2022 My views on current issues (work in process pending final status)
Who am I
MICHAEL ERNEST KERR
Green Party Candidate for CA Congressional District 10
“Censorship and the Truth are not Compatible”
http://www.CreatingBetterWorld.org
Patriotism is not “My country right or wrong”! It is Nationalism that leads to wars and oppression. Patriotism is “Make my country better and just”! Whistleblowers exposing corruption of government and corporations are engaged in the truest acts of Patriotism!
Why I Am Running for Public Office
We have a government and mainstream media under the control of the military-industrial-prison complex and a few hundred powerful and rich people who comprise the Deep State. They are real and too be feared.
They act to smear and frame those who might successfully oppose them.
When that fails, they have orchestrated the deaths of outspoken leaders such as JFK, RFK, MLK and Malcolm X.
They attack imprison, exterminate whistleblowers and activists like Karen Silkwood, Brian Willson, Judi Bari, Mumia Abu Jamal, Chelsea Manning, Edward Snowden, Julian Assange, Daniel Ellsberg, Ralph Nader, among others.
They conspire to keep or remove from political office those who would defy them publicly, such as Dennis Kucinich, Cynthia McKinney and Bernie Sanders since 2015.
The Deep State relentlessly promotes racial, religious, and social issues to divide, control and conquer us.
The Republican and Democratic Parties along with the Corporate Media have become the Deep State tools to subvert us.
Only when we understand this will we have a chance to unite and slay this demon that would willingly destroy us and the world for power and wealth.
With the Corporate Media long censoring opposing viewpoints of the government narrative on important issues, now we are seeing massive flagrant censorship in social media platforms at a level only seen in the most authoritative of governments.
I will be a bullhorn exposing the corruption in Congress and all our government agencies!
9/11 Attack
My congressional Statement Absolutely nothing about the government/corporate media story is truth. The 9/11 attacks were planned, managed and covered-up by my government. Corporate media ownership joined in the cover-up. Since the release of the 9/11 Commission report, which I consider a confession, I have offered a $100K reward to the first person who can prove (even demonstrate) that the government didn’t do 9/11. Details
Abortion
Pro-choice The Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision was an excellent compromise concerning a divisive issue. The Democratic Party has failed us in not making the Supreme Court’s excellent compromise in the Roe v. Wade decision into legislative law. That should be a priority in the future.
Why does the “Pro-Life” movement keep electing politicians who act as if the “Sanctity of Life Ends at Birth”. Social programs are often needed to guarantee the health and safety of mothers and children! Where is the Pro-Life in Pro-Life? Why do Pro-Choice people defend a woman’s right to control her own body and yet support a government policy that forces people to inject experimental vaccines into their body? Why do Pro-Life people want to force a woman to bear a pregnancy for 9 months yet scream against being forced to take a mandated vaccine that takes a minute? Lots of hypocrisy from both sides!
Assange, Juian
I demand that Julian Assange be freed immediately! Although he has done no wrong, in order to protect him from further oppression, I demand President Biden provide a full pardon! There needs to be significant reparations paid to Julian for all that he has been forced to suffer by England and the U.S. The attack on Julian has also been an attack on Wikileaks. The treatment of Assange and Wikileaks has been a grave threat to the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of speech and the press!
“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” https://defendwikileaks.org/
Banking
Ban Payday Loans They often charge astronomical interest rates for short term loans which can trap low income into a never-ending struggle to survive financially. They should be banned and replace with low interest post office and community bank loan programs.
Breakup Big Banks Big Banks charge excessive fees and interest to middle and low income people while making special deals with the rich.. They promote loans to multi-national corporations for large infrastructure projects in smaller nations against the will of the local people. They take money out of local communities and give back little in return.
Cap Credit Card Interest Credit Card Interest rates are highway robbery, and they negatively affect the poor the most. Those who can’t make large payments so suffer years merely paying high interest. The interest rates should be fixed to the Fed’s prime rate at a much lower rate.
Community Banking Credit Unions and Community Banks provide reasonable financial service to most members of the community. They keep and invest the money in the local community.
Dodd-Frank Dodd-Frank should only be improved and enforced more. [The Dodd–Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (commonly referred to as Dodd–Frank) is a United States federal law that was enacted on July 21, 2010.[1] The law overhauled financial regulation in the aftermath of the Great Recession, and it made changes affecting all federal financial regulatory agencies and almost every part of the nation’s financial services industry.]
Post Office Banking Would provide low-cost checking accounts to help replace the outrageous Payday loan centers.
Public Banking I support the California Public Banking Option Act (AB 1177) which has Passed the CA State Legislature.
