Originally
Written on March 27th, 2016
Edited and
Expanded on March 30th, 2016
Table of
Contents
1. Introduction
2. My Opponents
3. Size of Government, Taxes, and
Spending
4. Economic Issues: Trade, Wages,
Labor, and Campaign Finance
5. Military, Defense, and Foreign
Policy; Gun Control; and Immigration
6. Domestic Issues: Housing, Social
Security, Environment and Energy, Health, and Abortion
7. Conclusion
Content
1. Introduction
I
am running for the U.S. House of Representatives, from Illinois’s 10th
Congressional District, which includes my home town of Lake Bluff, Illinois. I
submitted my Statement of Candidacy in November 2015. I am currently running
under the banner of the Absurdist Party, which consists of myself. My party
affiliation may change, as I plan to seek the endorsements of the state
Libertarian Party and the state Constitution Party. Due to the State of
Illinois’s “sore loser law”, I will not be running as an independent candidate.
To
get on the ballot will require obtaining between 9,573 and 15,316 petition
signatures. If I get on the ballot, then I will most likely be included in the
debates. If I fail to obtain the signatures necessary, then I will file to run
as a write-in candidate. Signature collection begins on Tuesday, March 29th,
2016. The general election will be held on Tuesday, November 8th,
2016.
2. My Opponents
My
opponents in the race are Robert Dold and Brad Schneider. Bob Dold is the
incumbent Republican who currently represents Illinois’s 10th
District, and also represented the district from 2011 to 2013. Brad Schneider
is a Democrat; he represented the district from 2013 to 2015. I would describe
both candidates as moderates within their parties, especially Dold. Both
candidates support a strong federal government.
Both
Dold and Schneider have voting records which strongly support the State of
Israel, and both candidates have supported sanctions against Iran. Both have
supported domestic surveillance. Both have supported gun control, although
Dold’s position is more pro-gun than Schneider’s. Both have supported keeping
Obamacare in place; Dold has voted to repeal it, but now favors improving it.
Both have opposed defunding Planned Parenthood, while Dold’s position on
abortion is difficult to discern from his voting record. Both have been neutral
on legalizing marijuana.
Due
to the plenitude of these candidates’ similarities, I see it appropriate to
enter this race, and oppose them on these issues. If elected, I would vote to
oppose sanctions against Iran, resist the influence of the pro-Israel lobby,
oppose domestic surveillance, strongly support the Second Amendment, repeal
Obamacare, defund Planned Parenthood, and oppose the continued criminalization
of marijuana.
If
elected, the following are the policies which I would support.
3. Size of Government, Taxes, and
Spending
SIZE
OF GOVERNMENT: Abolish unconstitutional federal departments and reduce the size
of the federal workforce. Abolish the Department of Commerce; the Department of
Energy; the Department of Education; the Department of Housing and Urban
Development, and the Department of the Interior.
TAXES:
Eliminate tax loopholes, tax credits, and differential taxation, while also
opposing the expiration of tax cuts. Reform the tax code in a way that ceases
to punish productive behavior, instead imposing fines on destructive behavior. Reduce, eliminate, and abolish the individual
/ personal income tax, but support the implementation of a Negative Income Tax
if it cannot be abolished. Reduce, eliminate, and abolish taxes on consumption
(i.e., sales and luxury taxes), taxes
on corporate income and investment, the gift tax, the death tax / estate tax,
and the “inflation tax on money” that discourages savings. Reform property
taxes by ceasing to tax property values, instead imposing financial penalties
upon disuse and blight.
SPENDING:
Support a Cut, Cap, and Balance plan. In anticipation of the failure of such an
effort, support passing a Balanced Budget Amendment to the U.S. Constitution,
requiring at least a 7-to-1 ratio of spending cuts to revenue increases. If the
other reforms I support can be made, and the budget and deficit reduced
sufficiently, only then consider refraining from cutting agricultural
subsidies, the Smithsonian Institute, the National Park Service, and the size
of the federal workforce operating within constitutional strictures.
