ISSUES
Protect Our Rights
1st Amendment -
In recent years there have been so many attacks on our freedom of speech. Labeling words as "hate speech", attempting to force people to censor themselves, not allowing the free exchange of ideas, and blocking students from bringing in guest speakers.
Then there's been forced association where there should be freedom of association: Bake the cake you bigots!
2nd Amendment -
We can't protect any of our other natural rights without the ability to protect ourselves from a tyrannical government.
It's not about self defense or hunting. The 2nd amendment was meant to keep us safe from those who would oppress us.
4th Amendment-
There are checkpoints and roadblocks set up in border zones, during holiday weekends, and whenever the police want to. These are done with no probable cause, no warrants, and you'd better not try to challenge them.
If that weren't enough to make you feel like you're in 1984, we have actual government surveillance happening on all of us every day.
You may think, it's to keep us safe from terrorists, but what happens when more and more authoritarian zealots come into power and abuse these programs and justify it with precedence and more "it keeps us safe" ?
5th Amendment-
DUE PROCESS. Not only does Eminent Domain rob us of our property for weak reasons with paltry compensation, but we have a very serious problem in Civil Asset Forfeiture. Citizens should not have to fight the government to keep their personal and private property without justification and due process.
9th & 10th Amendments-
The Constitution can't possibly list all of our rights. We have natural, inherent, God given rights that are universal.
And all powers not specifically listed in the Constitution for the three branches of the federal government are reserved for the states and the people.
Example, there's no power justifying any federal department to mandate health insurance. There is a specific clause to count everyone in a census to determine representation.
Criminal Justice Reform
Our prisons are crowded and families broken. Most felons have a difficult time finding work after they've served their time. Transitioning is difficult. Much of this is because of how we treat prisoners, as well as minimum sentencing rules for non-violent crimes.
Even after completing their sentence, felons never regain their right to vote in federal elections or protect themselves with a firearm. They become second class citizens.
The systems in place in countries like Norway, Germany or Japan might not be what we need here, but we can learn from their success and incorporate pieces to lower the recidivism rate and encourage real rehabilitation.
Impeach for Overreach
Judicial activism should be met with impeachment.
Impeachment is a tool our founders knew we might need and it should be used far more frequently than it is currently.
Because federal judges are appointed for life, some get comfortable moving away from strictly interpreting the law as written and instead they attempt to legislate from the bench.
The ACA is an example of this. The writers of the ACA very intentionally added that only states with their own exchanges would receive federal money. Why? Because they wanted the public to become upset enough to pressure their states to create an exchange because Congress could not force states to without violating the 10th amendment.
But SCOTUS decided to allow the subsidies to all states instead of forcing Congress to re-write the law because they felt it would be better that way.
Unfortunately, that's not their role.
The proper thing to do would be to say the law is flawed, it must be re-written. Anything else is not within their authority.
We need to maintain the separation of powers so that each can check and balance the others as intended.
Reduce the Federal Government
While Conservatives claim to be fiscally responsible, they still spend spend spend when in control of the federal purse.
Every single department can make do with a smaller budget. Layers upon layers of bureaucracy just means more paper pushers on a government salary. We can and should streamline this.
Families don't get to raise their "debt ceiling" and run on unlimited credit cards, and neither should the federal government.
It is far better to tighten our belts now, than to spend ourselves into bankruptcy like Greece.
Endless Wars
You may not realize it, given the fact that we've been in conflicts for 225 out of 242 years, but our founding fathers actually hoped that we would not allow foreign entanglements to keep us in a never ending state of war.
Our budget pays for the largest military in the world. By far. We blow every other nation out of the water in spending and in strength.
I very much believe in a hearty defense. We deserve to be protected from anyone who would harm us. But often we get involved where we don't need to be (Libya, Syria, Iraq, Venezuela)
First, why are WE sending troops and spending money when other countries in their region should be helping? Why do we still have bases in Germany, Italy, Japan, and England, to name just a few? These countries are well developed and are perfectly capable on their own.
We could cut our forces by 15% and still be the strongest on the planet, still be well defended at home, and reduce our budget drastically.
Drugs
The myths of reefer madness have long since been dispelled, and now we know that marijuana only makes a person a threat to a bag of chips. It's ridiculous that it's taken us this long. It should be treated like alcohol, available to adults but still an intoxicant that no one should drive under the influence of.
Kratom is not currently a Schedule I substance, but it's come close. Kratom is not addictive, and can help some people with pain relief as well as withdrawal symptoms from opiates.
Other drugs that may seem scary to many of us, and are in fact actually harmful, should still fall under "my body, my choice"
There's currently no restriction on high cholesterol, high fat, high sugar foods. People die from heart attacks, strokes, and diabetes related complications.
Many things can be harmful, but is it the federal government's right to tell us what we can do to our own bodies?
Legalize Prostitution
Yes, I said Legalize prostitution, and here's why:
The "oldest profession" is never going to go away. With it comes other problems, like STDs and sex trafficking.
So why legalize it then?
Because under the current system, girls who are being trafficked or even ladies who are willingly selling their "services" are afraid to go to the police. Predators know this and use it against these women.
If a guy roughs up a sex worker, who can she turn to? If a client decides to not pay for services, what can she do about it?
So long as everyone involved is 1) consenting and 2) of legal age, then it really should not be any more of our business that if two people hooked up after meeting online or at a bar.
And then those who are afraid to report that they're being forced into the industry won't be afraid to come seek help.
Abortion
And the most hotly contested of all topics: Abortion.
I'm pro-life.
BUT
While I believe that ending any life is homicide, and when it's something you take days to consider, that makes it pre-meditated by definition, I do not support banning all abortion.
In cases of rape, I would hope that a woman would go to a hospital, get tested for STDs, collect evidence for police, and get a morning after pill.
But even those aren't 100% effective.
I am 100% in favor of saving a mother's life in a risky pregnancy.
I'm also in favor of preventing suffering in the case of children with confirmed severe deformities that would result in death shortly after birth anyway. Almost all "late term" abortions fall under this category.
No woman is heartless enough to be 7 months along, picking out clothes and names, and suddenly change her mind.
There are only a handful of clinics that perform these and they're expensive and not covered by any insurance.
Even early abortions, I find to be very unfortunate. I can only imagine how future generations will one day judge us.
But it is my belief, that with better education this problem will fade on its own.
There are 17 year old girls who don't even know about their ovulation cycle and boys are still taught very little at all.
THIS is the cause for unwanted pregnancies.
If birth control was as easy to buy as condoms or tampons, we'd see a drop in abortions. Plan B is already sold without prescription, so regular birth control should be as well.
Pro-choice should be about choices made BEFORE conception. So let's make those choices easier to access and educate our kids better.
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Originally Posted by Origanalist
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