These are some of the policies of the presidential candidate Sanderson Beck, and he asks every progressive candidate running for political offices in 2020 to consider adopting these policies. On his webpage he will note which presidential candidates have accepted each of these policies. Presidential candidates who would like to publicize their similar policies can do so by indicating the numbers of those accepted and send them to him at sandersonbeck@gmail.com
#1
Single-payer Medicare for all with no deductibles or co-pays, including hospital, prescription drugs, mental health, prevention, vision, hearing, and dental.
Single-payer health care is like Medicare and Medicade together with the US Government paying all the bills. Persons choose their doctors with a primary care physician for annual visits who recommends other doctors. The patient decides which appointments to make. The US Congress will legislate the details and could include activities that enhance health such as various forms of exercise, education, and therapy. This more efficient public health care will remove profit-making by private insurance and reduce administrative costs, saving Americans more than $500 billion annually and could also reduce pharmacy costs by regulation and access to generic drugs by reforming patent laws. See pnhp.org for more info.
#2
Removing the cap on income for the Social Security tax and increasing the tax rate to help cover health care.
Removing the cap on income, which is currently at $132,900, for the Social Security tax would transform a regressive tax into a progressive one. The employer now pays half of the 12.4% tax including half of the 2.9% portion that goes for Medicare. Removing the cap will greatly strengthen Social Security, and so the 9.5% for that could probably be reduced a little while the Medicare for All tax would have to go up, though other taxes on income, assets, and estates could also contribute to Health Care.
I suggest that Congress consider making the tax percentage the same for all incomes on Social Security and Health Care as a sign of equality and also the benefits could be the same for all. This puts some responsibility on low incomes to pay this, but the progressive nature of the tax means that their benefits will be much greater than the amount they paid in tax while the wealthy do not really need more Social Security than the poor. In this system the percentage paid and the benefits received would be the same for everyone. Those with low incomes would still have access to the social safety net to make sure their basic needs are met. Why should a person making a million or more in a year pay the same amount for Social Security as one who earns $132,900 instead of paying the same percentage?
#3
Women’s rights: the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) and health care covering ending a pregnancy.
Alice Paul first formulated the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) to the US Constitution in 1923, and she revised it in 1943 to read, “Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.” Yet it still has not been ratified despite women’s efforts to gain equality for nearly a century. This amendment needs to be passed before 2023 so that equal pay and other rights of women will be protected by the Constitution.
The bodies of men and women are sacrosanct, and no government influenced by patriarchal men should interfere with what a woman chooses to do with her body and its health care. A fetus is not an independent human being until the soul enters that body with the first breath after it is born and begins functioning as a human being.
#4
Election reforms: universal registration age 16 & over, commercial-free debates, regulating money, election day a holiday, ranked-choice voting, & National Popular Vote for President.
Yesterday in an absolutely partisan vote the Democrats passed some helpful election reforms to increase public financing of elections, mandating transparency of corporate donations with more disclosure, ending gerrymandering, and facilitating registration and voting in various ways including making election day a holiday. Based on complete Republican rejection of this bill in the House, it is not likely to become law until after the next election.
Meanwhile candidates can promote other reforms, including some that states may enact, such as passing National Popular Vote to get around the Electoral College that gave us Bush II and Trump. Ranked-choice voting overcomes the tendency to vote for “the lesser of two evils” and also eliminates run-off elections. Debates need to be more open and presented by media without commercial interruptions. I also recommend lowering the voting age to 16 to encourage the youth who are entering politics in greater numbers because of their concerns about climate disturbance and gun violence.
#5
Expanding the social safety net to make sure that every person in the United States has access to adequate food, housing, education, and health care.
Will America become a truly humanitarian nation, or will we continue to let greedy rich people dominate politics and ignore the needs of the poor for food and housing and even the middle class who could benefit so much by having equal opportunity in education and complete health care as a human right? The American dream needs support in order to give every person a good chance to lift themselves up by means of education and personal effort to succeed in life.
Traditionally states provide public education based largely on property taxes and with local administration. This has resulted in school districts that provide varying support for education. I believe that every person deserves an equal education, and so I propose that the Federal Government should provide financial support to equalize the funding for all public schools. I also favor providing subsidized tuition in all public colleges and universities as well as living expenses for food and housing. One way of doing this might be to provide for all these expenses with interest-free loans which could be repaid by crediting half of future income tax as payments on the loans.
I believe that education is the best investment we can make in our future. By hiring more teachers and paying them better we can attract capable people to fill this important profession so that with smaller classes students will get much more attention and tutoring.
