The U.S. government has over-reached its mandate and we need to scale back its activities, especially given that many of these are in the service of those who need them least. Government should be dedicated only to those activities that private citizens and the states can not address, to wit: the currency; the federal justice system; retirement and disability benefits and guaranteeing a living wage to low-income workers and a safety-net to the veterans, unemployed and impoverished; foreign policy (including foreign trade and aid policy); defense; space and ocean exploration; pure-science research and development; healthcare; education assistance to the states and loans/grants to individuals for higher and vocational education as well as support for national museums and research centers; the national environment (including national parks); the constitutionally-mandated census; disaster management; and interstate transportation. Examples of things we should cease include subsidies to agriculture and business, loans to businesses, general (vs. project- and education-specific) grants to educational institutions and military aid to undemocratic countries. We simply can not be all things to every aspect of society because trying to do so distracts and diverts us from seeing to our core responsibilities, those duties only a federal government can undertake.   Therefore, we should simplify the cabinet to include only ten cabinet-level officials besides the VP and the Chief of Staff: Treasury, Attorney General, Human Services, Health, R&D/Education and Exploration, State, Domestic Security and Intelligence, Defense, Interior and Transportation. Treasury should be assisted by the head of the Secret Service for the defense of the currency; the AG should be assisted by Labor Dept. and EEOC, FEC, FCC, FBI (for enforcement matters), Agriculture Regulatory Affairs,  Commerce Regulatory Affairs, DEA, ATF and SEC directors whose sole jobs would be to enforce their respective laws and regulations; Human Services should be assisted by directors of the SSA, Welfare, Native American Affairs, HUD and Veterans Affairs; Health should be assisted by directors of the FDA, CDC and NIH as well as an AMO (see below); RDEE by directors for the NEA, Department of Education and the NSF, a director for a Central Statistics Department that will see to all government statistics and the census, and the heads of NASA and an NOEA (see below); State by a Trade Representative and a director of USAID; HSI by the heads of the various intelligence agencies including the CIA and the NSA as well as by the head of the FBI for domestic intelligence matters; Interior by an EPA director, a FEMA director and a Director of National Parks and Federal Lands; Transportation by heads of the NTSB, FAA, etc. The office of Surgeon General should be abolished and its functions taken over by the FDA. The Departments of Agriculture, Commerce and Energy should be abolished as separate, cabinet-level departments, with their statistical and research work going to RDEE and enforcement to Justice under the AG.   Who will object to the vision set out below? Car- and truck-makers, aircraft-makers and airlines, traditional utilities, medical malpractice trial lawyers, big agribusiness. Those benefiting include medical insurers, doctors and other healthcare practitioners, small farmers, the high-tech sector and other non-polluting industries. But the important thing is that the American people would be the winners here. This vision is about a cleaner environment that doesn't mean fewer jobs. It's about making sure we all have access to basic healthcare and that our kids get the education they deserve and that our future economy will require. It's about acknowledging that we are first and foremost humans who constitute a community and that we should make that community accordingly humane by respecting the basic dignity of all.   I. Taxation   Replace all current federal taxes with the revenue streams listed below. Note these replace all current taxes: for example, there would be no more separate SS, FICA or Medicare payroll deductions for individuals or payroll taxes for businesses. The only revenue streams not replaced here are routine service, permit, application charges, etc. already in place for government services and which account for roughly 5% of government revenue.   The philosophy here is simple: our economy is driven by essentially three sources of income - salaries, corporate and property/rental profits, and returns on investments - and our government should be supported in the same proportion as these three sources support the overall economy.   Are the percentages below accurate? I seriously doubt it. I have gotten as close as I can with my limited skills, but it would take experts such as those at the CBO, OMB or GAO to get more exact figures, but even they would never be able to get it completely right. Only enactment and then tweaking in subsequent years would get the percentages right. But I am certain of four things: 1) the thresholds; 2) the deductions; 3) the need for automatic CPI and PPI adjustments; and 4) most important of all, the underlying philosophy of supporting the government in the same proportions we support the economy. The only adjustment I have made is to shoot for about $100B less in personal income tax revenue than would be proportionate because I feel quite certain that most of the pollution rights costs would be passed directly to consumers through higher utility and transportation costs and this must be offset. So take the tax rates with a grain of salt and focus rather on the overall structure. Revenue target: $2.1 trillion (2005 dollars).   