Critique of Modern Monetary Theory (M.M.T.) in Regard to the National Debt and Other Topics (Incomplete)

Table of Contents

1. First Introduction: Paying Off the Debt vs. M.M.T.

2. Second Introduction: Basics of Modern Monetary Theory

3. My Plan to Pay Off the National Debt

4. My Plan is to Create a Surplus Without Raising Taxes

5. Removing Money from the Economy, and Private Issuance of Currency

6. What Does a "Private Sector Surplus" Really Mean, Anyway?

7. Do Deficits Really Pay for Imports? (Including Thoughts on China)

[more sections to come at a later date]

Content

1. First Introduction: Paying Off the Debt vs. M.M.T.

     I am currently running for the U.S. House of Representatives, on an independent platform which has, as its most important plank, a plan to pay off the U.S. national debt by 2047.

     Between April 20^th and 30^th, 2020, I was involved in an argument on Twitter regarding my plan to pay off the national debt.

     That plan would involve generating a trillion-dollar annual federal budget surplus as soon as possible, paying that trillion dollars directly into the hands of the federal government's creditors, and then doing that again each year until the debt is fully paid off. Since the national debt is currently above $23 trillion, this task will take at least 23 years to implement, so I have estimated that it could be completed as early as some time between 2044 and 2047.

     The argument began when a proponent of Modern Monetary Theory criticized my claim that I have a serious plan to pay off the national debt (saying that there is no such thing as a serious plan to pay off the national debt). That Twitter user, who calls himself “Bill”, later told me that my plan to create a federal government surplus (as opposed to the deficits that we're used to) would create problems which he worries I have not anticipated.

2. Second Introduction: Basics of Modern Monetary Theory

     In order to better understand the argument I had with “Bill” - and in order to understand why someone would want to criticize a plan to pay off the national debt in the first place - it will first be necessary to understand a few basic things about Modern Monetary Theory.

     Modern Monetary Theory (initialized as M.M.T.) is a school of economics which is an offshoot of the Keynesian school (founded by mid-20th-century British economist John Maynard Keynes).

“Bill” urged me to watch a video by M.M.T. economist Rohan Grey, titled “What is Modern Monetary Theory?”. That video was posted to the YouTube channel “Michabo Sustainable Harmony” in July 2019, and can be viewed at the following link: http://youtu.be/gr1PxeW5yWw

     In the video, Grey said the phrase “Modern Monetary Theory” originated in Keynes's explanation that the state has authority to enforce contracts, and also to enforce what sort of things can be used to make payments.

     Keynesianism and M.M.T. both hold that debt, deficit spending, and inflating the money supply in order to make up for shortfalls in the budgets, are essentially not serious problems, and perhaps not even problems at all. Certainly not as important, anyway, as goals such as keeping inflation under control, and preventing too much money from being saved rather than spent. M.M.T. proponents and      Keynesians tend to view paying off the national debt as undesirable and probably also impossible.

Economists who associate with free-market, conservative, and Austrian school strains of thought, on the other hand, reject that view completely. They argue that government debt is a bad thing, that it should be avoided if possible, and that it must be paid back.

     Many such critics of M.M.T. also believe that their goals of keeping inflation under control and preventing too much savings, are not as important as the goals which could be pursued by abandoning monetary policies influenced by Keynesian and M.M.T. thinking. Such goals include ensuring high or even full employment, and achieving a stable currency which has a slowly rising purchasing power because it's backed by balanced budgets. The tendency of M.M.T. proponents has been to criticize, minimize, or even dismiss these concerns.

     I have written the following article in order to explain what objections I have to Modern Monetary Theory, with particular regard to M.M.T. as presented by economist Rohan Grey in the video “What is Modern Monetary Theory?”, and also as presented by the proponent of M.M.T. who criticized my plan to pay off the national debt on Twitter (“Bill”).

3. My Plan to Pay Off the National Debt

     Before continuing, it will be necessary for the reader to understand several things about my proposal to pay off the national debt:

     1) Spending two trillion annually while taking in three trillion annually, would require decreasing both spending and revenue (and that's why it's my preferred solution as to how to generate a trillion-dollar surplus);

     2) I would hope to achieve this by reducing military spending not essential to our national defense; localizing Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security; and passing reforms which would achieve price relief in health goods and other goods;

     3) Three trillion in revenue and two trillion in spending is not the only way to achieve a trillion-dollar surplus; there are numerous other possibilities which will, though (such as taking in four trillion while spending three trillion, taking in two trillion while spending one trillion, taking in one trillion while spending and doing nothing, etc.); and
     4) It's probably possible to finish paying off the debt earlier than between 2044 and 2047. If legislators begin to see early that the reforms are working, then they will be able to plan future spending and taxation in accordance with the limitations I have outlined.

     I tweeted to “Bill” the following: “Suppose we started taking in $3 trillion a year, and reduced our spending to $2 trillion.” I continued: “Say we did that every year, and paid the leftover trillion directly to our creditors. And we did it for 25 years until the debt got down to zero. Are you saying that would be: A) impossible; B) undesirable; or C) both?”

     “Bill” responded “both”, specifying that he was answering in terms of whether it would benefit the American economy and benefit the status of the U.S. Dollar as the world reserve currency. He added, “Economics is about distribution of real production and resources. Money is the tool we use to do that. Removing money from the economy makes distribution of real stuff more difficult. No reason to do this... ever.” He also said, “A federal surplus is literally a non-federal deficit. This is a reduction in the net money supply.”

     I initially responded by saying that my proposal would not take U.S. Dollars out of the economy. However, “Bill” responded by saying that studying fiscal flows will show that private sector savings and wealth are decreased when the government runs a surplus budget. As “Bill” put it, “a federal surplus means a deficit for everybody else” (i.e., for the private sector and for the foreign economy.

     Basically, “Bill”'s argument was the following: 1) it would be both impossible and undesirable to try to pay off the national debt; and 2) a surplus should not be created, because that would remove money from the economy, and make it harder for people in the private and foreign sectors to spend enough money in a way that distributes resources effectively.

     I suppose that "Bill" was trying to point out that if the federal government wants to create a surplus, then it will have to raise taxes in order to cover the current budget shortfall, and that will require taking more from the private sector and from personal and household wealth, causing unemployment and stagnation.

     “Bill” also explained that there is a private sector surplus whenever the government runs a deficit (which is because the government is not taxing the private sector as much as it would have to in order to balance the budget). “Bill”'s analysis of this concept was that “Basically federal deficits 'pay for' imports and private sector savings.”

4. My Plan is to Create a Surplus Without Raising Taxes

     What “Bill” neglected to notice, is that my proposal does not call for raising taxes. What I mean is that - while it may call for tax rates to be raised on certain activities - the total amount of revenue which the government would take in as federal tax receipts, would not be any higher than it is now; in fact, it would be much lower.

     I want the federal government to spend $2 trillion per year, while it currently spends about $4 trillion per year. This means that I am calling for approximately a two-trillion-dollar reduction in the total amount spent by the federal government annually. I am calling for balancing the budget while reducing total spending; I am not calling for balancing the budget through raising the amount expected to be generated through tax revenues.

     Moreover, I am not only calling for paying off the debt and serious budgetary reform; I am also proposing that governments change the sources of their tax revenue to something more efficient. In 2014, Georgist economist Scott Baker told RussiaToday (RT) that taxing the unimproved value of land (land value taxation) could yield $7 trillion in annual revenue. In 2014, $7 trillion was also roughly the same amount of money spent by all governments in the United States combined (at all levels). That means that replacing all current forms of government revenue with taxes on the unimproved value of land, could pay for all government services.

     I have certainly called for creating a surplus, but creating a surplus does not necessarily require raising taxes. People only think it does, because we have never tried to reduce the debt through requiring balanced budgets, making taxes more efficient, and making spending more efficient too, all at the same time.

     The goal of Georgist taxation is to tax land in order to make taxation on labor and capital unnecessary. Adopting Georgist and geo-libertarian policies on taxes will help achieve that increase in tax efficiency for which we are looking, as well as help simplify taxes while making them avoidable and (to the extent possible) voluntary.

     Once land is the only thing taxed, the need for income taxes, sales taxes, and taxes on home value will disappear. That's because taxing unimproved value would involve taxing the waste and hoarding of land, and land speculation (key causes of high land prices), which will help bring about cheaper prices for capital and labor (because they would be untaxed, and because their prices would be reduced because the land upon which they rest will have declined in price).

     Once Georgist taxation is in place, the price of owning land as private property will be high, but only for the sake of compensating the community for recognizing and protecting that property claim. Also, the price of tending land (and of building and dwelling and producing upon it) will be low. What this all means is that nobody will be discouraged from building, nor from producing, due to the imposition of taxes (in which a large portion of their earnings are confiscated through an act of legalized extortion). Nobody will be discouraged from building upon the land they tend, for fear that increasing their property value will increase their property taxes. Only actual ownership of the land should be taxed; not the rental of a housing unit on the land, nor productivity upon the land.

     Once nobody is too afraid of high tax rates, to build and produce to their full potential – and once they're free to keep all of what they produce – none of the “unemployment and stagnation” which we usually see with tax increases, will be seen as the result of switching to a more efficient system of tax revenue sourcing. Most of the dozen Pittsburgh-area communities which experimented with land value taxation and split-rate taxation saw decreases in not only unemployment, but also rent and average household taxes.

     In short, increasing unemployment and causing economic stagnation are problems which are typically associated with increasing taxes, but my proposal would not increase taxes; I would instead solve the budget deficit and create a surplus by making taxes more efficient (by switching to Land Value Taxation as our primary – maybe even our only – source of tax revenue).

     In the process, I would also like to localize as many government services as possible to states and communities, and repeal any laws which interfere with the natural freedom of locomotion. I believe that these measures will help accomplish three important goals: 1) Stop trusting the federal government with large amounts of money; 2) Stop trusting the federal government with the authority to regulate environmental, health, and land issues; and 3) Leave people free to travel to any community they please, and free to transact with any Community Land Trust they please.

     Goal #2 is important for two reasons: A) because each locality is directly affected by the set of unique health and environmental factors in that region, and B) because those issues were never specifically delegated to the national government in the Enumerated Powers in the first place.

     If we learn to live within our means, do more with the money we're already taking in, and avoid antagonizing production with the taxes we levy going forward, then the national debt will go from “unsolvable, but not a problem” to “a problem, but easily solvable (given enough time)”.

5. Removing Money from the Economy, and Private Issuance of Currency

     I told “Bill” the following: “It's not a problem that money will be removed from the economy, as long as: 1) the money comes from the taxation of the wealthiest who reap the most from government handouts (i.e., land speculators and land hoarders, corporate polluters, etc.); and/or 2) people are sick of the fiat USD (U.S. Dollar) and want real money.”

     By “real money”, I meant that the U.S. Dollar is partially backed by debt, and that this constitutes usury, vacating all responsibility to ensure that transactions do not take place unless all assets are fully possessed (rather than existing due to debt, inflation, deficit spending, leverage, and speculation).

     “Bill” responded “There is no 'real money'”, adding that” You can combine a liability with a material of your choice, but there is no need to conflate financial assets with real assets.” I find it odd that he said that, because I don't think I am conflating “financial assets with real assets”, as much as I am criticizing the conflation of financial assets (i.e., the face value of the dollar) with real assets (i.e., the real savings and real revenue which back-up, and form a basis for, the ability to finance. I'm saying that proponents of the dollar are “conflating financial assets with real assets”, by taking dollars at their face value, and neglecting to consider that they are backed by fiat (that is, government say-so).

     I agree with “Bill” that it is possible to “combine a liability with a material of your choice” in order to try to make a currency or money which is more solvent than the U.S. Dollar. However, there is a difference between saying “you can”, and saying “you can, if you can get away with it”. What “Bill” neglected to mention is that, in the United States, you can be charged with a crime, and put in prison, for issuing your own currency.

     That is what happened to Bernard von NotHaus, who issued .999-purity silver coins (and certificates redeemable for precious metals, and other forms of tender) as “American Liberty Dollars” (ALD). Von NotHaus never claimed his coins to be official United States currency; despite this fact, he was charged with manufacturing coins which bear similarity to American money. Von NotHaus was charged with “making, possessing and selling his own coins”, was ordered to pay the government $7 million, and now faces 15 years in prison.

     “Bill” was correct to point out to me that it's possible and legal to exchange your U.S. Dollars for things like tickets, coupons, and money created by stores (such as Chuck E. Cheese tokens and Disney Dollars). However, it needs to be both possible and legal to create your own currency, not just to exchange your dollars for tokens created by legally operating businesses (which are incorporated, licensed, and regulated by the same government that creates the dollars). Right now it is possible, but not legal, to create your own currency without the permission of the federal government (that is, if you want it to be made of gold or silver).

     We deserve a free economy. A person should not have to worry about being kidnapped by police, cuffed, and put into a cage, just because he pressed some gold or silver into disc shapes (unless he lied about what they're made of and how much).

     Considering the fact that the U.S. Dollar has lost some 98-99% of its purchasing power since 1913, it's safe to say that nearly any currency which is issued by a private citizen, is likely to be more solvent than the dollar is. So why not arrest the people at the Federal Reserve, instead of arresting people like Bernard von NotHaus and marking him a counterfeiter for life?

     After all, von NotHaus never tried to use physical force, nor threats, to get people to use his currency (in the way that the government does). Is the possibility that he committed a form of fraud, really as bad as the sort of violent crimes which are committed overseas in the name of "opening foreign markets to American products and the dollar", that von NotHaus should be treated like a violent criminal and have his "freedom" taken away?

