Jimmy Cooper’s Platform
Unite the American People:
Promote dialog between Americans of all backgrounds to achieve understanding, empathy, compassion, and respect for diversity.
Restore Respectability to U.S. Government and Politics:
End the negativity, divisiveness, obstructionism, and extreme partisanship that currently plague U.S. politics and Government. Restore respectability, civility, good will, and bipartisanship to U.S. Government and U.S. political discourse, and restore our image around the world.
Green New Deal:
Reduce human caused climate change by transitioning to 100% clean renewable energy by 2030, and investing in public transit, sustainable agriculture, and conservation, which will create up to 40 million new, Thriving Wage jobs.
For more information on the Green New Deal, please visit:
https://www.gp.org/green_new_deal
Environmental Justice:
Implement the Green New Deal.
Restore full power and funding to the Environmental Protection Agency to enforce environmental law.
Ensure clean drinking water for ALL Americans, which will include prohibiting business practices that contaminate drinking water, cleaning up currently contaminated drinking water, and updating all drinking water systems across the U.S. to comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (SDWA).
Permanently end all offshore oil drilling, oil drilling in National Parks, and oil drilling on American Indian owned lands.
Quality Healthcare for All:
Establish an improved “Medicare for All” single-payer public healthcare program to guarantee quality healthcare for ALL people, regardless of employment, income, or ability to pay. This plan will also cover vision, dental, hearing, mental health, prescriptions, lab work, diagnostic testing, physical therapy, substance abuse treatment, palliative care, hospice care, and long-term care. This plan will cover 100% of all medical expenses, and will be free from deductibles, co-pays, co-insurance, or any other out of pocket expense.
This plan will cover any and all preexisting conditions, and each of us will retain the right to choose our own primary providers and specialists. There will be no “out-of-network” costs.
Primary and preventative care will include, not only access to a primary care physician, but will also provide patients with ongoing support from nutritionists, health coaches, exercise specialists, and therapists. It will also cover massage therapy, chiropractic, and holistic health.
Providers will have full authority to determine what is necessary treatment, prescription drugs, and diagnostic testing, and to schedule treatments and diagnostic tests, and to prescribe drugs, without any insurance pre-authorization.
This plan will provide fair and full reimbursement to providers for their services, and will put a cap on what pharmaceutical companies can charge for prescription drugs.
We will also end the unethical influence that pharmaceutical companies have over the medical industry by banning pharmaceutical companies from funding continuing medical education classes for medical professionals, and banning pharmaceutical companies from giving incentives of any kind (cash, free trips, meals, gifts, etc.) to doctors for ANY reason.
We will also open and guarantee funding for more mental health facilities across the U.S., to provide adequate treatment for those who need it, and to help prevent and decrease homelessness, and open and guarantee funding for more hospitals in rural areas, to guarantee hospital access and care for people in every part of the U.S.
We will also eliminate all existing past-due medical debt.
Thriving Wages for All:
Working Americans should not have to live in poverty. Nor should we make just enough to survive. Working a job should guarantee the worker enough pay to live a good life. We need to guarantee a Thriving Wage for all American workers.
Raising the Federal Minimum Wage to $15/hour is a good starting point, but if the Federal Minimum Wage established by the Fair Labor Standards Amendments of 1966 had kept up with inflation and productivity, it would be around $26/hour today. We need to raise the Federal Minimum Wage to a Thriving Wage, and to continue to adjust it every year for inflation and productivity. We also need to end the Tipping Minimum Wage, and ensure that the Federal Minimum Wage apples to ALL workers.
Under my plan, we will amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) to immediately end the Tipping Minimum Wage, and make the same Federal Minimum Wage apply to ALL workers, and also set a timetable to get the Federal Minimum Wage to what it would be if it had kept up with inflation and productivity.
During this period, the Federal Minimum Wage will be raised every year until it gets to that point, and will then continue to raise every year on a permanent basis to keep up with inflation and productivity.
All of this will be written into the law, so that the Federal Minimum Wage never falls behind again, and we don’t have to rely on Congress to continuously pass new laws to raise it.
We will also enact a new law to mandate a fair ratio between what the highest paid employee can make above the average paid employee and the lowest paid employee of any company.
Recent studies have shown that the current pay ratio between CEOs and the average worker is 399-1.
According to the sponsors of the Tax Excessive CEO Pay Act of 2021 (S. 794), the majority of Americans, including most Democrats AND Republicans, “favor capping CEO pay relative to worker pay,” and that a nationwide survey shows that the typical American would limit CEO pay to no more than 6 times that of the average worker.”
I propose a maximum 6 to 1 ratio between the highest paid employee and the average paid employee, and a corresponding fair ratio between the highest paid employee and the lowest paid employee of any company.
