What if Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David are Pedophiles?

      The following text is an excerpt from my February 2021 article "Twenty-One Politicians and Celebrities Who May Be Indian R.S.S. Agents", which can be read at the following link:

     http://aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com/2021/02/thirteen-politicians-and-celebrities.html

     The discussion of Jerry Seinfeld's and Larry David's possible pedophilia, was included in that article, as part of exploring which actors have both worked with Aziz Ansari and either made pedophilic jokes or have had sex scandals.

     Jerry Seinfeld was thirty-eight years old when he began dating 17-year-old Shoshanna Lonstein Gruss. They met some time in either 1992 or 1993.

     The 48th, 50^th, 51^st, and 56^th episodes of Seinfeld, which were aired around the same time, all featured jokes about either pedophilia, a possible reference to childhood in sex talk, or wanting to have sex with a virgin. The 48th episode is "The Cheever Letters", the 50th episode is “The Virgin”, the 51st is “The Contest”, and the 56th is “The Shoes”.

     In "The Cheever Letters", Jerry's girlfriend Sandra leaves his apartment after Sandra was talking about her panties, and Jerry replied, "You mean the panties your mother laid out for you?" This is revealed during a conversation with George, about Jerry's "dirty talk". Jerry declines to explain to George why he mentioned Sandra's mother during dirty talk. It's possible that the Jerry character was trying to infantilize Sandra, or get her to try "age play". "The Cheever Letters" episode was written by Larry David.
     http://seinfeld.fandom.com/wiki/The_Cheever_Letters

     In “The Virgin”, Frasier's Jane Leeves plays Marla Penny, an adult woman in her late 20s or early 30s who is still a virgin. The sexual frustration which Jerry experiences in the “Virgin” episode, leads to the following episode, “The Contest”, also featuring Leeves. That episode, which is one of the best-known and most popular episode in the show's history, was about the four main characters entering into a betting game to see who can go the longest without having sex. In the series finale, Marla Penny actually testifies in court about how horrified she was when she found out about this game, which Jerry was playing while he was dating her. But focusing on the “Contest” episode: during that episode, there is a scene in which Jerry tries to distract himself from how pent-up (and, presumably, horny) he is. He does so by calling his mother on the phone while watching the children's cartoon show Tiny Toons. While watching the show, Jerry sings along to the song “The Wheels on the Bus (Go 'Round and 'Round)”. This may not be a direct joke at the expense of child sex crime victim, but it is certainly a juxtaposition of children and sex which is intended to get laughs. If it is not pedophilic, then it is at least insensitive, and shows that the writers can't think of anything to distract Jerry that doesn't have to do with child-like things.

     Speaking of child-like things, not only does the real Jerry date teenagers while the fake Jerry dates virgins; the fake Jerry is an immature adult who basically has the mind of a child. He spends all his time making stupid, pointless observations, and talking about nothing, and making jokes all the time. Like a child does. He also eats and talks about cereal all the time, and Superman either appears as a figurine or is mentioned in nearly every single episode. I don't know whether it says anything about real Jerry, but fake Jerry has obviously not grown up yet.

     In “The Shoes”, George stares down the blouse of a teenage girl. George Costanza, played by Jason Alexander, risked losing a job opportunity after television producer Russell Dalrymple (played by Bob Balaban) caught him staring down the blouse of the young girl in his office. That young girl was played by Brooke Shields when she was 21 or 22. It was revealed that the young girl character was not only just 15 years old, but also Dalrymple's daughter.

     All of this means that Seinfeld broadcast four episodes about either pedophilia, reference to childhood in the bedroom, or wanting to have sex with a virgin, within the five-month span of time between late October 1992 and February 1993.

     Think about how pathological that is. Seinfeld had just begun dating a 17-year-old girl, and I'm sure there were probably people who thought it was creepy. If there were, and their opinion got back to Jerry and Larry David, they probably just said “Let's put it in the show! We can make jokes about it!” They were probably trying to “nip things in the bud” by making jokes about having sex with virgins, to get the audience accustomed to laughing about jokes that include both the topic of children or virginity and the topic of sex. The Marla Penny character is visibly in her thirties, and not a teenager, but it's hard to avoid wondering whether the “The Virgin” character, and episode, may have been influenced by the fact that Jerry was dating a teenage girl at the time.

     It's also noteworthy that the character of George Costanza is based on Larry David, the producer of Seinfeld. We might wonder whether George's experience – almost losing a job opportunity for getting caught staring down a female's shirt – could have been based on something that happened to Larry David. Maybe it was even a teenage girl, and/or the daughter of a producer. You know what they say: “Life imitates art, and art imitates life.”

     Maybe Larry David is a pedophile! Let's look at some more facts.

     When Larry David hosted Saturday Night Live, he made a joke about Harvey Weinstein, in which the punch line involved a Jewish rapist trying to get laid in a concentration camp, harassing other Holocaust victims imprisoned there. That was wildly insensitive, but it didn't have to do with children. However, later in the episode, Larry David appeared alongside sitting U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders in yet another sketch about an incident of mass death, the Titanic sinking. In that sketch, Larry David played a Titanic passenger who tried to steal a lifeboat from a boy, which was reserved for women and children only. David's character shouts that the boy is, in fact, a man, and that he could see the boy's “happy trail”, a reference to pubic hair.

     Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David obviously consider the juxtaposition of children and sex to be a laughing matter. None of this information may directly suggest that they are attracted to small children, but it's probable that they are attracted to teenage girls and have no problem joking about it in a very public manner.

     It turns out that Seinfeld isn't about “nothing” after all! For a few years there, I thought it was about food, such as cereals; or perhaps Superman. I guess it's about pedophilia!

Excerpt originally written on February 4th, 2021,
and published incomplete on February 4th, 2021

Edited and Expanded on February 4th, 9th,
14th, and 16th, 2021

Introduction to this article written on March 1st, 2021

Published on March 1st, 2021

Local Man Enters Race for U.S. House: Congressional Press Release (Extended Version)

Table of Contents

1. Local Man Seeks U.S. House Seat

2. Kopsick's Theory of Government and Legislative Priorities

3. Restoring Transparency to Government

4. Reducing Military Spending and Paying Off the National Debt

5. Taxation
6. Poverty, Work, Boycotts, Welfare, and Licenses

7. Reforming Education in a Manner Which Protects Children

8. Reforming Ages of Consent

9. Health Policy and Abortion

10. Conclusion

Content

1. Local Man Seeks U.S. House Seat

     On Monday, August 19^th, 2019, at the monthly meeting of the Libertarian Party of Lake County, local essayist and frequent candidate Joseph W. Kopsick announced his intention to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.

     Mr. Kopsick, 32, seeks the seat representing Illinois's 10^th Congressional District. Kopsick, a native of Lake Bluff and a current resident of Waukegan, will run as an independent write-in candidate, but is also considering seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party and other parties. Kopsick is an advocate of limited constitutional government, supports dealing with most issues on a local basis, and would aim to reduce the number of federal departments by between five and seven.

     Kopsick pledges to operate as a home style politician, focusing his campaign and office resources on Illinois's 10^th District. He would also support legislative efforts to impose term limits upon of the office of U.S. Representative, as well as to reduce the salary and benefits of that position. Kopsick intends these reforms as steps towards establishing a government in which all public service is done on a volunteer basis, and he hopes to author legislation which would allow recall elections for all officials in all jurisdictions.

