the pump.
Disclosure at the pump should show the source for gasoline sold by that company for the previous year.
Housing
51. Require all new housing developments to include at least 25%
multi-family housing options, and a spectrum of housing costs.
Eliminate zoning
and HOA restrictions against multi-family housing in existing developments.
Consumer Protection
52. Limit interest
rates on all issued loans to no more than eight percent over the rate of
inflation.
If risk to the lender is such that
eight percent interest is insufficient, the borrower should not be borrowing
the money. Further, the risk of
correlated defaults is dangerous to the entire economy, as we learned in
2009.
53. Establish a
commission to investigate and intervene in industries with non-competitive fee
schedules.
Examples of non-competitive fees
include real estate brokerages, with a 6% standard fee for selling a home, or
mutual funds and financial advisors charging 1% of assets annually.
Indications of non-competitive fees
would include identical pricing across a majority of vendors, and unvarying
fees over long periods of time and differing market conditions.
54. Make flood
insurance available to every American homeowner.
Standard homeowners insurance
excludes coverage for floods. Flooding
is becoming more prevalent due to climate change, leaving homeowners vulnerable
to catastrophic losses. Insurance
companies have peeled away the most profitable parts of home insurance, leaving
taxpayers and homeowners on the hook for the most damaging events.
Require insurance companies to
either include flood insurance with standard homeowners policies, or to
contribute to a Federal flood insurance fund.
Tax new and existing buildings in
500-year flood zones to help fund federal flood programs.
If funding is insufficient,
additional funding can be allocated from a carbon tax.
Provide $1 million in free federal
flood insurance to residents living outside of 500-year flood zones.
Provide federal flood insurance at
actuarial cost for homeowners in 500-year flood zones, partly subsidized by
homeowners’ insurance companies.
55. Ban rebuilding
after disasters in zones with high probability of recurring climate-driven
destruction, including flood plains and certain barrier islands.
Justice
56. Require timely
prosecution of cases, taking away the discretion of judges, prosecutors and
defense attorneys to indefinitely delay trials.
Standards for timely trials should
also include limits on delays for hearings and stages of the trial. No more than one year should pass from the
date charges are filed until a case is heard.
Also set limits on trial length, depending on the severity of the
charges. Set standards for civil cases
as well. Increase numbers of judges,
staffing for investigations and court resources until the standards are met
without impairing quality of the proceedings.
Jurisdictions failing to meet standards should be placed under federal
oversight and operation of courts until standards are met.
57. Establish 20-year
term limits for Supreme Court.
Expand the Supreme Court to match
number of circuit courts (currently 15), with additional expansion in the event
that new circuit courts are added. Among
competing proposals, the bill proposed by Senator Wyden allows for a gradual
expansion of the court over 3 presidential terms to minimize partisan impact.
58. Form a national
clemency court with authority over both federal and state cases, and remove the
power of Presidential pardons.
The power of Presidential pardons
has been abused by presidents of both parties to unjustly absolve supporters
convicted of crimes. That power
encourages partisan crimes, and should be removed from the office of the
president.
Establish a special clemency court
to investigate unjust verdicts, giving a panel of judges the authority to
investigate cases and grant pardons.
Alternatively, allow the clemency court to bring recommendations to the
Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, with the power of pardons to be vested in
the Chief Justice.
59. Standardize
sentencing nationwide.
Establish national guidelines for
sentencing depending on the severity of the crime, decreasing the amount of
judicial discretion in sentencing.
Implement these standards in state law across all 50 states.
60. Institute a
national program to investigate abusive policing.
Require the use of body cameras and
audit their usage in all major police departments. Establish a standard for release of all
camera data to the public within three days of an event. Camera data should be retained for at least
one year, and made available for release by public request.
61. End civil
forfeiture of assets for minor crimes.
Funds from confiscated vehicles and
cash confiscation must go to civic charities rather than local government or
police departments, to remove the motivation for policing for profit.
62. Assign punitive penalties in civil judgments to the State.
The
concept of punitive penalties is to modify the behavior of the
offending entity, so there is no reason why those penalties should
belong to plaintiffs or lawyers. Punitive penalties awarded in civil
cases should not accrue to defendants or lawyers, but should be given
entirely to the state. The purpose of this policy is to reduce
litigation as a kind of slot machine, motivated by the possibility of
large payouts for lawyers and defendants.
63. Restrict Lawyers’ Contingent Fees
Restrict
lawyers’ contingent fees to no more than 20% of damages awarded in a
civil suit. Damages awarded by through the legal system should go to
the victims, not their lawyers.
64. Investigate and
ban policing for profit by local jurisdictions through traffic fines or other
fees.
65. Require
notification of all government surveillance of electronic communications,
except according to a permit from the FISA court.