Employment as a Right:
Create Thriving Wage jobs for every American who needs work, replacing unemployment offices with employment offices. Provide vocational training for those who need job skills. Enact a Federal Jobs Guarantee to ensure that all Americans who need a job are able to get a Thriving Wage job.
Protect Labor:
Repeal the Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, also known as the Taft-Hartley Act, which restricts the activities and the power of labor unions.
Enforce the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 (NLRA) to protect worker’s rights to unionize, and criminally prosecute employers who take, or attempt to take, any kind of adverse action against workers who attempt to unionize, or who go on strike.
Amend the NLRA to guarantee no permanent replacement of striking workers, the right of workers to elect their own union officers, and the right of workers to elect representatives to sit equally with management on the Board of Directors.
Also amend the NLRA to guarantee no forced overtime, and to guarantee that all workers have healthcare coverage, at least half of which is paid by the employer, until passage of universal healthcare, and to guarantee that all workers have paid family leave, paid maternity leave, adequate sick pay, unemployment insurance, workers’ compensation, and minimum pensions that are fully vested and portable, and do not reduce Social Security benefits.
Protect and support all OSHA laws to ensure a safe working environment for all workers.
Repeal NAFTA and GATT.
Enact a four day work week with no reduction to pay, and at least one month of paid vacation per year for all workers.
Universal Basic Income:
Establish a Citizen’s Dividend, which will guarantee every American a share in our nation’s enormous wealth, which we ALL help to create. This will improve the quality of life of all Americans, and ensure that every American can afford basic food and shelter, by paying a guaranteed minimum of $2,000 per month for every adult, and $500 per month for every child, adjusted each year for inflation, regardless of health, employment, or marital status, in order to minimize government bureaucracy and intrusiveness into people’s lives.
Protect and Increase Social Security:
Increase Social Security benefits to ensure that every recipient has an income above poverty.
Eliminate the cap on taxation of income for Social Security.
Oppose the privatization of Social Security.
Education as a Right:
Abolish student loan debt, and guarantee tuition-free, quality education from preschool through university.
Enact a federal law that prohibits book bans, and prohibits bans on teaching about slavery, institutional and systemic racism, and injustice and oppression of any group of people. Enact and enforce federal standards in school curriculum, to ensure quality education for all students.
Civil Rights and Equality:
Guarantee basic civil/human rights for all people, regardless of sex, gender identity, race, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, citizenship status, socioeconomic status, disability, or any other factor. Promote hiring, promotion, salary, school enrollment, and housing equality for all people.
Enact the proposed Equality Act of 2021 (H.R. 5), which will amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to prohibit discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, and gender identity in employment, housing, public accommodations, education, federally funded programs, credit, and jury service.
Ratify the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
Instruct the Archivist of the United States to publish the Equal Rights Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Increase resources for the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission to actively investigate and prosecute sexual harassment complaints, and to protect those who file complaints from retaliation of any kind.
Protect women’s reproductive rights. Restore Roe v. Wade. Continue funding for Planned Parenthood.
Make ending human trafficking a top law enforcement priority, through enforcement of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000. Increase our resources for investigating potential cases, rescuing victims, and arresting and prosecuting those involved in human trafficking at every level.
Adopt the Nordic Model in dealing with prostitution, which recognizes prostitution as male violence against women, privileged violence against the poor, and often a front for human trafficking, and therefore continues to criminalize pimping, and the purchase of sex, but decriminalizes prostituted individuals.
End unequal treatment between men and women in hiring, promotions, and salaries.
Amend the U.S. Constitution to restore Affirmative Action, which recognizes that racial and gender bias are already ingrained in hiring and in school acceptance practices, and therefore levels the playing field in order to promote equality.
Make Reparations to black Americans for slavery, segregation, and the systemic racism which has victimized black Americans throughout U.S. history.
End racial profiling, and biased treatment of people of color, by law enforcement agencies. (See more in the Police Reform section).
End disparities between white and black Americans in credit, housing, hiring, promotions, salaries, school enrollment, criminal prosecution, prison sentencing, and in response, and sentencing to crimes committed against white people compared to crimes committed against black people.
End all forms of discrimination against LBGTQIA+ people, and ensure protection from discrimination in credit, housing, hiring, promotions, salaries, education, and healthcare, and from being refused services from businesses.
Add sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression to the list of those protected by the Civil Rights Act, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
Amend the U.S. Constitution to legally recognize same sex marriages, with all the rights and benefits of any other marriage.
Repeal all legislation and policies designed to harass and discriminate against transgender and other gender nonconforming people. Guarantee full, nondiscriminatory access to public facilities, and full, nondiscriminatory access to healthcare.
Recognize and protect the right of ALL transgender people, including transgender youth and children, to gender-affirming treatments and procedures, and mandate that they are 100% covered under ANY and ALL healthcare plans.
