287 Politicians and Media Figures Who Want to Reinstate the Draft or Require Women to Register

Nineteen prominent figures in politics and media who support

reinstating the draft or changing draft requirements:

Authored Bills to Reinstate the Draft, and Voted No on H.R. 5485

(a failed bill which could have required women to register for the Selective Service)
Rep. Charlie Rangel (D-NY)


Favor Both Reinstating the Draft and Requiring Women to Register
Sen. John McCain (R-AZ)
Young Turks Reporter Cenk Uygur
Young Turks Reporter Ana Kasparian
Young Turks Reporter John Iadarola

Favor Mandatory Civil Emergency Preparedness Service
President Barack Obama (D-IL)
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D-IL)
Economist Robert Reich
Writer David Brooks
Reporter Carl Bernstein
Democratic policy adviser Bruce Reed
Reporter Chuck Todd
Reporter Jon Stewart
Reporter Thom Hartmann


Favor Requiring Women to Register for the Draft
Fmr. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (D-NY)
Fmr. Gov. Jeb Bush (R-FL)
Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ)
Army Chief of Staff Mark A. Milley
Marine Corps Commandant, General Robert B. Neller

185 Congressmen Who Voted Nay on a Failed Bill
That Could Have Required Women to Register for the Draft

     114^th House of Representatives Members Who Voted Nay on H.R. 5485
     Section 1214 of H.R. 5485 “Prohibits funds provided by this bill from being used to change Selective Service System registration requirements in contravention of the Military Selective Service Act.”

     A “Nay” vote indicates that the voting member is open to funds provided by H.R. 5485 being used to change registration requirements so as to require women to register for the Selective Service. A "Yea" vote indicates that the member supports the bill, and supports its prohibition on funds being used to require women to register for the draft.

     The bill was not passed and did not become law.
     Without taking into consideration the other provisions of the bill, the fact that Section 1214 did not become codified into law is a good thing, because it could have potentially appropriated funds towards the revision of draft requirements, likely including a requirement for women to register.

     Read the bill at http://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/5485

     Author's Note:
     The author of the Aquarian Agrarian blog, Joseph W. Kopsick, wishes to apologize for the incorrect list of U.S. Representatives who voted for this bill. I do not know how that happened. There were 37 roll call votes on different sections of the bill, and Section 1214 was never voted on directly, so I must have substituted the list from one of the other votes. I have found the "Yea" and "Nay" voting on Roll Call 398 on the bill, which was the final vote taken on H.R. 5485, and replaced the original list with the 185 "Nay"s from Roll Call 398.
     Readers can verify for themselves, at the following link, that the list of congressmen below constituted the final "Nay" vote on H.R. 5485. Read the final votes on the bill at http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2016/roll398.xml.
     I would also like to note that both the previous list, and this list correcting it, contained Tulsi Gabbard, congresswoman from Hawaii, and 2020 Democratic presidential candidate.

Adams
Aguilar
Amash
Bass
Beatty
Becerra
Bera
Beyer
Bishop (GA)
Blumenauer
Bonamici
Boyle, Brendan F.
Brady (PA)
Brooks (AL)
Brownley (CA)
Buck
Bustos
Butterfield
Capps
Capuano
Cárdenas
Carney
Carson (IN)
Cartwright
Castor (FL)
Castro (TX)
Chu, Judy
Cicilline
Clark (MA)
Clarke (NY)
Clay
Cleaver
Clyburn
Cohen
Connolly
Conyers
Cooper
Costa
Courtney
Crowley
Cummings
Davis (CA)
Davis, Danny
DeFazio
DeGette
DeLauro

DelBene
Fudge
Gabbard
Gallego
Garamendi
Graham
Grayson
Green, Al
Green, Gene
Grijalva
Gutiérrez
Hahn
Heck (WA)
Higgins
Himes
Hinojosa
Honda
Hoyer
Huffman
Israel
Jackson Lee
Jeffries
Johnson (GA)
Johnson, E. B.
Jones
Kaptur
Keating
Kelly (IL)
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilmer
Kind
King (IA)
Kirkpatrick
Kuster
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lawrence
Lee
Levin
Lewis
Lieu, Ted
Lipinski
Loebsack
Lofgren
Lowenthal
Lowey
Lujan Grisham (NM)
Luján, Ben Ray (NM)
Lynch
Maloney, Carolyn
Maloney, Sean
Massie
Matsui
McCollum
McDermott
McGovern
McNerney
Meeks
Meng
Moore
Moulton

