None of the candidates have a coherent national policy matrix in part because they don't want one — their staffs are not designed to actually create coherent national policy that addresses all threats and needs in the context of a grand strategy on one side and a balanced budget on the other.
What we have now is platitudes and theater — no one, least of all the media and particularly singling out the progressive and conservative media, is holding the candidates accountable for being serious.
Below the fold are snap-shots of what an honest evidence-based policy conversation should consider, for each of the following:
Economic Issues: Budget & Economy, Government Reform, Social Security, Tax Reform, Technology & Infrastructure, Welfare & Poverty
Social Issues: Abortion, Corporations, Education, Families & Children, Health Care, Principles &Values.
Domestic Issues: Civil Rights, Crime, Drugs, Environment, Gun Control, Jobs
International Issues: Eneregy & Oil, Foreign Policy, Free Trade, Homeland Security, Immigration, War & Peace
Economic Issues
Budget & Economy Proposed: Balance Budget, End Debt, Close Federal Reserve, Gold.
Key Terms: Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA); Budget deficit; Consumption taxes; Corporate income taxes; Corruption; Death tax; Debt; Defense spending; Discretionary spending; Duties; Entitlements; Federal Reserve; Federal revenue sources; Fiscal policy; Gold Standard; Ignorance; Income taxes; Individual income taxes; Interest; Monetary policy; Mortgage crisis; Non-discretionary spending; Off-budget; Other taxes; Oversight; Progressive tax; Regressive tax; Regulation; Sales taxes; Social insurance (FICA); Social Security Trust Fund; Supplemental spending; Usury; Wall Street greed
Government Reform Proposed: Balanced budget, line item veto, office of strategy, two deputy vice presidents (one for national security, one for commonwealth), end winner take all in Cabinet and in Congress (proportional leadership assignments, no party line voting)
Key terms: Amendment X to the US Constitution; Balanced Budget Amendment; Block Grants; Campaign Finance; Reform; Devolution; Devolution to States; Election Reform; federal matching funds; Hard money; PAC money; Reinventing Government; Soft money; Term Limits (including judges); Unfunded Mandates
Social Security This is the greatest single reason to keep federal government. Proposed: Restore and protect while increasing retirement age to 75, adding 3 month sabbaticals every six years, and incentivizing multi-generational families and neighborhoods including mobile assisted care and rapid response non-emergency assistance for the elderly.
Key Terms: Account Separately (de-politicize); Earnings Test (remove); IRAs; Lockbox; Medicare and Medicaid; Off-Budget; Privatization; Retirement Accounts; Social Security Investment; Social Security Trust Fund
Tax Reform Proposed: end individual income taxes, tax financial transactions, have high-end consumer taxes; reduce estate tax; tax currency transactions heavily; end corporate fraud (different books for IRS and stockholders, income-export tax fraud).
Key Terms: Amendment XVI to the US Constitution; Capital Gains Tax; charitable deduction; Death Tax; estate tax; Faith-based organization; Flat Tax; Flat Tax & Sales Tax; Inheritance Tax; Marginal Tax Rates; Marriage Penalty; Married Filing Jointly; mortgage interest deduction; National Sales Tax; Tax Rates; Tax Surplus; Value-Added Tax; VAT
Technology & Infrastructure Proposed: Internet neutrality, Open Spectrum, Free/Open Source Software, regulate Google, provide end-user control of their own content, anonymous banking; recapitalize all forms of infrastructure but wind down communities in flood plains and cities in desert, capitalize growth in The Empty Quarter.[3]
Key Terms: Bridges, Dams, & Tunnels (collapsing infrastructure); Computer and Internet Usage; Digital E-Government; Electrical grid (collapsing); E-rate; High-Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP); Human Genome Project; Intel vs. FTC; Internet access in classrooms; Internet access in schools; Internet Issues; Internet Sales Tax; iPatriot Act; Microsoft vs Java; Microsoft vs Netscape; Millennium Bug; Napster; Triana Satellite; V-Chip; Weather manipulation; Y2K Bug; warrantless wiretapping
Welfare & Poverty Proposed: Stabilize dollar, limit interest rates, end individual taxation, strive for 100% union membership (60% in four years), learnfare & workfare, control borders and stop giving expert worker visas to foreigners taking high-tech jobs away from citizens.