Protect the right of transgender youth and children to participate in school sports without discrimination.
Make Reparations to American Indians for the genocide, stolen lands, treaty violations, plundering of land and resources owned by American Indian nations, and interference against the national sovereignty of American Indian nations, committed by the U.S. Government.
Permanently end all treaty violations, plundering of the land and resources owned by American Indian nations, and interference against the national sovereignty of American Indian nations.
Care for Wounded/Disabled Veterans:
Guarantee 100% of the necessary care that wounded veterans need to heal, that disabled veterans need for quality of life, and that veterans suffering from PTSD need to heal, up to lifetime benefits, as necessary, and guarantee employment for those who need it, so that those who have paid the price for service never have to face poverty or homelessness as a result of their service.
Housing and Homelessness:
Enact the proposed Unhoused Bill of Rights (H.Res. 568).
Guarantee tenant’s rights, including freedom from evictions without just cause, well-enforced habitability standards, and strong anti-discrimination enforcement. Enact and enforce strong penalties for landlords who violate these rights.
Enforce and strengthen the Fair Housing Act of 1968, which prohibits discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, gender, sexual orientation, disability, familial status, and national origin.
Expand and improve the federal Section 8 Housing Choice Voucher Program to increase eligibility, and to increase access to high opportunity communities, by including higher rents where necessary.
Prevent homelessness before it occurs by addressing its socioeconomic causes, through raising the Minimum Wage to a Thriving Wage, enacting a Federal Jobs Guarantee, Universal Basic Income, Medicare for All, guaranteed education, guaranteed vocational training, student loan forgiveness, appropriate care for wounded and disabled veterans, and guaranteed access to mental health care.
Provide funding to open more safe and sanitary homeless shelters with access to beds, showers, and nutritious meals, but move beyond the homeless shelter approach to supportive housing programs that transition people out of homelessness.
Increase employment for homeless people and repeal laws that criminalize homelessness.
Consumer Protection:
Strengthen product safety standards and enforcement for all products sold in the U.S., including food, pharmaceuticals, motor vehicles, and airplanes.
Expand product labeling requirements to ensure that consumers are fully informed about the origin, ingredients, nutritional value, and ecological life cycle of all products, including animal testing, and the product’s organic, recycled, and genetically engineered content. Require the label to inform whether or not the product is vegetarian or vegan, and to identify any and all ingredients that are derived from animal products. Also require all products to have clearly marked expiration dates, and not just codes.
Improve food quality by enacting and enforcing higher standards for what is allowed to be put into our food, reducing toxins in our environment that can get into our food supply, and guaranteeing higher standards of health, sanitation, and hygiene in the production, storing, and preparation of food in farms, factories, restaurants, etc.
End the inhumane and unsanitary practice of factory farming.
Encourage and incentivize regenerative agriculture, and reduce the use of pesticides.
Abolish the use of antibiotics to promote growth in farm animals, and the use of bovine growth hormone and synthetic livestock hormones to increase milk production in dairy cows.
Provide adequate funds and staffing to empower the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food and Drug Administration to oversee and enforce all food safety laws, and to empower the Food and Drug Administration and the Consumer Product Safety Commission to enforce all labeling and product safety laws.
Set federal standards on maximum interest rates allowed for credit cards and loans, along with protections against unwarranted fees and abusive terms.
Ban corporations from garnishing wages or bank accounts for ANY reason, and from seizing assets, except for repossessions of personal property specifically paid for by loans from the corporation. Set a uniform minimum amount of time before a repossession can take place, with specific guidelines requiring the corporations to give customers realistic payment options before suing for repossession, and require the corporations to get Court approval prior to repossession.
Only the federal and state governments will have the authority to garnish wages or bank accounts, or to seize assets with the one exception detailed above, but will have the authority to do so for the following reasons ONLY: collection of child support or alimony, collection of past due taxes owed by high income earners only, and collection of money owned due to a lawsuit when the debtor has demonstrated a repeated refusal to pay the debt.
Repeal the misnamed Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005, in order to restore Chapter 7 bankruptcy as an optional safety net for consumers burdened by unaffordable healthcare bills, mortgages, credit card debts, and student loans.
Provide adequate funds and staffing to empower the Federal Trade Commission, through the Bureau of Consumer Protection, to handle all consumer complaints of fraud, scams, and identity theft, in a timely manner, and to refer cases to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution.
Expand the power of the Bureau of Consumer Protection to hear consumer complaints of unfair business practices and/or abuse, to make decisions on the resolution of those complaints, and to enforce those decisions. Provide adequate funds and staffing so that cases are heard and resolved in a timely manner.
