My Promise to America.
By: Aidan Jackson
Tags: President, Politics, Current Events, Writing, Progressive

Criminal Justice

In America right now, 37% of the prison population is African-American males, despite African-Americans being 13% of the population. This is wrong, and we must reduce the racial disparities in the prison population, which is why we MUST legalize recreational marijuana. Our current criminal justice system is predominantly focused on punishment, and not redemption. It is my belief that there should be NO mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses and instead there should be mandatory rehabilitation for people convicted of nonviolent drug offenses. The government should stop acting as if we have the moral authority to try to control lives the way the War on Drugs has intended to. As President, I will issue an immediate commutation to every American currently serving as a result of a nonviolent drug offense, instead having them serve mandatory rehabilitation. It is time we END the War on Drugs.

The death penalty, in my personal view is morally egregious and a stain on the face of our nation’s criminal justice system; however, I do believe that the states should decide for themselves whether to keep capital punishment. As President, I will issue an executive order immediately placing a moratorium on the use of capital punishment by the federal government.

On a personal note, in my view, young people would not do drugs and harmful substances if the generations preceding us did not create such a miserable excuse for a fair economy. We must make it easier to be happy in America.

Economy

I stand strongly opposed to a nationwide standard minimum wage, instead requiring each state to put in place a minimum wage that adjusts for the cost of inflation since the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007.

Unions are the backbone to our economy, the support system that helped us get protections for workers, and an important voice in keeping workers at the top of our national discourse. It is my view that unions should have the right to organize nationwide, the right to collective bargaining, and a place in our government; which is why when I am President, I will appoint a newly created Organized Labor Adviser to the president.

We need a fairer, more just tax code that works for middle-class Americans, poorer Americans, and small businesses. As President, I will push Congress to legislate a new tax code that lowers taxes for middle-class Americans, and raises taxes for the very wealthy. It is time the wealthy pay their fair share.

While Americans are suffering, CEO's of massive corporations such as Amazon are thriving because certain major corporations have to pay less in taxes then you, the average American. This is wrong. I am proposing a Progressive Corporate Tax Rate, which will lower taxes on smaller businesses and raise taxes on bigger, more profitable businesses. This will help small businesses and help even out the playing field.

The Trump administration has failed this country by failing to have America contribute to global research efforts. As President, in my first proposed budget to the Congress, I will push for more funding for NASA, so we can put the first woman on the Moon, and I will push for more medical research funds, so we can finally solve numerous problems. We must bring our research efforts into the 21st Century.

Foreign Policy

America must remain tough, but humble. I am concerned about our current trade war with China. We must get China back to the negotiating table to make sure Chinese goods and American goods can flow freely into our countries. However, this is not weakness, we must hold the Chinese accountable for their currency manipulation and issue sanctions on the country unless they join a global effort on the climate crisis.

We have become far too entangled in the Middle East. It is a disservice to our troops to have them fight in wars with no clear end in sight. We must REMOVE our troops from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria, and instead send limited numbers of advisers and top generals to the region to help train forces we support and advise governments on ways to end the conflicts. Under my Administration, I will push for funds for a new safe zone in the Middle East for refugees and US-supported troops that have been defeated.

It is time we reconcile our relationship with our allies in NATO and the United Nations. As President, I will vigorously fight for American sovereignty in bilateral trade deals, push for multilateral research efforts, and make sure that every member is contributing what they need to contribute.

Israel has been one of our most trusted allies, and we made a wise decision by moving our embassy to Jerusalem, but we must negotiate with the Palestinians. To ensure peace in the region, we must offer the Palestinians a place at the table. I will push congress to officially recognize Palestine as a country and make it clear to Palestine that since they are a sovereign nation, they must act like one and stop their people from attacking Israel. Otherwise, they will face the full brute of our armed forces.

Immigration

Our immigration laws are outdated and we must bring Comprehensive Immigration Reform back to the national discussion, as immigration isn’t a one party matter.