Research shows that if the minimum wage had kept pace with labor productivity growth since 1968, by now it would be more than $20 per hour, and it would need to go up to more than $22 by 2024. Dozens of studies made since 2001 have also shown that raising the minimum has only a small effect on employment. Contrary to popular belief, most low-wage workers are adults. More than half of those who would benefit by raising the minimum wage are women, and about 40% of black workers and 34% of Latinos would get a wage increase, even if it was only to $15.
When billionaires and millionaires, who tell us that we cannot afford even that minimum wage, donate more than half their wealth to help low-wage workers, then I may believe what they say.
#7
Progressive personal income tax that includes capital gains and with a 70% maximum bracket.
In the years 1949-53 about 80% of the average income growth in the United States went to the bottom 90% of earners and only 20% to the top 10%. Every five-year period from then until 1979 had more growth for the bottom 90% than for the top one in ten. Then a sudden shift occurred. In the years 1982-90 only 20% of the income growth went to the bottom 90%, and in the decade 1991-2000 about 23% went to the 90% of earners. Then in the 2001-07 period barely 1% of income growth went to the bottom 90% while 99% went to the top tenth. During the recession “recovery” 2009-12 the income of the bottom 90% of earners went down by about 7% while the income growth of the richest 10% increased by about 116%. Since 2014 the income of the top 10% has increased by about 8% annually while that of the 90% has gone up less than 2%.
The distribution of income is affected by personal income taxes. Under Republican President Eisenhower in the 1950s the maximum US income tax rate was 91%. In 1964 President Johnson reduced this tax rate to 77% and to 70% the next year, but in 1968 he raised it back to 77% to help pay for the Vietnam War. President Nixon reduced the maximum income tax rate to 70% by 1971. This marginal rate remained above or at 70% until President Reagan got it reduced to 50% in 1982, to 38.5% in 1987, and to only 28% in 1988. The top rate was then increased under President George H. W. Bush to 31% in 1991 and by President Clinton to 39.6% in 1993, creating a temporary surplus in the federal budget; but under George W. Bush it went down again from 39.6% to 35% in 2003. In a compromise President Obama approved an extension of this tax rate in 2011 for two more years, and then the 39.6% rate was reinstated in 2013. President Trump cut the highest rate to 37% in 2018. Under Reagan, the Bushes, and Trump the reduced revenues combined with high military spending caused large deficits and greatly multiplied the national debt from less than $1 trillion when Reagan was elected in 1980 to more than $22 trillion now. The maximum capital gains tax rate was reduced to 15% in 2004 but returned to 20% in 2013. This income, which is not even earned by work, should be taxed by personal income tax rates. In the United States 10% of the people receive more than 90% of all capital gains while 50% of all capital gains go to only about 3,200 people.
Increasing the highest rate on personal income tax to 70% while reducing the rates on lower incomes will help redistribute extremely unequal wealth and provide revenues for social programs.
#8
Increasing the corporate income tax to 50% and removing loopholes that allow large corporations to pay little.
The top marginal tax rate for US corporations was over 50% for 15 years during a strong economy between 1951 and 1969; but it was reduced to a little below 35% in 1988 and was 35% from 1993 to 2017, and Trump reduced it to 21% in 2018. Yet the richest corporation in history, Amazon, manages not to pay this tax. This foolish policy change has helped transferred enormous wealth into fewer hands while the US debt has increased to over $22 trillion.
The time has come for the people to assert their influence to make those who benefit the most from the work of all the people to contribute a larger share of their wealth for the good of all.
#9
An annual tax on assets until the US debt is paid off with 1% on wealth over $1 million, 2% over $10M, 3% over $100M, 4% over $1 billion, 5% over $10B, and 6% over $100B.
A temporary progressive tax on wealth could pay off the $22 trillion national debt in a few years. The US is currently paying $1.4 billion per day for interest on this debt with some going to the rich from whom it was borrowed. This tax would have the super-wealthy pay back a portion of their excessive wealth. For example each year a person with $10M would pay $90,000, one with $100M would pay $1.89M, one with $1B would pay $28.89M, one with $10B would pay $388.89M, and a person with $100B would pay $4.889B. The United States has worldwide tax jurisdiction and can tax assets wherever they are located.
Elizabeth Warren has proposed an annual tax of 2% on family assets over $50 million and 3% on assets above $1 billion.
#10
Regulating the financial sector including a 1% sales tax on stocks, bonds, and derivatives to be equally divided by the federal and state governments to help finance free public education from pre-K through college.