Fair Immigration Policy:
End the cruel and inhumane practices of separating families at the border, keeping children in cages, and deporting immigrants already in the U.S.
Grant legal status to, and allow a pathway to citizenship for, all undocumented immigrants already residing and working in the U.S., and their families.
Grant a path to citizenship for all DACA and TPS recipients, and all essential workers.
Provide permanent border passes to all citizens of Latin America and Canada whose identity can be traced and verified. Make work permits for citizens of Latin America and Canada easily obtainable.
Allow entry, and grant permanent resident status and a path to citizenship for all persons fleeing political, racial, religious, or other types of persecution.
Allow all those who are issued work permits the option to come and go from the U.S. as they desire, and also provide them a path to citizenship.
Expedite all petitions for family members to join immigrants in the U.S.
Guarantee that permanent residency and citizenship will not be denied to immigrants based on political views, race or national origin, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or any other discriminatory factor.
Reform the Criminal Justice System:
Abolish the Death Penalty, “three strike” laws, and Mandatory Minimum prison sentences.
End the cash bail system, make “innocent until proven guilty” a reality, and reserve jail until trial for those accused of violent crimes, and those who don’t show up to Court.
End the so-called “War on Drugs.” Legalize marijuana and decriminalize all other drugs, and stop imprisoning people for personal drug use and possession. Release all nonviolent drug offenders and expunge their criminal records.
Stop the mass incarceration of black Americans. End disparities between white and black Americans in criminal prosecution, prison sentencing, and in response, and sentencing to crimes committed against white people compared to crimes committed against black people.
Abolish “for profit” prisons. Use alternative sentencing (community service, work-furlough, electronic monitoring, halfway houses, etc.) for most nonviolent crimes, and make restitution and rehabilitation the focus of our criminal justice system.
As part of our focus on rehabilitation, and to reduce the number of return prisoners, ensure that prisoners are able to get a high school education and/or college education, vocational training for those who need job skills, and alcohol and/or drug treatment for those who struggle with addiction.
Protect the First Amendment rights of prisoners, and the right to vote by absentee ballot.
Ensure that prisons are humane, safe, sanitary, and free from violence and abuse, and that prisoners get adequate nutrition and necessary prescription drugs.
Police Reform:
End racial profiling, and biased treatment of people of color, by law enforcement agencies.
Require that police actually live in the communities in which they serve.
Require that all police have training in conflict resolution, and sensitivity training.
Require that all police departments have mental health professionals on staff, and that police carry mental health professionals with them when responding to calls involving domestic disputes or situations where mental health may be an issue.
Change the guidelines for when police can fire their guns, to make it for immediate self-defense and defense of others only, specifically when being attacked or when a weapon is being drawn by a suspect, NOT for noncompliance, fleeing suspects, or for ANY other reason.
Train police on how to shoot to wound rather than to kill, and make it official policy for police to shoot to wound rather than to kill, unless it can be proven that a shot that could potentially kill the attacker could reasonably be assumed by the officer to be the only realistic option given the circumstances.
Require that all police cars have dash cameras, and that all police officers wear body cameras.
Require that all police officers carry professional liability insurance.
Establish community control of police through elected local police oversight boards with subpoena power to investigate complaints about police behavior, and to hold offending officers accountable. These boards will be empowered to hire and fire police officers and chiefs.
These boards will also monitor the social media activity and organizational activity of police officers to ensure that police officers do not exhibit racial bias, and are not connected with white supremacist or racially biased organizations.
Common Sense Gun Safety:
In addition to improving our mental health system (which will be covered under the improved “Medicare for All” plan), poverty relief (which will result from multiple points in this Platform), and reforming our Criminal Justice System, all of which will help to reduce gun violence in the U.S., we also need to do all of the following:
Eliminate the sale of assault rifles and semi-automatic weapons, ban bump stocks, high-capacity magazines, and 3-D printing of firearms.
Expand background checks, end the gun show loophole, strengthen restrictions on the ability of individuals with mental disorders to purchase guns, and ban “straw purchases,” that allow people to buy guns for criminals.
Raise the minimum legal age to buy any firearm to 21, and require a license and mandatory safety training to own and/or carry a firearm.
Campaign and Election Reform:
Abolish the Electoral College and determine presidential elections, like all other elections, by popular vote.
Establish Ranked Choice Voting for ALL elections.
Provide full public funding of ALL elections to stop billionaires, Super PACS, and corporations from buying candidates and elections. Amend the U.S. Constitution to define that money is NOT a form of free speech, and that corporations are NOT people, which will overturn Citizens United v. FEC (2010), McCutcheon v. FEC (2014), and Buckley v. Vallejo (1976).
Guarantee equal media coverage for all candidates, and restore the Fairness Doctrine, which requires the media to give equal coverage to all opposing viewpoints on political issues.