     The fact that private issuers of currencies backed by precious metals have to live in fear of being thrown in prison, and the fact that they cannot confiscate people's property and wealth, means that private issuers of currency are difficult to compare to issuers of currency which have strong ties to the public sector. That's because those private issuers are effectively captive to public currency issuers' interests and control.

     It's not only difficult to compete against a legal monopoly, it's illegal. To say "you can combine a liability with a material of your choice", is to leave out a lot of important information about how, if that material is silver or gold, and you're in "the land of the free", and subject to the laws of the United States of America, your body might be put into a cage.

     To say "you can" do something that's sometimes illegal, is to dare people who want a more just society with fairer laws, to put themselves in cages, supposedly for the sake of proving the point that it's better to work with the government you have than to live in a lawless society (even if that government is tyrannical and flouts the law on a daily basis).

6. What Does a "Private Sector Surplus" Really Mean, Anyway?

     “Bill” said there is a private sector surplus whenever there is a federal government deficit. That is why, according to “Bill”, it would be bad to create a federal government surplus; that is, because it would create deficits in the private sector and the foreign sector.

     When the federal government runs a deficit (that is, when it takes in less than it spends in a given year), the private sector considers this government deficit to be a surplus for itself. That's because the government isn't taking enough in revenues from the private sector as would be necessary to cover the hole in the budget, so the private sector considers the funds which are not taxed away, to be more money for themselves (i.e., a “surplus”).

     However, I have to take issue with “Bill”'s position that “Basically federal deficits 'pay for' imports and private sector savings”. To me, the fact that “Bill” put the phrase “pay for” in quotes, suggests that “Bill” might be twisting logic to fit his own “truth”.

     It's true that when there is a federal deficit, there is more money available to be saved in the private sector, because it has not been taxed. However, the fact that the private sector considers it a surplus that there's more money for itself than it expected there to be, does not necessarily make it so.

     A “surplus” (which I am proposing the federal government create) is when you take in more money than you spend. Having more money left over at the end of the year, because the government didn't tax you as much as you expected it to, is not exactly the same thing as running a surplus. True; each results in having money left over.

     But a federal government surplus and a private sector surplus are fundamentally different things, because the private sector has much less power than the federal government (part of the public sector) to legally confiscate people's wealth. Government does this in several ways: 1) through taxation; 2) through inflation of the currency in a way that devalues the money in people's pockets; and 3) through legal means (such as levying liens against landed properties, homes, and other assets).

     Government has the ability to order people to purchase products. Because it has the military and armed bureaucrats on its side, the government has the ability to enforce the laws which provide for the expenditure of the taxable portions of people's transactions, on particular spending items (such as health insurance and government identification).

     Although the government is very often subject to capture by the interests of private sector entities, the opposite is also true, as private entities abide by government laws even when it goes against their interests. Unless the private-sector entity in question is a military, or a private army, a private sector entity generally cannot simply conquer people's land, nor compel people to do business with it (without the government to help make that happen).

     It is this unique power which sets government apart from the private sector.

     However, the fact that this is a unique power, vested in the government, should not be construed to mean, that government deserves this unique power, nor that it can or should be trusted with it. Nor ought we conclude that the public sector is “special” simply because it has the power to confiscate people's property and wealth at will. This power is neither “unique” nor “special”. What it is, is evil.

     If you think about it, what we are doing by describing “the private sector being taxed an amount lower than was expected” as “a private surplus”, is giving in to the idea that the government can and should confiscate as much property and wealth as it pleases. The mere fact that the federal government has the authority to raise tax rates, should not be construed to mean that it should raise tax rates.

     If a business operates within its means, and the government declines to tax the business (or declines to tax it at a high enough rate, for whatever reason), are we to assume that the “surplus” which would be generated, would be generated through the action of the business, or through the action of the government?

     Whose actual action and productivity caused that surplus? Did the government actually produce something by performing the very passive “act” of declining to tax away the funds in question? Probably not, because the government doesn't produce anything. But did the company produce something, or act in a way that directly caused that surplus? Arguably, yes it did. But what if the company made its money through destruction; like through war profiteering, or through polluting land?

     We must not treat destruction as if it were production, in the way we describe them and tax them. With a taxation system influenced by Georgism, we will tax the destruction and degradation of land, not the labor and capital which are mixed on top of it. This means that businesses will be taxed without regard to how much they produce and how much income they reap; that is, unless they reap that income through polluting, wasting, hoarding, or destroying land. Businesses would be taxed to the extent that they engage in those behaviors.

     Many people are aware that everything the government has was legally extorted from private people and entities; and that just because the government balanced its budgets or created a surplus, it doesn't necessarily mean that the government deserved all of the money it took in through taxes to achieve those goals, nor did the government produce anything in order to acquire those funds.

     But we need to understand that the private sector is capable of acquiring funds without producing, in exactly the same way that the government is. And the government and the private sector both have long track records of destroying and polluting for the sake of producing and acquiring funds.

     The fact that private businesses and the public government appear to be the only entities fighting over these funds which could be taxed, does not necessarily mean that either of them produced that wealth, nor does it mean that either of them deserves it, nor that one or the other knows how to spend it wisely.

     What is being fought over, was created by neither government nor the private sector, and it belongs to neither of them. The government's position is that that wealth should be spent and saved by government. The private sector's position is that that wealth should be spent and saved by private entities. This is a disagreement, but only in part; they each agree that the wealth should be spent and saved by someone. The only disagreements lie in who should do the saving and spending, and how much should be spent vs. how much should be saved.

     The fact that they agree to an extent, suggests that there is wider agreement that that wealth be spent or saved, than there is agreement about who ought to spend or save it. So why not allow that wealth to be spent and saved by the sectors of the economy other than the public government sector and the private business sector?

     The simple answer is that most people have forgotten that other sectors of the economy even exist. But the foreign sector, the non-profit (voluntary / charity) sector, private-public partnerships, cooperatives, the commons, and clubs and club goods, each have distinct characteristics which arguably could merit them being considered sectors of the economy unto themselves (distinct from the public and private spheres).

     With Georgism and Land Value Taxation, each community would have a Community Land Trust, a non-state entity which would not necessarily operate for profit. The more non-state non-profits there are, the easier it will be to survive, for a person who wishes to boycott the coercive state and the unsustainable short-term profits which are enabled by the state's excesses. The more non-state non-profits there are, the larger the “voluntary sector” (also called the “charity sector”, the “non-profit sector”, or the “third sector”) can grow.

     The private sector promises that, if they are allowed to keep their money, they will spend it on their employees, and on creating new businesses and new jobs, and on things that will reduce the costs of needed goods and services, so that people can afford them more easily. The government promises that, if they are allowed to tax more money from the private sector, the government will spend the money on its citizens, and on creating new government job programs and bureaucrat positions, and on legislative measures that will reduce the costs of needed goods, and on a retirement program that will allow them to put money away for later.

     If the government and the private sector are so determined that the money will get spent on (or saved for) the neediest people – to help them save, and afford, and work, etc. - then the neediest people should be the ones who spend the money directly, in order to make sure that happens (as government and business claim to want it to). [Ideally, the neediest people should also be the ones who acquire the funds directly from whomever possesses them (whether that's the government or private owners).]

     The money should be saved or spent by the voluntary sector (and by enterprises operating on voluntary bases, such as Community Land Trusts); not by the private sector nor the public sector.

Why isn't anyone concerned about the non-profit sector's deficit?

7. Do Deficits Really Pay for Imports? (Including Thoughts on China)

     “Bill” stated that “Basically federal deficits 'pay for' imports and private sector savings”.

     I have already explained that “Bill” believes that federal government budget deficits “pay for” savings in/by the private sector, in the following manner: businesses would be left with more money (i.e., what could arguably be called a surplus) – money which they can save - because those businesses would be taxed out of less money than they expected.

     But now we must continue, to the issue of whether deficits, in any sense, “pay for” savings in the private sector.

     Admittedly, I was unfamiliar with the idea that “deficits pay for private sector savings” until “Bill” brought it up. But after thinking about the issue in the context of financial relations with China, it started to make sense.

     What I figure “Bill” is trying to say, is this: When the federal government agrees to generate a deficit, it goes further into debt. Allowing itself to go into debt, allows American consumers to “profit” through America's relationship with its creditor nation China; that is, debt supposedly helps Americans purchase imported goods at prices which are relatively cheap. They are relatively cheap because of the close financial and trade relationship between the two countries, with China loaning to the United States, and the United States investing in Chinese goods in return. But more importantly, these goods are relatively cheap, because while America is buying Chinese products, it's buying them with a U.S. dollar that's partially backed by Chinese loans.

     And don't get me wrong; that sounds like an amazing deal for the United States! That's because it means that China is essentially paying us to buy their products. Several years ago, Senator Rand Paul stated something to the effect of “we are borrowing from China to pay China”. But we should take pause: we should think, “If it sounds too good to be true, then it probably is too good to be true.”

     Think about it: If a seller is so desperate to unload his product that he is willing to pay you to buy his product, then that could mean that: 1) the product is bad; 2) the money is worthless; or 3) both 1 and 2. We ought to ask, “You want to pay me to buy it? It sounds too good to be true. What's wrong with it?”

     Is the appeal of massive savings through importing cheap goods from China, really worth the risks associated with importing large amounts of products, which could be faulty, feature safety hazards, and/or be made from low-cost material that's carcinogenic? We must not use the allure of cheap products from China to justify continuing to enable the U.S. federal government's cycle of addiction to debt to foreign nations.

     I want free markets and a free economy; not captive markets and a rigged economy. To avoid captive markets and the rigging of markets, we must avoid borrowing from countries from which we purchase massive amounts of goods.

     If we buy a lot of goods from one country, then we should look to other countries for loans. If we notice ourselves depending too much upon one country for loans, then we should try to avoid buying too much from that country, and import goods from different countries instead.

     On the other hand, if we don't do that, and instead we buy most of our goods from one country, and borrow from that country more than we borrow from any other country, then that is a recipe for disaster. That's because so much money would be flowing from the United States to that country, from both its public sector and its private sector. If it became necessary to consider consciously decreasing the flow of money from the U.S. to that country, then resorting to legal methods could only solve half of the problem at best, while working outside of government in the private sector could only solve half of the problem just the same.
     It would cause U.S. markets to become subject to rigging of markets in favor of that creditor nation / chief trading partner. It would be a market captive to China. We must not allow ourselves to be lulled into such a "false sense of economic security"; especially not if China's goals are dependence on Chinese products, and seeing the Yuan replace the Dollar as the world reserve currency.

     My point is not that we literally can't borrow from China in order to spend money on imported goods from China. The issue is that the fact that we can, doesn't necessarily mean that we should.
     We must not risk depending too much upon China (nor upon any other country which could potentially become simultaneously our primary creditor nation and our primary trading partner). Depending too much on one country, for both goods and loans, is a recipe for economic ruin for the debtor nation (in this case, the United States).

     To answer the question posed in the title of this section - "Do deficits really pay for imports?" - the answer is no.

     We in the United States might like to think that they do, but that is a flight of fancy and an oversimplification. We suppose, from the mere fact that we are borrowing from China at the same time that we are buying lots of its products, that these loans from China are "paying for" the products we're buying.

     But we are wrong; first, because money is fungible. Money from China can be spent on anything. Although we do "borrow from China to buy from China" in the sense of trade (and also in the sense that some of the money from Chinese loans goes towards repaying our debt to China), some of what the money from Chinese loans is spent on, has absolutely nothing to do with China, and doesn't go to China. They are spent on other federal budget items; domestic, military, etc..

     Second, it's not as if the money from Chinese purchases of U.S. federal government debt are being funneled directly back to the Chinese government, to buy Chinese products. Although the Chinese government provides assistance to the state-owned enterprise Cosco (the shipping company), America's national government is not, in any real or literal way, directly spending China's money on Chinese goods. Especially not, considering that many of the firms "exporting" "Chinese" goods to the United States, are actually American-owned firms.

     Although it, perhaps, seems logical that borrowing money is the only realistic way we're going to get as many products into America as we need, and cheaply, that is not the truth.

     Here is the truth: Deficits and debt are bad. Spending more money than you take in, is bad. You don't buy products with deficits and deficit spending and borrowing; you buy products with money. You don't buy things with negative money; you don't buy things with no money; you buy things with positive money. Money that you have, or can have in your possession, so that you know it actually exists.

     Why should I feel like an idiot for believing that, if we want to buy products from China, we should use money instead of debt? Is the United States trying to pretend like it doesn't want to go into debt, so that it can get away with acting as if it's doing China a favor by allowing China to take a trillion dollars in debt off of the U.S. federal government's hands? That's hardly a way to be grateful to the country that's bailing you out more than any other country is.

     Let us not be mistaken; it is not necessarily a privilege to loan to America.

     If America's best days are ahead of it, then it is certainly a privilege. But certainly not if America is on its way out, like if production will never return. If that is the case, then the fact that the United States will owe China money, will not matter, because the U.S. will have no feasible way to repay that debt.

     We are certainly on track for that to happen now, considering the large number of Keynesian, M.M.T., and other economists who believe that the national debt is not only not a problem, but also that paying it off would be undesirable and probably even impossible. My position is that resolving to pay off the debt, and talking about it as if it were both desirable and possible (because it is), will help reassure our creditors (most importantly China) that we are on track to pay that debt off.

     Don't get me wrong; being a major trading partner of China is not undesirable. We just shouldn't depend on them any more than other countries. And we should stop acting as if debt were an asset, no different from “positive money” and currencies and goods, that you can have in front of you, and see and touch and feel.