     Joseph W. Kopsick attended Lake Bluff and Lake Forest public schools, and has lived in Lake County, Illinois his whole life, aside from a few years spent in Wisconsin and Oregon during his twenties. In 2009, Kopsick graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he studied U.S. government, legal philosophy, political science, political theory, and other related topics. Kopsick lived in Portland, Oregon briefly from 2013 to 2015, where he conducted independent research on homelessness and independent business alliances affecting the area. Mr. Kopsick ran for U.S. House of Representatives three times previously; from Wisconsin's 2^nd District in 2012, Oregon's 3^rd District in 2014, and Illinois's 10^th District in 2016.

     Kopsick hopes to use his education in political theory and legal ethics – as well as his subsequent independent studies of alternative proposals for economic systems - to bring a fresh perspective to legislation. Kopsick hopes that this perspective will guide voters and legislators to support and author new legislative proposals which will help to achieve both freedom and equality for all those who reside in the United States.

2. Kopsick's Theory of Government and Legislative Priorities

     Kopsick describes himself as a political independent, an “open borders libertarian” who supports “minimal vetting” at the border, and a supporter of “markets, not capitalism”. He supports restoring freedom through reviving the 9^th Amendment (thus ending the government's monopoly to issue licenses and permits), and revoking the government's powers to create and insure corporations, and revoking its powers to subsidize businesses and pass legislation which favors them and insulates them from competition and legal responsibility.

     Kopsick supports the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and would consider replacing it with what he calls a “truly optional public option” such as “Medicare for All Who Want It” or “Medicare for All, but Opt Out”. Kopsick believes that the Republicans do have a viable health plan, but he would not support the “state lines plan” unless accompanied with additional reforms providing for tax relief and price relief.

     Kopsick is pro-choice - and supports keeping abortion legal, free, and safe – but he opposes funding abortion with taxpayer funds. Kopsick additionally supports prohibiting infanticide and third-term abortions, and hopes to reduce the number of abortions without resorting to any legislative means, besides those prohibitions, to do so. Kopsick opposes federal gun control; and supports strengthening the 2^nd Amendment, in a manner which empowers Americans to stay armed, while also taking steps toward abolishing draft registration and the Selective Service.

     Kopsick's top five most urgent legislative priorities are: 1) limiting and re-negotiating the power and scope of the federal government; 2) enacting serious budget solvency reforms while paying off the national debt; 3) reforming markets which Kopsick considers “rigged”, “unfree”, and plagued with monopolies and taxpayer-funded special privileges; 4) reforming schools, and child protection and custody laws, in a manner which keeps children safe while preparing them with the education and skills they will need for a technologically advanced economy; and 5) advocating for the increased taxation of unimproved land value (Land Value Taxation) by the most local agencies possible, while reducing taxes upon sources of revenue other than unimproved land value. Kopsick additionally supports replacing the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) with "Community Land Trusts" in every community or county, in order to keep environmental issues as local as possible.

     Kopsick hopes to avoid having to overturn Citizens United, but supports numerous reforms to ballot access and the Electoral College which will give independents and third parties the assistance they need to compete fairly with established parties. Kopsick hopes that, by reducing the set of issues in which the federal government is involved, it will be unnecessary to overturn Citizens United, because money will leave politics as soon as lobbyists realize that elected officials are strictly prohibited from regulating industries which the lobbyists wish them to regulate in favor of the interests they represent.

     Kopsick believes he can reduce political strife and social conflict by focusing on “objectively desirable, popular reforms” which he says include limiting government, balancing budgets and restoring fiscal sanity, and ending business privileges which rig markets and stop customers from being able to make choices. Kopsick also considers election reform, infrastructure, and veterans' issues to be among the least divisive issues, which could potentially help unite the nation behind a clear set of principles regarding what the government is supposed to do for us.

3. Restoring Transparency to Government

     Kopsick supports making government more transparent, and more responsive to residents' demands of their various government agencies and contractors; but he also believes that government shouldn't do too much, and that the federal government has overstepped its bounds. Kopsick hopes to reconcile these opposing viewpoints by using the amendment process outlined in the Constitution, to “amend the Constitution constitutionally”.

     Kopsick's plan is to scale-back federal authorities widely considered legitimate (even though they aren't) while empowering the states or the people to take up as many of those same authorities as they wish. Kopsick believes that this framework will avoid growing government, and avoid growing it too quickly, as long as budgets are balanced, budget balancing measures and debt limits are strictly enforced, and federal vs. state powers are strictly delineated and separated. Kopsick supports numerous amendments which would limit the legislative and punitive powers, privileges from arrest, debt contracting powers, term limits, and judicial privileges, of government officials.

     Kopsick opposes numerous congressional procedural tricks which bypass traditional separation of powers, because they leave many modern programs without proper constitutional authorization. These procedural tricks, Kopsick says, include oversteps of presidential reorganizational authority to create new cabinet positions and departments and czars, line-item vetos, congress handing its powers over to the president, fast-track programs, and supercommittees.

     Kopsick warns that these procedural tricks and bypasses have been the cause of the vast majority of improper expansion of government over the past century, which is why he supports changing federal legislation through taking the 6 months to 7 years necessary to pass constitutional amendments instead.

4. Reducing Military Spending and Paying Off the National Debt

     On the national debt: Kopsick supports enacting serious and comprehensive budgetary and taxation reforms which will commit the government to pay off the national debt within 23 years, thereby restoring faith in our creditors, and increasing the value of our bonds and our currency.

     Kopsick hopes that putting America on a path to fiscal solvency, and keeping the value of the dollar high, will help avoid the need to increase the federal minimum wage. Kopsick cautions voters that the minimum wage affects less people than we are often told it does, and believes that employees earning minimum wage should receive assistance through price relief and a decreased burden of taxation on ordinary earned income, rather than through government assistance. Kopsick supports reducing social safety net and welfare spending, but not before cutting military, energy, and other commercial and corporate subsidies.

     Kopsick observes that America outspends the next 19 countries combined on military, and so he believes that we cannot justify continuing such high rates of military spending as we are seeing now. Kopsick supports making as much military spending discretionary as possible, strictly prohibiting bills providing for military expenditures from lasting for more than two years. He also supports withdrawing all troops, American military contractors, and military bases from as many countries as possible – some 800 to 1000 military bases, and troops in roughly 150 countries – while restricting the distance from U.S. shores from which troops can stray during peacetime. In addition to these reforms to the military, Kopsick supports reforms which would “end Big Brother programs” (like domestic and foreign surveillance, use of drones without permission of the host country) and limit the use of military equipment by local police departments.

     Kopsick believes that these reforms – as well as devolving the entitlements (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) to the states – will help reduce the federal budget to $2 trillion. Kopsick aims to reduce overall federal spending from $4 trillion to $2 trillion as soon as possible, while continuing to collect $3 trillion in tax revenues annually, as the federal government is doing now. Kopsick says that the national debt can be paid off by requiring a trillion-dollar budget surplus as soon as the government's total budget and scope can be halved; and by “spending a trillion less than we take in each year, instead of spending a trillion more than we take in each year”, and doing it for 23 years in a row, while paying off our debtors with 100% of those funds.

5. Taxation

     On tariffs: Although Kopsick admits that tariffs are easy to justify constitutionally, he does not think they are economically productive, nor wise, because he observes that American domestic importers pay those tariffs, not foreign sellers (as we think they do). The costs of tariffs are absorbed by importers, but some costs are passed onto foreign sellers, as well as to domestic manufacturers who use imported products, and customers who buy finished products made from materials that originated in foreign countries. Kopsick believes that tariffs only help us “shoot ourselves in the foot”, increasing the costs of all goods in all countries affected. That's why Kopsick supports reducing tariffs to zero “without bullying other nations into lowering their tariffs first”.