The Trump Administration was wrong- plain and simple, when they rescinded DACA. Children who were raised here their whole life and have become a part of this country should not have to face the emotional and physical threat of being sent back to a country they barely know. As President, I will push DACA through Congress, but not in its current form. The eligibility for DACA will be 3 years after the law takes effect, and after that, the parents must pay heavy fines for each child they brought in illegally to our country.

America is a land of opportunity, but we are a nation of laws. We do not want to criminalize desperation, but we cannot allow people to cut the line. Under my administration, any person who has immigrated to our nation illegally will pay a $3000 fine and be subject to immediate deportation if they commit any violent crime. However, if an illegal immigrant chooses to become a citizen and they have no criminal record after 5 years of residency here, they may apply for citizenship.

We must reform our asylum laws so that when migrants escaping danger flee to our nation, we don’t lock them in cages, we truly show them that we are a nation of opportunity. Anyone coming here on an asylum claim will be immediately put through a background check and able to apply for citizenship. We will increase the size of the Department of Homeland Security so we are able to do this.

Walls are what divides us. The United States welcomes migrants. However, we must protect our border from the few bad apples. As President, my administration will push congress for more sophisticated technology to place on our border to make it a safer and peaceful place to start businesses. The Mexican border could soon be an economic hub, creating jobs and friendships.

Public Health

We have a healthcare system that is both cruel and unfair. The best plans go to the highest bidder, leaving many Americans fearful and trapped with measly healthcare plans. However, many Americans have spent years negotiating good healthcare plans with their Unions. These Americans deserve to keep their plans, and not be told by the Government that their plan is better. I support a public option. The government will provide free healthcare for whoever wants it and will respect the choice many Americans will make to keep their current plans. Our administration will guarantee that people with pre-existing conditions are not denied healthcare.

Other countries have figured out how to make cheap prescription drugs, such as Canada with Insulin. In Canada, Insulin is up to 90% cheaper. This is shameful; diabetics shouldn’t have to choose between groceries or life. As President, I would appoint a special Pharmaceutical adviser to negotiate the prices of prescription drugs with pharmaceutical companies.

Our administration would fight vigorously to ensure that Americans who are trans gendered who are unable to pay for their gender transition surgery will have their surgeries and all other related medical visits free of cost. For young women, who are unable to pay for their abortion, we will work with Congress to finally repeal the Hyde amendment, so that they do not resort to back-alley abortions. Abortions should and will be covered in JacksonCare.

The Climate Crisis

In 21st Century America, we face a crisis like none we have ever faced before. The Earth is getting hotter and hotter by the year, over time leading to a cataclysmic series of events. Climate change is the most serious, existential crisis we have ever faced as a population, and we must act now.

Young progressives across the country have championed the outline for the Green New Deal, showing the intelligence and passion of young people all across our country. As President, not only will I work with Progressives, Centrists, and Conservatives in Congress to pass an economically feasible Green New Deal in Congress, but I will also restructure the Environmental Protection Agency to become the Department of the Environment, appoint a Special Climate Advisor to the President who must be a Scientist of some sort, create an emergency task force dealing with this crisis, and have the United States lead the worldwide effort to defeat this crisis.

A common counterargument against the Green New Deal is that it would destroy millions of jobs in the energy sector. Well, to be frank, this is true. This is why our administration will push for the largest jobs overhaul since the New Deal, called AEWorks, short for Alternative Energy Works. AEWorks will create hundreds of thousands of jobs constructing alternative energy sources all around the country, create millions of jobs working at these sites once they are complete, and create billions of dollars in revenue once the United States switches its dependency from dirty energy to clean energy. AEWorks plus the bipartisan Green New Deal will remove Oil, Natural Gas, and Coal from our economy, encourage a cleaner environment, and replace every lost job. side note: I personally respect the millions of hardworking Americans working in the energy sector currently, but the future of this planet is at stake, and I guarantee and promise a job for each and every single one of you.