     Perhaps that is why we treat China as if it is privileged to buy our debt (i.e., lend to us); as if we were doing China a favor by selling our debt to them (as opposed to some other country, perhaps). Again, lending to the United States is only a privilege if the U.S. eventually pays back its debts.

     I'd like to clarify something. America is borrowing money from China, not the other way around. The investment which the United States makes in China, is not a purchase of their debt; it is not a loan to China. The investment which the U.S. makes in China, is the purchase of its goods (and also, the establishment of U.S.-owned firms in that country). America is importing goods which were exported from China after being manufactured in China.

     We are not loaning money to China. We are borrowing from them, while buying a lot of their products (and employing some of their people). China is loaning America a lot more money than the U.S. is buying from China. So China is, by no means, in the inferior position. Certainly not in its lending position. It is worth noting that the U.S. now trades with China at a surplus, so China's status in trade has declined relative to the U.S. - especially considering that U.S. debt service has been increasing for the last two decades - but China's position relative to the U.S. is still superior overall (for now).

     We must do away with the notion that borrowing from China allows China to invest in the United States. Chinese market actors have always been able to invest in the United States; it's possible for them to do so without the U.S. doing any borrowing from China at all.

     We would be foolish to go on acting as if owing this money to China provides only an opportunity to invest in the U.S. by selling us cheap goods; it also provides an opportunity for China to exploit America's need for Chinese products and Chinese loans.

     Have we allowed ourselves to become so deluded, as to believe that the fact that we're supposed to pay China back, means that China is owed all of this money, and that that's supposed to be as good as having that money?

     Ostensibly, the U.S. is borrowing from China in order to do four things: 1) be able to more cheaply afford imports from China; 2) fix a hole in its budget; and 3) use some Chinese loan funds to fund programs aimed towards increasing jobs and productivity here in the United States. The goal of #3 is to help-along goal #4) to generate taxable revenues from those jobs, to fund government, while (eventually) decreasing dependency upon China for loans.

     And again, that sounds like it makes perfect sense! But once again, all it really means is that we're borrowing from China... in order to avoid borrowing from China.

     When we treat debt as if it were currency or money, and trade it and spend it as such, we risk turning debt, and the temptation of credit and loans, into currencies in their own rights.

     That is to say, we risk monetizing debt as a matter of regular course, and we risk turning debt and I.O.U.s into something which is just as acceptable – and valuable – as a mode of payment, as are real, tangible, physical, hard assets (such as precious metals).

     When there are not strong anti-usury (and anti- fractional reserve) measures in place, we risk setting the value of some good, equal to the value of another object which claims to represent it. If a promise to pay is every bit as acceptable as a payment, then the value of a promise is likely to decrease. People who make promises will be less likely to be believed, because there will be a perverse incentive to borrow and receive without giving back as one has promised.

     The negative consequences of usury are, thus, not only economic and financial, but also social and moral. The fact that the government can aggress against people, and coerce them without consequences, should not be construed to excuse the government from the responsibility to act as any sane, civil individual would: 1) live within your means; 2) don't force anyone to buy from you or sell to you (or use your currency); 3) don't threaten or harm people unless they do the same to you first; and 4) keep your promises.

     After all, the government's authority rests on the will of the governed, and its duties are imposed by the individuals who constitute that government, who have duly delegated their own powers to the government for the purposes of protecting their liberties. The government should have every responsibility to behave as it would expect any of its law-abiding citizens to; because the government is comprised of those citizens.

[the remainder of this article will appear here at a later time]

Written on April 29th and 30th, and May 1st, 2020

Originally Published on May 1st, 2020

Updated on May 4th, 2020

How to Easily and Permanently Memorize the Enumerated Powers of Congress

     The Enumerated Powers of Congress are found in the 18 clauses that make up Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution of the United States. The first seventeen clauses list the legislative powers that are expressly delegated to Congress by the people. These are the issues that we allow Congress to legislate upon.

     Many Americans believe that the federal government has the power to regulate on matters such as health, education, welfare, unemployment and retirement insurance, etc.. This is simply not true, however; because, according to the 10th Amendment, all powers not granted to Congress remain vested in the states or the people.

     Programs and departments which have expanded government - like the various departments of health, education, welfare (etc.) which have existed over the years - have become part of our government, despite the fact that Congress is supposed to have nothing to do with those issues.

     These programs and departments have, for the most part, become part of our government, through unconstitutional acts of Congress, which the Supreme Court negligently failed to identify as unconstitutional. Several unconstitutional federal departments exist because the president at the time abused his "presidential reorganizational authority" to organize his cabinet, so as to pretend that he had the authority to "re-organize" whole industries and issues into the executive department.

     Neither the General Welfare Clause (Clause 1), nor the Interstate Commerce Clause (Clause 3), nor the Necessary and Proper Clause (Clause 18) permit regulation by Congress of issues not explicitly enumerated (that is, listed or named) in Article I, Section 8. Nor does Clause 17 permit the federal government to own and manage anywhere near the amount of land it currently owns. Nor do Amendments XI through XXVII of the Constitution. Nor do the "unenumerated rights" recognized in Amendment IX, denote the existence of unenumerated authorities given to the government; that's actually the exact opposite of what the 9th Amendment really means.

     The supposed needs to "promote the general welfare", "regulate interstate commerce", and do whatever is "necessary and proper", have all been used as convenient excuses to grow the government, based on intentional misreadings of the law.
     The "general welfare" doesn't mean "whatever benefits anybody in the country"; it refers to the idea that taxes and spending should be done for the benefit of well-being of all people in the country, which requires indirect taxes to be equally apportioned and direct taxes to be uniform.
     The need to "regulate interstate commerce" should not be construed to imply that the federal government may legislate on any and all matters pertaining to interstate commerce which it desires; Clause 3 only permits the Congress to keep commerce regular, meaning free from undue and unwarranted interruptions in the free flow of commerce. In fact, the federal government itself has usually been the major cause of that interruption; either through intervening in commercial affairs which pertain to solely the state itself and nobody else, or through refusing to crack down on states that give their businesses unfair advantages. by taxing their residents to subsidize their own in-state domestic commerce (and labor, jobs, and production) over the commerce of other states. This  allows a states to ignore the need to maintain America's interstate free trade compact, for the purpose of giving the state permanent rewards in the market, and increasing monopolization of the industries within it.
     The Necessary and Proper Clause was never intended to allow the federal government to do whatever it wanted to do. Its purpose is do authorize the federal government to do what is necessary and proper to execute "the foregoing powers", meaning the powers previously listed in Clauses 1 through 17. Clauses 17 and 18 don't say the federal government can take over whatever lands and buildings it needs in order to do whatever it wants; they say that the federal government only has exclusive jurisdiction over a territory less than 100 miles square, that it must purchase whatever lands it owns (and Amendment V says it must compensate owners fairly), and that the government should use whatever resources it requires, only to execute the powers vested in it under Clauses 1 through 17.

     This may be a narrow interpretation of the Constitution, but it is probably a correct one. [Note: Admittedly, I have neglected to mention several important duties of Congress which are distinct from the "4 M's, 3 T's, and 2 P's" listed below; such as trying cases of treason, trying impeachments, admitting new states to the union, and establishing election days. It is worthwhile to note that the Enumerated Powers authorize Congress to do closer to thirty-five things, rather than 17 or 18.]. This narrow interpretation of the Constitution may not "allow the federal government to do much", but that is the point.
     We have an amendment process for a reason; so that we can change the Constitution easily, but not too easily. We are not supposed to change the Constitution for "light and transient causes". It is no use begging for a vote on an unconstitutional matter, or spending a decade and trillions of dollars on unconstitutional legislation, when those efforts will eventually and inevitably be overturned by courts, vetoed by governors, or ignored by presidents.
     Strictly limiting Congress is the only way to prevent new departments from being ushered into existence in the federal government, where they can easily be taken advantage of, and perverted away from their original intentions, by administrations that either don't think the federal government should be involved in such matters, or (worse yet) by administrations that have an active disregard for the harmful activity that the department is supposed to be regulating. The George W. Bush Administration's, and Donald Trump Administration's, actions, concerning the Environmental Protection Agency, perhaps demonstrate this idea best.

     The fact that an issue or power is specifically listed in one of the clauses in Article I, Section 8, does not necessarily mean that the federal government is authorized to wield an exclusive monopoly over providing the service in question, nor does it necessarily mean that the federal government is authorized to legislate concerning any and all topics vaguely related to that issue.
     The states and the people, in most or all cases (save for the specific mention of exclusive jurisdiction over federal lands in Clause 17), still retain authority to legislate concerning the parts of the issues mentioned which are not specifically described in the language of the law.

     For example, the authority to "establish Post Roads" does not, by itself, confer a legal monopoly over the delivery of postal mail; a later Supreme Court decision did that. Also, the power to "establish a uniform rule of naturalization" is arguably the Congress's only immigration-related power. It doesn't specifically say in the Constitution that the federal government has the right to decide where immigrants settle, nor whether they can be eligible for social services.

     The federal government will not have those authorities until the amendment process is utilized, to properly authorize the government to do such things.

     Even though the set of issues which the Congress can regulate, is narrow, there is still a total of seventeen separate clauses which explain what the Congress is allowed to do. Since it can be difficult to remember all seventeen clauses, here are my suggestions about what I think is the best way to memorize and simplify those seventeen things.

     When attempting to teach or memorize the Enumerated Powers, I suggest that the clauses be separated into three main categories: 1) Topics beginning with the letter M; 2) topics beginning with the letter T; and 3) topics beginning with the letter P (and, additionally, a fourth category, consisting of the final two clauses).

     In teaching the Enumerated Powers in this manner, the contents of the first sixteen clauses should be referred to as "the four M's, the three T's, and the two P's":

The Four M's:
     Military, Money, Mail, and Migration

- Clauses 11 through 16: the Military

- Clauses 5 and 6: Money

- Clause 7: Mail (post roads)

- Clause 4: Migration (uniform rule of naturalization)



The Three T's:
     Taxes, Tribes & Trade, and Tribunals

- Clauses 1 and 2: Taxes (and borrowing)

- Clause 3: Tribes & Trade (and commerce)

- Clause 9: Tribunals (and courts)



The Two P's:
     Patents and Piracies

- Clause 8: Patents (arts and science)

- Clause 10: Piracies (and felonies)



Other Clauses:

- Clause 17: Authority over lands purchased by government

- Clause 18: Enabling Clause / Necessary and Proper Clause




Read more about the Enumerated Powers of Congress
     http://tenthamendmentcenter.com/historical-documents/united-states-constitution/thirty-enumerated-powers/
     http://constitutioncenter.org/blog/article-1-the-legislative-branch-the-enumerated-powers-sections-8/

Written on February 27th and 28th, 2020

Published on February 28th, 2020

Thirteen Virtues of Sound Money

1. Ability to serve as a medium of exchange (which includes fungibility; that units of it can be substituted for one another, and are interchangeable with one another)

2. Portable (and thus, also, light-weight, because currency being light-weight helps it be portable)

3. Physically durable (i.e., made out of a material which is difficult to destroy)

4. Ease of ability to serve as a unit of accounting (This includes ease of divisibility. Ideally, the currency should be easily divisible, both in a physical sense, and in the sense of doing mental math while using it. For example, Spanish pieces of eight were easily physically divisible, while U.S. Dollars are rarely if ever accepted when they are torn in half)

5. Difficulty to counterfeit, duplicate, or imitate

6. That creating the currency took considerable effort and labor

7. Rarity, and being in limited supply

8. Acceptability (ability to be widely or universally used and accepted as currency)

9. Having stable value (and, ideally, rising value, also also having a high purchasing power), especially as compared to other currencies

10. Potential to have transactions using it, tracked and traced, in a manner which is transparent and open and verifiable to its users (as in Blockchain)

11. Ability to represent a real store of value

12. Redeemability in real assets (ideally the currency would represent real assets because it represents value in a full-reserve banking system, as opposed to a fractional-reserve system)

13. Ability to not only represent a real store of value, but also to serve as a real item of value which has a real use (rendering representation unnecessary, and rendering redeemability somewhat less necessary)

     I have noticed that there are potential conflicts between several sets of these virtues of sound money. Those potential conflicts lie between Virtues #3 and #4; Virtues #7 and #8; Virtues #11, #12, and #13.

     Regarding #3 (durable and difficult to destroy) and #4 (easily divisible): The potential conflict lies in finding a material which is both difficult to destroy and easy to divide. This is easy to reconcile, however, given the number of durable materials (such as precious metals) which are used as currency.

     Regarding #7 (rarity, and being in limited supply) and #8 (acceptability, and universal or wide acceptation): The potential conflict lies in finding a currency which can be accessed and possessed by nearly everyone, while the supply of it must also not be too high so that the currency loses value because everyone would have so much of it (and thus it would be in low demand, leading to decreases in the valuation of the currency).

     Regarding #11 (representation of a real store of value), #12 (redeemability in real assets), and #13 (ability to serve as a real item of value with a real use): The potential conflict lies between deciding whether we want to have real money that is something of value, or a whether we want a currency that represents something of value. As long as a currency can be redeemed for real physical assets, then there is no conflict. But the bank doing that redeeming, must be transparent about their bookkeeping, and practice full-reserve banking, for redeemability to be reliable.