We also have the opportunity now to build a new alternative banking system through locally-controlled socially and environmentally responsible public banks, enabling cities and counties to recapture public dollars and have a say over the financing of our own communities. Cities and counties hold billions of dollars of public money in Wall Street banks. Legally, these corporate banks own and control this money which they have used to finance harmful industries including: private prisons, immigrant detention centers, weapons manufacturers, fossil fuel pipelines, and other investments that prioritize corporate profit over the people and the planet. These too-big-too-fail banks are also engaged in risky and fraudulent practices that crashed the global economy in 2008. https://californiapublicbankingalliance.org/
Would help keep money in the community for home, business and vehicle purchases and loans.
Business
Breakup Monopolies Breakup monopolies! Monopolies enrich a few individuals at the expense of communities, workers and local small businesses. Example: Walmart and Amazon warehouses could be a number of individual businesses that supply (at same wholesale prices) all retail stores regardless of size in their region. Then there would be affordable priced local retail stores in every community.
End Corporate Welfare End tax breaks and subsidies to large corporations.
Stop Corporate Blackmail Prevent Corporations from blackmailing and pitting communities against each other for tax breaks and other perks.
Small Businesses First Eliminate unfunded bureaucratic legal paperwork on small businesses. Encourage public bank and credit union financing of small business.
Worker Cooperatives Encourage worker owned cooperatives! Allow workers first right to purchase companies being closed or moved along with public financing. Promote Cooperatives businesses!
California Democrats Fake Progressive Party
California has the wealth and knowledge to do the policies below. California is under total control of the Democratic Party, yet it has not implemented these policies for 12 years! One excuse after another!
Homelessness Haven’t done anything that actually solves the problem as it keeps getting worse. Homelessness is a complex, life-threatening problem. The Democrats could solve homelessness, but only if systems are designed to continually reduce and end it. Built for Zero. About 0.4% of Californians and people who live in the state (161,000) are homeless. California in 2017 had an oversized share of the nation’s homeless: 22%, for a state whose residents make up only 12% of the country’s total population. “Housing First” principle, a policy in which the government offers unconditional housing for all. To put this into perspective, cities that do not abide by the housing first principle usually want the homeless to meet certain conditions and criteria before being made eligible for permanent housing. An individual who is suffering from, for example, substance abuse, must first complete an intensive drug rehabilitation program before qualifying for public housing. Chronically homeless people cost the government a lot of money when they’re living on the street, because of services like emergency room visits and jail time.
Medicare for All Passed twice by the California legislature only to have Republican Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger veto it both times! It hasn’t passed the CA legislature for 12 years since despite increased Democratic control while CA has had two “progressive” Democratic Governors neither of whom has publicly demanded the bill on their desk!
Public Bank Public banking serves as a powerful tool to keep taxpayer dollars in local communities. Cities and counties hold billions of dollars of public money in Wall Street banks. Legally, these corporate banks own and control this money which they have used to finance harmful industries including: private prisons, immigrant detention centers, weapons manufacturers, fossil fuel pipelines, and other investments that prioritize corporate profit over the people and the planet. These too-big-too-fail banks are also engaged in risky and fraudulent practices that crashed the global economy in 2008. We have the opportunity now to build a new alternative banking system through locally-controlled socially and environmentally responsible public banks, enabling cities and counties to recapture public dollars and have a say over the financing of our own communities. Why do Democrats refused to create a California Public Bank?
California Public Banking Option Act – AB 1177 (Santiago, Carrillo, Chiu, Garcia, Gonzalez, Kalra, Lee, Ting, Wicks, Gipson), or CalAccount, closes the financial services gap, bolsters the economy, and ensures an equitable economic recovery by providing a stable, accessible platform for underserved communities especially hit hard by the pandemic. It builds on the success of financial access programs CalSavers and CalKids and brings us closer to bridging the racial wealth gap.
Campaign Election Reform
Electoral Reform Until there is a level field in elections as to financing and public access, we will continue to have corporate monied sponsored candidates win most elections.
Public Financing of Campaigns (“Clean Money”)
Ranked Choice Voting / Instant Runoff Voting Allows voters to vote for their best candidate without fear of throwing the election to the greater of two evils.
Proportional Representation (e.g., Single Transferable Votes) — using PR automatically improves many of the other ingredients of a real democracy Need to research more!
Open debates — run by the League of Women Voters, not a consortium of the two big political parties
Electronic/Paper Ballot — voting systems that are a combination of electronic voting with verifiable paper ballots, standardized so that they can be audited at all levels: local, state, and national
Abolish the Electoral College and Elect President based on National Popular Vote
End Top- two Candidates California’s top-two candidates only go to the general election is meant to deny third party access to the major election. It also leads to the most conservative candidate winning.
