What I Stand For

REPEAL NOT JUST TRUMP’S TARIFFS, REPEAL ALL TARIFFS

I support a policy of unilateral free trade. The United States should end all tariffs on imported goods and services, regardless of the policies of other nations. US tariffs are mostly paid by the American people. They are a tax on all Americans and make us poorer. Unilateral free trade is a pro-consumer trade policy, and we are all consumers. This is the policy that is fairest overall and will generate the greatest prosperity for the American people, and it will help the cause of international peace.

IMMIGRATION

I agree with the following statement by Alex Nowrasteh of the Cato Institute:

 “All immigration should be allowed except for a handful of people who fall into the categories of criminals, terrorists, the seriously ill, or others who would harm the life, liberty, and property of people here. As in all areas, the burden should be on the government to prove that somebody’s rights should be restricted. The burden should not be on immigrants or Americans to prove that they can exercise their inherent rights.

“Libertarian and classical liberal values, American Enlightenment values, our support of free market capitalism, and support for meritocracy all compel us to support free immigration.” Open immigration would be the greatest anti-poverty program the world has ever known. Economist Michael Clemens has estimated that free immigration would increase the amount of global economic production, Gross World Product, by 50-150 percent – that’s $50-$150 trillion of extra production a year. The United States has greatly benefited from immigration throughout its history and will continue to do so, if the right policies are in place.

STOP THE FORTHCOMING DEBT CRISIS

The most important function of government is to prevent catastrophe. Yet, the amount of the publicly held debt of the Federal government is 41 times what it was in 1980, while US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased only 10 times (figures not inflation adjusted). And, that 41 to 10 ratio is increasing rapidly.

Nobody knows when, but how is situation not going to end badly? Yet, Congress and the President refuse to anything to stop this runaway spending train. And, it is a too much spending, not too little taxing, problem.

Unless something changes, Social Security payments to all recipients will be cut by about 24% by late 2032. This has been known for many years, yet Congress has refused to do anything about it. Indeed, some current (and former) members of Congress recklessly call for expanded benefits.

Since Congress won’t do its job to avert a debt crisis, I favor the formation of a Social Security Commission, which would have powers similar to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission, that would develop a list of reforms for Social Security that would have to be voted up or down, as a whole, by Congress, without any changes.

Medicare should be reformed with payments going to Medicare enrollees as cash payment, instead of continuing payments to medical providers, with higher payments going to recipients with lower lifetime incomes and worse health, in a budget neutral manner. Regarding Medicaid, Congress should turn this program over to the states to fully manage by phasing out Federal subsidies over a ten year period. States would then be fully free to implement changes to this program to see what set of policies work best for recipients and taxpayers.

Reduce Federal Government Spending

Aside from badly needed changes to entitlement programs, I call for the elimination of the Departments of Education and Housing & Urban Development, as well as an end to all corporate welfare and farm subsidies. I favor an immediate end to such welfare and subsidies, but at the very least, they should be phased out over no more than ten years.

Tax Reform

The US tax system has been a time consuming and expensive monstrosity for many decades. I favor scrapping the entire Internal Revenue Code and replacing it with the Tax Foundation’s Growth and Opportunity Tax Reform Plan. The highlights of this system include:

• A Flat Tax of 20 percent on individual income combined with a generous family allowance to protect low-income households. All other major credits, deductions, and preferences would be eliminated except the current-law Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), a more stable Child Tax Credit (CTC), and tax-preferred savings accounts.
• A distributed profits tax of 20 percent in lieu of our current overly complex regime for taxing domestic and foreign profits earned by corporations and pass-through businesses.

Elimination of taxes at death and simplified treatment of capital gains to remove the burden of unnecessary compliance and administrative costs.

According to the Tax Foundation, “Estonia’s tax system contributes to an economic environment that is among the most entrepreneurial and dynamic in Europe. For example, Estonia leads Europe in terms of startups per capita (including “unicorns” or startups valued at $1 billion or more), venture capital funding per capita, and capital investment per capita. Since the financial crisis in 2009, Estonia has recovered strongly as a center of innovation and startups in Europe, with venture capital invested in early-stage startups growing from $4 million in 2009 to almost $1 billion in 2021.

“Over that 12-year span, real GDP per capita in Estonia has grown 53 percent, compared to 19 percent in the U.S. and 17 percent on average across the OECD. Since the tax reform in 2000, Estonia’s GDP per capita has grown 119 percent, while U.S. GDP per capita has grown 27 percent and the OECD average has grown 26 percent.”

I cannot warrant that the US’ growth rate would be as high as Estonia’s, but the adoption of this tax system would surely greatly benefit the American economy.

ELECTORAL REFORM

I gave up on the two party system over 40 years ago. We need to change our election system in the United States, ending Single Member Plurality (single member legislative districts, person with the most votes wins) elections.

I support the use of Ranked Choice Voting for single winner elections, but for the US House of Representatives, I support the adoption of the Fair Representation Act, which would mandate multi-member Congressional districts, where possible, which would make feasible candidates from other than the Democratic and Republican parties winning seats in the US House of Representatives.

I also support the National Popular Vote Act, an interstate compact that would insure that the national winner of the popular vote for President of the United States would actually be elected.