Based on notes taken in spring 2018

Written on November 3rd, 2019

Published on November 3rd, 2019

Expanded Platform for U.S. House of Representatives in 2020

Table of Contents

1. Strictly Limit Government
2. Shrink the Federal Government
3. Stop Policing the World
4. End "Big Brother" Programs
5. Limit Congressmen's Power, and Cut Office Costs
6. Reform Elections and Ballot Access
7. Protect the 2nd and 3rd Amendments by Building a Bridge Between Them
8. Balance the Budget, and Pay Off the National Debt in 25 Years
9. Reform the Federal Tax Code
10. Tax and Break Up Monopolies (Or Stop Creating Them)
11. Reform Business and Banking
12. Reduce and Abolish Income Taxes
13. Enact Land Value Taxation
14. Get the Feds Out of Local Environmental Issues
15. Achieve Real Free Enterprise / Free the Markets
16. Enact Mutualist Reforms to the Economy
17. Enact Mutualist Reforms to Land and Housing
18. Enact Mutualist Reforms to Money and Credit
19. Reform or Abolish Intellectual Property
20. Keep the Internet Open and Free
21. Achieve Fair Trade Through Real Free Trade
22. Reform Immigration and Abolish Citizenship
23. Abolish or Reform the Census, and Make Tax Burdens Equal
24. Devolve Entitlements to the States
25. Achieve Free Health Care Through Free Markets
26. Honor the Rights to Work, Unionize, Strike, and Boycott
27. Reform or Abolish Public Schools
28. Reform Laws on Rape, Kidnapping, Ages of Consent, and the Protection of Children
29. Keep Abortion Legal, But Don't Subsidize It
30. Reform Marriage Licensing, Divorce, and Custody Laws
31. End the War on Drugs and Abolish the F.D.A.
32. Infrastructure, Roads, Driver Licensing, Transportation, and the Post Office

Content

1. Strictly Limit Government

     1a. Abolish all agencies of government as soon as possible, unless significant, meaningful reform can be made swiftly, which would strictly limit, shrink, and decentralize decentralize government; establish equal protection under the law for all people; and make the government fully voluntary. 
     1b. Depoliticize the lawmaking process by allowing independent panels of scientists and scholars replace elected officials to make policy (concerning issues such as elections, environmental justice, the judiciary, economics, and others).
     1c. Help to shrink the expense of government and the total number of government workers; by encouraging all units of government – in Illinois and nationwide – to eliminate redundant and duplicative governmental agencies.
     1d. Make government programs optional through augmenting them with opt-out systems.
     1e. Allow people to choose to be outlaws (and receive no protection from the state), or to opt to be physically exiled, in the event they are charged with a serious crime.
     1f. De-territorialize government; by respecting the need for mutual aid across borders, and by encouraging all units of government to begin offering services to people in neighboring jurisdictions wherever it is logistically possible to do so.
     1g. Prohibit all public services - especially libraries, food pantries, and beaches and park districts - from discriminating against people based on the town or state of their residence.

2. Shrink the Federal Government

     2a. The federal government has no rightful authority to regulate public education, energy, nor housing; nor does it have the rightful authority to own as much land as it does, nor the right to promote commerce instead of regulating it responsibly. The authority to solve problems related to those issues, lies with the state and local governments and with the people, not with the federal government. The only reason the federal government has been allowed to do these things, is because presidents have absorbed entire sectors of the economy into-under their control under the guise of "re-organizing the cabinet", and supreme courts have unwisely allowed these sweeping measures to stand despite their unconstitutionality. The high cost of government, the overreach of the federal government,  and the inability of local communities to solve problems, stem directly from this problem: that of the federal government being too large and unwieldy, and having many cabinet positions and cabinet-level departments which lack any proper constitutional authorization. We must "destroy the ring" before a federal administration can get hold of it and use it for evil.
     2b. Abolish between five and seven federal cabinet and cabinet-level departments; including the Departments of Commerce, Education, Energy, Housing and Urban Development, and the Interior. 
     2c. Abolish the Department of Education, and advocate for the abolition of public schools. 
     2d. Abolish the Department of Homeland Security while re-organizing all remaining constitutional authorities exercised under it into-under the Department of Justice and/or the Department of State. 
     2e. Abolish all unconstitutional "czar" positions in the federal government.
     2f. Enact constitutional amendments strengthening the rights of the states to try suits at common law, and to legislate on most matters besides military, and treasury.
     2g. Save the taxpayers money, and reduce the costs of government; by having the federal government do less and less until it eventually does nothing. The American people will stand up as the federal government stands down.

3. Stop Policing the World

     3a. Return to pre-9/11-level military spending, in order to make it possible to achieve the kinds of budget surpluses the federal government passed in the four years prior to 9/11. We can decrease our military budget significantly without sacrificing our safety or military readiness; as the U.S. spends as much on military as the next 18 countries combined, while the spending of the #2 country (China) doesn't even amount to one-quarter of America's.
     3b. Dismantle between 800 and 1000 overseas military bases; bring all troops and private contractors home; especially from Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, Japan, Germany, Turkey, Djibouti, and Yemen).
     3c. Pass legislation limiting the distance U.S. troops can stray from U.S. shores during peacetime to between 12 nautical miles and 90 or 100 statute miles.
     3d. Continue talks with Russia and other nations to reduce the size of our nuclear arsenal. Ensure that veterans have a wide range of choices when it comes to their health coverage and pensions.'
     3e. Prohibit the Pentagon from purchasing armaments from any company wielding more than 5% of the market share of arms sales in the country.

4. End "Big Brother" Programs

     4a. Repeal the U.S.A. P.A.T.R.I.O.T. Act of 2001, and the 2001 A.U.M.F. (Authorization for the Use of Military Force Against Terrorists).
     4b. Repeal all unconstitutional laws which have been permitted under National Defense Authorization Acts (N.D.A.A.s) enacted since 9/11, especially those pertaining to the use of drones, surveillance, and torture).
     4c. Curb the power of the Transportation Security Agency (T.S.A.) and V.I.P.R. squads to illegally impede people's freedom of movement.

     4d. Remove the criminal penalty for physically resisting or assaulting T.S.A. agents for groping or taking nude images of children, whether in the course of normal job duties or not, by classifying such actions as necessary to prevent greater harm to those incapable of adequately defending themselves. 

     4e. Urge governments across the country to enact sweeping reforms limiting the power of police to subject people to invasive internal searches, except in cases in which the police have obtained a specific warrant from a judge, and there is cause to believe that what is being concealed internally is not just drugs but some actually deadly form of contraband such as an explosive device.

     4f. Repeal the legislation which permitted “continuity of government” programs such as REX1984.

     4g. Urge the president to consider rescinding some of the dozens upon dozens of overlapping, simultaneous, official national states of emergency in which the government has declared itself to be over the years.

     4h. Propose a constitutional amendment which would formally remove the power to suppress insurrections from the official set of U.S. congressional duties.

5. Limit Congressmen's Power, and Cut Office Costs

     5a. Use the U.S. House of Representative's office as a bully pulpit to make recommendations as to how state and local officials could regulate issues which the Constitution obligates the federal government to leave to the states and the people; while restraining from overstepping those same constitutional boundaries by refraining from advocating for federal intervention in issues which rightfully belong to the state and the people according to the Enumerated Powers.
     5b. Operate my office as a home-style politician, acting as a vessel while deferring to majorities of constituents in all cases in which it is constitutionally appropriate to do so (with deference to the Enumerated Powers, and other powers properly delegated to the federal government by the states through the amendment process).
     5c. Offer amendments to limit the number of consecutive terms of members of the House of Representatives to four, the number of terms of members of the Senate to two, and the duration of Supreme Court justice terms to twenty years.
     5d. Offer amendments to make all elected positions instantly recallable through a popular and democratic recall election.
     5e. Aim to cut a total of 80% from my own $176,000 personal salary as a U.S. Representative, and aim to cut a total of 90% from the approximately $4 million office of the Illinois's 10^th district U.S. Rep – returning all of those funds to the Treasury Department – and propose amendments requiring other congressmen to do the same.

6. Reform Elections and Ballot Access

     6a. Advocate for the modification of the Electoral College, alongside the modification of the federal government; eliminate the U.S. Senate, and/or add a third legislative body whose apportionment would be based on land area (and modify the Electoral College so as to reflect that arrangement).
     6b. Urge more states to refrain from punishing protest votes in the Electoral College, and urge more states to either establish proportional representation in the Electoral College or promise electoral votes to the majority vote-getter in that state.
     6c. Support the people's rights to sue the Commission on Presidential Debates, and urge the League of Women Voters (or some independent nongovernmental non-corporate entity) to take over debate hosting duties from that (unelected) “commission”.
     6d. To ensure widespread access to polls, prohibit governments from charging fees for identification documents deemed necessary to vote.
     6e. To prevent election fraud, urge states to require verification of election results through both paper and electronic methods, or else through three different methods or more (in order to provide sufficient checks against one another).
     6f. Urge states to consider publishing voter rolls in a manner which can be independently verified by any and all residents.
     6g. Urge all units of government to adopt Ranked Choice Voting.
     6h. Urge political parties to hold “jungle primaries”.
     6i. Urge more states to allow 17-year-olds to vote in primaries if they will turn 18 before the day of the election (whose candidates that primary will affect).

     6j. The right to vote is a natural human right, and, as such, citizens and non-citizens alike should have the right to vote in elections which determine the policy that will affect them in their own neighborhoods. Allow undocumented immigrants to vote in all elections in which their residence would normally allow any citizen in the same jurisdictions to vote, unless the immigrant in question is both legally and logistically able to vote in some foreign election.

7. Protect the 2nd and 3rd Amendments by Building a Bridge Between Them

     7a. Repeal all federal gun control laws, and oppose all efforts to pass new federal gun control legislation.
     7b. Urge states to repeal all gun control measures which cannot be enacted voluntarily (such as gun buyback programs).
    7c. Do not restrict people's freedom to sue gun manufacturers, but do not encourage these lawsuits either.
     7d. We should stop debating about whether to require all genders to register for the draft; and start figuring out how to ban the draft forever. An equal obligation without sufficient reward is not true equality, it is a forced sacrifice.
     7e. Too many illegal wars of aggression (which only make us less safe) have been sold to the American people. The draft is not necessary; people will join up if the cause is just, and only a fool would refuse to take up arms if at least to defend himself. Augment the Second Amendment by including the language which was omitted from it several months before it was finalized. Amend the Second Amendment in a manner which recognizes that its original intent to protect our freedom to resist being forced to serve in a military draft (by any army) in person.
     7f. Formally abolish both the military draft and Selective Service registration, either by augmenting the Second Amendment, or by offering new amendments.
     7g. Expand the Third Amendment so as to prohibit the non-consensual quartering of troops in households even during wartime, and so as to make it clear that a prohibition on quartering troops in each household should logically preclude the legality of drafting one person from each household.

8. Balance the Budget, and Pay Off the National Debt in 25 Years

     8a. Decrease spending; by drastically reducing military spending, transitioning administration of the entitlements to the states, shrinking the federal workforce, and reducing the scope of federal government duties.
     8b. Enact serious budget balancing measures; such as lockboxes, Cut Cap and Balance and P.A.Y.G.O. (Pay As You Go) -type legislation, and a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
     8c. Aim to reduce federal spending by a total of 50% as soon as possible; resulting in a $2 trillion budget. Meanwhile, continue taking in $3 trillion a year into the Treasury, and do so more responsibly, through enacting meaningful tax reform which reduces the burden on working families and the poor, and increases the burden on enterprises making money off the backs of taxpayers. After successfully enacting the first budget yielding $3T in revenue and $2T in spending, enact long-term policies which legally commit the federal government to continue taking in $1 trillion more than it spends (whether or not the overall budget grows in the process). Take $1 trillion more into the Treasury than the amount which is spent, and repeat this process for 25 years - handing all surplus over to our creditors and increasing our annual national debt service from $600 billion a year to $1 trillion a year - until the national debt is fully paid off.

9. Reform the Federal Tax Code

     9a. Aim to derive any and all federal revenue from: 1) voluntarily donated contributions; 2) user fees and fee-for-service models; or else through 3) the taxation of corporate income, capital gains, and/or the sale of luxury items.
     9b. Among those corporations, and traders of capital and luxury items, tax rates should weigh most heavily on those economic exchanges in which profit is reaped with the assistance of government (such as through government grants of business privileges and monopoly statuses like patents, and taxpayer-funded subsidies and other forms of assistance.
     9c. The lowest taxes on enterprise should be incurred by those firms which receive nothing from taxpayers, profit the least, occupy the smallest area of land, and refrain from damaging the environment.

10. Tax and Break Up Monopolies (Or Stop Creating Them)

     10a. Businesses which reap extraordinary profits, and/or which wield monopolies, could only do so with the assistance of, and with insurance by, government and taxpayers. All business which receive taxpayer funds and taxpayer assistance should be considered public entities, and subject to the regulations and taxation rates which the public deems necessary.
     10b. It may not be wise to trust the federal government to break-up a business monopoly; because the federal government and the Bureau of Competition are monopolies. We should either use the government's antitrust power to break-up monopolies (and use its taxation powers to tax them) or else take away the government's power to give companies those problematic monopoly privileges in the first place.
     10c. Revoke all legal privileges for businesses, stopping the problems of monopoly and obscene profits before they start.
     10d. Abolish the federal Department of Commerce, and urge states to abolish their departments of commerce.
     10e. End the chartering and incorporation of businesses by government, urging states to rescind state secretary of states' offices' authority to extend Limited Liability Company statuses to businesses.