Political Campaigning Equality (Free airtime for all candidates, Net neutrality, Free ballot statements except write-ins)
Voter Handbook Candidate Campaign Statements should be free or low cost. Campaign websites should be listed with all candidates
Make Voting Easier (Same day voter registration, Weekend elections, no political purging of voter lists)
End corporate personhood
Green Party’s Electoral Reform
Censorship
My Campaign Slogan Censorship and the Truth are not Compatible
Climate Change
Climate Catastrophe The U.S. needs to lead the world in attacking the climate catastrophe with the same level of effort as was made during WWII. Yet our government and many others are not doing anything of substance. The government acts like it is not an emergency and that the financial market will solve the problem.
Covid
My full campaign statement on Covid Is there any circumstance that the government should mandate vaccines for the public? There may be a circumstance, but it should never have happened during the current Covid-19 situation. Covid was a serious health risk only to those with multiple comorbidities. 95% or more people either never suffered any symptoms or only mild cold flu symptoms. The CDC director a few months ago stated that 75% of those who have died with Covid virus association had 4 or more comorbidities. How many died with 3; with 2; with 1.
People were mandated to take experimental unproven vaccines in violation of the Nuremberg Medical Code established after the trials of medical personnel at the Nuremberg trials of the Nazi after WWII. There were some unusually rapid approvals of several of the mRNA vaccines. However, the approved vaccines have never been distributed. The vaccine manufacturers were allowed by CDC to first deplete their large stock of the experimental vaccines. The manufacturers are in no rush to provide the approved vaccine which they are liable for adverse effects, while their experimental vaccines are immune from liability. Meanwhile the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) released recent reports of 1,217,333 reports of adverse events from all age groups following COVID vaccines, including 26,699 deaths and 217,301 serious injuries between Dec. 14, 2020, and April 1, 2022. This is about a 1000% increase in adverse reaction from all vaccines in each of the previous 10 years. Data experts also claim that less the 10% of adverse reactions to vaccines ever get officially reported. Yet CDC and media keeps claiming these vaccines are safe. More
A simple Summation Imagine a Vaccine so safe that you have to be threatened to take it, for a disease so deadly that you have to be tested to know you have it.
Censorship Massive censorship of even experts in the field of medicine, vaccines and mRNA technology! WHY?
The U.S. has world’s Worse Covid Death Rate This fact alone should have stopped massive censorship and opened up discussion as to why this was happening!
Worldwide Death Rate Demonstrates only a slight death rate increase in 2020 (7.612), 2021 (7.645) and 2022 (7.678) from 2019 (7.579). The death rate actually started increasing in 2019 after decades of gradually dropping from 20.15 in 1950 to a low of 7.546 in 2018. It was only in 2009 (7.969) that the death rate first dropped below 8.0. In past 72 years only 6 years had lower worldwide death rate than the covid years and barely. Where is the pandemic? More
Health Care “COVID-19 has exposed how poorly prepared the U.S. healthcare system is to handle an epidemic,” said Green Party National Co-Chair Margaret Flowers, who also serves on the Board of Advisors to Physicians for a National Health Program. “We’ve missed the window for containing the virus through screening, testing and monitoring infected people and their contacts — as they did in China, South Korea and other countries. And so we can expect millions of cases.” Flowers also warned that “getting ill in the United States carries the extra burden of potential financial ruin. We need to move to a National Improved Medicare for All health system and paid medical leave as rapidly as possible.”
Death Penalty
Abolish Death Penalty Allowing the state, the right to kill anyone is obscene. Too many innocents have been on death row! Financially it is less expensive to imprison someone for life than to execute.
Families and Community It’s a long process that further damages the families of the victims & the incarcerated. It is an emotional, moral, and financial drain on society.
Deficits
Abolish Debt Ceiling The debt ceiling is used as an excuse to limit needed social spending. The military budget needs to be sharply reduced. We spend more money on “Defense” than the next 10 nations combined. Foreign aid should only be for humanitarian and social needs. Domestic social spending and helping the poor increases the tax base as money exchanges hands more frequently!
Democrat-Republican Divide
Military-Industrial-Prison Complex We have a government and mainstream media under the control of the military-industrial-prison complex and a few hundred powerful and rich people who comprise the Deep State. They act to smear and frame those who might successfully oppose them. The Deep State relentlessly promotes racial, religious, and social issues to divide, control and conquer us. The Republican and Democratic Parties along with the Corporate Media have become the Deep State tools to subvert us. Only when we understand this will we have a chance to unite and slay this demon that would willingly destroy us and the world for power and wealth.
Roe v Wade Another brick in the wall dividing red and blue America
Drugs
Addiction Is Illness Drug usage abuse is an addiction and mental illness. Local community should provide medications to help those addicted to recover.
End Drug War Destroy the profit driven criminal drug empire by providing free drugs at community medical centers with offers to help end addiction! End drug use incarceration!
Legalize Marijuana Legalize marijuana use & cultivation for personal use, but severely limit corporate control & promotion. Research hemp and its uses especially those which can help alleviate environmental damage!
Pharma End Pharma financial control of Medical Schools & Journals and government officials.
