argus

Some time ago I announced my candidacy for the U.S. House of Representatives. Obviously, the announcement was tongue-in-cheek, even if the few items I outlined in my “platform” were not. Well, recent events have led me to reconsider an entrance into politics — I’ve taken what I feel is a more grounded approach (although I’m sure some would argue that statement) and decided to focus on my home state first. I am at this point researching what is involved with becoming a candidate for the Georgia State House of Representatives; I’ll keep the blog updated if anything develops ;)

In the meantime, I have begun work on a first draft of my platform — I’d like my candidacy to be marked by as much documentation on as many of my positions as possible, all easily available to the “public” (all 12 or so that might care). I welcome comments, particularly if you think I’ve left out an overview of my thoughts on a topic that you think is important. If/when I ever upgrade to the newest Wordpress (blog) engine, I’ll make these platform points into a more permanent “page” instead of a post that will eventually slip off the front page.

As a note: I’m not looking for debate. I can guarantee that you will not change my views, and I don’t entertain any similar fantasies about changing your views. My goal is to clearly present my positions on salient matters, matters that are important to us as a culture, so that the (hypothetical) voters will know exactly what sort of a stance I’ll be bringing to the table and can accordingly vote for me or not. Disagreement is a vital part of our system of government; dishonesty should never be.

1. I will not give undue audience to ANY special interest groups. If one poison can be singled out as being most responsible for undermining our country’s government, it is the audience being given to the desires of the exorbitantly funded special interest groups and the corruption that almost universally and inevitably follows. The blame for allowing this reprehensible hijacking of our country’s direction lies squarely on the shoulders of our Congressional leaders. I will not pretend to not see it, or pretend that it’s not a problem, or pretend that it’s somehow allowable. As a Representative of the state of Georgia, I will be exactly that: a representative of the voice of the citizens of my home district/state. Any special interest that wishes to contact me will do so through the same means available to my constituents, whatever those means are – no special audience will be made for a special interest organization because of who they are or what interest they represent. Any visit to discuss legislative matters with me will be strictly time-regulated, with more latitude being given to private citizens.
2. I support the FairTax initiative and the repealing of the Sixteenth Amendment.
3. I support a gradual privatization methodology for reforming our current (broken) Social Security system.
4. I am in favor of repealing (or appropriately modifying) the Seventeenth Amendment to return direct state representation to the federal government.
5. I support non-partisan spending reform at all levels of government. Government’s job is to do the bare minimum “common good” tasks that individuals or self-organized groups of individuals cannot do for themselves, be it national defense or regulation of international trade. Pork barrel politics may be good for keeping a politician in office, but they are detrimental to the health of the country and the efficacy of the government — I will never trade an easy here-and-now solution that is worse in the long run for a difficult here-and-now solution that is better over the long run. I don’t want this job forever; I just want it long enough to make a difference.
6. I support a national dialogue on a return of the Supreme Court to its proper, Constitutionally-defined role — as opposed to the unaccountable stealth legislative body that it has become over the last half century.
7. I support a refocusing of our national dialogues on our Constitutionally-guaranteed freedom of religion — not the ACLU-invented freedom FROM religion.
8. I support a reversal of Roe v. Wade — which is not to say that I am in favor of a federal law banning abortion. I want the matter returned to the state level, wherein the people can exercise their right to self-governance and decide for themselves what their state’s abortion policy will be.
9. I support a far more serious stance regarding immigration policy enforcement and reform of our current policy, if enforcement alone proves insufficient to reestablish a rule of law along our borders. I am most certainly not opposed to the construction of physical barriers to facilitate easier and more consistent maintenance of the integrity of our borders. If we don’t take our national borders seriously, neither will anyone else.
10. I do not support affirmative action or special rights of any kind for any so-called “protected class” of individuals — “rights” are by definition not “special” to any particular group, but are truly universal. Rights violations are properly handled via our legal system, not by convoluting our legal system into a maze of special exemptions and clauses for dealing with one special/protected group or another. Formalizing individuals into a group is a guaranteed way to continue “special” treatment for those individuals — be it good treatment or bad treatment.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 24th, 2005 at 1:57:02 pm and is filed under Foam, News, Commentary. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.