11. Reform Business and Banking

     11a. Tax all corporations receiving public subsidies and taxpayer-funded privileges, at whatever rate the public demands (potentially as high as 100%).
     11b. Businesses lacking taxpayer-funded privileges and supports may be taxed as low as 0%, provided they do not operate for profit nor make vast swaths of land unuseable.
     11c. Attempt to tax the profits of “big tech” companies, and whether they evade those taxes or not, revoke all taxpayer-funded privileges which they currently receive.
    11d. Prohibit government from bailing out corporations, and prohibit government from assisting in their restructuring
     11e. Restoring Glass-Steagall would only get us halfway towards separating investment banking from commercial banking; so fully separate the banking industry from the taxpaying public, by either abolishing the F.D.I.C. (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation) or else drastically reducing the amount of funds which may be insured under it.
     11f. Author and propose bills calling for full and frequent audits of the Federal Reserve, and for its abolition (and the return of its powers to the Congress).
     11g. Offer amendments to federal anti-usury laws which fully prohibit usury on money and loans, by prohibiting fractional reserve banking, other types of less-than-full-reserve banking, and the continued coinage and issuance of fiat currency.
     11h. Aim to significantly reduce the federal government's role in business and banking, until the only authorities which remain are 1) making treasury policy, 2) regulating bankruptcies, and 3) keeping the American free trade zone free from obstructions and from laws which unfairly favor domestic goods and services.

12. Reduce and Abolish Income Taxes

     12a. Nine U.S. states and thirteen foreign countries operate entirely without taxing income. Propose a constitutional amendment which would repeal the Sixteenth Amendment, thus formally ending the taxation of income by the federal government. You might ask how we will fund the government without the income tax; however, income taxes don't pay for all costs of government, but only half. There are plenty of other types of taxes that we can use instead; we could easily replace income taxes by phasing them out while doubling revenues from all other forms of taxes now in effect (however, that is not my proposal).
     12b. Do not replace income taxes with all taxes which now exist; rather, decrease and abolish sales taxes and tariffs instead of increasing them.
     12c. Replace federal income tax revenues with revenues derived from the taxation of corporate income, capital gains, and/or luxury items.
     12d. We don't have to risk discouraging productivity and the earning of income by taxing that income away. Working people earned that income; moreover, it is legally classified as “earned income”, so if the government acknowledges that it is earned, then it shouldn't take any of it away. Support all bills which reduce federal income taxes responsibly; avoiding increasing taxes on households earning less than $30,000 per year. 

13. Enact Land Value Taxation

     13a. At the local level, shift the taxation burden off of income and sales, onto land value, while reforming the way property is taxed.
     13b. Phase-in Land Value Taxation in order to 1) lessen the burden of taxation on ordinary income earners, 2) diminish the need for other types of taxation, and 3) diminish the need for higher and more central levels of government.
     13c. Urge all local and county governments in America to allow local mutual aid organizations and voluntary associations to build Community Land Trusts (C.L.T.s) and community water and air trusts.
     13d. Leave C.L.T.s untaxed, while allowing them to tax the unimproved value of land, decreasing the level of taxation of improvements upon the land (like homes and office buildings), while increasing the level of taxation upon the actual owner(s) of the land and the ground underneath it (and not the renters).
     13e. Allow C.L.T.s to charge fees, and create dividends, as insurance against the harm which could result from extracting natural resources from the ground.
     13f. Fully taxing all kept and unimproved economic rents will yield $7 trillion in revenue, equal to and supplying the entire cost necessary for all levels of government in America combined.
     13g. Make Land Value Taxation the only tax, by replacing all other forms of taxation with use-based fees, voluntary forms of funding, and/or the charging of fees by C.L.T.s to cover the cost which it would take to restore the land to its original condition in case it is damaged in the course of its use.
     13h. Urge all units of local government, and local banks and land management organizations, to either cede their powers to C.L.T.s, or else become members of them and operate according to their rules.

14. Get the Feds Out of Local Environmental Issues

     14a. The federal government never had the authority to regulate environmental issues duly delegated to it by the states and the people. The last three administrations have proven that just because the government is supposed to regulate the environment and keep our air and water clean, it can just as easily refuse to do so, because there's nobody to hold them accountable if they don't. A wise president might be able to get into office every once in a while, and use the E.P.A. (Environmental Protection Agency) for good, but as long as the E.P.A. and unwise presidents continues to exist, then that agency is just sitting around waiting to fall into the wrong hands.
     14b. We should immediately abolish the E.P.A., and urge communities and counties nationwide to establish Community Land Trusts (and air and water trusts) which will have the ability to make environmental policy at the local level, in a manner which ties the economic future of the government and the people to the development of industry in a manner which is ecologically sustainable.
     14c. Support Green New Deal -type legislation, but oppose federal action towards those ends, supporting state and local solutions instead.
     14d. Support international environmental agreements such as the Paris Climate Accords, and U.N. programs such as the Kyoto Protocol, but only as long as they remain voluntarily, and support allowing U.S. states to independently participate in those accords if they so desire.

15. Achieve Real Free Enterprise / Free the Markets

     15a. Abolish all subsidies, all forms of taxpayer-funded privilege for business enterprises, and all bailouts - including tax credits and tax loopholes – in order to establish a real free market system in which government can neither subsidize companies nor bail them out, nor in any way choose winners and losers in the market.
     15b. Allow real price competition, so that the free market can result in free stuff, like it is supposed to.
     15c. Dismantle anti-competitive barriers to the natural reduction in prices over time, such as intellectual property protection, the Federal Reserve's policies of currency and inflation manipulation, the legality of anti-competitive labor contracts, and professional regulations and Limited Liability Company (L.L.C.) status designations (which stifle competition by insulating businesses from legal and financial responsibility for crimes, frauds, and perjuries).
     15d. Repeal the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act in order to end the criminalization of engaging in coordinated boycotts across multiple industries, so that businesses have no protection from the people's freedom to boycott, and will actually have to compete for customers by offering better products and/or better prices.

16. Enact Mutualist Reforms to the Economy

     16a. Promote mutual aid and direct action.
     16b. Support mutually beneficial voluntary exchange; all economic exchanges should be not only voluntary and consensual, but also beneficial to all parties affected.
     16c. Limit price to cost; that is, the price of a good or service should be no higher than the cost required to produce it.
     16d. Foster an economic environment which capable of resulting in the widespread giving of land - and issuance of money, currency, and credit - for free.

17. Enact Mutualist Reforms to Land and Housing

     17a. Enact occupancy and use norms instead of having the government protect property rights, ending the registration of property by local Register of Deeds' offices.
     17b. End the protection of abandoned, unoccupied, and absentee property.
     17c. Make housing affordable for all, by creating a free market in housing by ending housing subsidies (and abolishing H.U.D.), thus causing the housing market to clear, resulting in a significant drop in housing prices (if any such price remains at all).
     17d. Make landlordism unaffordable by taxing all rents which landlords attempt to keep without doing a commensurate amount of work to justify doing so.
     17e. Legalize “tiny houses”, legalize camping and sleeping in public, and legalize homesteading and adverse possession (“squatting”).
     17f. Continue to allow residents to camp for free on federal land; and leave them free to hunt, forage, build, and trade as well.
     17g. Either urge local governments to consider multiple forms of multi-use zoning, or else abolish zoning altogether.
     17h. Help make housing affordable by making the land underneath it more affordable to begin with; by abolishing the Department of the Interior, requiring the federal government to relinquish all lands in its possession outside of the District of Columbia and overseas island territories.

18. Enact Mutualist Reforms to Money and Credit

     18a. Encourage the creation of consumer-cooperative enterprises and membership in credit unions. 
     18b. Foster a federal regulatory environment which allows for the free issuance of interest-free money, credit, and loans (and zero-collateral loans).
     18c. Encourage states to create state public banks, as North Dakota has done.
     18d. Implement a federal U.B.I. (Universal Basic Income program), and/or abolish physical currency and fiat currency, and/or implementing a universal social credit system for all non-incarcerated residents.
     18d. Establish competing currencies; and advocate for the creation of currencies backed by labor, resources, exports, or ecological sustainability.

     18e. Advocate for the abolition of physical money, or at least the creation of a basic income -type program alongside reforming the processes of minting and coining such that toxic processing chemicals (such as Bisphenol-A / B.P.A., used in printing bills) are not used to create literally "toxic assets" that the American people have to handle every day. We will never be able to afford enough health care, if the money we afford it with, is covered in chemicals that make us sick.

     18f. Unless the people are educated about how human beings have lived without money and currency in societies over the centuries, we will be stuck in a rat race where the only objective is to acquire as many U.S. Dollars as possible, and people are encouraged to disregard other people's needs in order to "get ahead". That will not do; we should not try to attach a numeric value to human beings, their labor, nor the things that are necessary to keep people alive. Educate the American people about alternative forms of exchange (such as mutuum cheques, giving/gifting, going Dutch, bartering, trading and trading-out, paying it forward, freely giving and freely receiving, the potlatch, and the free performance of favors without expecting or ensuring something in return).

19. Reform or Abolish Intellectual Property

     19a. The enforcement of laws protecting intellectual property rights, is currently carried out through the threat of force, and through the legally sanctioned use of violence. Putting people in jail for sharing an idea is wrong; even if they are profiting off of it, or claiming it's their own invention, it's certainly not always appropriate to use physical violence to solve the problem.
     19b. Either revoke the federal government's power to protect intellectual property (including patents, trademarks, etc.), or drastically reduce patent lifespans across the board.
     19c. Abolish intellectual property through abolishing the monopoly powers, license and permit systems, and property registration systems, which allow intellectual property to exist in the first place.
     19d. If the duration of patent terms cannot be drastically shortened, then abolish the U.S. Patent Office and/or revoke its power to issue new patents.
     19e. Urge U.S. states to abolish their state departments of state which have the power to create corporations, or else to revoke their power to create new corporations and L.L.C. status extensions. 
     19f. Stop blaming China for violating American intellectual property rights. Enact in America a trade policy modeled after China's Company Law, which requires foreign businesses setting up shop in China to share their technology with a domestic company in the same industry. The desire to describe the Chinese Company Law as allowing some form of legalized intellectual property theft, is motivated by American businessmen's desire to evade that law.

20. Keep the Internet Open and Free

     20a. Piracy is not theft; because piracy does not remove the original copy, while theft does. Information wants to be free.
     20b. Remove all criminal penalties prescribed for pirating shared files over the internet (provided that those files are shared voluntarily, and that the original was fully paid for).
     20c. Support the decentralized "peer-to-peer", "creative commons", "open-source collaboration" nature of the internet, by making the internet a public commons, rather than a public utility. 
     20d. Support 'TRUE Fees' Act' -type legislation requiring I.S.P.s (Internet Service Providers) to disclose all prices and fees openly, but oppose legislation designating I.S.P.s as "common carriers". 
     20e. Government's only roles in regulating the internet should be to ensure that free competition is possible and that consumers can know prices.

21. Achieve Fair Trade Through Real Free Trade

     21a. Tariffs do not punish foreign countries, nor do they pressure countries to ensure that their workers are treated better. Tariffs impose costs upon domestic importers; that is, American workers, not foreign workers. We must stop increasing our tariffs on other countries without cause, because everyone knows that all countries affected bear costs of the tariffs (including because domestic importers can find ways to transfer the costs of those tariffs onto their consumers and exporters). 
     21b. The federal government should consider all bilateral and multilateral trade negotiations which reduce tariffs for all countries involved. Still, though, we should seek to make future trade negotiation by governments unnecessary, by reducing tariffs to zero and abolishing them.
     21c. Establish real free trade, and zero tariffs, without trying to bully other countries into lowering their tariffs first.
     21d. Free trade occurs through international business partnerships, operating with or without government assistance. We can achieve free trade without creating a treaty between multiple governments.
     21e. Establish fair trade – both within the country and without - through achieving freedom of movement for labor and capital.
     21f. Stop unnecessarily discouraging trade – and stop unnecessarily politicizing trade, risking trade wars – by imposing obstructive, unnecessary taxes on the importation and exportation of goods. Depoliticize trade by reducing - and eventually eliminating - both tariffs and sales taxes.
     21g. Reduce all tariffs to zero immediately, and offer a constitutional amendment which would formally abolish the imposition of all tariffs, imposts, duties, and excises not necessary to cover inspection costs (i.e., including sales taxes, but not including inspection fees).
     21h. Reduce and abolish foreign aid, in order to prevent foreign countries from spending it to subsidize their own domestic enterprises.
     21i. Abolish EXIM (the Export-Import Bank of the United States).