Allow all candidates who are on the ballot to participate in debates, and in presidential elections, allow all candidates who are on the ballot in enough states to win the election to participate in debates.
Make all primaries open primaries so that the American people can vote for the candidates of their choice, and mandate that the candidate with the most votes in the primaries gets their party’s nomination.
Abolish the U.S. Senate, and expand the U.S. House of Representatives to create more districts designed to ensure proportional representation. End gerrymandering by creating nonpartisan committees to draw district maps, which must be submitted to a committee of federal judges for approval.
Voting Rights:
Make Election Day a national holiday. Allow early voting and mail-in voting for ALL voters, and allow weekend voting during the early voting period. Expand the number of voting locations, including early voting locations and drop boxes. Establish same-day voter registration and universal automatic voter registration. End voter purges. Restore all provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
Allow felon voting while incarcerated, and restore full citizenship rights to felons upon completion of their sentence, including the right to run for elected office.
Enact statehood for the District of Columbia, so that its citizens have the same rights and representation as all other U.S. citizens.
Ballot Access:
Eliminate all ballot access laws that discriminate against third party and independent candidates, and discriminate against candidates based on economic status, including high filing fees, unrealistic petition signature requirements, and unreasonably short qualification periods.
Lower the qualifying fees for candidates running for office to nominal fees which do not prohibit people who are not rich from running for office. I propose a maximum of $200 for ANY office. Lower the petition signature requirements for independent and third party candidates to realistic numbers, which prove that a candidate is serious about running for office, but do not prohibit a serious candidate from being able to get on the ballot. I propose a maximum of 500 valid signatures for ANY federal or state office.
Supreme Court:
Expand the U.S. Supreme Court to 15 Justices to ensure that too much power is not concentrated into the hands of too small a body of people.
Enact term limits for Supreme Court Justices. Enact the proposed Supreme Court Term Limits and Regular Appointments Act of 2021 (H.R. 5140), rewritten based on a 15 Justice Supreme Court.
Part of this bill mandates that the Senate’s advice and consent authority is waived if the Senate does not act within 120 days of a Justice’s nomination. This will limit the ability of the majority party in the Senate from deliberately obstructing a President from another party from appointing a Supreme Court Justice.
Enact the proposed Supreme Court Ethics, Recusal, and Transparency Act of 2023 (S. 359), the proposed Supreme Court Ethics Act of 2023 (S. 325), and the proposed Courthouse Ethics and Transparency Act of 2021 (H.R. 5720), to ensure ethical standards for federal judges, including Supreme Court Justices.
Impeach all Supreme Court Justices who have committed ethical violations.
Protect Whistleblowers:
Enact a law to protect whistleblowers from criminal prosecution, harassment, and violence from the U.S. Government. Pardon all whistleblowers, free all whistleblowers currently incarcerated, expunge the criminal records of all who have been convicted of “crimes” related to whistleblowing, and provide compensation for unjust imprisonment.
Fairness in Media:
End corporate ownership and control of ALL forms of media (television, radio, social media, Internet browsers, newspapers and magazines) to end censorship, corporate and media bias, and disproportionate coverage of news, political, social, and economic issues, and political candidates.
Transfer ownership of ALL forms of corporate media to the American people, converting them into consumer cooperatives, which are owned, managed, and operated by the American people, rather than privately owned corporations.
Progressive Taxation for the Common Good:
Restore the U.S. tax code back to a progressive, pre-Reagan tax code, to restore the American middle-class, close the widening gap between rich and poor, balance the federal budget and stop increasing the National Debt, and pay for programs that benefit all of the American people.
Cut Federal Income Tax rates for over 95% of the American people.
Repeal the disastrous Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.
Raise the top tax rate for U.S. Federal Individual Income Taxes back to the 70% that it was from 1965-1981, under both Democrats AND Republicans, and make it only apply to single filers with annual incomes over $1 million, heads of households with annual incomes over $1.8 million, and families with annual incomes over $2 million.
Make U.S. Federal Long-Term Capital Gains Tax Rates the same as U.S. Federal Income Tax Rates, and adopt a mark-to-market system that taxes the wealthiest 5% of Americans’ capital assets on the gain in their market value each year, regardless of whether or not they are realized. Under this system, only the wealthiest 5% of Americans will pay more in Capital Gains Taxes than they do now.
This Capital Gains Tax Rate plan will adopt a modified version of the Senate Finance Committee Democrats’ “Treat Wealth Like Wages” proposal, but the mark-to-market system will apply to those with incomes over $350,000 and applicable assets over $1 million.
This plan will exempt personal residences, family farms, and retirement accounts of middle-class and poor Americans.
To download the “Treat Wealth Like Wages” proposal, please click the link below:
https://www.finance.senate.