     On other forms of taxes: Kopsick believes in taxing monopolies, corporate income, capital gains, inheritance, and sales of luxury items, before resorting to taxing ordinary items with sales taxes and tariffs, and before resorting to taxing income from wages. Kopsick believes that if local governments instituted Land Value Taxation (taxing unimproved land value, while refraining from taxing improvements upon land, such as buildings and labor), then more income tax and sales tax revenues would be available for progressively less local levels of government. Kopsick asserts that all government could potentially be funded through Land Value Taxation, observing that the total cost of all government in the United States is the same amount which modern students of Henry George (who originated Land Value Taxation) estimate could be collected by taxing “kept economic rents”.

6. Poverty, Work, Boycotts, Welfare, and Licenses

     Kopsick believes that a U.S. representative should understand how the Constitution and free market systems are supposed to work, even if they aren't working properly anymore. Kopsick plans to support all measures which end the redistribution of revenues from the working poor to wealthy companies, while advocating for increased economic education in schools and among elected officials.

     Kopsick hopes to see more libertarians, and more students of economics, studying how diverse sets of economists and politicians predict technology will change the economy over the coming decades, and hopes to see more libertarians studying economic proposals such as Georgism and Mutualism.

     Kopsick has proposed numerous suggestions – related to land, housing, money, credit, markets, and automation – which he believes will result in drastically reduced prices for most items. This, coupled with tax relief, he says, will help the working poor, struggling families, and perpetually out-of-work people, afford their daily needs much more easily. Kopsick says this framework will help avoid the need to resort to untenable unconstitutional proposals and anti-free-market or anti-competitive legislation in order to solve the problem of people struggling to pay for their daily needs.

     Kopsick opposes increasing the minimum wage, but concern for the employability of the poor at high wages is one of the reasons why he takes that position. Instead of raising the minimum wage, Kopsick would help the poorest Americans by enacting proposals aiming to reduce the mistreatment of the poor and homeless by government agencies, businesses, and charity organizations; and by passing legislation prohibiting governments and border agents from interfering with mutual aid organizations, charities, and religious organizations providing food relief, medical treatment, or shelter to people in need (regardless of their citizenship status).

     Kopsick opposes taxpayer funding for immigrant welfare, except as necessary to keep detainees alive, healthy, and well-rested while in government custody. Kopsick says that establishing and providing a basic minimum of care will help reduce immigrants' need for government medical assistance. Kopsick hopes to limit government by allowing residents to opt-out of most or all government services, including immigrant welfare and abortion; so he would not seek to prohibit the provision of relief to immigrants (nor citizens) when the revenues in question are acquired through voluntary, consensual cooperative pooling of funds by willing participants. Kopsick says that one way to achieve this is to allow taxpayers to check-off government programs they wish to pay for, on their tax forms (or else by experimenting with such a system, until it can be determined whether citizens could responsibly control 100% of government spending).

     Kopsick additionally wishes to author a congressional resolution which would acknowledge that the 9^th Amendment implicitly recognizes certain freedoms which are necessary in order to survive (among them, the rights to work, eat, hunt, forage, and travel), and he hopes to see hitchhiking become legal in all U.S. states and territories. Kopsick believes that, by increasing our understanding of, and respect for, the 9^th Amendment, we can diminish the need for government monopolies on the issuing of licenses and permits.

     Kopsick hopes to repeal some of the federal laws which he feels unfairly turns our rights to work, form unions, prompt negotiation with management, and go on strike – and our right to “vote with our wallet” (that is, to practice ethical consumerism by boycotting companies we don't like) – into privileges which government can take away. If elected, Kopsick would author and propose legislation to “make boycotts fully legal”; Kopsick says this will require repealing the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, as well as abolishing all bailouts and subsidies, revoking government's ability to create new L.L.C.s, drastically reducing the duration of patent protections, and revoking other forms of taxpayer-funded supports and privileges for businesses which give them an unfair advantage in the market.

     Kopsick says these reforms will lead to a truly free market, wherein companies have to compete by providing better products and/or better prices, instead of relying on taxpayer funds to keep their businesses afloat. Kopsick hopes these reforms will lead to increased price competition, which he says allows supply and demand to meet naturally at an equilibrium price, allowing markets to clear. This is how, as Kopsick says, “free markets lead to free stuff”.

7. Reforming Education in a Manner Which Protects Children

     Kopsick has released a comprehensive plan to reform public school policies, as well as other areas of law, in a manner which protects children's safety, while also preparing them with the skills and education they will need for the future. On higher education, Kopsick supports ending F.A.F.S.A. and Sallie Mae – while, if necessary, supporting a boycott of public universities and colleges, in order to reduce costs of tuition – alongside forgiveness of 100% of public university debt.

     Kopsick supports an “original intent” interpretation of the Constitution which precludes the federal government from intervening in matters related to education, health, welfare, labor, sponsorship of commerce, energy, land outside of the District of Columbia, and other policy areas not mentioned in the Enumerated Powers of the Constitution, without proper authorization via a constitutional amendment. As such, Kopsick supports ending the federal government's involvement in education, barring a constitutional amendment explicitly authorizing it to exercise such authority, and barring the adoption of a set of reforms which Kopsick has recommended be immediately implemented in as many school districts as possible. He has said that he will comment on national issues upon which the federal government is not properly authorized to legislate, but only until the federal government is no longer involved in the issue at hand.

     On primary education, Kopsick opposes setting national education standards, and would urge states to set their own standards. Kopsick wants school tests to rely less on rote memorization and multiple-choice tests, and more on tests containing questions that require students to actually know the answer and understand the subject matter. Kopsick additionally supports increased civics and life skills education, and wants economics classes to teach about “post-scarcity economics” and economists' critiques of economies based on competition and currency. If elected to Congress, Kopsick hopes to propose and support legislative efforts to allow and encourage states to experiment with alternative economic proposals such as state public banks, universal basic income guarantees, social credit systems, local currencies and currencies backed by labor and natural resources, natural resource dividends, Land Value Taxation and split-rate taxation, and other proposals.

     Kopsick supports bringing auto shop classes, wood shop classes, and gun training courses to high schools, but only with waiver systems (signed by student and parents) protecting the school from liability, and only for juniors and seniors. Kopsick believes that public schools would work best if more high schools taught freshmen and sophomores on a campus separate from juniors and seniors. Kopsick says the benefits of such reforms include: 1) facilitating different sets of needs in regards to the parking of vehicles, 2) keeping children under 16 away from dangerous equipment in auto and wood shop classes, and 3) reducing the age range of students attending high school campuses from 6 (if you include skipped-forward and held-back students) to 3.

8. Reforming Ages of Consent

     Kopsick has published numerous proposals which would protect children, but do not pertain to education; such as proposals to investigate child trafficking by agencies of government, and in other industries such as sports and entertainment. Kopsick shares the Libertarian Party of Illinois's concern – and the concern of its last nominee for governor – that divorce laws, family court laws, and Social Security Title IV-D (child support) must be reformed, in order to prevent the unjust taking of children into government custody in divorce proceedings when no physical or sexual abuse has been alleged, and in order to prevent the unjust taking of biological children into custody on legal grounds which only intended to allow the taking into custody of adopted children.