Key Terms: Charitable Choice; Deductibility; Entitlement; Faith-Based Organizations (FBO); Food Stamps; Lifetime limit; Poor; Reform; Tax-exempt; Welfare load; Welfare-to-Work; Work requirements
Social Issues
Abortion Proposed: Strongly support pro-life choices, but woman ultimately decides. Praise Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas for his Stare Decisis judgment on Roe v. Wade. Life does begin at conception; mother’s rights end with start of second tri-mester.
Key Terms: Clinic Access; Cloning; health issue (pro-choice); Human Life Amendment; Human Life Bills; informed consent; Judicial Activism; moral issue (pro-life); Parental Consent; Partial-Birth Abortion; Right to Choose; Right to Life; rights of the mother; rights of the unborn; Roe v. Wade; RU-486; Stare Decisis; States’ Rights; Stem Cells; Strict Constructionism; viability’ of the fetus
Corporations Proposed: home rule, boycott, eat local, fair trade, end personality fraud
Key Terms: Export volumes; Farming Issues; Globalization; Government payments; Inflation; Labor Issues; Minimum wage; Union membership
Education Proposed: Redirect $20 billion a year from secret intelligence to free online & fully-funded Head Start, K-12, and college on a competitive basis. Apprenticeship & civics every year. No bi-lingual education—three months intensive English free for all immigrants, English language competency required for both access to education and to government employment at all levels.
Key Terms: Bilingual Education; Goals 2000; Phonics; School Prayer; School Vouchers; Smaller Class Size; Social Promotion; Straight A Act; Student Testing; Teacher Pay; Teacher Testing
Families & Children Proposed: Support families, design neighborhoods, one good job per family, with no taxation of family or on healthy food and beverages, get TV out of kid’s lives
Key Terms: After-school; Anti-male bias; Child Deductions; Child Support; Day care; Deadbeat Dads; Deductions; Family Leave; Fatherhood rights; Internet Smut; Pre-school; Social effects; Tax Credits; TV Ratings; V-Chip
Health Care Proposed: Tax unhealthy good and services, eliminate toxins, provide all necessary information on lifestyle, environment, natural cures; fund evidence-based medicine.
Key Terms: Active Euthanasia; Alternative Medicine; Asbestos; Chinese Medicine; Consumer Choice; Death with Dignity; Elective Surgery; Euthanasia; Evidence-Based Medicine; External Appeal; Indian Medicine; Generally accepted practices; Healing; Health insurance; Health reform; HMO; Involuntary Euthanasia; Legal Liability; Managed Care; Marijuana; Medical Necessity; Natural Cures; Passive Euthanasia; Patient’s Bill of Rights; Physical Assisted Suicide; Prevention; Public health; Right to Die; Safe Air; Safe Food; Safe Water; Scope of Coverage; State Regulation; Tobacco Settlement; Toxins in Products
Principles & Values Proposed: Restore Constitution, eliminate individual income taxes, transparent budgets and all legislation and budgets online one week in advance of voting; character through school, apprenticeships, and mandatory national service twice: after high-school and at mid-career (each time a shared boot camp, then three tracks: Armed, Peace, and America Corps).
Key Terms: Centralizing power; Centrist; Conservative; Conservative; Constitution’ Decentralizing power; Economic views; Fiscal frugality; Government intervention; Green; Leftist; Liberal; Libertarian; Local not federal; Natural Law; Political philosophy; Populist; Reform; Reforming existing institutions; Religious rights; Rightist; Social views; Socialist; Strength abroad
Domestic Issues
Civil Rights Proposed: Quality education is the right; civil unions, churches decide marriage.
Key Terms: Affirmative Action; Amendment I to the US Constitution; Article 9 Clause 2 of the US Constitution; Bilingual education; Civil Union; Confederate Flag in Public Places; Disabilities Act (ADA) & Handicapped Access (Health Care); Disabled Rights; Domestic Violence; Driving While Black; Equal Pay for Equal Work; FISA; Flag-Burning Amendment; Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA); Funding for NEA; Gambling, Prostitution, Pornography; Glass Ceiling; Guantanamo: Habeas corpus; Hate Crimes; iPATRIOT ACT; Kidnapping for Rendition; Mental Illness Discrimination (Health Care); Minority Rights; PATRIOT Act; Racial Profiling; Redlining; Religious Rights; Rendition for Torture; Reverse Discrimination; Right to Privacy (see Technology); Same-sex marriage; School Prayer (see Education); Secret Renditions; Secret wiretapping: Ten Commandments in Public Places (see Principles & Values); Texas v. Johnson (flag burning); Torture; victimless crimes; Waterboarding; Women’s Rights
Crime Proposed: End death & three strikes; legalize marijuana & hemp, full employment.