4. Economic Issues: Trade, Wages,
Labor, and Campaign Finance
TRADE:
Support real free trade, rather than managed trade, “smart trade”, or fair but
unfree trade. Eliminate tariffs altogether; foreign nations do not always
respond to tariffs the way we wish them to. Tariffs can only cause foreign
nations to manipulate their currencies, cut wages at the lowest levels of
production, and make trade wars and military wars more likely.
WAGES:
Oppose increasing the federal minimum wage. Instead, focus on increasing the
purchasing power of the U.S. Dollar, by eliminating taxes on sales of consumer
goods, abolishing the Department of Commerce, and annually auditing the Federal
Reserve.
LABOR:
Oppose Right to Work legislation on the grounds that it impairs the obligation
of contracts, and on the grounds that it would not be necessary if not for
labor contracts gradually coming to resemble permanent laws as decades pass,
which causes wages to stagnate. Oppose Compulsory Unionism and compulsory
voting. Oppose requiring supposedly “free-riding”, but actually non-consenting,
workers, to become members of, and pay dues to, labor and trade unions,
partially in order to help reduce the influence of soft money from labor
interests on elections. Repeal the Taft-Hartley Act, in order to legalize
wildcat strikes and secondary boycotts. Protect workers’ rights of concerted
activity in the workplace, including the right to form new unions and file
complaints against management. If the Wagner Act (National Labor Relations Act
of 1935) and the Taft-Hartley Act cannot be repealed, then amend it to require
management to negotiate with unions even if they lack the support of a majority
of voting employees.
CAMPAIGN
FINANCE: Oppose attempts to overturn the Citizens
United decision, by pointing out that unlimited campaign donations are only
symptoms of the problem. The problem,
instead, is a high-stakes legislative environment in which unconstitutional
legislation can be passed, funding corporate welfare as well as social welfare,
pitting the left and right against one another. To remedy this problem,
candidates should set a good example, by following the Constitution, and by
rejecting donations of more than $2,500 per person, per campaign, per election
cycle.
5. Military, Defense, and Foreign
Policy; Gun Control; and Immigration
MILITARY,
DEFENSE, AND FOREIGN POLICY: Bring troops and private contractors home from
Iraq and Afghanistan as soon as possible, as well as from Germany, Japan, South
Korea, and other countries. Deconstruct our hundreds of overseas military
bases, stop spying on our allies, and cut all aid to foreign countries for
their military as well as domestic purposes. Reduce the size of the Army to the
size it was before the Iraq War, but do not reduce the size of the Navy or Air
Force fleets. Do not cut the pay, nor the benefits, of non-combat military
personnel. Oppose efforts to reinstate the draft, and efforts to require women,
as well as men, to register for the draft. Cancel or delay some weapons
programs, and reduce the nuclear arsenal and spending on space exploration.
GUN
CONTROL: Oppose all proposed federal gun control legislation, and protect the
right of conscientious objection to military conscription as the original
intent of the Second Amendment.
IMMIGRATION:
Defend a reasonable, minimally invasive immigration and naturalization process,
by citing the need for the free movement of labor (as well as capital) across
international borders. Oppose all efforts to build walls and fences along the
U.S.-Mexico border. Support a path to citizenship, in addition to Green Cards
and temporary work visas. Do not allow the deportation of undocumented
immigrants unless and until they have been convicted of violent crimes. Support
birthright citizenship, and the right of undocumented immigrants who arrived in
the U.S. prior to the age of 16 to apply for U.S. citizenship when they turn
18. Support efforts to pass legislative
versions of D.A.C.A. (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) and D.A.P.A.
(Deferred Action for Parents of Americans), rather than unconstitutional executive orders that mandate the same
policies. Oppose federal D.R.E.A.M. Act -type legislation, as well as executive
orders supporting similar ends; instead abolish all federal social welfare.