Murphy (FL)
Napolitano
Neal
Nolan
Norcross
O'Rourke
Pallone
Pascrell
Payne
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peters
Pingree
Pocan
Polis
Price (NC)
Quigley
Rangel
Rice (NY)
Richmond
Roybal-Allard
Ruiz
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Sánchez, Linda T.
Sanchez, Loretta
Sarbanes
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schrader
Scott (VA)
Scott, David
Serrano
Sewell (AL)
Sherman
Sinema
Sires
Slaughter
Smith (WA)
Speier
Swalwell (CA)
Takano
Thompson (CA)
Thompson (MS)
Titus
Tonko
Torres
Tsongas
Van Hollen
Vargas
Veasey
Velázquez
Visclosky
Walz
Wasserman Schultz
Waters, Maxine
Watson Coleman
Welch
Wilson (FL)
Yarmuth

The list of 203 political and media figures who have supported the draft ends here.
(I say 203, and not 204, because I want to avoid counting Charlie Rangel twice.)

     Below are 83 senators who voted for a bill that previously provided for requiring women to register for the draft, but which was amended before the final draft, so as to no longer include that provision. Many of them – probably, most of them Democrats – might well be considered “more likely than not” to support future efforts to require women to register for the draft in the Senate.

     114^th U.S. Senate Members Who Voted Yes on S. 2943 (the 2017 N.D.A.A. / National Defense Authorization Act)

     This bill would have required women to register for the Selective Service, but on November 29^th, 2018, that provision was reportedly removed from the bill by conservative legislators. Read about that here: http://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2016/11/29/congress-drops-plans-to-make-women-register-for-the-draft/

     This bill was passed, and became law on December 23^rd, 2016.

     Read the bill at http://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2943/text

     Author's Note:
     I have not looked for the section of S. 2943 which would have required women to register for the draft, but I have found Section 555, "Principles and Procedure for Commission Recommendations" of Senate Bill 2943.
     In that bill, which became public law, provides that "the principles required under this subsection shall address the following:"... This can be found in the bill under Section 555, sub-section C, clause 2, article A.
     That article continues, "Whether, in light of the current and predicted global security environment and the changing nature of warfare, there continues to be a continuous or potential need for a military selective service process designed to produce large numbers of combat members of the Armed Forces, and if so, whether such a system should include mandatory registration by all citizens and residents, regardless of sex."
     So even though Senate Bill 2943 did not end up requiring women to register for the draft, it did provide for the establishment of a principle to consider whether we should have mandatory Selective Service registration without regards to sex.
     Therefore, it would not be inappropriate to conclude, from the list of "Yea" votes below, that the senators who voted in favor of this bill more than likely support requiring women to register for the draft in addition to men.

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL)
Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL)
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
Sen. John Boozman (R-AR)
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR)
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA)
Sen. Michael Bennet (D-CO)
Sen. Cory Gardner (R-CO)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT)
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT)
Sen. Thomas Carper (D-DE)
Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE)
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL)
Sen. John Isakson (R-GA)
Sen. David Perdue (R-GA)
Sen. Mazie Hirono (D-HI)
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-HI)
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Sen. Mark Kirk (R-IL)
Sen. Daniel Coats (R-IN)
Sen. Joe Donnelly (D-IN)
Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA)
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA)
Sen. Jerry Moran (R-KS)
Sen. Pat Roberts (R-KS)
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
Sen. David Vitter (R-LA)
Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
Sen. Angus King (I-ME)
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD)
Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD)
Sen. Gary Peters (D-MI)
Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI)
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS)
Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS)
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO)
Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO)
Sen. Steve Daines (R-MT)
Sen. Jon Tester (D-MT)
Sen. Deb Fischer (R-ME)
Sen. Dean Heller (R-NV)
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH)
Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ)
Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ)
Sen. Martin Heinrich (D-NM)
Sen. Tom Udall (D-NM)
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC)
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC)
Sen. Heidi Heitkamp (D-ND)
Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND)
Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH)
Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH)
Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
Sen. James Lankford (R-OK)
Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA)
Sen. Pat Toomey (R-PA)
Sen. John Reed (D-RI)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC)
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)
Sen. Mike Rounds (R-SD)
Sen. John Thune (R-SD)
Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN)
Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN)
Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX)
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT)
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA)
Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA)
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA)
Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA)
Sen. Shelley Capito (R-WV)
Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV)
Sen. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI)
Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI)
Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY)
Sen. Michael Enzi (R-WY)

That makes 287 total figures in politics and media whom I have observed
supporting the draft in some way, over the last five years.

