Links to Videos and Podcasts Not Duplicated on My Blog

- My YouTube Channel:

            JoeKopsick4Congress

            www.youtube.com/user/JoeKopsick4Congress

            [Note: MY CHANNEL WAS TAKEN DOWN BY YOUTUBE IN LATE FEBRUARY 2021. ALL LINKS LEADING TO MY YOUTUBE CHANNEL NO LONGER WORK. Soon I will launch a new website which features secure, private video hosting. I will make a new post to announce when that has happened. Some videos may be published to the account above again in the future.]

2012 Campaign Ads

- "Carpetbagging":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-RBvuSJGx0

- "States' Rights":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1KYUUEQjfs

- "Get a Damn Amendment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VscVtTDE2vM

- "Tammy Baldwin Contrast Ad":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fnul1Kl0Mjo&index=7&list=PL043F2E374B1F1F08

- "Joe Kopsick: A Loser Like You":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x0iCD8yvNzQ&index=9&list=PL043F2E374B1F1F08

- "Joe Kopsick: As Good As Gold":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TwFqBVQdnK0&index=8&list=PL043F2E374B1F1F08

- "The Chad Lee Contrast Ad":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OYGVDLLb57Y

- "Against My Democratic Opponents":

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QKEHaFplumA

-  "Against Lee, Pocan, Worzala, and Silverman":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TGb-XPxH870

         

- "Against Tammy Baldwin":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNk4wVLqL9U

- "Letter to Mark Pocan":
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1_C_y7R6hg

Videos About Miscellaneous Topics, for My YouTube Channel (for Which No Transcript Appears on This Blog):

- "Obamacare" (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfBcesNM4xA

- "Barack Obama, the Universal Sycophant" (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvQWphiKw7I

- "Libertarianism and Discrimination" (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4FoZOZETEw

- "Numbers!" (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqTjiLm58UM

- "In Which I Obliterate the Hopes of the Left" (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmzFwJdMJlw

- "Occupy Madison" (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBgCIbwPVVA

- "Immigration and the Minimum Wage" (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmJ-KUarw9I

- "Video Response to Yourtreat2 on Ron Paul and Ronald Reagan" (2011)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3ueW1Ggfe4

- "The Mad Tea Party" (2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqlVueY4alI

- "Impressions: Andrew Napolitano" (2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cVwprt8ydrQ

- "Obamacare and Agorism" (for YouTube, 2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVSscPTJMQY

- "Ron Paul vs. Rick Perry on the Federal Reserve" (2012)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY6ACu0CFVA

- "Civil Rights from a Libertarian Perspective" (for YouTube, 2016)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lTSlNX01jAg

- Wisconsin International Radio Debate: Economics and the Minimum Wage

(with Miles Kristan and others, for Wisconsin International Radio, 2016)

http://www.facebook.com/wiscradio/videos/261616227615244/?hc_ref=ARST4fFbrPMkPPfVYfwqzBGS1u_6d1yG0bO7sJjj9TDuQQIMzkJ0Q4TKYMqin-ZnL80&pnref=story

- Illinois LiberTEA Q&A Session
            (Illinois LiberTEA Party Vets 10th District Congressional Candidate Joe Kopsick, 2016):

            http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWtR-qSnVeo

- Joe Kopsick Speaks to the Illinois Center Right Coalition (as a 10th District U.S. House candidate) (2016):
http://thegrandinquirer.com/2016/08/22/joe-kopsick-speaks-to-the-illinois-center-right-coalition/


- "Failed 2016 Bill Would Have Required Women to Sign Up for the Draft" (2017)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4WWnNo2QaI

- "Why There is a Libertarian Socialist Caucus of the Libertarian Party" (for Dankertarians, 2017)

http://youtu.be/xMrIknmzJsI

- "Reed Larson Explains Free Rider Problem to AFL-CIO Rep" (2017)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3aVzz4fLyo

- Illinois Libertarian Gubernatorial Candidate Matthew C. Scaro and Joe Kopsick Livestream (2017)
http://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1887795561537364&id=1775101572806764

- Liberate Chicago Podcast (episode: "Rent is Theft?"),

       with guest Matt Scaro and host Jordan Ziolkowski (2017)

             http://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1498274790259939&id=1168858813201540

- Interview with Illinois Gubernatorial Candidate Matthew C. Scaro (2017)
             http://youtu.be/O_x92t5J19w

- "Coercion and the Non-Aggression Principle" (2017)
          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=23tAeQ6l_mA

- "60 Myths in 30 Minutes" (2017)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CuIKGZYstQ

- "Explaining the Budget with M&Ms" (2017)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgGyI6hDHDA

- "Presentation on Left-Wing Market Anarchism at the College of Complexes" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAW8QuMSUgA

- "Gun Control Doesn't Prevent Mass Shootings, It Causes Them" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oet25AaGxyo



- "Threat from North Korea is Being Exaggerated" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mEIZbBliSD4



- "Henry George's Land Value Taxation Could Save Illinois" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ded2JDRWJnY



- "Attacks on Israel Are Not Solely Motivated by Race or Religion" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_QGedtkw3Q



- "Henry George's Land Value Taxation Explained in 5 Minutes" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zoYGBVweR5A



- "Stop Telling People They're Free" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyWSuhhubNg



- "On the Deplorables and Immigration" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NunyeDVKgbw



- "Free Markets and Socialism Are Compatible" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uIOI7P1R9Ao



- "Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is Part Right on Unemployment" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wVOQMaJNRT0



- "Libertarian Party Reps Support Silencing Debate About Libertarian Socialism" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5pn-U12XS0



- "Critique of Kennedy on Socialism, Health Policy, and Living Forever" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zra8hG_iRpk



- "On Tom Woods's Interview of Joshua Smith" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-d3HwD-kXE



- 15-Point Platform to Unite Democrats and Republicans (Satire) (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4CRnpq4IL8



- "In Defense of My Opposition to the Wagner Act" (2018)
http://youtu.be/-xF5XUqx18Y



- "Ben Shapiro's "Socialism is Theft" Ignores WWII, NATO, Corporate Privilege" (2018)
http://youtu.be/Y8kQcpvDFIE