While people are spending as much as 8% on sales tax, currently US financial speculators pay no tax at all on trading stocks, bonds, and derivatives valued annually at more than $5,000 trillion. Smaller scale investors could be protected from the tax by a $1 million annual exemption. This tax could slow down quick computer trading. Yet estimates on the revenue indicate the tax would probably raise nearly $1 trillion per year. Since 1948 the financial sector’s share of US private, domestic income has nearly tripled to more than 9%. Sharing this tax revenue equally with state governments will provide balance and help them fund education and other social programs.
#11
An estate tax with a $1 million exemption in addition to the progressive rates proposed by Sanders above $3.5 million.
Inheritances account for 40% of all wealth in the United States. The 2017 tax cut more than doubled the exemption on the estate tax to $11.2 million with twice that for a couple, and the top rate remained at 40%. In 1970 the exemption was only $60,000, and the top rate over $10 million was 77%.
Bernie Sanders has proposed a progressive estate tax of 40% on estates worth more than $3.5 million up to $10 million with a 50% bracket between $10 million and $50 million, 55% above $50 million, and a top bracket of 77% over $1 billion. Also the Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts loophole would be closed. I support Sanders’ plan but would lower the exemption to $1 million with a 20% tax on the first bracket up to $3.5 million.
#12
Reducing US military spending 25% per year.
The US Department of Defense budget for 2019 is $686 billion plus $15 billion for nuclear weapons. In 2018 China was second spending $168 billion and Russia was third at $63 billion. I believe that Americans will be much better off by greatly reducing this exorbitant funding for a misguided effort to try to dominate the world. By ending wars, making peace, and negotiating disarmament in stages we can steadily cut back these destructive and dangerous pursuits that have been bankrupting our nation since World War II. These reductions will help end deficit spending and reduce the national debt. At the same time the United States will become a friendly nation again rather than one that is feared and hated as we learn to solve problems nonviolently with love and understanding.
#13
Stopping all US arms sales and transferring this money to humanitarian aid for suffering nations.
18 March 2019
In 2016 the world’s arms sales between nations reached its highest level since 1989 led by the United States at $9.9 billion and Russia at $6.4B. Between 2013 and 2017 the US sold weapons to at least 98 nations and provided 34% of all exports with 18% of its sales going to Saudi Arabia. President Trump has increased this nefarious business that is complicit in the humanitarian disaster in Yemen. Congress is acting to change this, and a veto by Trump would be a crime against humanity.
If the United States truly wants to be the greatest nation in the world, we must stop being the country that is doing more harm than any other except the government of Syria. I would end all military aid to foreign nations and shift these billions to humanitarian aid for countries with the greatest need which would include Venezuela and Iran as reparations for the damage caused by US sanctions.
#14
Removing all US military bases from foreign countries.
The United States has about 150,000 troops at an estimated 800 military bases in some 80 nations. Russia may have as many as 40 bases in 9 countries that are mostly former Soviet Republics; but Russians do have bases in Syria and Vietnam. No other nation has more than ten foreign bases.
Mikhail Gorbachev renounced the Soviet empire by allowing non-Russian republics and east European satellites to be free, ending the Cold War. Although President H. W. Bush and his Secretary of State Baker promised Gorbachev they would not expand NATO to the east at all if Germany was allowed to reunify, subsequent Presidents Clinton, Bush II, Obama, and Trump increased the NATO alliance by adding Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic in 1999, Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia in 2004, Albania and Croatia in 2009, and Montenegro in 2017.
The US also has bases in Afghanistan, Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Brazil, Diego Garcia, Cuba, Curaçao, Djibouti, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Honduras, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Netherlands, Niger, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, South Korea, Spain, Syria, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom. The annual cost to American taxpayers of the foreign bases has been estimated at $22 billion by the Pentagon, at $250B by economist Anita Dancs, and between $100-150B by author David Vine.
The Chinese have often accused the US of “hegemony,” and other critics call it “imperialism.” The US uses these bases to project power around the world which is covered by regional commands and so has taken on the role of policing the world. Yet every US President admits that this is done in the name of the “national interest” without admitting that this is not done to establish justice or world peace.
I recommend bringing home these troops while negotiating diplomatically and encouraging the United Nations to expand its peacekeeping functions which it has carried out with many successes since 1946. As a neutral world authority the UN can act as nonviolently as possible to resolve international conflicts.