22. Reform Immigration and Abolish Citizenship

     22a. The chief delineation in our society, regarding with whom we should associate, should be on the basis of violence vs. non-violence, nor citizen vs. non-citizen, nor whether someone has followed all the laws (and especially not if many of them don't make sense).
     22b. Coming to America without permission is a misdemeanor the first two times you do it, and it can be done without trespassing and without committing acts of violence.
     22c. Either make illegal immigration a civil offense, or cease criminalizing illegal entry by non-violent people.
     22d. Stop trapping seasonal migrant farmers in America by making it easy to come but illegal to leave.
     22e. Don't allow police officers to detain undocumented immigrants for petty crimes in order to justify deporting them.
     22f. Abolish I.C.E. but continue to deport violent immigrants; deport violent immigrants through the State Department and/or the Justice Department, not through the unconstitutional Department of Homeland Security and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (I.C.E.) which operates under it.
     22g. Urge state governors to use Jeffersonian nullification and the Tenth Amendment to prevent the federal government from exercising authority to enforce any policy aside from the bare minimum of what it takes to “establish a uniform rule of naturalization” (establish a rule, not enforce it). Urge governors to enjoin federal troops from deporting non-violent immigrants, and arrest I.C.E. officers if they attempt to enforce unduly authorized federal immigration legislation which oversteps the bounds of the immigration authorities articulated in the Enumerated Powers.
     22h. In order to prevent unwarranted deportations of non-violent undocumented immigrants, propose legislation which either formally revokes the Census Bureau's authority to include a citizenship question, or allow census respondents to answer “no” in such a way that leaves them free to be an outlaw and receive no protection from the federal government if they so desire. Urge state governors to enjoin census takers from operating within state lines if the census includes a citizenship question which does not allow people to dissociate from the federal government.
     22i. Support open borders – with minimal vetting (a non-intrusive assessment of threat, and no medical examinations unless requested) – as a way to establish freedom of movement and travel for workers, as part of achieving the greater goal of establishing a free trade zone within and without America, in which all labor and capital may flow freely across the land.
     22j. Nowadays, the main purpose for citizenship status to exist (besides to ensure equal protection under the law) is to confer access to benefits (most of which the federal government has no authority to provide) and to conferring special privileges onto citizens which non-citizens may not enjoy. This allows non-citizens to be deprived of rights and freedoms, while citizens enjoy first-class status (or something approaching that, if they aren't rich). This is a caste system, a caste system is not compatible with human rights; and there is no reason to justify discrimination on the basis of national origin.
     22k. Repeal and oppose all legislation providing for discrimination on the basis of national origin, and majority religion of nation of origin, in immigration vetting. Oppose all proposals to create registry systems which gather information on the basis of national origin or religion.
     22l. Don't build the wall; instead, abolish the welfare state. We cannot expect immigrants to come to America for freedom, if we don't have any freedoms anymore. Immigrants come here because of the limited economic opportunity we have left, the limited civil liberties we have left, and the acceptable material quality of life. They don't come for the welfare state; some may receive benefits but applying for them is dangerous because it risks deportation. If we cease building the wall, and abolish the welfare state instead, then the only people trying to immigrate into our country will be those immigrants who still believe in freedom. 
     22m. Not only do undocumented immigrants fear being identified if they apply for government assistance; they can also be outed simply by being carded for trying to enjoy a beer or a cigarette. In order to reduce this burden on undocumented immigrants (who more than refund the cost of welfare by contributing so much underpaid labor effort to our economy), cease requiring driver's licenses in order to render the issue of licensing undocumented immigrants moot, and urge tobacco and alcohol sellers to cease carding people who are obviously over 18 or 21.
     22n. Undocumented immigrants may impose a welfare cost, but those costs should not be enjoyed by citizens either because they are unconstitutional. All immigrants – documented and undocumented – and all citizens alike, should be eligible to receive aid from mutual aid organizations and international charity and relief organizations, but nobody should receive unconstitutional benefits from the federal government (but allow state and local governments to provide social safety nets). 
     22o. Leave undocumented immigrants free to access health services at hospitals, without being required to participate in any federal program in order to do so.
     22p. Diminish the need for the federal government (or any government) to provide undocumented immigrants with taxpayer-supported health care; by providing detained and incarcerated migrants with adequate water, food, and hygiene items, as well as the necessities for restful sleep; and by allowing international aid organizations provide those services instead of the government.
     22q. If the current administration wants to “promote legal immigration”, then it should give amnesty to all non-violent undocumented immigrant currently in the country, and open as many ports of entry as possible, so that as many people as possible can come in and declare asylum, instead of being funneled through dangerous parts of the desert where they could be killed by gangs, wild animals, or die from heat, starvation, thirst, or sickness.
     22r. Support the continuation of “sanctuary states” and “sanctuary cities”, but not in their current form; these areas should be established through nullifying unauthorized federal immigration policies, not through securing funds from the federal government in order to operate them.
     22s. Urge state governments, and the people, to supply assistance to immigrants as they see fit; in regard to housing, education, and other needs.
     22t. Cease requiring immigrants to have a Social Security Number (SSN) in order to work; this increases the likelihood that welfare and identity fraud will be committed, it doesn't decrease it.
     22u. The right to vote is a natural human right, and, as such, citizens and non-citizens alike should have the right to vote in elections which determine the policy that will affect them in their own neighborhoods. Allow undocumented immigrants to vote in all elections in which their residence would normally allow any citizen in the same jurisdictions to vote, unless the immigrant in question is both legally and logistically able to vote in some foreign election.

23. Abolish or Reform the Census, and Make Tax Burdens Equal

     23a. Census takers should not ask whether someone is a citizen, unless replying “no” can make them an outlaw, and thus subject to neither the federal government's legal protections nor its immigration and citizenship laws.
     23b. Abolish the census, and empower state governors to enjoin census takers from administering the census, until such time as it can be made to exclude all questions which the Constitution does not permit it to include.
     23c. Remove all questions from the census aside from the number of persons in each household, and/or their name(s).
     23d. Prevent presidential administrations from proposing policy regarding what questions the census should include; policy-making regarding the contents of the census should be determined by Congress, while the executive branch's authority in regard to the census should be limited to carrying it out.
     23e. Propose legislation requiring the set of census questions to be approved two or three times in the five years prior to the turn of each decade.
     23f. Consider abolishing the census if it cannot be drastically reformed and simplified so as to protect the identity, personal information, and safety of non-violent people (whether they are here with permission or not).
     23g. Urge residents to refrain from participating in the 2020 census whether it includes unconstitutional questions or not. Urge citizens to use non-violent resistance against census takers, and to either vacate their premises when a census taker arrives; or else to politely report the number of people living there, while insisting that they do not legally have to provide any more answers, and insisting that the census taker cease trespassing on their property.
     23h. Oppose participation in the census on the grounds that the collection of census information does not promote one of its main original purposes – that is, to ensure that all people across the country both: 1) bear an equal burden of taxation; and 2) equally enjoy the benefits of government spending – and those burdens and benefits are nowhere near equal among the states.
     23i. Ensure that tax burdens and receipts are equal across the country by: 1) either equalizing regional subsidies, or else eliminating them entirely; and by 2) allowing states receiving less from the federal government than they pay in taxes, to become sovereign independent nations if they wish to do so.

24. Devolve Entitlements to the States

     24a. The authority to make policy regarding medical issues and retirement was never duly delegated to the federal government by the states. Until such time as a constitutional amendment can be passed which formally authorizes the federal government to do that, support legislation which would devolve the responsibility to address those issues (that is, the “entitlements”; Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security) back to the states, or to the people, where they belong. To do so, support “New Federalism” -type policies, block grants, and other ways of devolving responsibilities to the states.
     24b. Bypass the issues of immigrant Social Security numbers, and what the retirement age should be, by ceasing to require S.S. participation in order to work, and by phasing-out the Social Security system as soon as possible (and transferring its authorities to the states). Do this by either: 1) making participation in the system either fully optional; 2) allowing people under a certain age to opt-out; 3) allowing people to receive already-accrued funds at any age; and/or 4) allowing young people to choose whether to opt-into the system as they enter the workforce for the first time.
     24c. As long as the Social Security system continues to exist, oppose increasing the retirement age, and enact meaningful taxation and budgetary reform in order to avoid means-testing Social Security for income.
     24d. Either abolish and phase-out the Social Security system, or make it fully optional for everyone except federal employees.

25. Achieve Free Health Care Through Free Markets

     25a. Create a sufficiently regulated (but not centrally regulated) free interstate market in health care goods and services, and in health insurance; using price competition to cause health prices to naturally lower over time, resulting in increased affordability of health care and insurance.
     25b. Repeal the Affordable Care Act and the individual health insurance purchase mandate, replacing them with either: 1) a “Medicare for All Who Want It” or “Medicare For All, But Opt-In” -type program which allows states, cooperatives, and people alike to participate on a voluntary basis; or 2) an end to federal involvement in issues pertaining to the health of people besides federal workers.
     25c. Establish a truly optional public option, not a mandatory requirement to purchase insurance. In order to make a public option truly optional – and in order to allow transition periods to exist without cost to the taxpayer - leave people free to refrain from purchasing health insurance, and do not tax them for refraining from purchasing health insurance. 
     25d. In order to address the costs which would be incurred from treating people who lack the ability to pay – and in order to help make health insurance unnecessary - encourage nurses and doctors (and health care and insurance providers of all kinds) to sign employment contracts and/or insurance forms guaranteeing that they will not deny treatment to people based on their inability to pay (as per the Hippocratic Oath).
    25e. Leave all charity organizations, mutual aid societies, and voluntary associations totally free to provide medical assistance to people regardless of citizenship status; but constitutionally, states - not the federal government - should be in the business of administering public services pertaining to medicine.
     25f. The only authority the federal government should exercise to regulate health insurance, should be to prevent states from passing laws that favor their own domestic production of health goods and services (for example, laws which unfairly prohibit buying health insurance policies from out of state).
     25g. Help make health insurance portable, and equally affordable for unemployed and employed people alike, by: 1) either significantly decreasing, or abolishing, the federal tax credit to employers for providing health insurance; and 2) encouraging 46 states to legalize the interstate sale and purchase of health insurance (as long as those insurance policies do not violate state law), which will entice more health insurance companies to move into new states, providing more options (and more affordable plans) to consumers.
     25h. Do not authorize the federal government to negotiate drug prices; instead, stop encouraging a high-price environment by giving drug developers monopolistic patents in the first place (or else drastically reduce the 14-year patent term for pharmaceuticals, and do the same for medical devices).
     25i. Tax the profits from sales of medical devices and medications, but do not impose sales taxes on ordinary medications. Consider imposing luxury taxes on medical device sales and other expensive medical items, but only if significant taxation reform (i.e., taxation of monopolies and unimproved land value) is not enacted. Making medications and medical devices more affordable, will make them more widespread, and this will have the effect of reducing malpractice lawsuits, because more hospitals and health care providers having more access to treatment options, will result in more options for patients, and a lower chance that a patient can rightfully claim his doctors didn't use all the tools available to them to help him get better.
     25j. Decrease the rate at which health providers are taxed, by: 1) allowing nurses and doctors to deduct expenses from their taxes which they incur in providing uncompensated treatment; and 2) making non-profit health providers totally untaxed (thus providing a welcoming environment for non-profit health alternatives to proliferate, reducing the need to eliminate for-profit health insurance through legislation).
     25k. Prohibit for-profit health insurance, but only for companies receiving public funds (and/or privileges or protections) and refuse to abide by the taxation and regulation levels which the public requires of them in exchange for public support.
     25l. Consider supporting any and all legislative efforts to increase access to H.S.A.s (Health Savings Accounts).
     25m. Urge the public to educate themselves on vaccines and antibiotics; because: 1) viruses are not alive but bacteria are, and antibiotics therefore do not treat viral infections; and 2) vaccines are preventative measures rather than cures, so they are useless at best and dangerous at worst if they are administered to someone who may already have the ailment against which he is being vaccinated. Patients should be told not to get a vaccine unless and until they have been tested for the ailment they're considering getting vaccinated for, and have been found to be free of that ailment; otherwise, a vaccination will not do any good for that particular person if they have that ailment (and could actually make them worse).

26. Honor the Rights to Work, Unionize, Strike, and Boycott

     26a. Laws like the Card Check bill and Right-to-Work laws may appeal to Democrats and Republicans, but they aren't necessary, nor are they helpful. These laws only seem necessary because outdated 80-year-old federal laws (which shouldn't exist) make them seem necessary.
     26b. Protect the right of concerted activity within the workplace; and protect the rights to unionize, and to engage in strikes and boycotts without asking the government for permission. 
     26c. Amend the 1935 Wagner act, and repeal the 1947 Taft-Hartley Act, in a manner which: 1) leaves unions free to prompt negotiation with management even if they do not receive a majority of votes in a union election; and 2) leaves unions free to begin or join any strike or boycott, without getting permission from the National Labor Relations Board.
     26d. Allow individual unions to choose whether to make the results of union votes public (or “public” to workers) instead of secret.
     26e. Neither employers and unions should be free to subject workers to propaganda (whether pro-union or anti-union), nor free to convince workers to sign documents they don't understand. That is why Card Check -type legislation should be opposed; unions should not be free to convince workers to sign a document without informing them that that document authorizes a union to represent them if it gets majority support.
     26f. Only support Right-to-Work -type legislation if states refuse to require employers to inform prospective employees that they will be expected to join a union as a condition of continued employment.
     26g. Make union membership fully voluntary in both the private and public sectors, encourage the existence of multiple unions in each workplace, and oppose any legal restrictions which would prevent a worker from belonging to more than one union at a time.
     26h. Urge states to consider passing corporate laws requiring at least half of the board members of publicly assisted corporations to be composed of workers and/or consumers/clients.
     26i. Propose legislation which would tax the income of employees of publicly assisted companies according to the difference between C.E.O. pay and average worker pay.
     26j. Oppose efforts to increase the federal minimum wage, as this wage law chiefly applies to federal workers, not all workers, and is routinely overridden by state minimum wage laws. Make it unnecessary to increase the minimum wage, by making currently received wages more valuable in the first place; by increasing the purchasing power of the dollar through meaningful taxation and budgetary reform.
     26k. Use a different metric for unemployment; U6 should be used instead of U3 because it reflects a larger and more diverse set of unemployed, non-employed, and underemployed people (aside from solely those who have enrolled in government unemployment benefits).
     26l. Do not allow public sector unions to spend money on political campaigns nor causes, unless and until taxpayers – and workers not consenting to their union representation – no longer fund unions with which they don't wish to associate.

27. Reform or Abolish Public Schools
     27a. Given that public school students risk being shot to death or molested when they go to school - and that many college graduates are dissatisfied with the claims their universities made about their ability to become gainfully and consistently employed after graduating - advocate for either the total abolition of federal and public involvement in education, or else drastic reform in a manner which protects children physically, protects them from education fraud, and also prepares them with the skills and education necessary to sustain themselves financially as adults.