- "Critique of Mark Davis on the 9th and 10th Amendments, Abortion, Marriage" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teEQm1m1AjI



- "Three Rabbis: Attacks on Israel Increase When Israel is at War" (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uy5TM3LGrIY


- "Stalin Killed More Than Hitler" Borders on Holocaust Denial (2018)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0Frkru0Dcs

- "Tulsi Gabbard Shills for Israeli Lobby at 2015 Speech to CUFI" (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHAx4C8437k


- "Does Tulsi Gabbard Want U.S., Israel, Modi to Work Together Against Moderate Muslims? (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v509wNIaCc0


- "Gravel, Yang, Williamson Are More Progressive, Libertarian Than Sanders, Biden" (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tN5ez97IHCI


- "Marianne Williamson IS Brian Griffin Worrying About His Son" (2019)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yanhC4uK_M

- "Tucker Carlson is Wrong, White Supremacists HAVE Filled Stadiums in America" (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOq5mHMVa0k


- "Live Forever and Stop Paying for Sex" (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=24Gavxev3gY


- Instagram videos about a 2007 case of anti-Semitic vandalism involving then college freshman Sarah Marshak (2019)
http://www.instagram.com/p/Bt6GGp9gBQl/
http://www.instagram.com/p/B4NieJggkF3/


- Libertarian Debate: "The Future of Freedom: Voluntaryism vs. Libertarian Socialism" (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ptcf0FNSBxs

- Grace VanderWaal Tattooed by Pagan Witch: Illuminati Wants Your Child Branded (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-eTabvZOzYc

- Liberals' Condemnation of Victoria Jackson as Homophobic Was Too Harsh (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9fdFmYSx7U

- I Don't Mind the Drones (Commentary and Steve Earle cover, 2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvdppCQr3hc

- Joe Biden Pinches Nipple of Montana Senator's 8-Year-Old Niece (with Narration)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_G6rtPFIXEw


- Joe Kopsick Congressional Meet and Greet at Lake Bluff Library, March 5th, 2020 (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx7Rb19vHXs

- Coronavirus and Covid-19: Comments on Cultural, Economic, and Political Responses to the Pandemic (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-23yswMk7Qg

- Defending Charlie Kirk from Kyle Kulinski's "Irrational Exuberance" on the CARES Act (2020)
http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=F1IhqYxJzaA

- Calling the Capitol Hill Police to Report Joe Biden for Child Molestation (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjwELMg3Wj8

- Fuck the Census / Why is Land Expensive? / Abolish Everything (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dv3efWGZ5wg

- Chicago Police Pepper-Spray Peaceful Protesters without Warning (May 30th, 2020) (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KNQCyyHAJw

- Amateur Footage Captures Moments After Cop Car Set Ablaze in Chicago (May 30th, 2020) (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83tf2IBVD_g

- Chicago Cops Kick Protesters Off State & Wacker (May 30th, 2020) (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GYHk2XvPCLI


- Reaction to the George Floyd Protests: On Police Brutality, Systematic Destruction, and Public Health (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wlVA3_brMUA

- Amateur Footage Captures Moment After Flash-Bang Goes Off, Possibly Set Off by Police (May 30th, 2020) (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytHiiTG66Ow

- Howie Hawkins Talks Energy, Environment, & Jobs at the 2019 Green Party Spring Convention (4-13-19) (filmed in 2019, published in 2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE-6uuVqWHc

- Cops Can Legally Kill You and Have No Duty to Protect and Serve (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nppw6OGo11g

- Joe Biden Touched TWO Little Girls' Nipples Live on C-SPAN, Not Just One (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1nloOU9J8PQ

- I Knew About Jeffrey Epstein in 2011 (and Wanted Him Dead)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiRtPvv57W8

- On Donald Trump's "Proud Boys" Comments (2020)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qslZkobeDtc

- Defining Fascism: Corpus Mysticum and the Merger of State and Corporate Power (2020)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjkvO0D6llg&feature=youtu.be

- An Election Night Carol (Howie Hawkins for President) (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CrED0Yyz1Xs

- The Presidential Candidates on the 2020 Party Tickets Are Polar Opposites (comedy, 2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nU9cK5YXyN4

- On the 2020 Election Results and the Possibility of a Tie in the Electoral College (Filmed 11-7-20) (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hW8bWZ4daHY

- On Covid-19: Mask Mandates, Preventive vs. Curative Measures, Diet, and Quinine & Hydroxychloroquine (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkC5kloZc-8

- Plea to My Friends and Followers: Stop Calling Me on the Phone (not a political video, but contains some social commentary) (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4FanW7aPIVQ

- Jimmy Dore Doesn't Go Far Enough: Demand MORE Than Medicare for All! (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v-ckQApU4nk

- Medicare for All Isn't the Only Health Care Proposal You Need to Know About (2021)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKe9eH-H8Hg

- Racist Homebum Defends Chicago Cops to B.L.M. Before Explosion Heard (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UM5P3POPLNA


- Woman Talks About Police Militarization, JFK, Malcolm X Hours Before Chicago Riot (5-30-20) (2020)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dK4eNuUpENU

- Forcing the Vote on Medicare for All Would Give Pelosi Another Chance (2021)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cIhzhIp64Dw

- Message to African-American Voters on Forcing the Vote and Trusting Government (2021)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zn23TDByRkA


- Georgia Election Certification Results Lack Biden's Name But Shows Democrats Won (2021)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyexntOz4-8

- "Stop the Steal" Would Only Keep Accused Child Rapist Trump in White House Over Child Molester Biden (2021)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPd2cv17F3o

- "Toneal Talks Politics - Week 5: Decentralization" (2021)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1npeaMBRJSg

- "Comments on Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene" (2021)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dl8mgYy_diI


- "I Predicted Biden's Minimum Wage Letdown Three Months Before it Happened" (2021)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2lsAu-5jd0

Videos on a YouTube Channel Separate from JoeKopsick4Congress

     [Note: The links in this section are probably lost forever. They were uploaded by the operator of a channel who no longer associates with Joe Kopsick, the author of the Aquarian Agrarian.]