66. Establish
congressional oversight over FISA Court, with required reporting to
Congressional committees.
Establish a congressional audit of
FISA court activities to ensure compliance with legal restrictions and privacy
protection of U.S. citizens.
Immigration
67. Provide amnesty
and legal residency for all “illegal” immigrants who have lived in the United
States without legal issues (including non-payment of debts or domestic
violence) for five years or more.
Legal residency includes the right
to live and work, but does not include a path to citizenship or federal
voting.
68. Provide a path to
citizenship for all immigrants who have served in the U.S. Military.
69. Provide legal
residency and a path to citizenship for all “Dreamers”.
70. Provide permanent
legal residency and a path to citizenship for all TPS (Temporary Protected
Status) residents who have been in the United States for more than five years.
71. Offer permanent
residency and a path to citizenship for any foreign student graduating from an
accredited U.S. college or university with a bachelor’s or higher degree.
72. Create a guest
worker program for foreign workers needed by U.S. farms and industry.
A cumulative five years of work
service should enable a path for permanent residency and citizenship. It’s noteworthy that presidents Reagan,
G.H.W. Bush and G.W. Bush all advocated a guest worker program for immigrant
labor.
73. Double legal immigration quotas.
Also,
eliminate preferred immigration status for distant family members, e.g.
cousin and uncle/aunt/nephew/niece or more distant relationships.
Prioritized family immigration status should only apply to siblings and
children under the age of 25, and parents.
74. Reform Customs
& Border Patrol agency.
Completely remove existing
leadership and replace with compassionate leaders. Reframe the CPS mission to protect potential
immigrants, rather than deterring immigration.
Hold training sessions for rank & file, and remove any officers who
resist the change in mission.
Scientific Research and Development
75. Set a minimum
budget for non-defense general science research and development to 1.5% of GDP.
Non-defense, non-space science
spending has shrunk from over 2% of GDP in the 1960s to 0.3% today, dropping
below 1.5% in 1974 and below 1.0% in 1980.
76. Set minimum
budget for non-defense space spending to 0.5% of GDP.
Non-defense space spending peaked
at over 4% of GDP during the Apollo program, but today is less than 0.1% of
GDP. Unmanned, robotic missions should
receive at least one-third of the space budget.
77. Boost defense
R&D spending to at least 1.0% of GDP.
Defense scientific R&D was 2.5%
of GDP in the mid-1970s. It declined to
under 1.0% by 1994, and today is 0.4% of GDP.
As today’s world becomes more unstable, military technical superiority
is more important than ever, to intimidate potential enemies rather than fight
a war.
78. Research
biodegradable plastics, with the goal of requiring adoption by manufacturers
within fifteen years.
79. Investigate
vehicle predation on insect, bird and mammal populations, and develop
recommendations to reduce fauna mortality.
80. Develop concepts
for near-lightspeed interstellar microprobes.
Concepts might include linear or
circular magnetic accelerators in space, and systems such as “trains” of signal
receiver/transmitters to return data to earth.
Guns
81. Ban personal
ownership or possession of military-grade weapons, including assault
rifles.
Set maximum standards for magazine
capacity, rate of fire, bullet mass and shape and muzzle velocity.
Immediately ban the sale of assault
weapons and ammunition, and allow a fifteen-year transition period before a
complete ban.
82. Ban handguns or
make ownership requirements more stringent.
If handguns are legal, require at
least one year of weekly training to be licensed for personal ownership or
possession of handguns. Training must be
at least 60% focused on classroom work regarding gun violence, 30% on safe
handling, and 10% on target practice.
Prospective licensees must view at least five emergency surgeries for
gunshot violence in a trauma hospital to be granted a license.
83. Implement
national red-flag laws prohibiting ownership of guns for those identified for
domestic abuse or mental illness.
Establish national database of
red-flag individuals. Implement and
audit gun store compliance. Ban sales of
guns at gun shows and third-party sales, except through government-authorized
gun exchange websites. Audit compliance
with gun regulations.
Business Regulation and Labor
84. Raise the minimum
wage to the level needed for an adult working couple to raise a family of four
with dignity.
It is a fundamental human right to
be able to raise a family. Every couple
working full-time jobs should be able to afford to raise a family, with income
sufficient to cover child care, food, housing, transportation, household
expenses, entertainment and vacation.
Raise the minimum wage for people over the age of 25 to the level needed
to raise a family, in combination with a universal basic income and child
income stipend (see proposal #26).
85. Make it illegal
to limit workers’ hours or duration of employment to avoid paying
benefits.
86. Limit high-end
executive compensation to no more than 40x the minimum company employee salary,
and no more than 10x the average employee compensation for the company.
87. Ban executive
compensation in stock options.