However, refrain from interfering with states’ rights to provide education,
housing, and other aid to undocumented immigrants as they see fit. Render moot
the issue of driver’s licensing for undocumented immigrants, by opposing driver
licensing as an unconstitutional interference with the freedom of travel.
6. Domestic Issues: Housing, Social
Security, Environment and Energy, Health, and Abortion
HOUSING:
Abolish the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Recognize that H.U.D.,
Freddie Mac, and the Federal Reserve were significantly more responsible for
creating the economic and legislative environments that led to the mortgage
meltdown, than Wall Street was.
SOCIAL
SECURITY: Eliminate waste, fraud, and abuse. Do not impose privatization of
retirement accounts, but rather allow the personalization of retirement
accounts, encouraging citizens to obtain cooperative and mutual accounts. Do
not means-test Social Security; pay workers back what they earned and what they
expected to get back. Allow young workers to opt-out of Social Security. Cap
the growth of Social Security spending to the rate of growth of either the
Consumer Price Index or the Gross Domestic Product. Only consider gradually
raising the retirement age if Social Security cannot be phased out,
block-granted, or otherwise devolved to the states and / or the marketplace.
ENVIRONMENT
AND ENERGY: Oppose fracking and the expansion of offshore oil drilling. Achieve
zero non-offset carbon emissions by the year 2030. End subsidies and tax
credits for all energy companies. Oppose the privatization of water rights,
instead allowing and encouraging the establishment of community land trusts and
community water trusts. Fund government entirely through fines imposed on
pollution, blight, abuse and disuse, neglect, and hoarding of land; and through
fees on the extraction of natural resources. Allow states and other local
jurisdictions to establish citizens’ dividends and residents’ dividends funded
through fees on natural resource extraction.
HEALTH:
Repeal Obamacare, especially the individual insurance purchase mandate, which is
a penalty, not a tax. Instead, legalize the purchase of health insurance
policies across state lines, and repeal the tax credit for employer provided
health insurance; these policies will, together, make it easier for people to
keep their health insurance policies, or afford similarly priced policies,
regardless of whether they lose their job or move to other states. Don’t tax
medical device sales, or hospitals, allowing all hospitals to potentially
managed on reduced-cost and charity bases. Oppose tort reform in order to avoid
disempowering juries. Cap the growth of Medicare spending to the rate of growth
of either the Consumer Price Index or the Gross Domestic Product, unless and
until Medicare and Medicaid can be phased out, block-granted, or otherwise devolved
to the states.
ABORTION:
Oppose continued federal involvement in the abortion issue, opposing the
federal funding of Planned Parenthood, in order to avoid public funds going to
abortion. Support the rights of the states to pass legislation limiting first-
and second- trimester abortion, nullifying the Roe v. Wade decision; but also support citizens’ rights to civil
disobedience of state abortion laws on Ninth Amendment grounds. Do not
interfere with contraceptive medicines and devices being sold over the counter
or on the shelves. Do not require employers’ health insurance policies to cover
contraception or abortion, nor prohibit them from doing so. Oppose efforts to
require ultrasounds as a condition of getting an abortion, partially to help
address the problem of unnecessary medical procedures contributing to the high
costs of medical care. Prohibit partial-birth abortion as infanticide, but do
not punish women for getting abortions at any stage of pregnancy, nor treat
abortion as murder; instead revoke medical licenses from doctors committing
infanticide.
7. Conclusion
My
campaign committee is called the Committee to Elect Joe Kopsick. Anyone
interested in supporting my campaign can send a check to Committee to Elect Joe
Kopsick, 132 Welwyn St., Lake Bluff, IL 60044.
In
order to set a good example for other candidates, I will not accept, and
return, donations in excess of $2,500 – which was the limit per person per
campaign per election cycle in 2011 and 2012 – so I ask that no one send
donations in excess of that amount.
Thank
you for your support!