     Kopsick would also aim to reduce the separation of families at the border, and thus reduce the chance for physical and sexual abuse of children while in government custody, by requiring border patrol officials to conduct minimally invasive visual assessments to determine whether migrants are kidnapping the children they're with. Kopsick also supports abolishing I.C.E., which has only existed for 16 years, and which Kopsick says should be considered legally inadmissible because it was “rushed through Congress under duress” during the wave of post-9/11 hysteria.

     Kopsick subscribes to the “Non-Aggression Principle”, the idea that disputes and conflicts ought to be resolved without violence if at all possible. A libertarian, Kopsick believes that not only does government resort to violence all too often to enforce its order, but also that the very concept of the state is intrinsically predicated upon the idea that legalized violence, violent enforcement, territorialism, and monopolizing resources. Kopsick believes that government, society, and the economy should run on the concepts of voluntary participation in contracts and government programs, reciprocity, mutually beneficial voluntary exchange, and assurances that people will follow through on their promises and contracts.

     Kopsick says that, although the Enumerated Powers don't formally authorize the federal government to set ages of consent, such laws can and should be implemented properly via the amendment process, because a more or less uniform set of ages of consent is necessary; not only to establish a vague age required for marriage and contracts, etc., but also to reduce the likelihood that children will be trafficked across state lines for various purposes related to those limitations.

     As such, Kopsick would author legislation providing for formal constitutional authority for the federal government to intervene in such policy areas – if necessary, calling for a constitutional convention, calling the states together to establish a uniform set of laws on these issues (but only as long as such a convention can be held without risking civil liberties being negotiated away).

     Kopsick hopes to offer guidance to help the federal and state governments establish more uniform sets of laws pertaining to ages of consent for various activities (including a ban, in all states, on child marriage for minors under 16). Kopsick wants to increase the federal age of consent from 12 to 15 or 16, while narrowing the age differences prescribed in state “Romeo and Juliet” laws to within two years, in a manner which will stop the fact of federal jurisdiction from preventing states from prosecuting interstate child trafficking when the federal government will not do so.

     According to Kopsick, all of these reforms - to ages of consent, schools, and other issues – will result in significantly increased rates of prosecution for child trafficking, and for molestation while in school and government custody.

     Kopsick notes that, while the State of Illinois is increasing the age of tobacco purchase, it is lowering the age a child has to be in order to be left at home unsupervised. Kopsick says this doesn't make sense, and supports authorizing the federal government – through a proper constitutional amendment - to prohibit states from setting most ages of consent (for voting, contracts, marriage, sex, tobacco, etc.) lower than 16 or higher than 18, while prohibiting states from setting the age of alcohol purchase lower than 18 or higher than 21. Kopsick supports allowing minors as young as 14 to drive, provided that they learn to drive outside of public school. Kopsick wants to see twenty-five more states legalize voting by 17-year-olds in primaries, as long as they will turn 18 by Election Day.

     On other electoral issues: Observing that many states allow 18-year-olds to serve as mayors and governors, Kopsick would urge states to lower the age at which officials can be elected or appointed, to 18. Kopsick has proposed numerous other reforms to elections, including allowing states to continue to have radically different laws concerning how their Electoral College votes will be allocated (or, if that is untenable, then reforming the Electoral College and the Congress by getting rid of the Senate and electing the president through the popular vote). Kopsick also supports increased ballot access for third parties; including equal signature collection requirements for all parties, “jungle primaries”, and ranked-choice voting.

9. Health Policy and Abortion

     Although Kopsick opposes federal involvement in health care and health insurance policy without a constitutional amendment, Kopsick believes that a “Medicare for All” -type program could be maximally economically efficient (as long as no money is lost to bureaucracies and politicians), while a “Medicare for All Who Want It”, “Medicare for All, But Opt Out” or “public option” type system would help preserve choice better than Medicare for All would.

     Instead of authorizing the federal government to negotiate on drug prices, Kopsick would strike at the root of the problem; by ending medical companies' monopolies, subsidies, and special privileges. Kopsick supports applying his “free markets lead to free stuff” idea to health care, achieving price relief on health items by reducing the lifespan of pharmaceutical patents and medical devices, while giving non-profit health organizations tax-free status, and giving medical professionals tax write-offs to provide free care.

     Kopsick believes that a low-tax, non-profit environment – along with voluntary participation in government health programs, in a free interstate market for health insurance – will help reduce the prices of health goods and services, while unleashing a torrent of innovation in regards to new research and development into new medical technologies. Kopsick supports using free enterprise and strictly limited intellectual property protections to encourage innovation, rather than investing taxpayer funds into R&D.

     On abortion, Kopsick is pro-choice, but with exceptions; his platform includes a proposal reading “Allow abortion, but don't subsidize it”. Kopsick opposes the expenditure of taxpayer funds on abortion and organizations providing abortion, whenever those funds are collected without the consent of the individual taxpayer. Kopsick would author legislation providing for the punishment of medical professionals who allow babies to die after being born alive as the result of failed abortions, and who commit infanticide while calling it late-term abortion.

     Kopsick believes that Roe v. Wade has been as destructive as it has been helpful, in regards to ensuring access to abortion. Kopsick supports prohibiting abortion in the third trimester, but requiring all states to allow people to pay for abortions as they please, without the help of involuntary taxpayer funding, and allowing free legal access to abortion services in the first and second trimester so as to avoid any need for late-term abortion.

     Kopsick believes that keeping abortion free, but unsupported by taxpayer funds, will help reduce a lot of the moral and social differences in our society. Kopsick says that by aiming to reduce abortions – without supporting prohibitions on abortions before the third trimester – and believes that, by keeping access to contraception, adoption services, and surrogacy (as well as allowing research into womb transplants), the demand for abortion can be drastically reduced, without the need for government intervention.

10. Conclusion

     Kopsick currently works as a private security officer at various locations throughout Lake County. In his spare time, he enjoys playing guitar and piano, making mashup music, and drawing.

     Kopsick manages a blog, the Aquarian Agrarian, which can be found at www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com. Kopsick plans to launch an official personal website, featuring a section on campaigns. Voters can read his platform by visiting that blog, and reading Kopsick's August 2019 articles “Reform or Abolition: Thirty-Point Basic Platform for U.S. House of Representatives in 2020” and “Expanded Platform for U.S. House of Representatives in 2020”.

     The election for U.S. Representative from Illinois's 10th District will be held on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2020, the same day as the election for president and vice president of the United States.

     In addition to Mr. Kopsick, who filed as an independent, three other candidates have filed to run for the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 10^th District; the incumbent Democrat, another Democrat, and a Republican.

Written on August 25th, 2019

Published on August 25th, 2019

Edited on August 27th and 28th, 2019

Local Man Enters Race for U.S. House: Congressional Press Release (Abbreviated Version)

*** MEDIA ALERT ***

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:                                  Contact: JOSEPH W. KOPSICK
August 28^th, 2019                                           608-417-9395 / jwkopsick@gmail.com

Local Man Enters Race for U.S. House

Lake Bluff Native Joe Kopsick Seeks 10^th District Office

     LIBERTYVILLE, ILLINOIS - On Monday, August 19^th, 2019, at the monthly meeting of the Libertarian Party of Lake County, local essayist and frequent candidate Joseph W. Kopsick announced his intention to run for the U.S. House of Representatives.