     27b. The federal government never had the authority to regulate education formally delegated to it by the states. Propose bills which would immediately abolish the U.S. Department of Education, and permanently prohibit the federal government from regulating or running schools. Abolish the federal Department of Education, devolving all education affairs (school lunch programs included) to the states and the people.
     27c. Get the federal government out of student loans, and end all government student loan programs (F.A.F.S.A., etc.); while abolishing Sallie Mae. 
     27d. While ending F.A.F.S.A. and Sallie Mae, forgive all debt accrued by students of federally supported public universities (but not private universities).
     27e. Devolve the issues of student aid and student debt back to the states and the people where they belong.
     27f. Urge states to: 1) forgive debt accrued by students of their public state-supported universities; 2) to begin to offer tuition-free education (or at least a more direct form of negotiation on tuition between students and faculty); 3) to expand access to community colleges; and 4) to explore whether any legal obstacles need to be removed in order for students to make full use of voucher programs, distance learning, and online education.
     27g. If necessary, support a nationwide boycott of public colleges and universities for at least one year, in order to drastically reduce the cost of tuition for future students.
     27h. Ban hazing and branding in fraternities, sports clubs, and other clubs, by all persons attending publicly supported college and university campuses.
     27i. On primary education: Children under 18 cannot be expected to learn and focus in school, when there is a major shooting every 7 or 8 days in America (163 casualties in 2018, averaging nearly one student shot or killed per school day), as well as 24 reported molestations in school every school day (either by a teacher or another student). Federal funding should be withheld from all K-12 public schools, unless and until all seventeen of the following goals are achieved: 1) All states refrain from requiring public school attendance, and resolve to keep home-schooling legal and free; 2) Taxpayers cease paying for the legal defense of unionized public school teachers charged with molesting students; 3) All public schools procure adequate, trustworthy, transparent, accountable, and independent security protection; 4) Any measures funding public schools must be passed only on the condition that sufficient resources are spent to combat bullying, and also to monitor all places where students may be present so as to prevent physical and sexual abuse; 5) All states pass reforms prohibiting school faculty and security guards from hassling minors for supposedly dressing provocatively  (except in extreme and obvious circumstances), and from conducting invasive searches of students to check for potentially provocative clothing and movement; 6) All states prohibit the arrest or detention of students without parental notification (except in extreme circumstances in which a child's behavior constitutes a clear, present, and immediate - or else unpredictable - threat to others; 7) All states prohibit schools from punishing students - especially physically - for refraining from standing, saluting the flag, or saying the Pledge of Allegiance; 8) All states prohibit visiting police officers from tasing or pepper spraying students on campus, even for career preparation; 9) All states allow prayer in public schools but do not require it (that is, allow student-initiated prayer and spontaneous prayer in schools; but do not allow teacher-directed, nor principal-directed, prayer; and prohibit schools from requiring students to pray, and from requiring them to do anything except observe moments of silence while others pray); 10) Public schools "teach the controversy" in regards to the debate between evolution and intelligent design and creationism; 11) States are urged to reject Common Core, and to implement national education standards on a purely voluntary state-by-state basis, and to develop their own education standards; 12) All school guidelines, and insurance regulations, be revised, so as to prevent school nurses' offices from unjustly retaining custody of children's medications when a student might develop a need to access that medication more rapidly than the school can promise; 13) Middle schools and/or junior high schools expand their civics, economics, and life skills curricula, so as to teach students how to balance checkbooks, pay taxes, start businesses, invest, vote, and understand how health insurance and car insurance work; 14) Schools across the country take steps towards phasing-out multiple-choice test formats, while phasing-in tests which require the student to actually know and understand the answer (rather than simply memorizing it); 15) all public schools establish an admission birthdate of May 15^th rather than late August; 16) all public high schools split into two campuses; and 17) the last two years of high school (and its campus) must include auto shop, wood shop, agriculture, and gun training courses, as well as courses in other trades and artisan crafts, with students and their parents being asked to sign waivers to protect the school from the potential of personal injury lawsuits. Point 15 will assign class-years to students for late August classes based on whether their birthday occurred on or after their previous grade's graduation day in the spring of the same year. Point 16 will facilitate the devotion of more resources to courses that teach potentially dangerous trade skills which freshmen and sophomores should not be exposed to, while juniors and seniors are more likely to drive than younger students and will need more parking at their campus. Points 15 and 16 - taken together - will help ensure that (unless a student is pushed forward a year) students won't turn 16 and become eligible to drive until they've finished sophomore year, and students won't turn 18 and become voting-age adults until they've finished senior year. These two points will also help prevent the risks associated with students under and over the age of 16 interacting too much socially; while bypassing the risk that this policy could limit the ability of children over 16 to provide rides to school to children under 16, by separating under-16 campuses from over-16 campuses. Point 17 - together with points 15 and 16 - will help ensure that students under 16 will not be exposed to potentially dangerous equipment in auto shop, wood shop, agriculture, or gun training courses.
     27j. Require all public schools to include discussion of current newspapers in civics and social studies classes, and discussion of contemporary newspapers in history classes.
     27k. Teach the history of World War II, and teach the debate between socialism and fascism, by using history memes from the internet (in order to make students excited about history, learn about political ideologies, and channel any extremist ideas which they may hold into something that is more productive and academic).

28. Reform Laws on Rape, Kidnapping, Ages of Consent, and the Protection of Children

     28a. Less than one out of four rapes are reported, and less than one out of 200 rapists serves prison time. Support the #MeToo movement by enacting sweeping reforms at multiple levels of government to ensure the full right to hold rapists, kidnappers, workplace sexual harassers, and other facilitators of sexual abuse and harassment, responsible and accountable for their crimes.

     28b. Urge all units of government to (if necessary) amend the legal definition of rape so as to avoid including the word “assent”; because consent and assent are not the same thing, and lowering the standard to assent (which, unlike consent, carries the connotation of acquiescence) could risk legalizing the act of continuing sex after a person has tried to resist or communicate lack of consent but has given up trying to do so.

     28c. Urge state legislatures to pass laws ensuring that persons making accusations of rape have no legal obligation to prove that they attempted to physically resist or verbally object; a traumatized person will not always be able to remember these details - such as how hard they tried to verbally object or physically resist - nor be able to prove them with physical evidence.

     28d. Oppose any proposals which would require explicit verbal consent to sex, or physical paper contracts or waiver forms; but allow consenting adults to make such contracts if they please (unless the sexual acts permitted by such contracts authorize irreversible traumas likely to lead to torture, enslavement, or death).

     28e. Encourage more state legislatures to shorten and repeal their statutes of limitations against reporting sexual assaults, rape, and sexual harassment.

     28f. In order to reduce the risk that state prosecutors will fail accusers of rape, sexual abuse, and kidnapping, allow private attorneys to write-off the expenses of representing such accusers on their taxes if those accusers are unable to hire them for normal rates.

     28g. Offer private attorneys incentives to represent rape and domestic abuse accusers, instead of supporting Violence Against Women Act (V.A.W.A.) -type legislation; and propose bills which would repeal either the remainder of the 1994 Clinton omnibus crime bill besides V.A.W.A., or else the entire Violent Crime Control and Enforcement Act of 1994 (i.e., the Clinton crime bill).

     28h. Support repealing the “Clinton crime bill” (which could just as easily be called the Biden crime bill) on the grounds that it regards boot camps as not only a less-abusive alternative to prisons (which is questionable), but also as a panacea cure for all problems, even teenage delinquency.

     28i. Allow juveniles to be in solitary confinement, but strictly limit this to juveniles who routinely or unpredictably present risks of life and limb to themselves and/or to others.

     28j. Acknowledge that rape of men by men in our prisons is a serious problem, and consider several possible solutions to this including: 1) better protection; 2) increased inmate access to the legal means to file charges against attackers (whether those attackers are inmates, prison guards, or someone else); 3) increased use of solitary confinement for adult inmates; or 4) relocation of prisons to pristine rural locations from which it would be not only difficult to escape but also pointless (modeling our prison systems after that of Norway).

     28k. Fight child trafficking; by ending the culture of sending troubled teens to boot camps on trash T.V. shows, including by filing criminal charges against all operators of abusive teen boot camps (such as W.W.A.S.P.S., the World Wide Association of Specialty Programs and Schools).

     28l. End the physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and torture of children. End such abuse of children, whether in juvenile detention facilities, in teen boot camps, in I.C.E. custody, in public schools (whether by teachers, fellow students, or school security guards), in the court systems (whether by judges in "for-profit private prison" schemes, or through family law courts unnecessarily taking children into state custody), in the custody of C.P.S. (Child Protective Services) and C.P.S.-like agencies, the police, the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, or living in countries where American troops and military contractors are stationed.

     28m. To the fullest extent of the law, investigate and prosecute any and all politicians, government employees, military officers, and defense contractor employees, suspected of involvement in sex trafficking rings (whether international or domestic); or of raping, kidnapping, torturing children, or murdering children who are either not armed or not classified as military belligerents.

     28n. Diminish the risk that families could be separated, diminish the risk that children could be deprived or abused or become sick in I.C.E. custody, and avoid subjecting migrants to invasive and unconstitutional searches and seizures. Do this by establishing a "minimal vetting" system within an otherwise open-borders environment (open to free flow of people, labor, and capital alike) in which border patrol officers visually assess the likelihood that individuals crossing without permission are threats or are kidnapping the children they are with.

     28o. In order to help decrease the risk that juveniles will be sexually or physically abused while in the custody the justice system, end the school-to-prison pipeline while imposing severe punishments on judges and law enforcement officers who participate in schemes to put juveniles (as well as adults) in prison for profit.

     28p. Propose constitutional amendments which would formally authorize the federal government to restrict states' authorities to set ages of consent which lie outside of a predetermined set of ranges, such that:

     I) the purchase age for all tobacco products stay at 18 nationwide;

     II) the alcohol purchase age may not be set any higher than 21 nor any lower than 18;

     III) the minimum ages to work and drive may not be set any higher than 16 nor any lower than 14 (without strict and transparent guarantees of supervision, a ban on working in venues normally reserved for adults, and a limitation on the number of days which a child may work per year);

     IV) all states must prohibit and penalize parents, tattoo artists, piercing artists, and all persons who encourage and/or facilitate children under 16 to get tattoos or intimate piercings (modeling such legislation off of similar laws passed by Minnesota and Wales) - in addition to nose piercings, tongue piercings, tongue splitting, nipple piercings, dermal piercings anywhere on the body, facial tattoos, implants, and other body modifications - and also prohibit children under 16 from becoming apprentice piercers and tattoo artists, even with parental permission;

     V) no state may set a minimum age for marriage any higher than 18, nor any lower than 16; and

     VI) no state may set the voting age - nor the age to participate in a legal contract aside from employment – any higher than 18, nor any lower than 16.

     and either VII and VIII, or VIII and IX (which together will close what I call the "interstate kidnapping incentive program", the federal age of consent law which allows people age 16-20 to avoid penalty for transporting younger children, provided that the younger children are no more than four years younger, and they cross state lines in the process).

     VII) the federal age of sexual consent (with the defense included for "reasonably believing" the minor was over 16) increase from 12 to either 15, 16, or 17.

     VIII) state “Romeo and Juliet laws” be restricted so as to prohibit sex between minors age 12-17 whose age difference is greater than two years

     IX) the "generic age of consent" set by the federal government increase from 16 to either 17 or 18, and the passage and ratification of an amendment codifying this into the Constitution be pursued.

     28q. Recommend that the entire nation come together to set standards regarding accountability for public officials who fail to provide justice to the victims of rape and kidnapping; and evaluate whether the police, the prison system, G.A.L.s (Guardians Ad Litem), Child Protective Services, or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, can be trusted while retaining custody of our children; and then, either abolish or strictly limit the powers of any and all agencies failing to pass national standards.

     28r. Urge courts to stop being lenient on people who sexually abuse children on account of the abusers being the biological parents or relatives of they children they abused, and under no circumstances allow convicted abusers to retain custody of children.

     28s. Recommend a thorough investigation of Ghislaine Maxwell and everyone whose name appears in Jeffrey Epstein's black book and/or his Lolita Express flight log, as well as Jeffrey Epstein's former employees, including Ghislane Maxwell. Additionally, Donald Trump, several members of the Trump and Clinton families, Alexander Acosta, Robert Mueller, James Comey, Alberto Gonzales, George W. Bush, 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 Bloomberg, Michael Mukasey, Ehud Barak, Steven Pinker, Kevin Hart, Kevin Spacey, Naomi Campbell, Prince Andrew, and more).

     28t. Recommend a thorough investigation of Jeffrey Epstein's main business partner Leslie H. Wexner (the C.E.O. of Victoria's Secret) for its possible investments in Epstein's child trafficking ring, as well as an investigation of the company itself to determine whether it is still using prison labor to manufacture women's garments.

     28u. Recommend a thorough investigation of all those suspected of child trafficking as part of the "Pizzagate" conspiracy; including 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.

     28v. Recommend an investigation into the "Bacha Bazi" (dancing boys) scandal which occurred in Afghanistan at the hands of the military contractor Blackwater (later renamed Xe Services, and again renamed Academi), to determine whether any Americans are involved in child trafficking in Afghanistan. Additionally, investigate Erik Prince (C.E.O. of Academi) and his sister Betsy DeVos (Secretary of Education under Trump) in order to determine whether any of their personal or family business ties or investments lead to child trafficking (aside from the Bacha Bazi scandal); especially their relationships with the Bush family and the family of Joseph E. Schmitz.

     28w. Criminalize the microchipping of children, whether or not for medical purposes, and whether or not the microchip tracks the child. Urge parents to simply watch and hold their children instead of microchipping them or outfitting them with harnesses attached to the parent via dehumanizing leashes. Advocate for the institutionalization of parents who have their children on leashes and their dogs in strollers at the same time in public.