#15
Negotiating the disarmament of all nuclear weapons in the world fulfilling the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty and the 2017 Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
On July 7, 2017 the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was approved by 122 nations; 69 nations abstained including the 9 nuclear weapons countries and all 29 NATO members except the Netherlands which was the only state that voted against the treaty.
The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) was signed in 1968 and became effective in 1970, and 191 nations have joined the treaty. Yet a half century later the nations with nuclear weapons are still in violation of Article VI which reads:
Each of the Parties to the Treaty undertakes to pursue negotiations in good faith on effective measures relating to cessation of the nuclear arms race at an early date and to nuclear disarmament, and on a treaty on general and complete disarmament under strict and effective international control.
I believe that the abolition of all nuclear weapons is even more of an emergency than climate disruption because a nuclear war could mean the end of the human race, and until those weapons are abolished, it could happen at any time. The United States and Russia, which have 95% of all the nuclear bombs, stand to gain the most economically by removing these useless weapons; but these governments have refused to give up their MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction) nuclear “deterrent” because of their cowardly desire to dominate other nations with these genocidal devices. Negotiation for the universal disarmament of all nuclear arms is my top priority as a Presidential candidate.
#16
Stopping covert operations and negotiating an end to all military conflicts.
During World War II the United States formed the Office of Strategic Services (OSS) based on the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6) and its British Commando raids. OSS was succeeded by the Central Intelligence Group (CIG) in January 1946, and then the Central Intelligence Agency was formed in July 1947 which assigned covert operations to the Special Activities Division (SAD) that included covert political action in foreign nations and the Special Operations Group (SOG) which includes Paramilitary Operations Officers and Special Forces. To protect its secrecy and deniability CIA officers are trained to use false identities and lie in their operations. The budget of the CIA is included in the secret projects of the “black budget” which has greatly increased since 9-11-2001. In 2018 the Trump Administration was reported as asking for $81 billion for the black budget in 2019.
Although I support the gathering of information to increase awareness of what is going on in the world, I believe that violent actions in other countries are violations of international law and the United Nations Charter and must be stopped if the US is to help lead the world to peace and justice.
Also we must negotiate as soon as possible reconciliation and an end to all military conflicts. These violent activities in the name of a “war against terrorism” have stimulated more terrorism by those resenting American interference in their countries, making bad situations worse.
#17
United States acceptance of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The imperialistic policies of the United States as a superpower have often violated many treaties and international laws. To protect itself from criminal prosecutions by the International Criminal Court the US leaders have refused to join that court or accept its jurisdiction. The ICC was established in July 2002 and is now accepted by 123 nations. An additional 31 countries signed the Rome Statute that created the ICC but have not ratified it yet. The United States signed but in May 2002 notified the UN Secretary-General it no longer intended to ratify. This irresponsible decision needs to be reversed.
Many Americans believe that the United States is the greatest nation in the world; but if we want to be more than the greatest criminal nation in the world, we need to improve our ethics by reforming our international behavior and accepting international law and the International Criminal Court.
#18
Greatly increasing support for United Nations peacekeeping.
I believe it is inherently unjust and morally wrong for powerful nations to use their armed forces to try to police other countries because they usually do so to advance their own interests. Yet violent conflicts need to be resolved, and wars must be prevented and stopped as nonviolently as possible. Many great philosophers and peacemakers such as Wilson, Roosevelt, Einstein, Bertrand Russell, A. J. Muste, and the Clark-Sohn plans have suggested that an international court of justice and a neutral world authority such as the United Nations can best be used to resolve these conflicts be sending in UN Peacekeeping forces. Therefore I strongly support the universal disarmament of national military forces while strengthening United Nations Peacekeeping.
#19
Negotiating reduction of military forces worldwide.
After all nuclear weapons in the world have been dismantled and abolished, negotiation for the reduction of military forces in the world could begin probably under the coordination and supervision of the United Nations which could also be reformed to be made more democratic and fair to all nations and people. The benefits of such universal disarmament for the people of the world would be immense and would enable humanity to solve other emergencies such as climate disruption and more equal economic development.
#20
Funding clean energy and efficiency and the Green New Deal.
I support the comprehensive reform plans in the Green New Deal Resolution 109 introduced into the House of Representatives by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on February 2, 2019.
#21
$20 per ton tax on carbon emissions.
The carbon tax is needed to discourage the use of fossil fuels and to pay for their disrupting the climate and to use the revenue to mitigate its consequences as well as to support clean energy technology that prevents climate disruption. In 2018 the price of carbon emissions in Europe went above 20 euros ($22.6) per ton. By increasing the carbon tax annually fossil fuel companies will be encouraged to provide cleaner energy sooner.