Economy
Equitable Government should act to bring people out of poverty by providing free or low-cost essential services. Tax the super-rich and billionaires out of existence.
Jobs Create a livable Minimum Wage. Guarantee public jobs to those unemployed!
Universal Basic Income A universal guaranteed livable income for all U.S. adults would create a more equitable society. It would help to eliminate poverty and a major impetus causing most crime. Tax the rich whatever it takes!
Products 3Rs Will need a 100% repairable, reusable, and recyclable society!
Education
Charter Schools No tax money should go to private charter schools
Critical Thinking Next to reading and math, critical thinking should be taught at every level of schooling. Critical thinking might be the most important subject of all, yet it is seldom taught if at all. Critical thinking is an important skill to have among the electorate, if you want a Democracy to survive and prosper.
Free Public Universities Education is an important public resource that makes our country and the world a better place. The U.S. should provide free public education from pre-K through college
Fund Public Schools Public schools should be fully funded through our income tax system rather than with separate regressive school bonds and local taxes. The quality of education and teacher salary should be the same in poor communities as well as rich.
Private Universities Low income students should be eligible for government assistance
Student Loans Forgive existing public student debt and negotiate for payment of private loan student debt. Establish program to help reimburse students for school loans already paid if they haven’t financially benefitted!
Support Teachers Teachers should be support by their communities with respect and decent livable wages. The quality of education and teacher salary should be the same in poor communities as well as rich.
Teaching and Learning The education system needs to recognize that students don’t always learn in the same way or rate. I find the grading system to be detrimental to wholesome learning. Test with pass/fail system with no negative reference if someone needs many opportunities to pass. Teaching should help encourage debate and discussion. Nothing in real life is black and white.
Electoral Reform
See Campaign Election Reform
Energy & Climate
Climate Emergency The U.S. needs to lead the world in attacking the climate catastrophe with the same level of effort as was made during WWII
EPA – Environmental Protection Agency
Toxic Chemicals I support the ability of the EPA to find “reasonable certainty of no harm” before chemicals could enter or stay on the market. Because of the chemical industry’s influence in Congress, I oppose any law that would pre-empt the ability of states to impose stricter standards. CA has some of the most stringent chemical safety regs in the nation. In fact, at least 18 states have enacted more than 200 laws or policies governing chemical safety due to lack of action under TSCA.
Congress passed a major overhaul of the 1976 Toxic Substances Control Act with bipartisan support on June 7, 2016. The bill was a compromise between industry groups wanting predictable, federal regulations and consumer advocates who long argued TSCA didn’t do enough to protect Americans from unsafe chemicals. The new soon-to-be law includes important policy advances: The bill allows the Environmental Protection Agency to regulate chemicals based on their human health effects alone, and it will ultimately allow the EPA to review 20 chemicals at a time, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Generally, state action on a chemical is preempted only when EPA has acted – either by finding a chemical to be safe or by regulating a chemical to address identified risks. State action is also temporarily “paused” when EPA is evaluating a chemical, although states can avail themselves of a mandatory waiver from the “pause” if they still seek to pursue their own regulation.
For nearly 40 years, industrial chemicals have been regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976, one of the oldest existing environmental statutes. Since the law was passed, though, the EPA has regulated – or attempted to regulate – just five dangerous substances that were on the books before 1976 and four new chemicals, and has fully tested only a couple hundred chemicals for safety. That’s a minuscule percent of the roughly 84,000 chemicals on the market today, or even of the 22,000 that have come on the market since the law was passed. About 62,000 chemicals were grandfathered in when the law was passed. See Open Secrets and Toxic Chemicals
Foreign Policy
End Our Foreign Wars The U.S continues to be the greatest purveyor of violence in the world as MLK said in the late 60’s. I belief the situation is much worse today!
Guns
Universal Background Checks We need universal background checking everywhere; stores, gun shows and individual sales.
IDs on all guns like cars do.
No Assault weapons except for legitimate gun collectors.
Child Safety devices with guns.
Parents responsible for minor’s access.
Need License and training to have or use a gun
Need liability Insurance to own a gun!
Green New Deal
The Green Party first began calling for a Green New Deal in the United States in 2010. It combined a 10-year timeline for a transition to 100% clean, renewable energy and zero emissions, with an Economic Bill of Rights focused on a guaranteed living wage job, universal health care (expanded and Improved Medicare for All), housing, and education. The Green New Deal – Green Party
Healthcare
Medicare for All We need a Medicare for All similar but all the better than other industrialized nations. If government is the single payer of healthcare, it will be motivated to promote healthy people and environment.
Housing
Affordable Housing Housing should be a right. Providing decent housing to all makes for a better safer community and it is cost effective.
Rent Control Current rent control programs act to imprison low income renters to the same housing that degrades over the years from poor maintenance. All apartment complexes should be under a rent control based on inflation plus maintenance costs and not tied to a particular renter. This would help discourage speculation and free renters to move as needed without undue financial burden.