Stock options are of unclear value,
and would circumvent executive compensation limits. Stock grants are permissible, if granted on a
specific date and valued at market price when granted. Stock grants are included in executive
compensation caps.
88. Reform Patent Law to Encourage Early Integration of New Technologies
The
patent system is intended to incentivize innovation and ensure that
innovators receive a reward for developing new products. In practice,
and in the 21st century, the U.S. patent system is stifling innovation,
impeding the integration of technology, and delaying the delivery of new
products to the market. The complexity and number of patents has
increased greatly, changing how innovations are commercialized. Patent
wars and patent trolls clog the legal system and misdirect the attention
of corporations away from constructive work.
Require
patent holders to license the patented technology to any applicant at a
mutually agreed price. If a price for licensing cannot be agreed, the
case is automatically referred to a court-approved arbitrator for
binding arbitration. The arbitration process must be resolved in four
month: two months to prepare for the case, one month for hearings, and
one month for the arbitrator to render a decision. A fifteen percent
tax should be placed on licensing payments as an incentive to resolve
licensing without arbitration
89. Job Creation Incentives
Enact
a tax on employee layoffs for technological replacement. Tax proceeds
should be directed to training and placement programs for workers.
90. Break up large
unions into at least three competing unions in every major industry.
Government is necessary to correct
failures of the free market; unions are necessary to correct failures by
government to adequately defend the well-being of workers. If government is doing its job, unions should
be unnecessary.
Union tactics are extortion, by
nature, applied to companies and society to achieve union demands. There is no systematic check on the power of
unions. Breaking unions into competing
entities would provide a check on the power of unions.
Any union should be allowed to hold
only 50% of labor market share in a market, or be broken up.
Information
91. Provide federal
funding of libraries, including public computer and Internet resources.
Set minimum operating hours in all
libraries, including at least eight hours of operation on Saturdays and
Sundays. Libraries must qualify as
public institutions with adequate resources to qualify for federal funding.
92. Subsidize
broadband access in remote areas of the country.
93. Provide
subsidized WiFi, cellular data or StarLink for low-income citizens.
94. Regulate social
media companies as public utilities.
Regulations should include public
disclosure of algorithms, and require audited standards for free speech while
providing reasonable defenses against the proliferation of misinformation.
95. Establish a
non-profit social media company with a government subsidy.
96. Require
interoperability of social media.
Financial Industry and Non-Profit Regulation
It has been said that excessive credit is behind every
financial crisis. Put another way, every
financial crisis is caused by default on borrowed money. Placing guardrails on lending for the
protection of consumers and the economy is in the clear public interest.
97. Increase minimum
margin requirements from 50% to 75% for initial stock purchases, and from 25%
to 60% for maintenance margin holdings.
98. Limit the use of
leverage by hedge funds.
99. Require mutual
funds to create a tool for shareholders to provide broad direction on
voting those shares, and to vote shares accordingly.
100. Require
permission and compensation to borrow stocks for short-selling. The default in brokerage agreements should be
no permission.
101. Require
non-profit institutions to disclose a line item of total financial fees paid in
annual reports.
102. Require non-profit
funds and endowments to pay out at least 4% of total assets annually, on a
5-year rolling average.
Oceans and Environment
103. Establish a
schedule to eliminate commercial fishing of wild stocks within 25 years.
Commercial fishing has eventually
destroyed every fishery.
Ban bottom-trawl fishing now.
Establish incentives and
regulations to replace commercial fishing of wild stocks with environmentally
safe fish farming to provide needed ocean seafood.
104. Require all single-use plastics to be fully biodegradable by
2035.
105. Establish marine
sanctuaries covering at least 30% of the US Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ)
106. Establish at
least three north-south oriented nature preserves extending from Canada to
Mexico or the Gulf Coast as continuous migration pathways, thirty miles in
width, and with animal crossways above or below all roads.
107. Double the size
and number of National Parks in the lower 48 to better serve the U.S.
population, which has doubled since 1956.
BLM lands can be converted to
National Parks, including areas such at the area south of Moab Utah, containing
natural Arches equal to those in Arches National Park.
Increase the park service budget to
improve current park service and maintenance, and increase the budget
proportionally to care for the additional parks.
Foreign Relations
108. Eliminate aid to
Israel until Palestinians are given land and reparations, including all of the
West Bank, and a Palestinian state is established.
109 Recognize Taiwan
as an independent country and declare that we will defend its independence from
China.
110. Admit Ukraine to
NATO and defend its 1991 borders.
111. Use diplomatic
leverage to encourage the Maduro regime to respect the results of the last
election. Reimpose all sanctions and encourage other countries to observe
similar sanctions until the election-winning opposition government is in place.
112. Offer easing of trade restrictions and economic development support to Cuba in exchange for democratic reforms.
