Tonight, I plan to shoot a few videos to present my views on youtube.

Today…

I made a craigslist ad for my signature-canvassing team: http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/evg/2683242384.html .  I spoke with James Ogle from http://www.usparliament.org about my campaign and our shared desire to repair the American electoral system.  I’ve been contacting people about joining my campaign staff.

This is a lot of work!  Join me.

Encourage Rational Public Dialogue

A lot of the work I want to do is aimed at encouraging people to speak openly and honestly about the issues without the mindless fearmongering of the (majority of) Republicans and the wishy-washy bull of the (majority of) Democrats.  People are going to disagree.  Most rational people have internal disagreements about certain issues.  There’s nothing wrong with that.  But when one party refuses to address actual FACTS and EVIDENCE while the other refuses to have a backbone and take a stand on ANYTHING, we get gridlocked and nothing gets done.  And it’s the people who suffer for it. 

An example of what I’m talking about is the ongoing debate on capital punishment.  I don’t have an easy answer because, like most Americans, I, too, am divided on this issue.  Continue reading →

Stop Corporate Lobbyists from Controlling the Government

I will work hard to pass legislation that eliminates corporate campaign contributions entirely and put a hard cap on what private citizens may contribute.  Campaigners will have to rely on message in order to earn votes rather than spending luxuriously on petty attack ads and misinformation campaigns.  More importantly, by removing the influence of big money, politicians will have more motivation to do their jobs serving the people who elected them.  On top of that, I will push for the prosecution of politicians who benefit from “favors” when they leave office, such as taking cushy jobs from people who benefited from legislation.  This is already illegal, but it isn’t enforced.  I’ll make sure that the law is strengthened.

Why is it so bad for corporations to lobby and contribute so heavily to campaigns? Continue reading →

Repair the Economy

This is what is on most people’s minds these days.  The economy.  Unemployment is out of control (officially 9%, but even the DOL acknowledges that this figure is wildly inaccurate as it only represents people who are on or eligible for unemployment insurance payments; watchdog groups have calculated actual unemployment to be over 24% and the combined unemployment+underemployment figure to approach 50% nationally), wages are low and going down, manufacturing jobs are continuing to vanish, private debt is pervasive, people are still losing their homes, and… okay, I’ve spelled it out.  It looks bad.  But things aren’t as bad as they appear on the surface.  In fact, there are a handful of reasonably simple steps that can be taken that would rescue and reinvigorate the economy, fixing everything.  Don’t believe it?  Read on: Continue reading →

Balance the Federal Budget

The budget as well as our economic crises (we face many economic issues) are so expansive that they have to be addressed expansively.  I will address these problems as part of many other issues as you’ll see.

End the Wars and Occupations

If we want to begin addressing our budget issues, we absolutely have to put an end to unjust invasions and occupations of foreign sovereign nations.  The United States spends too much on its military.  China has the biggest military in the world and spends around $100 billion (in real dollars, accounting for currency exchange differences) a year.  The Unites States’ military is less than 2/3 the size of China’s and spends more than $700 billion.  That math isn’t hard to follow.  End the wars and the deficit looks a heck of a lot more manageable.  We can easily cut that budget figure in half (or better) without sacrificing a single military job.  People on the left are starting to tout this as a “cure-all” solution to our budget woes, but it isn’t.  It is, however, a good start.  There is no clear strategic purpose in maintaining these senseless, bloody campaigns and they have to stop.

Fix the Tax Code

Warren Buffett recently remarked to the media that his cleaning lady pays more taxes than he does.  Continue reading →

Imagine a photo of me here, on the left, with shorter hair and a less crazy beard.  Looking respectable.

Why?

I have decided.

I am going to run for one of New York’s seats in the United States Senate in 2012.  Continue reading →