- "Government Mismanages Land, Medicine, and Military" (2019)
           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kE4n9ZsAwqc&list=UUobZdYivLea3ijhd9U9tqNA&index=7

- “There is Enough Land to Go Around” (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqPPcKOhnN0

- “We, the People in Chains” (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8Eb1h3xtBQ

- "Medical Immortality and Robotic Exoskeletons" (2019)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC9biUCEs_s

- "Protecting Kids and Reforming Schools" (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZ95eq1aF_Y

- "Pizzagate and Russiagate: Fake News or True Fact?" (2019)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqhoJOQ0Rws

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDsA1Ip-QG4

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CLYiG9mgKE4

- On the Rights of Arrested People and Tenants (2019)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx3kMckX9pw

- Abolish the Federal Government and its Money (2019)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCKATR5_1u0

For Ryan o’Doud’s Black Hand Communique (2016):

- Parts 1-3 of a Series on Cooperative Businesses and Cooperative Finance:

1. BHC: Kopsick on Co-Ops

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hqfY3E2aE6Q&list=PL6iNMQfyLEUHeTL6U2zgOdcVynwUDP3tt&index=2

2. BHC: Kopsick on Co-Ops Part Deux; Kopsicker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrkmZDL5Qok

3. BHC: No Finance Romance – Kopsick on Alternatives

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cf39MFdOSzg&index=19&list=PL6iNMQfyLEUHeTL6U2zgOdcVynwUDP3tt

            - BHC: Election Sleaze-In, featuring Joe and Ryan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1eKsISIHHaE

- Radical Center Podcast (with A.M. Casto, 2017):

            Episode 1: Presidential Elections

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=meoz5bjZflU

           Episode 2: Party Systems

                           http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXbV0WMjmZI

Music and Comedy

- Stand with Rand (Music Video for YouTube, 2013):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bLSHLQFQqRY

- Alex Jones Impressions (2015, 2016)

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wWNEDItnRKU

Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMZbvrWMsM0

- Blare Which Project!? (Mashup album, as Nostra diVarious, 2014)

             http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RejazHDzE7c
             also http://nostradivarious.bandcamp.com/album/blare-which-project

- The Which Doctor is In (Mashup album, as Nostra diVarious, 2017)
             http://nostradivarious.bandcamp.com/album/the-which-doctor-is-in

For Cahnmann's Corner (show on Highland Park, Illinois local public access TV)

- "Libertarianism" (2018)
     Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9m1LSvtQJrU
     Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCsI1k8mtcQ

- "How Socialism Ruined Venezuela" (2018)
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xfdb95Lq5eQ

- "Conspiracy Theories" [includes discussion of Russiagate, Ukrainegate, Bidens] (2019)
     http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceeJsuQbh-E
     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2a8SgroHe1o








For Instagram

- Barack Obama's birth certificate (2019)
     http://www.instagram.com/p/B3LxkYHgXBL/

Originally Compiled and Published on September 17th, 2017

Title Changed Several Times Since First Publication

Edited and Expanded Continuously
from September 2017 to present
Most recently updated on May 3rd, 2021

Note about YouTube channel being deactivated

was added on March 1st, 2021

Two Collections of Essays, and Another Book, Now Available on TheBookPatch

Ninety of the 400+ articles appearing on the Aquarian Agrarian blog
have been compiled into two books.

Please follow the links to order!

Libertarian Conspiracy Theories: 45 Essays on the Libertarian Right

($14.99)

Unlimited copies available (printed to order)

http://www.thebookpatch.com/BookStore/libertarian-conspiracy-theories/c2b75bd4-f1b8-4368-adeb-37dd44c84001

Soft Communism for 90's Kids: 45 Essays on the Libertarian Left

($11.99)

Unlimited copies available (printed to order)

http://www.thebookpatch.com/BookStore/soft-communism-for-90s-kids/a2159bc5-e299-4ef4-b8a7-643807ac5da4

THIRD BOOK!

Newly added

Time Money Moon Value: Financial Advice for Shamans

($10 for the book, + $2 for shipping)

     Copies of Time Money Moon Value

can be purchased directly from me for $12 ($10 plus shipping).

Please email me at jwkopsick@gmail.com to request your copy!

Ten copies are still available.

To read Time Money Moon Value
without purchasing (and to get five extra articles),
follow the links in the page below to read the articles it contains
(as well as five follow-up articles on similar topics):

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2018/11/links-to-all-articles-regarding.html




This post originally published on May 30th, 2017

Edited and expanded on December 19th and 20th, 2018, and February 27th, 2019

Updated on August 3rd, 2021

Speech to the Chicago Libertarian Party on October 4th, 2016

Written on October 3^rd, 2016

Edited on October 4^th, 5^th, and 27^th, 2016


Some content originally appeared in
“Address to the Illinois Center-Right Coalition (I.C.R.C.) on June 25th, 2016” and
"Speech to the Illinois Center Right Coalition (I.C.R.C.) on August 20^th, 2016",

that content written between June 24^th and August 23^rd, 2016

      Good evening and thank you for having me. My name is Joe Kopsick, and I’m running for the U.S. House of Representatives’ seat from Illinois’s 10th District. I live in Lake Bluff, and attended public schools in Lake Bluff and Lake Forest, including Lake Forest High School, which next Sunday afternoon will host a debate between my opponents, sponsored by the Lake County League of Women Voters. I was not invited to that debate, but I will be there to submit questions.

In 2009, I graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, majoring in Political Science. The following year, I started the Aquarian Agrarian blog, where I have published more than 300 essays on various topics; including political philosophy and radical political theory, labor law, health policy, civil liberties and civil rights, Middle East foreign policy, and election statistics. I hope to publish about a dozen books of collected essays within the coming several years.

I have entered the race for the 10^th District U.S. House seat because I feel that neither of my opponents - Republican Bob Dold and Democrat Brad Schneider - is ideologically consistent, and I also believe that two candidates cannot adequately represent the range of political views held by the voting public. Both candidates want to grow the budget and scope of the federal government; supporting increased domestic surveillance, gun control, foreign aid, sanctions, keeping Obamacare in place, and continued federal funding for Planned Parenthood.