#22
Taxing livestock to pay for emissions and water costs.
Livestock cause as much as 18% of all greenhouse gases. Denmark has proposed a tax on cows equal to $265.58 per year to help them reduce their greenhouse gases by 40% by 2020. PETA also advises an excise tax on meat in order to pay for the health and environmental costs it causes. The World Health Organization classifies processed meat as a Group 1 carcinogen, and eating meat also contributes to heart disease, obesity and diabetes. The United States is a very large consumer of meat and has the highest health care costs.
Bloomberg has found that 41% of US land in the 48 “contiguous states revolves around livestock.” BioScience reported, “Agriculture consumes about 70% of fresh water worldwide” with 1 kilogram of cereal grain requiring 265 gallons of water while 1 kg of beef uses 11,359 gallons.
For these reasons a tax on livestock especially beef will improve health, the environment, and safeguard the diminishing resource of fresh water during global heating.
#23
Taxing and removing subsidies to unsustainable industrial agriculture, and regulating food and drug purity.
Industrial agriculture with its large-scale monoculture, extensive use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and confined animal-feeding operations needs to be transformed by removing its subsidies and by taxing its products that are unsustainable ecologically. Pesticides poison these foods and the environment, and abusing the use of antibiotics for livestock is promoting the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria (superbugs).
The US Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906 needs to be effectively enforced in order to guarantee the purity of food and drugs and protect people’s health.
#24
Subsidizing organic agriculture, carbon sequestration, and land restoration and soil rehydration.
An important part of the Green New Deal will be the restoration and rehydration of land to create more plants that will absorb carbon dioxide to reduce global warming. Advances in permaculture (permanent agriculture) in China and in many other places are enabling humans to reclaim barren lands to restore the soil for plant life, and this could be done on a large scale especially in the western half of the United States.
By transforming industrial agriculture to organic farming food will be more healthy, and by rotating crops and by plowing used plants back into the earth much carbon dioxide can be sequestered.
Both of these large-scale projects are especially helpful because they will not only slow down carbon emissions but actually could diminish the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, reversing global warming.
#25
Criminal justice reform to implement restorative justice that compensates victims of crime and emphasizes rehabilitation rather than punishment.
After the helpful First Step Act we still need major criminal justice reform by implementing the principles and methods of restorative justice. These include compensating the victims of crime and allowing those willing to meet with the perpetrators to work toward reconciliation and greater understanding, and replacing punishment by counseling, therapy, education, job training, and rehabilitation. I would therefore encourage this transformation of the federal prison system to provide a better example for the states.
#26
Banning all automatic and semi-automatic weapons, registering and licensing guns, and limiting ammunition.
Prudent gun-control laws in Australia, Japan, and many other nations have shown that atrocious crimes using especially lethal guns can be greatly reduced and nearly eliminated without banning all guns.
In the United States common-sense gun reforms have been blocked in the US Congress because legislators have been corrupted by contributions and threats from the National Rifle Association (NRA), and this has allowed frequent gun massacres to continue in the US.
All military-style assault weapons including automatic and semi-automatic weapons as well as large clips of ammunition and excessive supplies of bullets can be banned from private ownership without affecting self-defense at home or reasonable hunting. People need to register cars and obtain driver licenses, why not have similar laws for guns which cause many more unnecessary deaths?
#27
Protecting free expression of ideas; increasing funding for public broadcasting; establishing a free search service online for all websites that do not have paid advertisements; and taxing commercials that appear on public airwaves.
First amendment rights must be protected. Government can also reduce the advertisements that pollute communication. Let businesses and products be promoted on their own websites or publications that can be found by customers seeking those products and services but not be displayed in other places where consumers do not want to see or hear them.
#28
Increasing humanitarian aid to poor countries to help them become self-supporting and sustainable.
The United States is a rich and powerful nation. As we save money by greatly reducing our military spending, we can also assist the effort to prevent climate disruption and help reform economic inequities by providing financial, educational and technical assistance to the poorest nations.
#29
Welcoming refugees and allowing legal process to citizenship for immigrants.
The United States is a nation of immigrants who have come here and earned their places in our society, and America has often been a haven for the suffering and persecuted. This is an important part of our greatness, and we still have room for many more people in our vast land.
I believe especially in accepting refugees as a generous and charitable country. I also favor a path to citizenship for immigrants who are already here no matter how they got here. I would also welcome new immigrants who are seeking a better life as long as they do not commit violent crimes.