Restore the U.S. Federal Corporate Income Tax Rates back to what they were from 1993-2017 under the Revenue Reconciliation Act of 1993, and begin work to devise a new U.S. Federal Corporate Income Tax Rate structure based on pre-Reagan percentages, with the dollar amounts adjusted for inflation.
Restore the U.S. Federal Estate Tax back to the 70% of excess over $5 million that it was from 1976-1982. This is actually less than the 77% it was from 1941-1977, but then it was 77% of excess over $10 million.
Exempt single filers earning less than $25,000 per year, heads of households earning less than $45,000 per year, and families earning less than $50,000 per year (adjusted for inflation) from federal and state income taxes.
Exempt food, clothing, prescription drugs, and other necessities from sales taxes.
Close all tax loopholes.
Eliminate the cap on taxation of income for Social Security.
Impose a financial transaction tax on trades of stocks, bonds, currency, derivatives, and other financial instruments.
Block financial transactions with tax havens, to stop tax evasion.
Decrease the $1 million home value cap on the mortgage interest tax deduction for federal income taxes, to reduce the tax subsidy provided to those living in the most expensive homes.
Apply the Federal Insurance Contributions Act of 1935 (Social Security and Medicare) taxes to investment income and to all levels of income, not just the first $106,800 earned.
Enact Bernie Sanders’ proposed Extreme Wealth Tax, but start it at 1% per year on all household net worth over $20 million. Then 2% on household net worth from $50 to $250 million, 3% from $250 to $500 million, 4% from $500 million to $1 billion, 5% from $1 to $2.5 billion, 6% from $2.5 to $5 billion, 7% from $5 to $10 billion, and 8% on household net worth over $10 billion. These brackets are halved for single filers.
According to Sanders, “under this plan, the wealth of billionaires would be cut in half over 15 years which would substantially break up the concentration of wealth and power of this small privileged class.”
Establish a system of carbon taxes on all fossil fuels.
Eliminate tax subsidies for oil, gas, coal, nuclear, timber, and mining industries.
Impose a carbon fee on goods imported from nations with lower carbon taxes than the U.S., based upon the carbon spent in manufacturing and transporting them to the U.S.
Eliminate tax incentives to send jobs overseas.
Raise taxes on tobacco and alcohol.
End corporate welfare, such as the bailouts for Wall Street, the big banks, and the automobile industry; subsidies for agribusiness, Export-Import Bank loan guarantees; tax abatements for big box stores; the tax loophole for “carried interest” from private equity and hedge fund managers; tax deductibility for advertising and business entertainment; offshore tax avoidance schemes; and giveaways for new sports stadiums and casinos.
Peace Tax Option:
Establish a Peace Tax Fund, which will allow taxpayers who are conscientiously opposed to participating in war in any form, to have their income, estate or gift tax payments spent for non-military purposes only.
For more information on the Peace Tax Fund, please visit:
Money and Banking:
Break up our nation’s largest banks and financial institutions so that none is “too big to fail.” End taxpayer funded bailouts for banks, insurers, and other financial companies.
Restore the Glass-Steagall Act (part of the United States Banking Act of 1933), which prohibited bank holding companies from owning other financial companies, and engaging in risky economic transactions.
Ensure that people with low incomes and assets and middle incomes and assets have access to banking services, affordable loans, and small business supporting capital, especially through credit unions.
Support the development of charter community development banks, which would be capitalized with public funds, and would work to meet the credit needs of local communities.
Support the expansion of cooperative credit unions.
Support the expansion of state and municipal public banking, based on the model of the Bank of North Dakota, which does not create money when it lends, but lends only funds already deposited with the bank.
Prosecute all financial fraud committed by criminal bankers.
Enact the proposed National Emergency Employment Defense Act of 2011 (H.R. 2990), also known as the NEED Act, which includes all of the following:
Abolish the power of banks to create money, and restore the exclusive Constitutional power of Congress to create money (Article 1, Section 8, Clause 5), without the creation of debt, and assume the responsibility to spend this money directly into circulation to fund public benefits outlined in the Federal Budget.
Nationalize the 12 Federal Reserve Banks, dissolve the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, and transfer ALL administrative functions of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors to a new Bureau of the Federal Reserve. All money created under the nationalized Federal Reserve System will be treated as publicly issued money. The private creation of money will cease, and with it, the reckless practices that have led to recurring economic crises.
All new money will be issued as a debt-free, permanently circulating asset by the Federal Government. A new U.S. Monetary Authority will be established under the Department of the Treasury to scientifically determine the amount of money that can be safely created for the national economy to avoid inflation or deflation.
The U.S. Monetary Authority will be empowered with full autonomy and independence to avoid political influence. Although banks will continue as financial intermediaries, lending publicly-issued money at interest, and performing traditional banking functions, they will no longer be allowed to create money, ending what is known as fractional reserve banking.