Stop Real Estate Speculation End housing speculation. End property tax on primary residence. Tax progressively hell multi-home ownership to discourage this practice! Aid public banks & credit unions to prioritize home ownership!
Walkable Neighborhoods Government should be active in maintaining friendly, safe and environmentally sound communities Create Car less communities and cities in future. Promote bicycle and pedestrian friendly communities.
Stop the Ellis Act Evictions The Ellis Act (California Government Code Chapter 12.75) is a 1985 California state law that allows landlords to evict residential tenants to “go out of the rental business” in spite of desires by local governments to compel them to continue providing rental housing.
Immigration
Amnesty Policing the U.S.’s over 15 million undocumented is a waste of tax money. It also wastes FBI, community police and border control time and energy. We need a comprehensive immigration policy.
Asylum Seekers Respect the humanitarian rights of refugees as required by International Law and the United Nations. Need to end Title 42, where over 1.7 million people seeking refuge in the United States have been expelled at the southern border, almost always without being allowed to make an asylum claim or have their day in court, despite the legal right to seek asylum in the U.S. Human Rights First documented more than 10,000 kidnappings, rapes, and attacks on people turned away at the border because of Title 42.
Foreign Policy is the Problem Stop negatively interfering with other nations and their people. No more wars, coups, and sanctions! No more military and police aid. No more using NGOs to subvert governments! Only foreign aid should be provided that promotes Democracy and the well-being of the people (e.g., water, electricity sewage, food production).
Path To Citizenship Green cards and reasonable path to citizenship for those undocumented.
Support Dreamers Quick citizenship available for Dreamers.
Work Visas Low-cost renewable yearly work visas not connected to any company! Government should provide information, assistance and protection when needed. Limit the visas for skilled workers if Americans can do the work. Skilled worker visas have been used to lower wages and benefits in the workplace.
Inequality
Living Wages We need a guaranteed living income for all U.S. adults regardless of work status that includes those on SSI and Social Security. Tax the rich whatever it takes!
Unions Get rid of “Right to be Slave” laws. Promote right to form unions. Encourage a National Union of all workers regardless of corporate or industry status! Unions should have united and shut down the country when President Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers. Horrible mistake by the AFL-CIO. This was the beginning of union membership decline!
Cooperatives Allow workers first right to purchase companies being closed or moved along with public financing. Promote Cooperatives businesses!
Internet
Internet Neutrality I fully support Network Neutrality, most commonly called net neutrality, which is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, and not charge users different rates based on content, website, platform, application, type of equipment, source address, destination address, or method of communication. With net neutrality, ISPs may not intentionally block, slow down, or charge money for specific online content. Without net neutrality, ISPs may prioritize certain types of traffic, meter others, or potentially block traffic from specific services, while charging consumers for various tiers of service.
In 2017, Trump’s Republican FCC Board overturned Obama’s FCC net neutrality policy. Currently there is no Net Neutrality except in California. Late in 2021, Biden named Jessica Rosenworcel the permanent chair of the FCC. Biden’s other nominee for the FCC, Gigi Sohn, had her Senate confirmation hearing in December and now awaits votes from the committee and full Senate. If Sohn makes it through the confirmation process, Democrats will have the necessary 3-2 majority to lead the agency and reestablish the FCC’s authority to impose rules of the road for the internet.
Internet Access I support full free access to the internet. The internet should be a government run utility available to everyone across the country.
Labor
Unions Get rid of “Right to be Slave” laws. Promote right to form unions. Encourage a National Union of all workers regardless of corporate or industry status! Unions should have united and shut down the country when President Reagan fired all the air traffic controllers. Horrible mistake by the AFL-CIO. This was the beginning of union membership decline!
Cooperatives Allow workers first right to purchase companies being closed or moved along with public financing. Promote Cooperatives businesses!
Work Visas Low-cost renewable yearly work visas not connected to any company! Government should provide information, assistance and protection when needed. Limit the visas for skilled workers if Americans can do the work. Skilled worker visas have been used to lower wages and benefits in the workplace.
Medicare
Medicare Direct Contracting and REACH Demand an end to Medicare Direct Contracting and REACH. This program pays third-party middlemen to manage seniors’ care, allowing them to keep as profit what they don’t spend on medical services. Even worse, seniors who chose Traditional Medicare are being automatically enrolled in Direct Contracting without their knowledge or consent. We cannot let Wall Street profiteers take over Medicare.
Military
End Our Foreign Wars The U.S continues to be the greatest purveyor of violence in the world as Martin Luther King said in the late 60’s. The Military-Industrial Complex has become that grave danger to America that President Eisenhower warned about as he left office in 1960!
Police Reform
Prosecute Police Abuse There is no excuse to train police to shoot to kill just because they believe they feel threaten. Just like anyone in society, if you kill someone you need to be independently investigated and tried the same as anyone else.