      My candidacy has been endorsed by the Illinois Center-Right Coalition - as well as two prominent members; Phil Collins and Bill Leubscher - and I have been vetted by the Illinois LiberTEA organization. I have also been endorsed by seven other figures in local and state politics: former state treasurer Dan Rutherford; current candidates Chad Koppie and David Earl Williams; former candidates Timothy Goodcase, Mike Psak, and Charles Allen January; and Lake County Republican Jack Koenig.

I have not received the nomination of the Illinois Libertarian Party because I have not yet joined it, although I have joined the national party, I attend Lake County L.P. meetings, and I am about to vote for Gary Johnson for the second time. I have identified with the Libertarian Party at least 90% of the time – and strongly agreed with most of what Ron Paul has said - since I discovered them in 2007.

The 10^th district is made up of parts of Lake and Cook County; and both county clerk's offices have confirmed that I am the only officially registered write-in candidate in the race against Dold and Schneider.

 

The major themes of my campaign are limited government; personal freedom; caution about military, monetary, and regulatory interventions; concern for moral hazard effects from insurance and regulation; restoring due process, and the idea that security comes through privacy and private property; and balancing the budget, achieving fiscal solvency, paying down our debt, and boosting the credit rating of our bonds and the purchasing power of the dollar. On trade and immigration, I want to help establish free movement of labor and capital; and I'd like to help pass tax reform that helps the poor and the environment, without disincentivizing the productive behaviors that are being taxed.

If elected, I will vote to eliminate and / or restructure between four and seven unconstitutional executive departments, reducing the size of the federal workforce, and the cost of the federal government, in the process. I would vote to abolish the Departments of Commerce, Energy, Education, Interior, and Housing and Urban Development. I will vote against unwarranted domestic surveillance by the N.S.A.; and I would like to see the agencies that compose the Department of Homeland Security, be run by the Department of Defense, and / or the Department of Justice.

I hope to help decrease federal spending by between $1.25 and $1.75 trillion. I would also support a Cut, Cap, and Balance plan - providing that it goes far enough - as well as a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution. In the short term, I would also consider Negative Income Tax proposals, proposals to extend the Earned Income Tax Credit, and efforts to decrease property and income taxes through flat sales tax plans.

In the long term, however, I hope to help abolish taxes on income and sales altogether. I take an integrated approach to taxation and the environment, favoring the replacement of most current revenue sources with fines on pollution and disuse of land, and fees for the privilege to extract natural resources, in addition to user fees and voluntary contributions.

 

Regarding immigration: although taxpaying citizens do shoulder the burden of taking care of illegal immigrants, in my opinion this is primarily the fault of an expansive and unfunded federal welfare state, not the fault of people who simply crossed a border without committing any real crimes that harmed persons or damaged their property. I believe that welfare for immigrants should be dealt with on a state and local basis, and I would vote to support legislative (rather than executive) deferred action for childhood arrivals and their parents.

I would vote to decrease and eliminate tariffs, because I believe they diminish imports, increase consumer prices, and cause foreign producers to increase their exploitation of workers. Due to their effects on unemployment and price inflation, I oppose minimum wage laws; especially for private-sector jobs, and at the federal level. Instead of raising the minimum wage, I favor providing direct price relief for consumers, by decreasing sales taxes and tariffs, and getting the budget under control in order to improve the purchasing power of the dollar.

I have identified at least ten forms of corporate privilege; without abolishing these forms of privilege - and the government agencies that give them - it is impossible to organize an effective boycott (whether of a good, or service, or of an employer). This is because such businesses still receive various types of funds, supports, and favors from taxpayers. In my opinion, the biggest obstacle in achieving a real free market with consumer information and organization (besides big government) is the notion that state and local departments of commerce and chambers of commerce are anything other than lobbying organizations. I would vote to abolish the Department of Commerce, and I would urge small businesses to divest from their local commerce chambers, and form their own independent, cooperative, and consumer-oriented business alliances.

On unions, I would like to amend or repeal the Wagner Act and the Taft-Hartley Act; in order to legalize wildcat strikes and sympathy strikes, and to cease requiring a union to represent all the workers in a workplace, in order to eliminate the free-rider problem in union representation. These measures will help make multiple unions in a workplace - and members-only collective bargaining agreements - more common. They would also help protect concerted activity between workers, and make it easier to form a union.

      On jobs, I would like to see school boards implement waiver programs, so that auto and wood shop classes can return to high schools; this will help young people acquire important marketable skills in the skilled trades, while avoiding lawsuits against high schools. Also, I will urge states to lower or remove occupational licensing standards, especially in lower-skilled professions and emerging industries. Permits, and licenses, and fees therefor, being required - in order to marry, drive, travel, work, vote, consume alcohol or tobacco, and defend oneself - are all examples of government turning our natural liberties into purchased privileges, from which the government has the exclusive power to derive monetary benefit.

 

      On health, I would vote to repeal the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and oppose taxing hospital workers' income and medical device sales. I think it is impossible to defend the constitutionality of federal involvement in abortion, health, education, retirement, some aspects of the social safety net, and many other issues; without excusing the same type of inappropriate delegation of congressional power - to the executive branch and independent agencies - which brought us the Federal Reserve, the Iraq War, expansion of presidential War Powers, and so many other problems.

I will vote to keep the federal government out of abortion for most reasons; I oppose federal funding for agencies that provide abortions, and I find it hypocritical to want to extend 14th Amendment legal personhood to fetuses while opposing much of the rest of the 14th Amendment. I will urge states to regard partial birth (so-called) "abortion" as infanticide, while keeping legal all abortions that do not follow live birth. The only role I feel that the federal government ought to play in reproductive health - aside from providing insurance for it for its own workers - is to prevent states from prohibiting, and from aggressively taxing, the sale and purchase of contraceptive goods, so that interstate commerce in those goods can remain uninhibited. 

I would vote to support allowing young workers to opt-out of Social Security. I support the personalization - rather than privatization - of retirement accounts. I would vote to support devolving this issue to the states, and I would consider block grants. Unless and until that can be accomplished, I would exhaust all other possible measures before considering either raising the retirement age or means-testing recipients.