As leader of the free world, I will lead the global charge to tackle this issue. At my first United Nations summit I will lead negotiations for a new global climate agreement. I will not rest until every single sovereign nation in the top 50 carbon producers has signed on, and these United States will issue heavy sanctions if necessary to get nations on board. My main goals will be to reduce net carbon emissions to ZERO by the next decade, ensure that every country is economically stable to do this, and to have real, concrete results.

Social Issues

I aspire to live in an America where every American can live true to their constitutional freedoms without unnecessary government intervention. Americans just want to be left alone, without fear of a police state watching their every move, which every President in our modern history has operated.

Abortion should be safe, legal, and rare. Abortion is the toughest decision any woman will make in her life and nobody should be shamed for desperation. Republican-led abortion bans will only lead to an increase in unsafe, coat hanger abortions that kill not only the baby, but the mother as well. We must fully protect abortion and make it safe, accessible and free (by pushing Congress to repeal the Hyde Amendment). However, it has been my personal belief that abortion should be a last resort, and we should issue tax-exempt statuses not only to abortion clinics, but Crisis pregnancy centers and adoption agencies. To prevent situations like this in the first place, we must require businesses with 50 employees or more to provide free birth control to their employees, require businesses with up to 50 employees to provide employees paid paternal and maternal time off for 6 weeks, require businesses with 100 or more employees to provide paid paternal and maternal time off for 12 weeks, and require businesses with 51–99 employees to provide employees with 9 weeks of paid paternal and maternal time off.

Guns should not belong in the hands of the wrong people. Plain and simple. As an American, I’m sick and tired of the pathetic politicians in Washington debating and not legislating. In my first 100 days as President, I will use my authority as legislator-in-chief to push a universal background check through Congress. Our administration will close the gun show loophole, establish a hotline for domestic partners who feel as if their relative/spouse/domestic partner is an unsafe gun owner, and establish a mental health competence section of every background check. If the child of a gun owning parent commits a crime with their gun, our administration will allow the victim of said crime to sue the parents for not being a responsible gun owner.

In 2015, the Supreme Court finally and rightfully ensured the right of marriage to everyone, regardless of who you love. Those who are opposed to gay marriage are advocating for the very same controlling, police state that I am advocating against. As President, I will push for a Rainbow Civil Rights Bill at the Federal level. This bill will make discrimination against LGBTQ+ Americans illegal as it relates to employment, housing, public accommodations, schools, and voter registration requirements. I have stated my support for free gender transition operations for transgendered Americans, and will go many steps further in demanding that every federal institution uses gender appropriate pronouns, encouraging schools to establish a single-stall unisex bathroom, reversing the Trump administration’s cruel ban on transgender service members openly serving, rolling back restrictions on service members with HIV serving, and instituting a nationwide ban on conversion therapy.

Many young people question whether the Constitution is still applicable to our modern day government, and my answer would be hell yes. As of right now, the government has the power to oversee everything we do, everything we type, every phone call we make and every text message we send. The government must go after terrorists, and not innocent Americans. The Constitution, in the 4th Amendment, makes it very clear that unreasonable searches and seizures are prohibited without a warrant from a judge. My administration will enforce the 4th Amendment and not the Patriot Act. In my first 100 days in office, I will push for the repeal of the Patriot Act, and introduce a package called the FOG Act (Free of Government Act). The FOG Act will make it illegal for the government to oversee personal information of Americans without a warrant and grant immunity to whistleblowers who expose the government doing this.

Education

Education is the forefront of our nation’s battle against future problems. The next generation must be well-equipped for the problems my generation sloppily leaves behind. The Department of Education should be provided more resources and money so it can do its job. We must set a minimum wage for teachers of all kind, so that teachers can finally have the money they need to provide both a good life for themselves and a valuable classroom experience for their students.