     Mr. Kopsick, 32, seeks the seat representing Illinois's 10^th Congressional District. Kopsick, a native of Lake Bluff and a current resident of Waukegan, will run as an independent write-in candidate, but is also considering seeking the nomination of the Libertarian Party and other parties. Kopsick is an advocate of limited constitutional government, supports dealing with most issues on a local basis, and would aim to reduce the number of federal departments by between five and seven.

     Kopsick pledges to operate as a home style politician, focusing his campaign and office resources on Illinois's 10^th District. He would also support legislative efforts to impose term limits upon of the office of U.S. Representative, as well as to reduce the salary and benefits of that position. Kopsick intends these reforms as steps towards establishing a government in which all public service is done on a volunteer basis, and he hopes to author legislation which would allow recall elections for all officials in all jurisdictions.

     Joseph W. Kopsick attended Lake Bluff and Lake Forest public schools, and has lived in Lake County, Illinois his whole life, aside from a few years spent in Wisconsin and Oregon during his twenties. In 2009, Kopsick graduated from the University of Wisconsin at Madison, where he studied U.S. government, legal philosophy, political science, political theory, and other related topics. Kopsick lived in Portland, Oregon briefly from 2013 to 2015, where he conducted independent research on homelessness and independent business alliances affecting the area. Mr. Kopsick ran for U.S. House of Representatives three times previously; from Wisconsin's 2^nd District in 2012, Oregon's 3^rd District in 2014, and Illinois's 10^th District in 2016.

     Kopsick hopes to use his education in political theory and legal ethics – as well as his subsequent independent studies of alternative proposals for economic systems - to bring a fresh perspective to legislation. Kopsick hopes that this perspective will guide voters and legislators to support and author new legislative proposals which will help to achieve both freedom and equality for all those who reside in the United States.

     Kopsick describes himself as a political independent, an “open borders libertarian” who supports “minimal vetting” at the border, and a supporter of “markets, not capitalism”. He supports restoring freedom through reviving the 9^th Amendment (thus ending the government's monopoly to issue licenses and permits), and revoking the government's powers to create and insure corporations, and revoking its powers to subsidize businesses and pass legislation which favors them and insulates them from competition and legal responsibility.

     Kopsick supports the full repeal of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), and would consider replacing it with what he calls a “truly optional public option” such as “Medicare for All Who Want It” or “Medicare for All, but Opt Out”. Kopsick believes that the Republicans do have a viable health plan, but he would not support the “state lines plan” unless accompanied with additional reforms providing for tax relief and price relief.

     Kopsick is pro-choice - and supports keeping abortion legal, free, and safe – but he opposes funding abortion with taxpayer funds. Kopsick additionally supports prohibiting infanticide and third-term abortions, and hopes to reduce the number of abortions without resorting to any legislative means, besides those prohibitions, to do so. Kopsick opposes federal gun control; and supports strengthening the 2^nd Amendment, in a manner which empowers Americans to stay armed, while also taking steps toward abolishing draft registration and the Selective Service.

     Kopsick's top five most urgent legislative priorities are: 1) limiting and re-negotiating the power and scope of the federal government; 2) enacting serious budget solvency reforms while paying off the national debt; 3) reforming markets which Kopsick considers “rigged”, “unfree”, and plagued with monopolies and taxpayer-funded special privileges; 4) reforming schools, and child protection and custody laws, in a manner which keeps children safe while preparing them with the education and skills they will need for a technologically advanced economy; and 5) advocating for the increased taxation of unimproved land value (Land Value Taxation) by the most local agencies possible, while reducing taxes upon sources of revenue other than unimproved land value. Kopsick additionally supports replacing the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.) with "Community Land Trusts" in every community or county, in order to keep environmental issues as local as possible.

     Kopsick hopes to avoid having to overturn Citizens United, but supports numerous reforms to ballot access and the Electoral College which will give independents and third parties the assistance they need to compete fairly with established parties. Kopsick hopes that, by reducing the set of issues in which the federal government is involved, it will be unnecessary to overturn Citizens United, because money will leave politics as soon as lobbyists realize that elected officials are strictly prohibited from regulating industries which the lobbyists wish them to regulate in favor of the interests they represent.

     Kopsick believes he can reduce political strife and social conflict by focusing on “objectively desirable, popular reforms” which he says include limiting government, balancing budgets and restoring fiscal sanity, and ending business privileges which rig markets and stop customers from being able to make choices. Kopsick also considers election reform, infrastructure, and veterans' issues to be among the least divisive issues, which could potentially help unite the nation behind a clear set of principles regarding what the government is supposed to do for us.

     Kopsick currently works as a private security officer at various locations throughout Lake County. In his spare time, he enjoys playing guitar and piano, making mashup music, and drawing.
     Kopsick manages a blog, the Aquarian Agrarian, which can be found at www.aquarianagrarian.blogspot.com. Kopsick plans to launch an official personal website, featuring a section on campaigns. Voters can read his platform by visiting that blog, and reading Kopsick's August 2019 articles “Reform or Abolition: Thirty-Point Basic Platform for U.S. House of Representatives in 2020” and “Expanded Platform for U.S. House of Representatives in 2020”.

     The election for U.S. Representative from Illinois's 10^th District will be held on Tuesday, November 3^rd, 2020, the same day as the election for president and vice president of the United States.

     In addition to Mr. Kopsick, who filed as an independent, three other candidates have filed to run for the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois's 10^th District; the incumbent Democrat, another Democrat, and a Republican.

Written on August 25th, 2019

Published on August 25th, 2019
Edited on August 27th and 28th, 2019

Towards a Free, United Populism: Proposal of a Humanitarian Party Platform

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. The Platform

   1. Humanitarianism

   2. Giving

   3. Popular Reforms

   4. Elections

   5. Corruption
   6. Shrink the Federal Government

   7. Budgets, Taxes, and Money

   8. Employment
   9. Health
   10. Ecology

   11. War and Foreign Relations

   12. Policing, Surveillance, etc.

   13. Life

   14. Family

   15. Youth Issues

   16. Sweeping Changes
   17. Amendments Borrowed from Public Suggestions

Content

     

I. Introduction

     The following set of slogans, guiding principles, and policy proposals, was written in order to begin crafting a platform which would appeal to the broadest possible swath of disenfranchised American voters, without regard to their social or economic values and dispositions.
     I compiled this set of proposals while discussing how to create such a platform with three friends; two Green Party members and a conservative. I contributed my own ideas, mostly inspired by a politically libertarian, minarchist, and original intent -oriented interpretation of the Constitution. Each of us pitched the topics we thought Americans could get along on, regardless of economic or social persuasion.
     I have done this in order to avoid as many possible points of disagreement which would risk forestalling progress towards a more equal protection under the law, a more equal opportunity in the economy, and reforming and limiting the power of government (especially to keep alternative political voices out of debates, elections, and polls).
     That is why I feel that the most important topics to start with are things like caring for one another and giving, reforming elections and increasing voter access, ending corruption in government, taking care of our veterans, rebuilding our nation's infrastructure, making common-sense reforms to our economy that everyone can agree on, taking care of the environment, and ending wars and government spying.