End Qualified Immunity There shouldn’t be any qualified immunity, in fact these highly trained individuals, trusted with lethal weapons should be held to a higher standard
Stop Police Militarization Equipping police like they are soldiers in a war zone does not create a safe neighborhood, but distrust and fear. It promotes a me and them attitude among police. It encourages violence over deesculation!
Mandatory BodyCams Body cams have helped expose false narratives by police involved in violent encounters. They need to be better and more locations including vehicle and weapons.
Community Policing Unarmed or lightly armed police walking or bicycling a community where they learn to know the people helps create a peaceful friendly neighborhood. De-escalation tactics work best with community policing where people having mental episodes or committing petty crimes are seen as humans and not threats.
Independent Investigations The State should lead independent investigations of all incidents of police involved violence, instead of local internal police/DA run investigations.
Evidence Transparency All evidence concerning violent actions by police should be promptly turned over to the DA, state agencies and attorneys for families of victims of police violence. Police should be required to immediately write report of incidents and to submit to prompt interviews by DA and other investigative offices when place on leave.
Political Activities Police, individually or through unions, should not be able to endorse, fund raise or otherwise support candidates for elected office that might have future official involvement or official business with police.
National Database of Police Misconduct On the anniversary of George Floyd’s death, President Biden issued an executive order addressing policing. While largely symbolic, one useful thing it did was finally create a national database of police misconduct. Although as an Executive Order it can easily overturned by another President.
Abolishing Civil Asset Forfeiture
Legalize Cannabis at the Federal Level
Ending Cash Bail across the United States.
Public Banking
I support the California Public Banking Option Act (AB 1177) which has Passed the CA State Legislature.
We also have the opportunity now to build a new alternative banking system through locally-controlled socially and environmentally responsible public banks, enabling cities and counties to recapture public dollars and have a say over the financing of our own communities. Cities and counties hold billions of dollars of public money in Wall Street banks. Legally, these corporate banks own and control this money which they have used to finance harmful industries including: private prisons, immigrant detention centers, weapons manufacturers, fossil fuel pipelines, and other investments that prioritize corporate profit over the people and the planet. These too-big-too-fail banks are also engaged in risky and fraudulent practices that crashed the global economy in 2008. California Public Banking Alliance This would help keep money in the community for home, business and vehicle purchases and loans.
Presidential and Government Powers
AUMF – Authorization for Use of Military Force The authorization granted the President the authority to use all “necessary and appropriate force” against those whom he determined “planned, authorized, committed or aided” the September 11 attacks, or who harbored said persons or groups. The AUMF was passed by the 107th Congress on September 14, 2001 and signed into law by President George W. Bush on September 18, 2001. Since 2001, U.S. Presidents have interpreted their authority under the AUMF to extend beyond al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan to apply to numerous other groups as well as other geographic locales. In December 2016, the Office of the President published a brief interpreting the AUMF as providing Congressional authorization for the use of force against al-Qaeda and other militant groups. Today, the full list of actors the U.S. military is fighting or believes itself authorized to fight under the 2001 AUMF is classified and therefore a secret unknown to the American public https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authorization_for_Use_of_Military_Force_of_2001
Freedom of Information Act The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. § 552, is a federal freedom of information law that requires the full or partial disclosure of previously unreleased information and documents controlled by the United States government upon request. The act defines agency records subject to disclosure, outlines mandatory disclosure procedures, and defines nine exemptions to the statute.[1][2] The act was intended to make U.S. government agencies’ functions more transparent so that the American public could more easily identify problems in government functioning and put pressure on Congress, agency officials, and the president to address them.[3] The FOIA has been changed repeatedly by both the legislative and executive branches. Apart from the U.S. federal government’s Freedom of Information Act, the U.S. states have their own varying freedom of information laws. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_of_Information_Act_(United_States) https://www.foia.gov/
Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001. The Patriot Act was enacted following the September 11 attacks and the 2001 anthrax attacks with the stated goal of dramatically tightening U.S. national security, particularly as it related to foreign terrorism. In general, the act included three main provisions:
expanded surveillance abilities of law enforcement, including by tapping domestic and international phones;
easier interagency communication to allow federal agencies to more effectively use all available resources in counterterrorism efforts; and
increased penalties for terrorism crimes and an expanded list of activities which would qualify for terrorism charges.
The law is controversial due to its authorization of indefinite detention without trial of immigrants, and due to the permission given to law enforcement to search property and records without a warrant, consent, or knowledge. (Though generally, they need a warrant or consent to conduct the search.)[2] Since its passage, several legal challenges have been brought against the act, and federal courts have ruled that a number of provisions are unconstitutional.