To watch my YouTube video about the military draft, click on the following link:

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

Compiled on October 4th, 2016

Edited on October 5^th and November 1st, 2016

Links and Explanations Added on December 29th, 2018

Author's Notes Added on February 15th, 2019

States Could Experiment with Export and Resource Backed Currencies

Written on September 15^th, 2016

 

Edited and Expanded on October 4^th, 2016

 

            Balancing government budgets, instituting Georgist taxation, and legalizing competing currencies, could potentiate new ways to back legal currencies.

Imagine that community land trusts flourish; that state and local governments had balanced budgets, based their revenue sources solely on user fees, voluntary contributions, and a Land Value Tax; and that they governments establish citizens' dividends and residents' dividends and permanent funds, funded by exports and fees on natural resources.

If each state were to produce its own official state currency, within its own boundaries, controlled by a state public bank, based on and backed by its chief export, it would provide a local alternative to the fiat paper dollar, and to gold and silver.

 

The three states whose chief export is gold - Utah, Nevada, and Massachusetts - would have only gold, silver, and paper dollars as their official legal currencies; unless they were to produce their own state currencies to compete with the $10 U.S. Golden Eagle, or legalize Bitcoin, or undertake some other measure. Perhaps two or all three of these states would adopt a single gold currency.

Four states - Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, and Texas - export gasoline more than anything else. North Dakota exports crude oil the most; and Montana, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania claim coal as their biggest export. Unless these eight states were to join into a single currency backed by fuel and energy exports, we would likely see them adopt "Gas Dollars", "Crude Oil Dollars", and "Coal Dollars". Gallon tanks of gas might even become media of exchange.

Six states claim food products as their chief exports; they might join into a united currency - or currency composite - based on the average of the values of food exports across all six member states. Colorado and Nebraska would have a "Beef Dollar"; South Dakota and Virginia would have a "Soy Dollar"; Iowa would have a "Corn Dollar"; Maine would have a “Lobster Dollar”; and Idaho would have a “Potato Dollar”. Well-preserved potato, corn, and soy products - as well as beef jerky - might become media of exchange under such systems.

Eighteen states export vehicles more than any other good. Alabama, Maryland, and South Carolina would have a "Car Dollar"; while Michigan and Missouri would have a "Truck Dollar". States adopting an "Airplane Dollar" include Arkansas, Arizona, California, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Ohio, Oklahoma, North Carolina, and Washington State.

New Hampshire, New Mexico, Oregon, and Vermont would have an "Electronics Dollar", exporting electronic devices more than anything else. Delaware, Indiana, Tennessee might have a "Medicine Dollar", chiefly exporting medical goods.

Other states would take unique approaches to establishing their own currencies, having unique chief exports. We would likely see such things as the "Alaska Zinc Dollar", the “Minnesota Needle Dollar”, the “New York Diamond Dollar”, the “Rhode Island Metal Waste Dollar”, and the “Wyoming Soda Ash Dollar”. Finally, the District of Columbia - exporting arms and armaments - would adopt a “D.C. Arms Dollar”.

 

Of course, the downside to each state having its own currency backed by its chief export, would be that states would be largely incapable of avoiding promoting their own industries; and this would interfere with free trade. States and the federal government subsidize - and grant other favors and protections to domestic industries - too much as it is; and such currencies would only embolden government to put more taxpayer money into increasing exports.

The federal government would be obligated to get involved, given its role in ensuring regular, uninhibited, uninterrupted flow of interstate commerce in such goods. This is especially so, if states were to attempt to tax the same goods they back their currencies on, when those goods come from out of state.

Truth be told, if every state subsidized its own chief export in order to keep its state currency strong, then the states couldn't rightfully blame each other without being hypocrites. But on the other hand, the federal government doesn't hold states accountable for favoring themselves or for interfering with free trade, and that rationale ought to stop.

     Another thing to consider is whether states should be encouraged to back their currencies on - instead of their chief exports - their chief natural resources (by whatever measure). This might ultimately prove to be better for the economy and for the environment, because when a state's chief natural resource is a mineral resource or an agricultural product - like wood, fiber, oil, coal, or gasoline - it might be less hazardous to the environment, and more popular among the voting populace, that the real value of the product lies in leaving it in the ground.

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

Written on October 3^rd, 2016

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


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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

2016 U.S. House Campaign Trifold Pamphlet

Created between July 30th and September 14th, 2016

Edited on September 22nd, 2016

Page 1 (outside)

Page 2 (inside)

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

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

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

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

Written between July 30th and September 13th, 2016

Edited on September 14th and 22nd, 2016

Table of Contents

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



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

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

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




Content

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



II. ECOLOGY, HEALTH, & SOCIAL & DOMESTIC ISSUES

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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



III. POLITICAL & ECONOMIC ISSUES, & MISCELLANEOUS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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