     I hope to turn this set of proposals into a survey; I would be interested in knowing what percentage of Americans support each of these reforms. I would recommend that all proposals receiving more than 70% support should be combined by topic, and introduced to Congress as comprehensive reforms of laws concerning each topic.
     I hope that whatever set of proposals survives such a survey, increases the focus on humanitarianism in society and politics. Whatever we may believe about the proper role of government in welfare, the Constitution can be amended constitutionally, and we have the right to alter or abolish our government, so theoretically no reform should be considered off-the-table (at least from the start).
    I hope that the results of a survey based on this also contributes to increases of freedom, equality, but most of all independence; independence of thought, independence of political disposition, and independence of government when and if possible. If a machine can be trusted to be autonomous, then it should be autonomous. If a man can be trusted to be autonomous, then he should be autonomous. If a regional government can be trusted to be autonomous, then it should be wholly autonomous. The subsidiarist principle should continue to guide American politics; we must advance past states' rights and dual federalism, towards more polycentric structures of government.

   Please email me at jwkopsick@gmail.com, or comment below, if you have any comments about which of the proposals below are your favorite, or least favorite. And feel free to make suggestions and edits, and ask questions for clarification.

II. The Platform

1. HUMANITARIANISM:

     A. Prioritize humanity first / Put people first.

     B. Prioritize people over profit.

     C. Establish “government of the people, by the people, and for the people”.

2. GIVING:

     A. (Through whatever methods,) relieve poverty, need, and suffering.

     B. Provide mutual aid to the poor, homeless, traveling workers, perpetually unemployed people, and overlooked veterans.

     C. Encourage people to give alms charitably; both often and of their own free will.

     D. Caution people that to simply pay taxes without giving to the poor, absolves a person of the personal moral responsibility to give to the poor directly, instead of waiting around expecting the government to do it on one's behalf.
     E. Help the poor whether it is illegal or not; regardless of whether the government tries to regulate charitable giving or require permission in order to give to the poor. Advocate for the repeal of any and all local city ordinances prohibiting giving out food, money, and other resources to the poor (as well as the repeal of ordinances prohibiting panhandling, busking, camping, and hitchhiking).

     F. Advocate for more cross-jurisdictional and cross-border cooperation in order to provide mutual aid to the poor. This could be done through advocated for increased funding of, and participation in, mutual aid societies such as Food Not Bombs, M.A.B.A.S. (the midwest Mutual Aid Box Alarm System), and Doctors Without Borders. Additionally, through advocating that food pantry access (in addition to library access, and park and beach access) not be denied to anyone on the basis of their location or jurisdiction.

3. POPULAR REFORMS:

     A. Pursue any and all apolitical reforms which stand a chance at being passed through bipartisan reconciliation; as long as those reforms are enacted at the level of government which is legally and constitutionally authorized to enact them. Including, but not limited to the following;

     B. Rebuild our crumbling public infrastructure; roads, bridges, tunnels, ports, airports, etc..

     C. Advocate for affordable mass transit and public transportation.

     D. Improve the standard of life of military veterans, not only through direct charity, but through ensuring that these public employees are adequately compensated for their service.

     E. Advocate for the de-politicization of the decision-making process, regarding how the three preceding issues are normally dealt with.

4. ELECTIONS:

     A. Support measures which ensure fairer ballot access for third parties and independents.
     B. End the grandfathering-in of the two major political parties when it comes to the number of signatures which must be collected in order to petition for a candidate's name to appear on the ballot.

     C. Let citizens choose their legislators; not vice-versa. End gerrymandering through politically independent methods; either by establishing a bipartisan redistricting panel, or by allowing congressional districts to be drawn by computer algorithms without regard for local voting patterns.

     D. Sue the “bipartisan” private corporation the Commission on Presidential Debates in order to limit its power, and invite the League of Women Voters or some independent association to host the debates.
     E. Find, and propose, legislative and legal remedies which will allow and assist third parties and independents to debate while bypassing the commission.
     F. In order to fully abolish poll taxes, advocate for prohibiting governments from charging fees for driver's licenses and state identification documents, for as long as such governments shall require those documents in order to vote. Require governments to provide identification documents to all residents, free upon request, in all jurisdictions in which such documents are required in order to vote.

5. CORRUPTION:

     A. Strictly limit the powers of government, and reduce its size and scope.

     B. Pass strict measures aiming to prevent or punish political corruption.

     C. Pass strict accounting regulations, and strict measures aiming to prevent or punish financial corruption and budgetary fraud.

     D. Pass meaningful term limits; at all levels, and in all branches, of government. End Supreme Court justices' lifetime tenures; but limit the terms of not only federal Supreme Court justices, the president, the Senate and House; but also of state governors. Pass additional federal and state judicial term limits.
     E. Amend the Speech or Debate Clause (Article I, Section 6, Clause 1) so as to revoke federal congressmen's privileged protection against being arrested for misdemeanors.
     F. Create a Tenth District federal Circuit Court of Appeals, by splitting the Ninth District into two districts.
     G. Promote the rights of jurors and the accused, by spreading awareness of jury nullification, and awareness of the right to decline to enter a plea and demand a trial in certain cases.
     H. Abolish civil asset forfeiture.
     I. Abolish eminent domain; follow the Fifth Amendment by requiring: 1) public use; 2) just compensation; and 3) consent of the property owner, in order for the government to be allowed to expropriate private property.


6. SHRINK THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT:

     A. Consider limiting government severely, by promoting sweeping changes to the size and scope of the federal government; specifically, abolishing entire federal departments which we no longer need. These include, but are not limited to, the following (five proposals):

     B. Abolish the Department of Commerce, in order to move towards ending government support for businesses. Take additional steps to end all public support for business associations and business lobbying organizations which disguise themselves as official government departments of commerce.

     C. Abolish the Department of Energy, in order to eliminate energy subsidies which distort and rig the market for fuels.

     D. Abolish the federal Department of Education, in order to restore local and state control to our education system.

     E. Abolish or shrink the Department of Housing and Urban Development, in order to reduce the risk of the government insuring too many people to live in areas prone to natural disasters (floods, ocean level rise, etc.).

     F. Abolish the Department of the Interior - in order to reduce the amount of land area which is owned, claimed, and/or managed by the federal government - returning that land to the people.

7. BUDGETS, TAXES, AND MONEY

     A. Audit the Federal Reserve System thoroughly and annually. Abolish the Federal Reserve System. Return monetary policy to Congress.

     B. Legally mandate balanced budgets in all jurisdictions. Support reforms to budgetary accountability which ensure that every single dollar is accounted for, whatever the tax rate or the size of the government budget happens to be. Examples could include “Cut, Cap, and Balance” type legislation, a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, or other meaningful budgetary reforms.

     B. Repeal the 16th Amendment, abolish the federal tax on income, and urge states to repeal and abolish taxes on ordinary income below $30,000 in all states.
     C. Freeze property tax assessments, or limit property tax increases to either the inflation rate or the Consumer Price Index, in order to prevent taxes from rising with inflation.
     D. Require the approval of referenda by a supermajority of the voting public, before new tax increases can be passed.
     E. Reduce the burden of property taxes on ordinary people, by enacting split-rate taxation, wherein the value of land is taxed at a higher rate than the rate of taxation to be imposed on improvements upon the land (such as residential and commercial buildings).
     F. End the double taxation of income. Enact prohibitions on the taxation of income, sales, and property, etc. by more than one level of government in the same territory. Take steps towards  devoting each level of government to a particular form of taxation, in order to affirm the separation of powers and maintain the system of checks and balances in regard to taxes.
     G. Abolish the tax credit for employer-provided health insurance, in order to get rid of the market incentive which it causes; that is, the incentive to apply for, or keep working at, a job you don't want, because you don't want to lose your insurance. After the employer health insurance tax credit is abolished, employed people will no longer have an unfair advantage over non-employed people when it comes to affording health insurance (which they do with the help of their employers and the government).