It contains many sunset provisions beginning December 31, 2005, approximately four years after its passage. Before the sunset date, an extension was passed for four years which kept most of the law intact. In May 2011, President Barack Obama signed the PATRIOT Sunset Extensions Act of 2011, which extended three provisions.[3] These provisions were modified and extended until 2019 by the USA Freedom Act, passed in 2015.[4] In 2020, efforts to extend the provisions were not passed by the House of Representatives, and as such, the law has expired.[5]
Title I: Enhancing domestic security against terrorism
Title II Enhanced surveillance procedures established three very controversial provisions: “sneak and peek” warrants, roving wiretaps and the ability of the FBI to gain access to documents that reveal the patterns of U.S. citizens. The so-called “sneak and peek” law allowed for delayed notification of the execution of search warrants.
Title III: Anti-money-laundering to prevent terrorism
Title IV: Border security
Title V: Removing obstacles to investigating terrorism
Title VI: Victims and families of victims of terrorism
Title VII: Increased information sharing for critical infrastructure protection
Title VIII: Terrorism criminal law
Title IX: Improved intelligence
Title X: Miscellaneous
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patriot_Act
Protecting Our Democracy Act House passed a bill in December that would impose significant curbs on executive power after the Trump years, including a provision that would require disclosure of the emergency action documents to congressional overseers.
Prison System
Prisons Eliminate Private Prisons. Corporate Prisons have the financial incentive to lobby for harsher laws and more people to be imprisoned. Public prisons provide financial incentive to reduce prison population, rehabilitate, prevent recidivism.
Community involvement End all the obscene surcharges that help isolate family and friends from the incarcerated. Encourage family visitations and contact.
End Prison Slavery All prisoners should be paid minimum wage (rate of their home state) for any outside labor. Funds should either go into a prisoner’s monetary account or to support outside family. Monthly pay outs for commissary, etc. expenses should be established out of prisoner’s monetary account. Monitored outside family and friend contributions should be encouraged to prisoner’s account.
Probation Period After Release Housing and other living costs should be guaranteed by state for at least a year or length of probation period, along with public jobs at twice home state minimum wage. Establish programs that help encourage private employment options. Probation mission should be to continue rehabilitation into normal society and prevention of recidivism.
Prisoner Isolation
Race & Racism
Black Lives Matter This movement has played an important role in the public acknowledging the long-term systematic racism in society against people of color. It has especially brought to attention police oppression and brutality inflicted on people of color and galvanized support for the families who have lost loved ones to unjust police violence.
CRT -Critical Race Theory There needs to be acknowledgement of past wrongs by our society and in our education system. Let’s all work for a better society and world for all. [critical race theory (CRT), intellectual and social movement and loosely organized framework of legal analysis based on the premise that race is not a natural, biologically grounded feature of physically distinct subgroups of human beings but a socially constructed (culturally invented) category that is used to oppress and exploit people of color.]
Equality For All All-lives matter, but special consideration needs to be acknowledged for those communities that have suffered oppression and societal forms of racism.
Reparations I believe any reparations should include programs to help those who most need extra assistance to become full and equal members of society.
Social Security
Social Security & SSI The minimum SSI and Social Security payments should be the minimum wage in each state. Time in the U.S. legally, should be only limiting factor. All income earned and unearned should be taxed. The age to get Social Security should be lowered to 50-55.
Supreme Court
The Supreme Court has become driven by partisan and corporate ideology! The Court is no longer able to serve its function to protect the Constitution of the United States and the cherished freedoms of the American people! The Citizen’s United decision has made a mockery of our election system. The Democratic Party and Presidential candidate should never have meekly accepted the outrageous Supreme Court’s interference in choosing the leader of the Executive office in 2020. This was a violation of separation of the three branches of power guaranteed by our Constitution. It has only been downhill ever since.
There are suggestions of 1) adding 3 more Justices to temporarily balance the Court politically. 2) Set one term limits of 18 years for justices. 3) automatic retirement age for justices.
I have this proposal: Justices keep life term appointment. A President gets to nominate and secure one Supreme Court Justice for each 2-year Congressional term. If the first nominee is rejected by the Senate, the President can make a second nomination. If the second nomination is rejected by the Senate, the President’s third nomination is automatically declared a Supreme Court Justice. The same for the second justice nomination process. There is no set number of Supreme Court Justices. If the President has attempted to make both his nominations within at least 6 months of the end of his term and one or both have not been appointed by the Senate, he can automatically appoint is last nominee(s) in that period after the next Presidential election and before the inauguration. The idea is to eliminate the “Mitch McConnell” stall tactic and make the court more diverse and in tune with changes in society. The court could get as large as 23, but more likely eventually around 18.
Taxation
Tax The Rich It is insane to allow individuals to be so wealthy that they can control and compete with our government. Tax the billionaires and other super rich out of existence, income and wealth wise. Have no mercy!
Transportation
City Design Create Car less communities and cities in future. Promote bicycle and pedestrian friendly communities.
