No robostamping bills.
- Too often bills are signed without having even been read. This must end.
End Corporate Personhood
- Corporations are not people; money is not speech. It is time to end corporate socialism that picks and chooses between large corporations and determines which companies are allowed to succeed and which should fail by targeted subsidies. Government by the people and for the people.
Single-Payer, Medicare for All
- Businesses are burdened with the provision of healthcare. By providing Single-Payer healthcare we can reduce the costs of medical care, reduce the financial burden on businesses large and small, and get American companies back to focusing on what they are good at.
Increased transparency and responsiveness of Government.
- We live in the information age, corporations bend over backwards to find out the opinions of their users. Government needs to include feedback mechanisms that allow people to understand what their government is doing, and also help the representatives know what their constituents really want.
Federal Oversight on Stop and Frisk
- People should not have to fear being harassed by police in their own neighborhoods. Too often police departments abuse their authority with unreasonable searches, particularly in minority communities.
Moratorium on Foreclosures
- Banks should not be allowed to foreclose until they have been fully audited and we can be sure that they actually hold the title to the homes they are foreclosing on. The banks took the taxpayer’s money, it’s time for them to refinance unreasonable loans to keep home-owners in their homes. No one, not even the banks benefit from depressed housing prices due to millions of empty homes. Empty homes outnumber the homeless. This is a crime against America.
Student loan forgiveness
- Our future belongs to our children. It is time to stop selling our children into indentured servitude for their education. Student loans have turned into another racket, universities increase tuition rates, and pay exorbitant administrative salaries. We cannot sell our childrens’ futures to Wall Street scheming.
Twenty-First Century Classroom
- Every student should have a laptop computer with access to online resources. Giving a 14 year old three heavy textbooks to carry from class to class makes no sense. Textbooks are expensive, and compared to online resources they are light on information. It is time for the classroom to catch up with the rest of the nation. In the long run, it will reduce costs and provide our children with a better educational experience.
National Public Transit
- It should not be a requirement that Americans own a car. Connecting the major cities of America via high-speed rail should be a priority. This is happening all over the world, and we are being left behind. It is easier to get from London to Berlin than it is to get from New York to Chicago.
Solar, Wind, Hydro, and Electric transportation infrastructure
- Renewable energy is non-negotiable at this point. Advances in solar power have made it a viable option for power needs. We have a vast sunbelt in this nation that could provide solar power for entire regions. We have the greatest freshwater resources of any nation on the planet. We have thousands of miles of coastline. The Great Plains are nothing if not windy. It’s time to upgrade our infrastructure and claim energy from the natural features of our nation. In cities across the nation, we are beginning to see places where electric cars can park and charge their batteries. New York City could be a model for electric car infrastructure that becomes the envy of the world.
Labor Card Check
- We need to tear down barriers to worker organization. If more than 50% of the workers at a company want to organize, the National Labor Relations Board should recognize the Union.
No New Wars
- The world is constantly on the brink of war, and America as the world policeman has become a cause of strife and division. It’s time to get back to being the greatest nation on Earth because we are the most loved, not because we are the most feared.
Stop Raids on Social Security
- Throughout the past several decades, elected officials have been raiding social security to support their deficit spending. This practice must end. People like to talk about Social Security having problems, but it wouldn’t if people would stop raiding the fund for other projects.
Waste Management
- With the advent of new technology such as 3D printers, we are entering an age where recycling is moving by leaps and bounds. People are already buying up landfills for the future market in waste reclamation. America has the artificial resources of two centuries of industrialization laying in the ground thrown away by our predecessors. All of the tons of garbage we throw away can be reused. Establishing standards for packaging so that there is less waste, and what waste there is, is easier to reuse or recycle can reduce energy needs and increase access to raw material commodities, increasing liquidity of materials in those markets. This is the path to a zero waste economy.
Carefully Scrutinize Predatory Intellectual Property Law
- SOPA and PIPA were attempts by the RIAA and MPAA to legislate protections for their failed business model. It was shown that this is a fight between Silicon Valley and traditional media and the rest of us. There are plenty of ways to make money off of IP entertainment. What they don’t want you to know is that piracy hasn’t hurt their bottom line at all, people spend more entertainment dollars now than ever before. What has really happened is that a few companies no longer have near monopolies on the entertainment space. We cannot allow big business to destroy civil liberties just so that they don’t have to keep up with innovation to remain competitive.
Bio-Architecture
- We need to develop new standards of efficiency in construction across the nation. A properly green home saves money by using energy efficiently and creates less pollution. It makes economic and environmental sense.
Immigration Reform
- This is a country founded by immigrants. We need to have compassion for those seeking to better themselves by coming here to work. Just because someone comes here illegally doesn’t make them a bad person. We support the DREAM act as a step toward more comprehensive immigration reform.
Development Industrial Complex
- It is time to retool our industrial infrastructure away from killing toward sustainable development. War is very expensive, we could be working with developing nations to build infrastructure and improve education. This would address illegal immigration by providing opportunities for work in other nations and would benefit us economically by cultivating more and wealthier trading partners.
Civil Liberties
- There are just too many things to count in the encroachment on Civil Liberties. Everyone has seen what the police have been doing. The NYPD is trying to become the CIA. We have drones flying over us and Sheriff’s Departments with access to military satellites for domestic surveillance. NDAA, Anti-Occupy, when and where does it end? This is an issue that impacts everyone as it strikes right at the heart of your ability to participate meaningfully in the political process.
The Drug War
- We’re tired of seeing homes in our communities seized to fund the DEA’s black budget. We all know that the system of informants that the drug war has created has hopelessly compromised the agencies meant to enforce things. One drug dealer gets a pass if he gives up a number of his underlings. Meanwhile there is violence in the street, and for what? What has it gotten us? It’s time to Legalize Marijuana, and treat drug addiction as a medical and not a criminal issue. Portugal has seen astounding success in reducing drug use since they ended their drug war. We can build on the success that has been proven there. We can save money on prisons by having fewer prisoners and maybe when we say that we live in ‘the land of the free’, millions who couldn’t believe it before can believe it again.
Marriage Equality
- It is not some bureaucrat’s right to decide who you love. That is a sacred right between the heart of one human being and another. Everyone should have the right to make their own choices. Let the self-righteous live by their own principles and be satisfied with that.
Small Business
- We need to analyse the onerous burden placed upon small businesses by irrational regulations and legal needs. There are too many hidden bureaucratic costs that exist as a barrier to entry for the small-business person. We need to incubate our entrepreneurs and get rid of unnecessary market friction in the form of redundant paperwork and expensive legal protection.
Food Security
- We need an increase in community run garden initiatives. There are vacant lots owned by the city that could be community gardens. Vertical farms are the sort of thing that can work really well in New York City. It’s time to rethink our relationship to food. We cannot let predatory food titans like Monsanto gain a monopoly on our food supply.
Campaign Finance Reform
- It is time to have public financing of elections, but it’s important to be mindful of the ability of expensive consultants to stack the deck and gain advantage from public financing. In the interim, we are committed to limiting the funds we raise directly for our campaign.
I support George Martinez for Congress.
Hi George,
Unfortunately I can’t vote for you – because I am a German citizen. But I am very glad to see green sprouts like your campaign coming out of the mess Neoliberalism has left America in. I find your strategy ingenious to change the system not through lobbying but through getting voted into it. I wish you and your friends all the best. I will follow your campaign. I would be thrilled if you could be an example for others.
Tobias