 

On Middle East foreign policy, I will vote to withdraw bases and troops from Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Djibouti, Germany, Japan, South Korea, Guantánamo Bay, and other places. With over 800 overseas military bases and troops in about 150 countries, our military budget is too high, and our military is overextended. The only solution is to stop empire building and regime change; and eliminate the need for continued spending on advanced weapons research and development, by ceasing to arm our enemies and their proxies, and by ceasing to get involved in foreign elections and military conflicts, which too often involve taxpayers footing the bill to arm both sides.

We should steer clear of maintaining formal alliances, and Congress should refrain from passing military appropriations bills that pertain to periods of time longer than two years. I do not know how to square this idea with $3.8 billion going to the State of Israel annually for at least the next ten years, much of it military aid. I would vote to exit N.A.T.O.; and eliminate all foreign aid, most of which goes to Israel and / or its neighbors and sometimes enemies.

I would author legislation urging the State of Israel to publicly admit to its possession of nuclear weapons, sign the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, and cease occupying territories annexed after being captured during wartime (in defiance of international law). I am concerned that too many politicians are suggesting that we take a cue from Israel on issues tangential to the military and security, such as reinstating some form of a draft, practicing profiling at the airport, and some policing tactics.

Drafts, and compulsory emergency civil preparedness service, are characteristic of authoritarian regimes. I will oppose efforts to require women to register for the draft; and I will author an amendment to the Second Amendment, to protect the right to use arms in order to defend the natural right of the people - including the unorganized militia - to defend themselves while resisting conscription, as well as the right to claim a conscientious philosophical, moral, and / or religious objection to rendering military service in person.

I want to help restore due process: in part by urging states to pass constitutional amendments requiring judges to fully inform juries and defendants of their rights, including jury nullification; the right to represent oneself in court; and the right to be free from situations where the judge, prosecutor, public defender, and police witness all represent the state, and it is impossible for the defendant to confront his accuser in court, and demand to know what real personal harm or property damage resulted from the supposed illegal action.

Concerning the recent call for “No Fly, No Buy”, I would vote to support transparency into No-Fly lists. My record would reflect a cautious concern regarding due process for suspected terrorists and the mentally ill; ensuring that any takings of gun rights have been adjudicated, not legislated. People are innocent until proven guilty, regardless of how heinous the act of which they've been accused; and all persons – not just U.S. citizens – have rights and deserve fair trials. I believe that the Eighth Amendment prohibits the torturous practice termed "enhanced interrogation", which puts suspects under duress, and can yield unreliable information and confessions.

 

      My campaign committee is the Committee to Elect Joe Kopsick; the campaign is active on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Please contact me - or my campaign manager, Phil Collins - with any questions. I appreciate very much the opportunity to speak to the Chicago Libertarian Party tonight. I hope you will encourage party members - and other voters in the North Suburbs - to consider writing me in on the ballot for U.S. House from Illinois's 10^th District, and to attend my opponents' debate at Lake Forest High School on October 16th. Thank you.

2016 U.S. House Campaign Trifold Pamphlet

Created between July 30th and September 14th, 2016

Edited on September 22nd, 2016

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Page 2 (inside)

Read higher-definition and fuller-length versions of the text on Page 2 at:

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2016/08/positions-on-39-issues-for-my-2016-us.html

http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2016/09/positions-on-45-issues-for-my-2016.html

Positions on 45 Issues for My 2016 U.S. House Campaign (Abbreviated)

Written between July 30th and September 13th, 2016

Edited on September 14th and 22nd, 2016

Table of Contents

I. CORE PRINCIPLES, LAW ENFORCEMENT, & THE MILITARY
II. ECOLOGY, HEALTH, & SOCIAL & DOMESTIC ISSUES
III. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC ISSUES, & MISCELLANEOUS



I. CORE PRINCIPLES, LAW ENFORCEMENT, & THE MILITARY
1. ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
2. STYLE & STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT
3. COURTS & JUSTICE
4. POLICE, CRIME, & PRISONS
5. LICENSING & PERMITS
6. SECOND AMENDMENT
7. ILLICIT DRUGS
8. BORDERS & IMMIGRATION
9. DIPLOMACY & STATE
10. FOREIGN POLICY
11. MILITARY
12. THE MIDDLE EAST
13. TERROR, SECURITY, INTEL, & SURVEILLANCE
14. VETERANS
15. SPACE

II. ECOLOGY, HEALTH, & SOCIAL & DOMESTIC ISSUES
16. ENVIRONMENT
17. INTERIOR, LAND, & WATER
18. ENERGY
19. FARMS, FOOD, & DRUGS 
20. HEALTH CARE & INSURANCE
21. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
22. WOMEN’S & LGBTQIA+ ISSUES
23. MARRIAGE & FAMILIES' ISSUES
24. CHURCH & STATE
25. CIVIL RIGHTS & DISCRIMINATION
26. SOCIAL SAFETY NET
27. EDUCATION
28. HOUSING
29. TRANSPORTATION
30. SOCIAL SECURITY& SENIORS' ISSUES

III. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC ISSUES, & MISCELLANEOUS
31. SPEECH & PRESS
32. ELECTIONS
33. FEDERAL WORKERS
34. WAGES
35. UNIONS
36. BUSINESS
37. JOBS
38. BANKS & CONSUMERS
39. TRADE
40. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
41. TAXES
42. BUDGET & DEBT
43. CURRENCY & TREASURY
44. THE POSTAL SERVICE
45. GAMES, SPORTS, & ATHLETICS




Content

I. CORE PRINCIPLES, LAW ENFORCEMENT, & THE MILITARY
1. ROLE OF GOVERNMENT
Governments' powers derive from the consent of the governed. Governments should recognize natural rights and civil liberties, provide fair trials, punish aggression, and protect individuals from theft and fraud. The federal government should be involved in little besides the military, the treasury, the Post Office, punishing piracy, and regulating the naturalization of immigrants.

2. STYLE & STRUCTURE OF GOVERNMENT
Restore the constitutional republic, and respect separation of powers by returning unconstitutional federal powers to the states and the people. Localize and decentralize political power as much as possible. Diminish the power of the executive; and revoke the powers of Congress to transfer powers to the executive, and to independent or private organizations.

