Make America Kind Again: The Platform

We need a vision for the future, not just Resistance. Our vision is Kindness.

The majority of Americans want affordable healthcare, more good jobs, decriminalized marijuana, expanded social security, America rejoining the Paris Accord, legal protections for Dreamers, laws that are kinder to animals, national park protections, civil forfeiture protections, universal background checks, Net Neutrality, and Internet privacy protections.

The majority of the current Congress do not want to protect those rights.

So let’s take back Congress in the 2018 election with a simple platform around Kindness toward all Americans:

1. Fix the Affordable Care Act. Congress should improve the existing ACA, and work together on longer term solutions for better healthcare for all Americans. 69% of Americans support improving the Afforable Care Act.
2. Create good new jobs for Americans without college degrees through public-private partnerships. We need to create more good jobs, period, not just in renewable technologies but across all sectors and in every state in our nation. This article provides good food for thought.
3. Decriminalize Marijuana. Marijuana saves lives and it’s already legal in over half of America. Canada legalized it; so did Mexico. Let’s make it easier for scientists and doctors to conduct more great research, too. Over 64% of Americans favor legalizing marijuana.
4. Expand Social Security. America is facing a looming retirement income crisis. 72% of Americans support expanding, not cutting, Social Security.
5. Sign the Paris Accord. Many U.S. states allied to join the Paris Accord after Trump destroyed our commitment. Congress should officially join the rest of the world in the Paris Accord. This will create MANY new jobs. 69% of Americans say the U.S. should participate in the Paris Agreement.
6. Pass legal protections for Dreamers. America is long overdue for immigration reform, including DACA protections and more ICE oversight. 87% of Americans support a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers.
7. Make sure new legislation is kind to animals. The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by how its animals are treated. Valuing animals and valuing humans go hand in hand. Republicans are gutting the Endangered Species Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act, Migratory Bird Treaty Act, and others, in service of fossil fuels, as well as quietly ending the Elephant and Lion trophy import ban. National parks and public lands are worth protecting for ALL Americans and animals. 90% of Americans support the Endangered Species Act.
8. Establish Civil Asset Forfeiture protections for all Americans. Americans now lose more property to civil asset forfeiture than to burglary each year. Unconstitutional asset forfeiture practices hurt us all and America needs legislation to protect our citizens from these increasingly common abuses. 84% of Americans oppose civil asset forfeiture.
9. Require universal checks. 91% of Americans support universal checks when guns are bought, and this could jumpstart more sensible gun laws.
10. Save Net Neutrality. 83% of Americans support saving Net Neutrality.
11. Re-establish great Internet privacy protections for all Americans. In 2017, the Republican Congress dismantled federal Internet privacy rules that almost EVERY American wants. Let’s have the next Congress undo their bad work and restore Internet privacy protections for all Americans. 92% of Americans support strengthening Internet privacy rules.

We can develop this strawman into a Contract with America for 2018 that candidates can run on, with a promise to keep once they are voted in.

Longer term, we could create an Economic Bill of Rights like FDR proposed, that says every American has the right to a job; an adequate wage and decent living; a decent home; medical care; economic protection during sickness, accident, old age, or unemployment; and a good education:

Our vision will make America stronger. Let’s Make America Kind Again.