     H. Oppose “pork-barrel spending”; that is, oppose the expenditure of public taxpayer funds on wasteful programs, ineffective programs, earmarks, special interests, projects which benefit certain regional interests unfairly (rather than every member of the public equally).

     I. Encourage local independence and experimentation regarding economic issues: Allow, states and local governments, to enact Land Value Taxation, citizens' dividend, universal basic income guarantee, and state public bank -type reforms.

     J. Achieve a sound U.S. Dollar, with a stable and increasing value.

8. EMPLOYMENT

     A. Reform and revamp the Federal Reserve's “dual mandate” of keeping inflation low while Pursue monetary and budgetary policies which would aim to keep inflation low, but without sacrificing the need to ensure that a sufficient percentage of people are employed.

     B. Establish either a “chained-C.P.I. minimum wage” or an “inflation-pegged minimum wage”. Support minimum wage increases, but only on the condition that those increases are tied to either: 1) the Consumer Price Index (C.P.I.), or 2) the inflation rate. Such wage adjustments should be updated every 6 or 12 months.

     C. Support increases in the minimum wage, only on the condition that more workers be covered by said wage laws. We must spread awareness that a “$15 minimum wage” would primarily benefit federal workers, and workers covered under the National Railway Labor Act. For local government workers, people employed in the private sector, and especially the unemployed, a $15 minimum wage functions not so much as a “minimum wage law”, but as more of an optional suggestion.

     D. Spread awareness – to workers, bosses, renters, and landlords alike – that a worker will earn less and less money each year, if his raises do not keep up with inflation and/or increases in prices of ordinary consumer goods.

     E. Amend the Wagner Act; so that either: 1) a lower percentage of workers' votes than 50% can prompt negotiation with management, or 2) all unions, and all sets of two workers or more, may negotiate with management, regardless of the number or percentage of votes they receive in union elections. Amend Section 9 of the 1935 National Labor Relations Act (Wagner Act) so as to protect concerted activity, help members-only collective bargaining spread, and make dual unionism and minority unionism fully legal (by protecting the right of either: 1) any two workers, or 2) some predetermined percentage of workers below 50, to file complaints against management in a manner which requires response and negotiation).

     F. Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act, allowing consumers to engage in concerted boycotts across multiple industries without asking the government for permission.

9. HEALTH:

     A. Repeal legal barriers to importing legal and unregulated drugs from overseas.
     B. Require the F.D.A. to legalize all pharmaceutical drugs approved in all industrially and medically modern countries within 30 days.
     C. Abolish the F.D.A.
     D. Repeal legal barriers to terminally ill people trying experimental drugs which could save their lives.
     E. In 45 states, legalize the interstate purchase of health insurance policies which are consistent with state law.
     F. Repeal the federal H.I.P.A.A. tax credit for employer-provided health insurance plans, or extend the tax credit to all people regardless of employment status.

10. ECOLOGY:

     A. Prioritize the planet over profit.

     B. Preserve the ecology, protect the environment, and conserve scarce and fixed natural resources.

     C. Ensure that all economic development going forward, is environmentally sustainable.

     D. Ensure that neither humans nor animals are prioritized over the other, when it comes to physically developing our surroundings in order to support habitats capable of sustaining life.
     E. Re-negotiate N.A.F.T.A. (and other trade treaties) in a manner which protects the ecology and indigenous peoples both in America and in the foreign countries involved, while lowering barriers to free trade, and setting a good example by taking unilateral steps towards a zero-tariff environment without regard to which country takes the first steps to get there.

11. WAR AND FOREIGN RELATIONS:

     A. Prioritize peace over profit.

     B. Be more cautious about getting involved in wars, civil wars, and military and economic interventions overseas.

     C. Establish “peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliances with none”.

     D. Repeal the 1973 War Powers Act.

     E. Either establish a Department of Peace to replace or balance-out the Department of Defense, or else start using the Department of State for peaceful diplomatic purposes as originally intended.

     F. Abolish or significantly reduce all U.S. aid to foreign countries.
     G. End and abolish registration for the Selective Service.
     H. Establish an all-volunteer military, formally and permanently abolish the military draft through a constitutional amendment.
     I. Prohibit governments from enacting "mandatory civilian national service programs" and other programs which are military drafts in disguise.
     J. Bring home all troops and military contractors from Iraq, Afghanistan, Germany, South Korea, Japan, Turkey, and others.
     K. Dismantle between 800 and 1000 U.S. military bases overseas, ending our massive military presence abroad.
     L. Limit the distance from U.S. shores our military can travel during peacetime; to between 12 nautical miles and 90 or 100 statute miles.
     M. End all foreign aid: Support all legislative efforts to reduce and abolish the disbursement of U.S. taxpayer money to foreign regimes.

12. POLICING, SURVEILLANCE, etc.

     A. Use the police to protect people, not property. Make the (supposed) police duty "to protect and serve" a real legal obligation. Advocate for the reversal of the 1981 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Warren v. District of Columbia, which held that the police have no responsibility to protect and serve the general public, nor any particular one of its members, unless a private agreement or contract has been made between the police and the person(s) to be protected. Ensure that the police follow the law, and revamp the police so as to replace "beat cops" with "officers of the peace".
     B. Use the military to protect people, not property. Prohibit military intervention for the sake of protecting property and profits; do not commit troops nor private military contractors for the sake of protecting anything except human beings.
     C. Either alter or abolish the 1033 Program established under the 1997 National Defense Authorization Act (N.D.A.A.)., or else amend the 1997 N.D.A.A.'s 1033 Program so as make it in compliance with the Posse Comitatus Act. Allow police departments to have tanks and drones, but prohibit police cooperation with military and National Guard while using such devices, and also prohibit their use by police departments except in the event of foreign invasion, so that tanks and drones cannot be used by police against the citizens they are supposed to protect.

     D. Repeal the 2001 A.U.M.F. (Authorization of the Use of Military Force Against Terrorists).

     E. Abolish all agencies operating under the D.H.S. (Department of Homeland Security) which were created after September 11th, 2001 or have no proper constitutional authority, including the N.S.A. (National Security Agency) and I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

     F. Among the set of 17 intelligence agencies operating under the Department of Homeland Security, enfold any properly constitutionally authorized agencies which remained, into-under either the Department of Defense, the Department of Justice, or the Department of State.

     G. End surveillance on American citizens by their government; pass laws ending warrantless wiretaps on Americans, and abolish the National Security Agency (N.S.A.).

     H. End the surveillance of foreign governments (especially our allies) by the United States.

     H. Establish legal and/or economic penalties for companies which survey (spy on) American citizens without their permission and awareness.
     I. When it comes to companies using customers' search information to make money selling ads: Require companies to offer customers the choice as to whether to be paid for their information, or else to opt out of having their information monitored.

     J. Pass laws prohibiting all law enforcement and military officers from using of torture in interrogations, and end all forms of torture excused as "enhanced interrogation".

     K. Pass laws prohibiting the indefinite detention, and especially the detention without trial, of all people suspected of crimes, regardless of the citizenship status or nation of origin of the suspect. Non-citizen suspects can't be charged with violating our laws, if they're not subject to our laws. And if they're subject to our laws, then they're subject to the protections in the Bill of Rights.

     L. Oppose the use of drones, to strike and spy on suspects in foreign countries, unless such actions have been properly authorized, through:

          1) permission from that country, or lacking that,

          2) a formal declaration of war on that country by Congress.