3. COURTS & JUSTICE
Urge the Senate to vote on Supreme Court appointments in election years. Nominate and approve judges who support original intent and plain meaning. Limit Supreme Court justices' terms to 20 years. Shrink the budget of the Justice Department. Break up the 13th Federal District Court. Protect the rights of the accused, and fight for fully informed juries.

4. POLICE, CRIME, & PRISONS
Restore due process and the presumption of innocence. Strengthen Miranda rights. Fight general warrants, indefinite detention, and civil asset forfeiture. Repeal mandatory minimum sentences, end solitary confinement for juveniles, and abolish the federal death penalty. Advocate for the release of non-violent offenders. Get military equipment out of local police departments, require police to wear body cameras, and create civilian review boards for police.

5. LICENSING & PERMITS
Protect the rights to keep and bear arms, be free from unlawful searches, travel, practice an occupation, marry, and consume alcohol and tobacco; by supporting the Ninth Amendment. Curb governments' powers to pass laws that turn natural liberties into paid privileges that require licenses and fees. Many such laws have oppressed racial and other minorities in the past.

6. SECOND AMENDMENT
Repeal all federal gun control laws; and strengthen the Second Amendment to protect the right of conscientious objection to conscription (the military draft). Protect the right to keep and bear arms; whether for the purposes of hunting, or protecting against violent criminals, foreign invasions, and tyrannical governments. Restore due process to No-Fly and terror watch lists before considering “No Fly, No Buy” -type legislation.

7. ILLICIT DRUGS
Abolish the D.E.A. and repeal unconstitutional federal laws against drugs. Remove marijuana from the Class I narcotic schedule, in order to allow new testing. Devolve drug enforcement to the states, and urge the states to legalize marijuana for medicinal and recreational purposes. Urge states to lower the alcohol purchase age to 18, and caution states against increasing the tobacco purchase age.

8. BORDERS & IMMIGRATION
Instead of building dividing walls and fences, support the freedom of travel and the free movement of labor. Minimally vet refugees and legal immigrants, and increase the number of work visas for high-skilled working immigrants. Provide a path to legal work, citizenship, and voting. Support congressional deferred action for childhood arrivals and their parents; not executive orders effecting the same. Get the federal government out of welfare, devolving the issue of welfare for immigrants to the states. Do not require immigrants to learn English, nor serve in the military, as a condition of citizenship. Don't establish a national I.D., nor e-Verify -type programs.

9. DIPLOMACY & STATE
Establish diplomatic relations with, and goodwill towards, all nations and peoples; while being wary of entangling military and trade alliances. Strengthen our diplomatic relationships; by curtailing human rights and worker abuses, and by ceasing to spy on our allies. Withdraw from N.A.T.O. and from most United Nations programs, and remove the U.N. headquarters from the United States. Significantly shrink the budget of the Department of State. Augment the political representation of Americans living outside the fifty states.

10. FOREIGN POLICY
End intervention in foreign civil wars and elections. Require congressional declaration of war as a condition for intervention. Curtail the military powers of the president by amending the War Powers Resolution. Stop arming militants in Eastern Europe, and cease storing American nuclear weapons with our Western European allies. Continue strategic arms reduction negotiations with Russia. Engage with China on North Korea.

11. MILITARY
Abandon regime change and nation building. Cut between 20% and 40% of the total Pentagon budget, reducing the military to its year-2000 size and budget. Dismantle some domestic military bases, and most overseas military bases; and remove troops from 150 countries. End our presence in Germany, Japan, and South Korea. Allow women and homosexuals to serve in the military; but abolish the draft, do not require draft registration, and do not make civil service mandatory. End all foreign aid.

12. THE MIDDLE EAST
Withdraw troops and bases from Iraq and Afghanistan. Do not commit boots on the ground to defeat I.S.I.S. in Syria, do not oust Assad, and do not cooperate with Russia to defeat I.S.I.S.. Re-evaluate who our friends and enemies are in the region. Urge the Senate to re-negotiate the Iran deal, so that the U.S. is not obligated to either provide financial assistance, nor to protect the country's nuclear program. Work with the State of Israel to set a good example in the peace process.

13. TERROR, SECURITY, INTEL, & SURVEILLANCE
Protect all suspects’ rights to fair trials, regardless of citizenship or enemy combatant status, but give military trials to non-citizen accused enemy combatants. End the use of torturous “enhanced” interrogation. Close the prison facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. Repeal the Patriot Act. Abolish the Department of Homeland Security, placing the F.B.I., the C.I.A., and the N.S.A. under the jurisdiction of the Department of Defense and / or the Department of Justice. End the collection of phone and internet metadata by the N.S.A..

14. VETERANS
Reduce spending slightly and gradually as bureaucracy is eliminated and the department is streamlined. At the Veterans Health Administration, improve wait times for doctor visits, achieve lower prices on medications, and increase the availability of specialized medical services. Allow veterans to explore private-sector health care options. Improve the delivery of disability assistance, pensions, housing, education, and job training services to veterans. Fight for the rights of veterans to keep and bear arms.

15. SPACE
Continue funding N.A.S.A. at current levels, and consider increasing funding; unless other major budget cuts cannot be made. Allow the private sector to compete in advanced flight and space travel and exploration. Work to prevent the militarization of space.



II. ECOLOGY, HEALTH, & SOCIAL & DOMESTIC ISSUES

16. ENVIRONMENT
Reduce the budget of the E.P.A.; then abolish it, while devolving to the states the responsibility to govern sustainable development, air cleanliness, and emissions standards. Urge localities to experiment with resource-backed currencies and citizens' dividends. Replace most current tax revenue sources with carbon taxes; and taxes on pollution, land neglect, unsustainable development, and undeveloped land value. Urge states to achieve zero non-offset carbon emissions by 2030.

17. INTERIOR, LAND, & WATER
Shrink or abolish the Department of the Interior, and disarm the Bureau of Land Management. Hand most federal lands over to states, and urge the Senate to honor treaties with tribes by affording them land and sovereignty. Oppose the abuse of the Eminent Domain clause, fighting non-consensual property takings. Urge local governments to consider establishing community land and water trusts, and urge states to experiment with legalizing land ownership in full allodial title.