     28x. Ban child beauty pageants, as France has done. Prohibit minors under 16 from participating in beauty pageants.

     28y. Prohibit children under 15 or 16 from studying urban dancing and other forms of provocative dance. Recommend child sexual abuse investigations into youth gymnastics, rhythmic dancing, urban dancing, and other youth sports and activities showing suspicious signs of repeated abuses.

     28z. Require Child Protective Services (C.P.S.) and C.P.S.-type agencies to adopt standards of child physical abuse which are higher than "Parents can hit their children as long as they don't leave bruises or marks on them." 

     28aa. Require all states to raise the age at which a child may be left home alone to between 12 and 16. Many states have no laws on this subject.

     28ab. Urge states to ban the smoking of cigarettes, cigars, marijuana, etc. in cars and other confined spaces where children are present.

     28ac. Advocate for the prohibition of medically unnecessary genital mutilation and circumcision, regardless of gender.

     28ad. Ensure that all jurisdictions are prohibiting female genital mutilation.

     28ae. Urge states to prohibit the circumcision of males; whenever the patient is under 16 years of age, except when medical evidence suggests that it is justifiable as medically necessary (such as in order to prevent abnormal growth of the penis). Urge states to pass laws which allow patients to elect to have procedures performed on them beginning at either age 16, 17, or 18.

     28af. We cannot say we are protecting children if we allow the open celebration of holidays that celebrate, glorify, satirize, and commodify the tricking, taunting, manipulation, and molestation of children. As such, advocate prohibiting the celebration of the holidays of Krampusnacht, Saturnalia, and all holidays on which the Satanic Church recommends either an adult or child human sacrifice. If that reform cannot be passed, then support banning the celebration of Halloween, Allhallow's Eve, and Samhain by children, and support either the prohibition of celebrating Christmas or a change of its date so as to be farther from Saturnalia on the calendar.

29. Keep Abortion Legal, But Don't Subsidize It

     29a. Roe v. Wade is not “the law of the land” on abortion; Planned Parenthood v. Casey is. Roe v. Wade didn't “give us the right to abortion”; we were born with the right to abortion, as part of our rights to privacy, personal freedom, individual liberty, and personal bodily integrity. But having a right to abortion, does not necessarily mean you have the right to demand a free abortion paid for by taxpayer money. Keep abortion “legal”, but do not regulate nor require legal permission for abortions before the third trimester.
     29b. Consider abortion a natural human right, whether or not Roe v. Wade “is overturned”; it has already been overturned because its very nature sealed its fate and destroyed itself. Roe v. Wade actually allows states to pass restrictions on abortion, as long as those restrictions can be explained as necessary and appropriate. Roe v. Wade never guaranteed abortion as a right, and it is a harmful decision which gave states free rein to trod on the natural human right of abortion.
     29c. Protect abortion as a natural right by urging the public to educate themselves on the Ninth Amendment; its meaning and purpose (namely, to protect our rights to do things without asking or paying the government for permission, permits, and licenses).
     29d. Do not pay for abortion with taxpayer money; but allow taxation for abortion if the organization being taxed receive public funds, supports, or privileges.
     29e. Leave people and voluntary associations free to pool money together to pay for people's abortions, but prohibit the existence of public state funds for the purposes of providing abortions.
     29f. Repeal the Hyde Amendment, but advocate for its repeal on the grounds that it allows public funding of abortion in any cases, not on the grounds that it prohibits public funding of abortion in some cases.
     29g. Even medically necessary abortions (such as to save the life of the mother) can be paid for through fully voluntary means; and taxing pro-lifers and politicizing the affairs of such groups and funds, only risks that opponents of abortion will insist that their opinions must be included in public policy as compensation.
     29h. Keep abortion free and legal, by “un-legalizing it”; that is, de-politicizing it, and leaving people free to seek affordable alternatives to publicly funded abortion in the market, private sector, charity and non-for-profit sectors, etc..

     29i. Leave people totally free to seek abortions, unless they are in the third trimester of pregnancy; that is, set a late cutoff between the second and third trimesters instead of an early one, so that nobody is unjustly delayed to six months gestation by legal waiting periods for seeking abortions. 

     29k. Prohibit infanticide and third-trimester abortions, but leave first and second trimester abortions unrestricted.

     29l. A human fetus is both alive and human, but it should not be considered an independent person or a human being unless it has been born. If a fetus is not wanted by its mother, then the government has no right to interfere in the mother's decision to terminate the pregnancy, because in order to do something about it, the government would have to violate the mother's rights to bodily autonomy and physical integrity within the perimeters of her body.

     29m. Babies have been born and saved as early as four months gestation, but that should not be taken as a cutoff for being able to survive outside the womb because few babies born that early survive. Support a third-trimester cutoff; criminalize “aborting” fetuses in the third trimester, because this is infanticide and cannot be done without partially delivering the baby first (when fully delivering it would likely result in its birth).

     29n. Support pressing criminal charges against all nurses and doctors who kill babies born alive as the result of failed abortions; and who commit negligent manslaughter by allowing such babies to die on medical tables, in trash cans, or in medical waste disposal receptacles.

     29o. Keep abortion free, legal, and safe; but do not publicly encourage people to get abortions, and aim for fewer abortions, not more, by allowing people to purchase contraceptives without getting a doctor's permission, and by empowering people who could become pregnant to protect themselves from kidnapping, rape, unwanted sexual advances that could lead to rape, and abusive marriages.

30. Reform Marriage Licensing, Divorce, and Custody Laws

     30a. Marriage should be considered a freedom, and a natural human right; but not a positive legal right, nor a privilege.

     30b. The end of discrimination in marriage licensing on the basis of marriage partner's sexual orientation was a step in the right direction, but now same-sex couples have a legal relationship which can be regulated by the government, and that is a problem which has to be remedied.

     30c. Same-sex couples should have every right to marry as heterosexual couples do, but that should not mean that other people in society ought to be expected or required to pay taxes to government agencies that confer legal privileges upon legally married couples, which are not equally enjoyed by couples who have not sought government approval for the recognition of their relationship. marriage between consenting adults into a privilege.

     30d. Urge the approximately 40 states in our Union which do not recognize common-law marriage, to legalize common-law marriage, in a manner which either: 1) requires the state to either recognize the marriage and otherwise refrain from supporting it; or else 2) requires the state to refrain from requiring licenses and permits, and from charging fees therefor, for any consenting adults seeking to get married.

     30e. As much as possible, make marriage free for all consenting adults, regardless of sexual orientation, and provided that they are over 16, 17, or 18 (choosing one of those ages as the nation-wide minimum age for marriage).
     30f. Strictly limit, and in most cases prohibit, the marriage of minors under the age of 16. Urge Congress to consider passing a constitutional amendment which would choose either 16, 17, or 18, and make it the nationwide minimum marriage age on a permanent basis.
     30g. Oppose efforts to continue to allow states to set ages of consent to sex and marriage, based on their previous inability to establish a remotely uniform set of laws, and based on the fact that variation in state age limits will inevitably lead to the abduction and trafficking of some minors in order to have sex with them or marry them where it is legal.
     30h. Urge the governors of Texas, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, and other states plagued with legal or illegal child marriage, to take immediate action to take custody of children married against their will, and to invalidate all marriages which include or included participants under 16 (without regard to the supposed need to honor religious traditions; and without regard to the supposed need to honor all marriages which have resulted in the birth of children, unless both partners are over 14, and no more than two years apart in age, and both partners have permission from their parents to do so).

     30i. Allow states to require or prohibit venereal disease testing before marriage, but do not allow states to require religious, ethnic, nor racial tests nor prohibitions upon marriage.

     30j. Limit the ability of the federal government and state family law courts to intercede in divorce proceedings in a way that increases the likelihood that biological children could be legally abducted without any reasonable suspicion of child abuse.
     30k. Make 50/50 equal custody the default arrangement in child custody hearings (except in cases in which physical or sexual child abuse is suspected or alleged).
     30l. If the activities in which the federal government engages in pursuit of enforcing Social Security Title IV-D (child support) cannot become much more transparent and accountable to the public, and immediately, then propose bills which would either abolish S.S. Title IV-D, or else strictly limit or revoke its powers to take biological children into custody.
     30m. Reduce the size of the prison population and the cost of incarceration - and reduce the number of single mothers and fatherless homes, and the number of youths in gangs - by keeping youths out of jail for petty offenses, and by keeping non-violent fathers out of jail for the same. Do this by ceasing to prosecute the illegal ownership of guns and non-toxic drugs, and by ceasing to prosecute other petty offenses such as sagging one's pants. Take the first serious steps towards enacting this policy, by reforming Social Security Title IV-D (child support) and by amending or repealing the drug policies contained within the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Enforcement Act (the Clinton omnibus crime bill).

31. End the War on Drugs and Abolish the F.D.A.

     31a. It is not enough to say that we have “legalized marijuana” if the government is still taxing it and regulating it; that is not what true freedom looks like. Even if marijuana prices go down as a result of decriminalization efforts (and they have been going down), taxing dispensaries' marijuana sales will never result in outbidding black-market marijuana sellers, and that means that government sponsored dispensaries are bound to fail.
     31b. Make marijuana fully legal by fully decriminalizing all purchase, sale, and use of marijuana and cannabis products; and by fully decriminalizing, I mean stop requiring permission and payment from the government in order to do it, because if you do it without permission it's still illegal. Urge states to prohibit the taxation of marijuana sales, and to prohibit the regulation of the use of marijuana by adults (excepting minors who need it for medical purposes).
     31c. Support freeing all incarcerated people convicted of non-violent drug offenses, as part of legalizing marijuana.
     31d. Allow medical marijuana dispensaries to give money to political campaigns, but prohibit those dispensaries from receiving taxpayer assistance (unless they are prepared to submit to high taxes and strict regulation).
     31e. Remove all forms of cannabis – as well as alcohol, opioids, heroin, 18-MC, ibogaine, and others – from the list of Schedule I substances under the Controlled Substances Act (because they have known medical uses, while Schedule I is reserved for drugs that have no medical use).
     31f. Keep deadly drugs such as fetanyl and krokodil illegal, and hold pharmaceutical company C.E.O.s accountable for producing medications containing fetanyl.
     31g. The F.D.A. (Food and Drug Administration) will talk all about how it saves people by approving new medications, but it will never tell you how many people died waiting for a life-saving drug to be legally approved. We can never know how many medical options we have available to us, if the government will not allow sufficient testing on harmless drugs that alter our brain chemistry. People who are dying, and have been told multiple times that they have no options, should have “the right to try” experimental medications that could either kill them or save them, and “the right to die” if their last-ditch medication doesn't happen to work, or if they see no point in going on and want to be euthanized to prevent further suffering. Repeal all laws which impede medical testing on all psychedelic and hallucinogenic drugs not likely to result in severe harm or death. End the War on Drugs; by: 1) fully legalizing harmless psychedelic drugs that people take to facilitate empathy and social interaction; and 2) getting rid of the moral hazard that comes when we put too much trust in the F.D.A., falsely believing that if there is a product on the shelves, then it must be safe, because “how else could it have gotten there unless the F.D.A. approved it?” We should never trust the government to be more responsible than we are, when it comes to whether the products we use in our homes and feed to our children, are safe.

32. Infrastructure, Roads, Driver Licensing, Transportation, and the Post Office

     32a. Drastically reduce the budget of the U.S. Department of Transportation, and consider abolishing it. The existence of such a department (as with the energy and commerce departments) only risks distorting the market for alternative forms of transportation (and the fuel sources that power them) that stand to revolutionize the way we travel, even if outdated forms of travel are swept away in the process.
     32b. Recognize the freedom of locomotion (travel) as a natural human right which the Ninth Amendment implicitly recognizes, and recognize that governments do not have the right to impede our travel unless there is reasonable suspicion that we will harm someone unless immobilized. 
     32c. Revoke the federal government's authority to issue or deny international passports; recognize that the states are rightfully sovereign and independent; and allow states, the United Nations, and international relief agencies, offer solutions to the need for stateless people, undocumented people, and outlaws, to travel freely.
     32d. The federal government's authority to “Establish Post Offices and Post Roads” arguably doesn't expressly authorize the government to build those roads in the first place. The building of interstate roads is arguably the federal government's authority, as long as the burdens of taxation and the benefits of spending are shared equally across the land; however, this does not necessarily guarantee that the contractors which federal government hires will always be the best equipped, most responsible, or most affordable to do the job. The federal government should only “establish” post offices and post roads by recognizing them, not necessarily by building them or running them. State and local governments should enforce federal policies whenever those policies are constitutional and would more appropriately be administered by local rather than central authorities.
     32e. Protect the freedom of the American free trade zone, and promote the regulation of interstate commerce, by prohibiting states from passing laws which unfairly favor their own in-state road construction companies over out-of-state companies.
     32f. For people over the age of 16, prohibit states from charging fees for licenses to drive. Allow states to license minors to drive as young as 14, but recommend limitations, such as requiring adult supervision whenever realistically possible, and/or requiring that the minor only drive to work and school, and/or requiring that the driving education take place outside the context of public schooling.

Based on "Basic Platform for U.S. House of Representatives in 2020",

which was written on August 5^th through 9^th, 2019,

originally published on August 9^th, 2019,

and edited and expanded on August 10th, 11th, and 24th, 2019

This article originally published on August 23rd, 2019
and edited and expanded on August 24th, 25th, and 29th, 2019,
and February 28th and March 5th, 2020

Contains fragments from previous campaign platforms
and other sets of proposals, all written between 2013 and 2019

Finalized on February 12th, 2021