Key Terms: 114; 119; Amendments V and VIII to the US Constitution; Broken Windows’ Laws; Capital Punishment; Community intelligence networks; Community Policing; Hate Crimes; Intelligence-led policing; National Guard role as community intelligence center watchstanders; Three Strikes’ Laws; Tort Reform
Drugs Proposed: get CIA and DEA out of drug business; burn banks for laundering, invest in free education and full provision of clean water and clean energy in Afghanistan, Mexico, and the Andean countries where all the drugs are produced and are—for now—vital to those economies.
Key Terms: Alcoholism; Amendment XVIII and XXI to the US Constitution; Death penalty; Demand; Drug war; Effects; Legalization; Medical marijuana; Needle Exchanges; Prohibition; Self-harm; Supply; Treatment; War on drugs
Environment Proposed: Zero Waste, Natural Capitalism, Green to Gold, Biomimicry, expose true costs of all products and services via bar codes and online free data, mandate clean air and disease-free air in all buildings and public transportation including airlines and trains.
Key Terms: Acts of God or Man; Alternative Energy; Amendment V to the US Constitution; ANWR: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; BLM: The Bureau of Land Management; Brownfields; BTU Tax; Clean Air Act: (CAA); Clean Water Act: (CWA); Climate Change Treaty; coastal wetlands; Command-and-control; Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standard; Cost Control; Deregulation Crisis; Devolution; drop in Great Lakes water levels; drought in the Midwest; Effects on the US; eminent domain; Endangered Species; Endangered Species Act (ESA); Energy; Energy Conservation; Environmental degradation; extreme storms; Federal Lands; FWS: The Fish & Wildlife Service; Global Warming; Greenfields; Greenhouse Gas Treaty; Greenhouse gases; Kyoto Protocol; Land Trusts; NPS: The National Park Service; Pollution Control; Rio Treaty; States; Suburban Sprawl; Superfund; Takings; temperature rise; toxic waste sites; Urban Redevelopment; USFS: The US Forest Service; winter rain; Wise Use
Gun Control Proposed: Right to bear arms is non-negotiable less felons still on probation. Concealed permits not required—felons who have paid their debt to society need only carry a card certifying their restoration to full citizenship status—states may not abridge felon rights once court’s sentence has been completed. Achieve accountability with barrel printing and cartridge signatures—anyone can kill, be identified, and if wrong, held accountable.
Key Terms: Amendment II to the US Constitution; Background Checks; Brady Bill; Child-Safety Locks; concealed carry; gun lobby; Gun Ownership; Gun-Show Loophole; instant background checks; juvenile access to guns; licensing; Militia definition; National Rifle Association (NRA); open carry; registration; right of self-protection; Right to Bear Arms; Second Amendment rights; sportsmen’s rights; Trigger Locks; US v. Miller; waiting periods
Jobs Proposed: end absentee ownership of farms; 60% union membership; limit interest to 10%; make full employment the law and the outcome; raise minimum wage to achieve quality of life at last highest point. Limit CEOs to 100X wages of lowest worker they employ; mandate same books for IRS as for stockholders; impose severe penalties on short-term investments.
Key Terms: Annual Leave; Benefits; Citizen rights; Equal Pay; Farm subsidies; Guest workers; Living Wage; Minimum wage; Overtime; Pay Gap; Sick Leave; Training; Uncompensated overtime; Union membership
International Issues
Energy & Oil Proposed: Tax externalized costs ($12 per gallon); two-way grid, do it all.