18. ENERGY
Abolish the Department of Energy and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Eliminate all taxpayer subsidies and supports for energy companies and technologies. Caution states against building the Keystone Pipeline, but do not interfere with the rights of states to regulate natural resource extraction and energy production. Do not prohibit drilling for new oil, but urge states to ban fracking. Urge communities to fund governments and residents' dividends through imposing fees upon companies for the privilege to extract natural resources.

19. FARMS, FOOD, & DRUGS
Cut the U.S.D.A. and the F.D.A., but only cut agricultural subsidies, Food Stamps, and the Child Nutrition Program if major proposed budget cuts are not passed. Consider block-granting some of such programs to the states, and urge states to consider expanding access to food assistance, and / or assistance to farmers. Advocate for voluntary food labeling that attends to consumer demand for accuracy and detail.

20. HEALTH CARE & INSURANCE
Cut the H.H.S. budget by 10%, and cap the growth of Medicare. Repeal employer tax credits and legalize interstate insurance purchase. Don't tax hospitals, hospital worker income, medical device sales, nor medical device profits. Oppose tort reform to avoid disempowering juries. Oppose mandatory vaccination. Repeal Obamacare and the individual insurance mandate. If Congress approves, abolish all H.H.S. functions not pertaining to federal employees' health. Devolve health care to the states, and consider block-grants.

21. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH
Life and humanity begin at conception, but legal personhood begins at live birth. Continue to prohibit partial-birth abortion and infanticide, but do not get involved in abortion at the federal level. Cut all federal funding for Planned Parenthood, but reduce the number of abortions by making contraception available. Urge states to keep abortion legal before viability; and not to require counseling; waiting periods, parental consent, nor fetal sonograms.

22. WOMEN'S & LGBTQIA+ ISSUES
Pass a new Equal Rights Amendment, extending 14th Amendment protections on the bases of sex, gender, and orientation. Ensure access to gender-neutral, third-option, and / or private restroom facilities; in federal buildings, and on taxpayer-supported and interstate commercial properties. Urge states to decriminalize or legalize prostitution; in order to reduce the risks of venereal disease, and violence to sex workers.

23. MARRIAGE & FAMILIES' ISSUES
Make marriage a contractual and / or religious institution, rather than a legal one. Allow states to decide whether to recognize and validate marriages, but urge states to regard such unions as already existing contracts that should not be impaired. Ensure gender pay parity and paid family leave for federal employees, and protect visitation and bereavement rights of federal workers in homosexual unions. Loosen cohabitation requirements for common-law marriage recognition.

24. CHURCH & STATE
Protect all faiths’ rights to worship in peace. Do not interfere with voluntary submission to religious law, nor ban clothing worn for religious reasons. Repeal the Johnson Law limiting political speech by pastors. Do not require religious organizations to provide or insure abortion nor contraception, and do not require churches to perform gay marriages. Protect the right of religious objection to the service of patrons in intrastate non-taxpayer-supported enterprises, and to the draft. Urge states to repeal laws against atheists running for office, and remove references to religion from national currency.

25. CIVIL RIGHTS & DISCRIMINATION
Abolish segregation, discrimination, and affirmative action and quotas by federal public-sector agencies and organizations supported by federal taxpayers. Support open access to enterprise by keeping public accommodations open to the public (including the disabled); but only if they are taxpayer-supported, and / or directly involved in interstate commerce. Do not interfere with exclusion of patrons for engaging in threatening or violent behavior.

26. SOCIAL SAFETY NET
Reform the system of social welfare benefits, but not before completely eliminating aid and privileges to companies large and small. Get the federal government out of welfare, and urge states to explore providing aid to low-income residents without requiring work, job training, or drug tests. Consider the Negative Income Tax, and an extension of the Earned Income Tax Credit, as possible solutions to eliminating the poverty trap, providing a smooth transition from welfare to work.

27. EDUCATION
Abolish the Department of Education and Sallie Mae. Devolve the issues of education, tuition, and student debt to the states. Discourage states from adopting Common Core, but allow states to adopt it, and to voluntarily implement national education standards. Urge states to explore voucher programs, distance learning, and online education; and to expand access to community colleges. Urge states to refrain from requiring public school attendance, and to keep home-schooling legal and free.

28. HOUSING
Devolve the issue of housing to the states. Abolish the Department of Housing and Urban Development, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (F.E.M.A.). End government sponsorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Stop giving tax credits to live in areas prone to natural disasters. Urge states to reform homesteading laws; lowering the required duration of occupancy, and allowing cooperative access to property.

29. TRANSPORTATION
End assistance and bailouts for the auto industry. Oppose Cash for Clunkers -type programs, but allow states to pass their own fuel efficiency and emissions standards. Hand abandoned federal transportation infrastructures over to communities for use. Urge states to fund road construction without taxing non-driving citizens.

30. SOCIAL SECURITY & SENIORS' ISSUES
In the short term, don’t means-test Social Security, nor tighten eligibility standards for disability. Consider block-granting the program to the states; but as long as Social Security is under federal control, curb its growth, cut waste and fraud, and allow young workers to opt-out. Gradually raise the retirement age, but only if none of the aforementioned proposals can be achieved. Urge states to explore non-profit-sector retirement savings account options.



III. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC ISSUES, & MISCELLANEOUS

31. SPEECH & PRESS
Oppose prior restraint of the press, as well as of speech and action. Oppose the confinement of free speech to “Free Speech Zones”, and do not punish speech unless it causes clear and present danger. Protect the rights of journalists to keep their sources confidential. Decriminalize protesting on public property. Open national records to public viewing. Advocate for immunity and pardons for whistleblowers. Oppose internet kill switches, and repeal legislation making internet a public utility.

32. ELECTIONS
Don't overturn Citizens United; instead curb government largesse. End public funding for elections, but support other measures to help make third-party candidates viable. Support algorithmic redistricting. Urge more states to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries. Allow felons to vote in federal elections. Provide free voter I.D. wherever voting requires identification. Require voters to sign ballots, make voting records public, and require elected officials’ oaths of office to be written and signed. Limit senators to two consecutive terms, and House members to four consecutive terms.