All new money will be spent into circulation by the U.S. Government as authorized by Congress for public purposes.
Production of Federal Reserve Notes will cease, and be replaced with United States Money, the unit being the dollar, symbolized as $. Outstanding Federal Reserve Notes will be converted to United States Money at equal face value, and any Federal Reserve Notes in circulation will continue to be legal tender until retired in accordance with applicable provisions of the law.
Reclaiming the power of the Federal Government to originate money, and to spend or lend money into circulation as needed, eliminates the need to treat money as a federal liability, or to pay interest charges on the nation’s money supply to financial institutions. It also eliminates the undue influence of private financial institutions over public policy.
For more information on the NEED Act, please visit:
Anti-Trust Enforcement:
Break up all existing monopolies.
Enact stronger Anti-Trust laws to stop illegal mergers.
Ensure that the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice closely scrutinize all mergers where the combined sales of the companies exceed $1 billion, and when necessary, take formal legal action to stop the merger.
Encourage the Department of Justice to redefine “relevant market share” in assessing mergers.
Natural Resources and Public Utilities:
End corporate and private ownership and control of ALL natural resources and public utilities, including oil, coal, natural gas, electric companies, and water companies.
Transfer ownership of ALL natural resources and public utilities to the American people. Natural resource production will operate under the authority of the U.S. Department of Energy, and public utilities will be converted into locally owned, managed, and operated consumer cooperatives.
Peace and Diplomacy–War and Militarism:
Establish a foreign policy based on diplomacy, international law, and human rights. Work with other nations to begin using non-military solutions in dealing with international conflicts, to work together through INTERPOL to facilitate the arrests of international criminals, and to use the Internal Criminal Court to prosecute these criminals.
Recognize the full authority of the United Nations and abide by its decisions. Call on the UN to eliminate the veto power of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council, and to shift its focus from use of “peacekeeping forces” to nonviolent conflict resolution and working to promote economic prosperity for all nations.
End drone strikes against other nations. End preemptive attacks against other nations. Repeal the misnamed USA PATRIOT Act and the Authorization For Use of Military Force (AUMF).
Negotiate with other nations to mutually reduce military spending by each of our nations by at least 50%, and to dismantle ALL nuclear weapons. In the meantime, declare a no-first-strike policy, a no-preemptive-strike policy, a policy to never threaten other nations with nuclear weapons, sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), and reverse our withdrawal from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
Close the 700+ U.S. foreign military bases. Stop U.S. support and arms sales to human rights abusers, and outlaw the practice of allowing arms manufacturers to sell weapons to both/all sides in conflicts and wars.
Sign the Toronto Treaty, which bans the production, stockpiling, and use of land mines, and assist other nations in unearthing and disabling land mines buried in their lands.
Adhere to the rules set forth by the Geneva Convention, the Biological Weapons Convention of 1971 and the Geneva Protocol. End all research, production, stockpiling, use, and sale of chemical and biological weapons.
Demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, and to the violence in the West Bank. Discontinue all military aid to Israel until this is accomplished.
Support and actively promote an end to the Israeli occupation of all Palestinian lands. Discontinue all military aid to Israel until all settlements are dismantled, all land is returned, and all Israeli troops are completely withdrawn from Palestinian lands.
Support and actively promote an end to the apartheid against Arabs in Israel, and support and actively promote the provision of equal rights, treatment, and protections for Arabs in Israel. Discontinue all military aid to Israel until this is accomplished.
There have been proposals for both a two-state solution and a one-state solution in dealing with the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. A one-state solution would do more to promote peace, justice, and equality in the region.
I call for the creation of one secular, democratic state with Jerusalem as its capital, so that Jews and Arabs can live together in peace, with equal rights, treatment, and protections for ALL people.
However, if an agreement for a two-state solution is reached instead, then help to negotiate a peace treaty between Israel and Palestine, in which each nation recognizes the other’s right to exist, and both nations work together to prevent acts of violence and terrorism by anyone from one nation against anyone from the other nation, and each nation works together to ensure the mutual safety and well-being of both Israelis and Palestinians.
End the economic blockade against Cuba. Repeal the Helms-Burton Act.
Organize an International Summit for Goodwill, Cooperation, and Economic Prosperity for all Nations, to begin discussing and negotiating a transition from militarism to diplomacy, cuts in military spending, dismantling of nuclear weapons, ending chemical and biological weapons programs, cooperation and economic assistance in transitioning all nations to 100% clean renewable energy, and working together for economic prosperity for all nations.
Peace and Diplomacy–Economic Assistance to Developing Nations:
Restructure the World Bank and IMF, and work with member nations to forgive the debts of developing nations.