Public Transit Free Public transportation should be a priority.
Trains Promote trains and its infrastructure as an extremely energy efficient transportation system of goods and products. Make high speed trains part of major infrastructure policy and public sponsored employment!
Vehicles Rapid transition from fossil fuel driven vehicles to hybrids and then to all electric. Make vehicles easy to repair, reuse or at least recycle.
Car Sharing Make liability vehicle insurance be paid at the gas pump, at least while fossil fuel dominates transportation. Liability is one of the biggest hinderance to car sharing. Regulate “Ubers” , “Doordashers”and Taxi services as to guarantee worker rights and benefits and for fossil free vehicles.
Ukraine
Ukraine 2014 Coup The U.S. sponsored and promoted a violent coup in 2014 to overthrow the elected president and government on Ukraine. This was because the elected government did not want to abandon Russian trade and association and join the U.S./NATO economic system. After the coup, Croatia voted overwhelming to join Russia and the eastern Dombas declared autonomy. Russia did not invade Croatia, it has long had a large military presence in Croatia as part of the formation agreements in creation of Ukraine after the dissolvement of the Soviet Union. Part of these agreements were for all nuclear weapons to be removed into Russia proper. After the coup, Ukraine continued to wage a war against the separatist Dombas region ignoring their Minsk Peace agreement, killing over 14,000, destroying much of the area and forcing many people to flee to Russia and elsewhere!
Russian Ukraine Invasion I believe that the U.S. and NATO deliberately and with full intentions acted to force Russia to invade Ukraine. NATO has expanded to the Russian border despite agreements with Russia in accepting the unification of Germany. The U.S. help promote, orchestrate and quickly approve the 2014 violent coup that overthrew the elected government of Ukraine which had had good relationship with Russia. The U.S. and NATO then helped establish a new government that was quite hostile to Russia. Ukraine became the final red line for Russia. The U.S. and NATO have acted to pressure & promote the Ukraine government to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian resulting in needless deaths and destruction of large parts of Ukraine. While I hope for a peace settlement, I now find it hard to believe that there can be any peace settlement that does not split Ukraine into two with the eastern section under the sphere of influence of Russia.
U.S. NATO militarization and involvement in Ukraine crossed a red line for Russia as to its national security. Russia tried to negotiate a satisfactory settlement and their demands were rational and reasonable! Russia wanted guarantees that there would be NO NATO membership for Ukraine, as it represents a dagger into the heart of Russia; that there would be NO other NATO/U.S. supported militarization of Ukraine; and that Ukraine would stop the military and militias (especially the neo-Nazi Azov) from attacking the people of Crimea and Dombas! These attacks on the Dombas had gone on for nearly 8 years killing over 14,000 people, forcing many thousands more into exile and destroying much of the area. The U.S., NATO and Ukraine refused to acknowledge Russian security concerns. There is NO invasion and only peace in Ukraine if Russia’s concerns were accepted!
The Russia-Ukraine War has been another financial boom for the U.S. Military-Industrial complex. The recently passed $40 billion in military aid was almost unanimously supported by Democrats and Republicans. Nothing unites Democrats and Republicans more than their desire to financially enrich their MIC overlords with taxpayer money. There is no capitalism here only the worse that any socialism could be: enriching the rich so they can terrorize and kill the rest of us! The U.S. Taxpayers pay the MIC to design and build weapons systems. Then we pay outrageous amounts in purchasing these weapons. Then the U.S. government gives additional Taxpayer money to Ukraine to purchase the same military equipment from the MIC which we already purchased. Soon the MIC will again ask for more taxpayer money to replace the military equipment sold to Ukraine. Seems like the U.S. taxpayers have not only paid for all the research and development of these weapons but paid three times for these weapons. War is a racket and the U.S. taxpayers the suckers.
.
Wall Street
The issue is whether Goldman Sachs, Wall Street, and predatory pharmaceutical firms actually add product or whether they’re just exploiting other people. That’s why I used the word ‘parasites’ in my book’s “title [Killing the Host: How Financial Parasites and Debt Bondage Destroy the Global Economy]. People think of a parasite as simply taking money, taking blood out of a host or taking money out of the economy. But in nature it’s much more complicated. The parasite can’t simply come in and take something. First of all, it needs to numb the host. It has an enzyme so that the host doesn’t realize the parasites there. And then the parasites have another enzyme that takes over the host’s brain. It makes the host imagine that the parasite is part of its own body, actually part of itself and hence to be protected. That’s basically what Wall Street has done. It depicts itself as part of the economy. Not as wrapping around it, not as external to it, but actually the part that’s helping the body grow, and that actually is responsible for most of the growth. But in fact it’s the parasite that is taking over the growth.”
Excerpt From: Chris Hedges. “America: The Farewell Tour.”
.
.
.
progressiveissuesblog 