33. FEDERAL WORKERS
Eliminate several executive departments, and reduce the number of federal contractors, to reduce the size of the federal workforce by at least 30%. Repeal the federal minimum wage. Reduce the salaries of federal legislators by between 50% and 80% and curtail their pension, insurance, physical protection, and other benefits. Provide health care and insurance, and paid family leave to federal employees, ensuring gender pay parity. Allow federal workers to self-direct their retirement plans. Amend the Constitution to allow federal legislators to be charged with felonies.

34. WAGES
Don't increase the minimum wage; avoid the side effects on prices and employment by achieving reduced prices and increase purchasing power. Decrease tariffs and taxes on sales and income, stabilize and legitimize the currency, and balance the budget to curb inflation. Repeal federal minimum wage laws, but do not prohibit states nor localities from passing local minimum wage laws. Urge businesses and unions to remove limits on wages and raises in contract negotiations.

35. UNIONS
Devolve labor issues not pertaining to federal employees to the states. Urge states to protect concerted activity, and to lower union voting requirements necessary to prompt negotiation. Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act, to allow wildcat and sympathy strikes. Repeal the Wagner Act: in order to end the free-rider problem; weaken the dominance of established unions; and make members-only collective bargaining, and multiple unions in a workplace, more common. Urge non- Right-to-Work states to require union-shop and closed-shop workplaces to inform prospective employees that they will be required to join a union. Oppose a national Right to Work amendment, but do not prohibit states from passing Right to Work laws. Make boycotts possible by eliminating business privileges.

36. BUSINESS
Abolish the Department of Commerce and end bailouts. Dismantle artificial privileges for small business and large corporations alike; including subsidies, tax credits, trade promotions, and intellectual property protections. Abolish the Small Business Administration; and urge businesses to form independent business alliances, divesting funds and membership from lobbying agencies acting as chambers of commerce. Urge states to abolish their Secretary of States' offices, in order to halt the creation of new corporations.

37. JOBS
Urge financial agencies and governments to explore zero-interest and zero-collateral business lending. Urge states to implement waiver programs, so that high-schoolers can acquire important trade skills under somewhat hazardous safety conditions without the school facing threats of lawsuits. Loosen licensing standards - and lower licensing fee costs - for lower-skilled occupations and jobs in emerging industries. Urge states to expand occupational safety and health protections; and to expand job training and apprenticeship programs, and access to technical schools.

38. BANKS & CONSUMERS
Audit the bailouts and consider prosecuting Wall Street and Treasury Department officials. Stop bank bailouts; but don't tax Wall Street speculation, nor reinstate Glass-Steagall. Insulate the public from risky investment decisions by either abolishing the F.D.I.C. or decreasing limits on the quantity of assets it can insure. Abolish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau; empower consumers to make decisions about financial products instead of risking moral hazard. Stop securitizing bad loans, and foster a regulatory environment conducive to independent credit rating.

39. TRADE
Free trade doesn't need a treaty; free trade agreements don't go far enough, and they go too far to protect intellectual property and potential profits. Real free trade is fair trade; reduce tariffs instead of increasing them, in order to reduce prices and reduce foreign worker exploitation for increased profits to offset the tariffs' costs. Establish free trade with all nations; do not implement sanctions, but do not interfere with private boycotts nor divestments. On Cuba, re-establish diplomatic relations, and maintain trade relations; while advocating for fair elections, more humane labor, and freer trade.

40. INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY
Less protection of I.P. means lower consumer prices on medications and other products. Reform patent law to stop protecting mere applications of laws of physics (as opposed to actual discoveries), and shorten the duration of government protection of intellectual property (patents, copyrights, and trademarks). Oppose attempts to pass legislation similar to S.O.P.A., P.I.P.A., C.I.S.P.A., and A.C.T.A.. Stop prosecuting internet file-sharing and music sampling.

41. TAXES
Until major tax reform can be undertaken, tax all current sources at the same flat rate. Cut income taxes to between 12.5% and 14.5% within several years. If other tax revenue sources cannot be phased out, then extend the E.I.T.C. and / or pass a Negative Income Tax. Lower prices by reducing tariffs, sales taxes, and luxury taxes. Repeal taxes on capital gains and inheritances. In the long term, aim to fund government through user fees, voluntary contributions, and a full 14% federal Land Value Tax.

42. BUDGET & DEBT
Avoid debt ceiling increases and credit rating downgrades by getting the debt and deficit under control. Prioritize spending cuts over revenue increases, and efficiency streamlining over cuts to services. Pass Cut-Cap-and-Balance or Balanced Budget Amendment -type legislation. Balance the budget through at least $7 of spending cuts for every new dollar of revenues raised. Reduce federal spending by between $1.25 and $1.75 trillion; to spend $2.15 and $2.65 trillion annually. Adopt zero-base budgeting, and move more spending to the discretionary budget.

43. CURRENCY & TREASURY
Audit the private Federal Reserve System and the gold reserves in Fort Knox, as soon and as often as possible. Abolish the Federal Reserve by repealing the Federal Reserve Act. Exert congressional control over monetary policy, return to constitutional currency, and make money redeemable in precious metals. End Quantitative Easing, fiat currency, and fractional reserve banking; and get the budget under control as soon as possible, to make such efforts easier. Promote experimentation in backing money with energy and natural resources, and allow competition in currencies.

44. THE POSTAL SERVICE
Achieve fiscal solvency for the U.S. Postal Service, first by addressing retirement funding. Formally allow competition in letter delivery by repealing the Postal Express statutes. Repeal laws exempting the Postal Service from taxes, regulations, and prosecution. Stop abusing the Post Roads clause to justify such widespread federal involvement in transportation.

45. GAMES, SPORTS, & ATHLETICS
Repeal federal anti-gambling laws; allow states to govern gambling. Support union negotiation rights for athletes attending federally funded universities. Urge states not to build stadiums with taxpayer funds. Do not hold any additional congressional hearings on doping in sports. Do not use the next U.S.-hosted Olympics as an excuse to displace the poor, beef up security and surveillance, and allow politicians and private interests to set up profitable land development deals.