Key Terms: Acts of God or Man; Alternative Energy; Amendment V to the US Constitution; ANWR: Arctic National Wildlife Refuge; BLM: The Bureau of Land Management; Brownfields; BTU Tax; Clean Air Act: (CAA); Clean Water Act: (CWA); Climate Change Treaty; coastal wetlands; Command-and-control; Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFÉ) standard; Cost Control; Deregulation Crisis; Devolution; drop in Great Lakes water levels; drought in the Midwest; Effects on the US; eminent domain; Endangered Species; Endangered Species Act (ESA); Energy; Energy Conservation; Environmental degradation; extreme storms; Federal Lands; FWS: The Fish & Wildlife Service; Global Warming; Greenfields; Greenhouse Gas Treaty; Greenhouse gases; Kyoto Protocol; Land Trusts; NPS: The National Park Service; Pollution Control; Rio Treaty; States; Suburban Sprawl; Superfund; Takings; temperature rise; toxic waste sites; Urban Redevelopment; USFS: The US Forest Service; winter rain; Wise Use
Foreign Policy Proposed: Shift $200 billion from waging war to waging peace; multilateralism; provide all dictators with a five-year exit strategy; make human rights and fair trade the foundation for all commercial relations; stop exporting military weapons.
Key Terms: Afghanistan; Africa; ASEAN; Asian Economic Crisis; Asian Miracle’ countries; Asian Tigers; bioterrorism weapons; Brazil; Chechnya; Children’s Fund; China; Development Programme (UNDP); East Timor; Economic and Social Council; European Union; General Assembly; Human Rights Commission; India; Indonesia; International Civil Aviation Organization; International Monetary Fund; Iran; Iraq; Israel & Palestine; Japan; Kosovo; Lebanon; North Korea; peacekeeping operations; Refugees (UNHCR)[ Russia; Security Council; South American Union; Syria’s Golan Heights; The International Court of Justice; treaty-based organizations; UN dues; UN System; United Nations; Universal Postal Union; Venezuela; War on Terror; Wild Cards; World Bank; World Court; World Health Organization
Free Trade Proposed: Fair trade not free trade. Reveal “true costs” of all goods and services. End slavery in America first, then in the rest of the world.
Key Terms: Americas; Anti-Dumping Laws; anti-globalization; Canada; Chile to join NAFTA; Countervailing Duties; Dumping; East Asia combined for about 15%; Europe combined for about 20%; Fast-Track; Free Trade; free trade zone; General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs; Globalization; human trafficking; Mexico & Japan; MFN; Most Favored Nation; NAFTA; North American Free Trade Agreement of 1994; open borders; override national law; protests; secrecy of WTO proceedings; Side Agreements; slavery; standards; Trade Deficits; trade in women & children; Uruguay; World Trade Organization
Homeland Security Proposed: Make Stephen Flynn the Secretary with mandate to close it down in four years; restore FEMA; redirect $20 billion from spies to water and food infrastructure and safety; fund Citizen Intelligence Networks ($30M per state per year).
Key Terms: Aegis defense system; Anti-Ballistic Missile (ABM); Bio-chemical; Hollow Military; intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBM); Loose Nukes; Mutually Assured; National Missile Defense (NMD)’; uclear Test Ban Treaty; Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty; Star Wars; Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START); Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI); submarine-launched ballistic missiles (SLBM); Terrorists; Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)
Immigration Proposed: increase Border Patrol to 30,000; state & local crack-down on visa violators; withdraw all forces from overseas; create four forces after next including $200 billion peace force; fully fund global free education online in 183 languages, work with Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Russia, and Venezuela to give free cell phones to poor and educate them, world-wide, one cell call at a time. Peace comes from prosperity, and prosperity comes from education one question at a time—the 5 billion poor don’t have eighteen years to waste.
Key Terms: Bilingual Education; Border Patrol; California 40% of all illegals; Canada as transit zone for terrorists; clemency; Foreign born 8% in 1990; census; Hispanic; Illegal; Immigration; Immigration Act of 1990; Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS); Immigration Advocacy; Latin America 20% after Mexico; Legal; Mexico 55% of illegals; Official English status; promote diversity; racism; restricting immigration; wall across the border
War & Peace Proposed: Stay the course in Iraq, create fifty-year peacekeeping force with open checkbook for restoring Lebanon as Paris of Middle East and raising two generations of Palestinians and Israelis within mandated co-existence, Jerusalem as an international open city. Redirect $100 billion a year from war to peace, create multinational decision support center and Global Range of Gifts Table to orchestrate $1 trillion a year in individual giving.
Key Terms: Afghanistan; Balkan; Central Asia; Colombia; Cuba; Iran; Iraq; Israel; North Korea; Palestine; Persian Gulf; Somalia; War on Terrorism
See Also:
Jesse Gordon, Hillary Clinton vs. Donald Trump On the Issues.
Robert Steele, Grand Strategy – No Candidate Is Serious…