Nationwide testing and standards as implemented in No Child Left Behind has failed. School is no longer about learning, but passing. We must turn this boat before it’s too late. As President, I will push for the repeal of No Child Left Behind, and instead push for a new and revolutionary education package; the Points Act. It has a simple name, and a simple premise. Students, instead of being forced to take one test a year to determine their intelligence, will be required to reach a certain number of points based on assignments and quizzes to graduate each school year. The Points Act will show real growth and development in students, and not just the ability to study really hard one night and pass the test.

Many students living in impoverished areas aspire to go to college and make more of themselves, but the massive costs are a steep hill to climb. Spots in college go to the richest, and not always the most intelligent. This is shameful, as we are eliminating a huge swath of potential from our secondary education class. As President, I would push through Congress a bill to make college tuition-free to anyone who’s household makes less then 75,000 a year. Rich kids can pay at least a little bit of college tuition. In America though, not only does it need to be more affordable to go to college, it needs to be more affordable not to go to college, which is why as President I will push for trade schools to also be tuition free. As President, our administration will forgive every single person’s student loan debts, so young Americans can have a head start in this economy.

Holding Our Government Accountable

As President, I will inherit a broken Washington. Politicians are corrupt and bought and payed for by special interests and lobbyists. It appears as if the Presidency goes to the highest bidder. In the words of Missouri favorite, Harry Truman, “the buck stops here.” I will make enemies in office by executing this plan, and I look very much forward to it.

Senator Elizabeth Warren detailed a very detailed anti-corruption plan, and I couldn’t help but agree with nearly every point she made. Her plan, is my plan. Some of the key points I will look to enforce as President are as follows:

A lifetime lobbying ban for presidents, vice presidents, members of Congress, federal judges, and Cabinet secretaries.

Applying conflict-of-interest laws to the president and vice president, requiring them to place businesses into a blind trust to be sold off. They would also have to place assets that could present a conflict of interest — including real estate — in a blind trust and sell them off.

— in a blind trust and sell them off. Multi-year lobbying bans for federal employees (both congressional staffers and employees of federal agencies). The span of time would be at least two years and six years for those wishing to become corporate lobbyists.

Banning members of Congress and senior congressional staff from serving on corporate boards. The plan would also ban senior administration officials and members of Congress from serving on for-profit boards, no matter if they receive compensation for it or not.

Banning members of Congress, Cabinet secretaries, federal judges, White House staff, senior congressional staff, and other officials from owning or trading individual stocks while in office.

Changing the rulemaking process of federal agencies to severely restrict the ability of corporations or industry to delay or influence rulemaking. Warren’s plan would restrict studies funded by groups with conflict-of-interest problems being considered in the rulemaking process, unless they go under a lengthy peer review.

Broadening the definition of a “thing of value” in campaign finance laws to go beyond money. Under the new definition, it could include opposition research from foreign governments.

Creating a new independent US Office of Public Integrity, which would enforce the nation’s ethics laws and investigate any potential violations. The office would also try to strengthen open records laws, making records more easily accessible to the public and the press.

Banning forced arbitration clauses and class action waivers for all employment, consumer protection, antitrust, and civil rights cases.

Boosting transparency in cases that involve public health or safety, by prohibiting courts from using sealed settlements to conceal evidence.

Prohibiting judges from being able to decide for themselves whether they should recuse themselves from a case due to a conflict. The plan would also require Supreme Court Justices to provide written explanations of recusal decisions when a litigant challenges for recusal.

Beefing up the disciplinary authority of judicial ethics watchdogs, including giving them the power to take away non-vested taxpayer-funded pensions from judges as a penalty for wrongdoing.

Source for Senator Warren’s plan for Anti-Corruption: https://www.vox.com/2019/9/16/20867216/elizabeth-warren-anti-corruption-bill

Thank you for reading, and I hope to earn your support when I run in 2052.

We will fight, and we will win.

Aidan Jackson for President, 2052