Negotiate with other nations to mutually provide enough funding to UNICEF to feed all of the world’s hungry children, and to ensure comprehensive healthcare, nutrition, immunization, and education for all of the world’s children, and to clean up all of the world’s drinking water. This can easily be paid for with just 25% of what the nations of the world spend on militarism.
Curb the War-Making Power of the President:
Amend the War Powers Resolution of 1973 to curb the President’s authority to send combat troops to other nations, and to bomb and drone other nations, without prior Congressional approval. The President is Commander in Chief of the U.S. armed forces, but with the exception of certain emergency situations, should only use military action when specifically given permission to do so by Congress.
This amendment will also detail the specific rules under which the President can use military force in ANY situation, and the specific rules under which the President can use nuclear weapons. This Amendment will also work in conjunction with other foreign policy measures listed in the Peace and Diplomacy section of this Platform, including declaring a no-first-strike policy and a no-preemptive-strike policy when it comes to nuclear weapons.
Also, with the exception of certain emergency situations, the President should not have the power to make unilateral military, top-secret Special Ops, or intelligence decisions. That is too much power for one person. All military decisions, other than certain emergency situations, should be pre-approved by Congress. And all intelligence decisions, and top-secret Special Ops decisions, should be approved by the majority decision of a standing committee of elected officials that includes the President.
Finally, this Amendment will set new rules for who has access to top-secret intelligence and defense information. We need to end the practice of the President being the only elected official to have certain top-secret information, and end the practice of there being information that is not even given to the President unless it is considered a “need to know” situation by U.S. intelligence and/or military intelligence. For the sake of democracy, there needs to be more elected officials given ALL top-secret information.
I propose the following decision-making, and information sharing format:
A. Immediate, Highest Level Emergencies:
President, as Commander-in-Chief
B. Nuclear Strike:
Decisions must be approved by a simple majority of the following Elected Officers who are able to be present for the vote. If all Officers are not able to be present, and the vote ends in a tie, then the President will make the final decision:
While Senate Exists:
1. President
2. Vice President
3. Speaker of the House
4. President Pro Tempore
5. Senate Majority Leader
After Senate is Abolished:
1. President
2. Vice President
3. Speaker of the House
4. House Majority Leader
5. Assistant Speaker of the House
C. Other Emergency Decisions, intelligence decisions, and top-secret Special Ops decisions:
Decisions must be approved by a two-thirds majority of the following Elected Officers:
While Senate Exists:
1. President
2. Vice President
3. Speaker of the House
4. President Pro Tempore
5. Senate Majority Leader
6. House Majority Leader
7. Assistant Speaker of the House
8. Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee
9. Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
After Senate is Abolished:
1. President
2. Vice President
3. Speaker of the House
4. House Majority Leader
5. Assistant Speaker of the House
6. Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee
7. Chair of House Intelligence Committee
8. Chair of the House Armed Services Committee
9. Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
D. Deployment of combat troops, or any bombing or droning operation, other than Emergency Situations:
Must be approved by a majority vote of Congress.
E. Officers who will be informed of ALL top-secret intelligence information:
While Senate Exists:
1. President
2. Vice President
3. Secretary of State
4. Secretary of Defense
5. Secretary of Homeland Security
6. Director of National Intelligence
7. Director of the CIA
8. Speaker of the House
9. President Pro Tempore
10. Senate Majority Leader
11. House Majority Leader
12. Assistant Speaker of the House
13. Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee
14. Chair of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs
15. Chair of the House Intelligence Committee
16. Chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee
After Senate is Abolished:
1. President
2. Vice President
3. Secretary of State
4. Secretary of Defense
5. Secretary of Homeland Security
6. Director of National Intelligence
7. Director of the CIA
8. Speaker of the House
9. House Majority Leader
10. Assistant Speaker of the House
11. Chair of the House Homeland Security Committee
12. Chair of House Intelligence Committee
13. Chair of the House Armed Services Committee
14. Chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee
Draft Registration:
End mandatory draft registration, and permanently abolish any future possibility of a draft. Military registration and service should always be a choice.
A Few Final Notes:
Although I am no longer affiliated with the Green Party, my Platform is heavily influenced by the Green Party Platform, some parts come directly from the Green Party Platform, and I still endorse the Green Party Platform:
I also endorse Marianne Williamson’s Presidential Platform:
https://marianne2024.com/issues/
And I endorse Jill Stein’s Presidential Platform:
https://www.jillstein2024.com/platform
And I endorse Bernie Sanders’ Platform:
https://berniesanders.com/issues/
I am currently writing a book to be published and sold on Amazon, which will include my full Platform, and chapters with further discussion on each of the sections. Once the book is published and available, I will post the Amazon link here.
