THE PEOPLE'S VOTE
Universal Healthcare
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Whether you're rich or poor, everybody should pay 10% of their income for universal healthcare without any caps on net income. These funds would be paid into an account similar to SSI or FICA. The only argument left would be the quality of coverage that this would give to all Americans. In my opinion, that coverage should be a $500 deductible with 20 / 80 coverage up to $10,000. Universal healthcare will pay $8,000 of that first $10,000 and then anything above. In other words, you would never pay more than $2,500 in any given year for medical expenses. This coverage would not cover vision or dental insurance. Insurance companies would now offer supplementary insurance to pay for that 20% (similar to AARP). This supplementary insurance would still promote competition within the market which would keep the quality of coverage high at a very low cost to the consumer. Public-sector workers would lose nothing if the government would pick up the cost of this supplementary insurance while still offering vision and dental. Private-sector employees who had been covered by their employer would no longer require it and could be given a one-time pay raise to restore the lost value of losing those benefits.
The People's Vote
I believe everybody will agree that the American people need to become more informed so that they will vote with their hearts/minds and not just along party lines. This can be accomplished by giving the people an actual vote in Congress. Every registered voter should have the ability to cast a vote in their state (via the internet) over every issue that is presented before Congress. Each state would be given one vote in Congress that would be cast directly by the voters of that state. The people would no longer have to place all of their trust on congressional representatives who may not be serving in their best interests. This process would also give people an incentive to learn the specifics of legislation/policies that they previously had no hand in creating. Having an additional 50 votes in Congress that directly represent the will of the people will lead to a more informed public which will help to ensure that the government is kept accountable to the American people.
There are many other steps that could be taken to give the people a greater voice. For example, a state-wide polling website should be established and every state resident should be given an identification number. This will provide an anonymous means for citizens to provide accurate input on important issues. This is significant because traditional election polling practices have not been accurately portraying the will of the American people.
All of our issues can be solved by enacting the people’s vote. With the technology that exists in today’s world, there is no longer any reason for the people to be forced to blindly trust their elected officials.
Paris Climate Accord
The Paris Climate Accord is another very important issue that we should be addressing. People say that the United States should lead by example. In my opinion, we already are leading by example. However, we need to take that leadership one step further. We need to impose a 20% tariff tax on any country that doesn't have our minimum environmental standards. The argument from the left would be that goods coming into this country would become more expensive. The truth is that giving away one hundred billion dollars to competitors who steal our jobs and pollute more than we do is far more costly to the American people. It also does absolutely nothing to improve our environment. Instituting this 20% environmental tax would create/protect jobs in the US and promote a higher environmental standard throughout the world. So long as there is no financial incentive for these countries to reduce their pollution output, they will not willingly improve their environmental standards. Essentially, the Paris Climate Accord was asking the US to reduce our pollution so that other countries will be able to pollute more without increasing the overall level of pollution in the world. At the same time, the US would also be required to pay these countries even though they would be increasing their pollution output while we were decreasing our own.
Slave Tax
Thirty years ago, the people in this country would have been outraged if any products were being imported into this country that were made with slave labor. This standard no longer seems to apply. If we truly want to protect the people of the world, than the US should impose a 20% slave tax on any imports from a country that doesn't pay a living wage to its workers. There is no free trade when the people from the countries who manufacture our products are not able to afford to purchase those products for themselves. It is cheaper for manufacturers to make products domestically than having to ship them halfway around the world to get them to market. However, as long as they can take advantage of slave labor, it is less expensive to produce their products in third world nations overseas. A slave tax would significantly reduce the financial advantage of slave labor which would encourage many of these manufacturers to return to the US. If manufacturers were no longer flooding third world nations to take advantage of slave labor and the Western nations refused to purchase products manufactured using slave labor, it would force these third world nations to pay a living wage in order to avoid the slave tax and remain active/profitable participants in the world market. In the US, neither the left nor the right support tariff taxes. Their argument is that imposing such taxes would increase the cost to the American people. At first it would increase costs. However, over time it would level off because standards of living throughout the world would be improving as a result of the effects of the slave tax. Even more importantly, our nation could sleep better knowing that we are not actively endorsing slavery in third world countries.
Fight for 15 (H,R.15) is demanding a $15 per hour minimum wage. This will likely result in driving even more manufacturers out of the US into the arms of countries with slave labor. Fight for 15 also claims to support open borders even though it is completely opposed to their goal of helping American citizens. How will citizens be able to compete for jobs when the country is being flooded with illegal immigrants who will be willing to work for less than the minimum wage? The only way to pay for an increase to the minimum wage is by preventing illegal immigration and by creating a stronger economic environment through a slave tax. Our first and foremost priority should be to protect American jobs and increasing the minimum wage at this time will have the opposite result.
Free Trade?
Our politicians pretend to stand for the premise that nothing is more important to our economy than free trade. At the same time, they are allowing pharmaceutical companies to charge exorbitant prices by restricting Americans from purchasing cheaper alternatives from other countries. The reason for doing this is simple. The pharmaceutical company lobbyists are throwing money at politicians on both sides of the aisle. Apparently, our politicians care more about their own personal enrichment than making medications affordable for their constituents. Essentially, our politicians are hypocrites who will sell out the principles of fair trade in order to protect specific industries who are willing to provide bribes in return for beneficial treatment.
Mexican Illegal Immigration
There is also a very simple solution for our illegal immigration problem on the Mexican border. President Trump would make an agreement with Mexico that would essentially make them a territory of the US. Mexico would have to adhere to all of our laws and regulations including the minimum wage, offering Social Security and welfare programs, and imposing our minimum environmental standards. In return, we would finance all of their national security costs and we would construct a wall on the southern border of Mexico so that both of our countries could be better protected from illegal immigrants. This would solve our illegal immigration problem and no one could claim that we were mistreating the Mexican people by doing so since we would actually be improving their living standards. This would also ensure that workers could freely move between the US and Mexico which would help to reduce unemployment and stabilize our economies. This level playing field would satisfy both the globalists and the nationalists and Mexico would be able to provide a better life for its people.
MORE DETAILED VERSIONS OF THESE ISSUES CAN BE FOUND ON THE HOME PAGE.
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