13. LIFE:

     A. Protect life as the key to protecting liberty.

     B. Support the legality of abortion whenever it is necessary to save the life of the mother.

     C. If a person is considering abortion, there are almost always other alternatives (including adoption, surrogacy, and potentially even fetal transplants a few years down the line).

     D. Aim to reduce and decrease the number of abortions.

     E. End the expenditure of taxpayer funds on abortion services, and end the expenditure of taxpayer funds on organizations that provide abortion services.

     F. Advocate for the abortion industry to cease operating on a for-profit basis in America.
     G. Prohibit infanticide, and prosecute partial birth abortion as infanticide, in all jurisdictions.

14. FAMILY:

     A. Make no-fault divorce the norm in divorce courts (unless child abuse is suspected).

     B. Make 50/50 equal custody the default arrangement in child custody hearings (unless child abuse is suspected).

     C. If the above two measures cannot be achieved, then abolish family law courts.

     D. If none of the above measures can be achieved, then move to repeal Social Security Act Title IV-D (child support).

15. YOUTH ISSUES:

     A. End the physical abuse and emotional torture of children; by educators, police officers, and school security guards.

     B. Insist that any measure funding public schools, be passed only on the condition that sufficient resources are spent to combat school bullying.

     C. Insist that any measure funding public schools, be passed only on the condition that sufficient resources are spent to protect children from being molested by teachers and fellow classmates (24 kids are molested in American schools every school day, and that's just what's reported).

     D. End the school-to-prison pipeline.

     E. End the trafficking of children through courts to for-profit prisons.

     F. End the trafficking of children through the courts and C.P.S. (Child Protective Services).

     G. End the trafficking of children by I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).

     H. Advocate for a full investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's former employees, as well as Donald Trump, Alexander Acosta, Ghislaine Maxwell, and all persons of interest named in Epstein's black book and/or logs of flights on which Epstein flew (including but not limited to Alan Dershowitz, Michael Mukasey, Ehud Barak, Steven Pinker, Kevin Hart, Kevin Spacey, Naomi Campbell, Prince Andrew, several members of the Trump and Clinton families, and more).
     I. Advocate for a full investigation of James Alefantis, as well as Sasha Lord and Alefantis's other employees, David Brock, John and Tony Podesta, Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, Anthony Weiner, Laura Silsby-Gayler, Tamera Stanton Luzzatto and David J. Leiter, Jim Steyer, Herb Sandler, and all persons of interest in the Pizzagate case.

     J. Prosecute, to the fullest extent of the law, any and all politicians, troops, and defense contractors, suspected of engaging in sex trafficking rings, whether international or domestic.

     K. In all jurisdictions, fully criminalize the act of marrying a person under the age of 16.

     L. Raise the federal age of sexual consent from 12 to either 15 or 16.

     M. Oppose and reverse all attempts to raise the tobacco and alcohol purchase ages any higher than 18 and 21.

     N. Urge more states to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primary elections, as long as they'll turn 18 before the relevant general election.

16. SWEEPING CHANGES:

     A. Call for a constitutional convention, as long as one can be held without putting the Bill of Rights at risk.

     B. Support a “New Federalism” -type position regarding entitlements (Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) wherein the funds for those programs would be block-granted to the states by the federal government, but otherwise left up to the states to administer and enforce.

     C. Commute death sentences to life in all jurisdictions wherein the death penalty still exist (or could exist). Abolish the federal death penalty.
     D. Repeal mandatory minimum sentencing guidelines in all "victimless crime" and "vice law" cases in which there is no actual victim (aside from the accused person and/or the public), including in any drug law cases in which no acts of fraud nor violence were committed.
     E. Remove cannabis from Schedule I, and release non-violent marijuana offenders from prison. 

     F. Pass legislation prohibiting the taxation of marijuana, and also prohibiting its regulation for any purposes (other than to prosecute acts of violence undertaken during marijuana exchanges, and to prevent marijuana from falling into the hands of minors who do not have medical justification for using it). Support all laws which would decriminalize, normalize, and fully legalize marijuana, hemp, cannabis, and other cannabis-based products, while opposing proposals to tax marijuana sales and opposing proposals to regulate the trade and use of marijuana by anyone except minors lacking medical need.

17. AMENDMENTS BORROWED FROM PUBLIC SUGGESTIONS

     [Author's Note: The following ten proposals are taken verbatim, without permission, from a set of proposed amendments which has gained popularity circulating on the internet among libertarians, conservatives, and Constitution lovers.]

     Proposed Amendment XXVII:
     Amendment XVI of the Constitution for the United States is repealed. Congress shall not tax the people directly. Congress shall not tax imports. Congress shall not enact excise taxes. Congress shall pass a budget two years in advance and shall only tax the states apportioned by population to meet the budget requirements for the following year.

     Proposed Amendment XXVIII:
     Amendment XVII is hereby repealed; each State shall appoint its Senators as befits the State.

     Proposed Amendment XXX:
     The Federal Reserve Bank is abolished; Congress shall be prohibited from establishing legal tender or otherwise interfering with the free market in money.

     Proposed Amendment XXXI:
     Congress and the Treasury shall be prohibited from selling bonds or otherwise becoming indebted.

     Proposed Amendment XXXII:
     The proportion of the House of Representatives shall be so regulated by Congress that there shall be not less than one representatives for every fifty thousand persons.

     Proposed Amendment XXXIII:
     Congress shall not vote on any bill or piece of legislation that regards more than one item.

     Proposed Amendment XXXIV:
     Any bill that increases taxes, regulations, or spending shall be approved by a 2/3 majority in each house, and then shall be presented to the public in referendum at the next biennial election and shall pass with a 2/3 majority of the electoral college (359 currently) and with a 2/3 majority of states (34) and the president shall have a line-item veto. Any bill that decreases taxes, regulations, or spending shall be passed with a simple majority in both houses, or by referendum with 50% of electoral college voted (269 currently), or by referendum by 50% of the states (25) and the President shall not have a veto,

     Proposed Amendment XXXV:
     The U.S. military shall not be used without a 3/4 majority in each house first declaring war, except in the case of immediate defense of the territory of the States.

     Proposed Amendment XXXVI:
     Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every Power, Jurisdiction and right, which is not by this constitution expressly delegated to the United States, in Congress assembled.

     Proposed Amendment XXXVII:
     Gerrymandering shall be prohibited to the States. All congressional districts shall be designed by computer algorithm with emphasis on following municipal boundaries, contiguity, equal population, and compactness.


     Proposed Amendment XXIX: The Sunset Clause Amendment
     Each law shall contain a sunset clause. All military expenditures must be strictly limited to two years, as provided in the Constitution (including foreign aid bills).

     Proposed Amendment XXX: The Equal Rights Amendment
     Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex.

     Proposed Amendment XXXI: Titles of Nobility Amendment
     If any citizen of the United States shall accept, claim, receive or retain, any title of nobility or honor, or shall, without the consent of Congress, accept and retain any present, pension, office or emolument of any kind whatever, from any emperor, king, price or foreign power, such person shall cease to be a citizen of the United States, and shall be incapable of holding any office of trust or profit under them, or either of them.

Written on July 25th and 26th, 2019

Published on July 26th, 2019
Edited and Expanded on July 27th and August 19th and 24th, 2019

Written in consultation with conservative and Green friends,

whom the author would like to thank for their helpful suggestions