1.   A tax rate of 30% applicable only to all income over $35,000.00 (2005 dollars) per annum per person. A rate of 15% would apply to all income over $17,500 and up to $35,000.00 per annum and 5% for income at or below $17,500. These rates apply to wages, lottery and other gambling winnings, and inheritances. In the case of inheritances, however, the first $500,000.00 (2005 dollars) will be exempt. There will be NO deductions except for a) IRAs and other approved savings plans; b) daycare costs and higher-education tuition up to $11,500.00 (2005 dollars) per student; c) a maximum of $8,500.00 in primary-residence mortgage interest; d) $2000 per minor dependant; e) charitable donations; and f) up to $2000 in out-of-pocket healthcare expenses per person per family. All thresholds will be adjusted automatically every year by the 12-month trailing CPI, with the exception of the primary-residence mortgage interest deduction, which will be adjusted by the yearly percentage change in the average price for a new home, and the healthcare deduction, which must be adjusted by healthcare inflation rates. Guardians must take either the standard per-minor deduction or the tuition deduction, but not both. For married couples, the income thresholds will simply be doubled for those filing jointly. In other words, a family with one bread-winner earning $70,000 per year with the couple filing jointly would pay a lower rate than a single person earning that same amount.   2.  A national sales and consumption tax of 30% on selected items, including but not necessarily limited to all tobacco and alcoholic products; homes selling for more than three times the average price for their respective states (only on the amount over that threshold); private cars, trucks and RVs selling for more than $40,000.00 (2005 dollars and applied only to the value above the threshold and applicable to the MSRP for the vehicle and any added options or the actual price paid, whichever is higher, and exempting all vehicles with an overall MPG-rating of 30 or higher); all jewelry; private boats; private airplanes; non-commercial recreational vehicles such as snowmobiles, jet-skis, etc; non-essential personal services (e.g. domestic help, elective cosmetic surgeries not covered by insurance, spa services, etc); individual home furnishings priced above $2000.00 (2005 dollars and only on the value above the threshold). Every year, all price thresholds will be revised automatically by the trailing 12-month CPI. The object of this tax is not to discourage or encourage any type of behavior. It is simply a means of collecting revenue from those most able to contribute. Congress must occasionally review and adjust these levels as the price increases of many luxury goods do not stay in line with the overall CPI.   3.   Capital gains and dividend tax: flat 21% on the net gain for everyone, with no deductions except charitable donations.   4.   Corporations and those receiving rental income or other proprietors' income such as farm income will pay a rate of 21% on profits, applied to all profits, foreign (subject to existing tax treaties) and domestic, of companies incorporated in the US and on US profits of foreign corporations (regardless of country of registration and also subject to existing tax treaties). The maximum deduction for ex-U.S. taxes paid for foreign companies' U.S. profits or domestic companies' foreign profits is the amount paid in taxes to the home-country taxing authority. Revisions to tax treaties may be necessary to conform to this rule. Corporate income is defined as all profit minus inventory valuation plus capital consumption adjustment. No deductions of any kind except for charity and dividend payouts. Also, no amount over one million 2005 dollars for any individual employee's compensation may be considered as a business expense when calculating profit. Personal income tax rates will apply in cases of frivolous incorporation. Clear guidelines will be established to help the IRS in determining justifiable incorporation. In the case of individuals with no employees, for example, the corporation must provide more than 75% of that individual's income. Finally, to help small the dwindling number of small-scale farmers, the first $30,000.00 (2005 dollars) in privately-held farm profit will be tax-exempt, except in those cases in which the filing entity is owned by a larger corporate entity whose taxable income exceeds 100,000 (2005 dollars).   5.    The second source of corporate taxation revenue will be a yearly sale of greenhouse-gas and CO pollution rights. The price will be set by auction, but with a reserve price of $22 (2005 dollars) per metric ton of each of the seven main pollutants (CO, CO2, HFCs, PFCs, SF6, Nitrous Oxide and Methane) up to the amount equal to the estimated total produced in the US in 2004. Any company or farm needing to purchase rights after this limit is reached must buy such rights on the open market from other polluters. The price will be automatically adjusted each year by the trailing 12-month PPI, but the amounts allowed at auction will not change. That said, if pollution rises despite these measures, Congress might deem it necessary to raise the price per metric ton of pollution by more than the PPI, though this should be offset by a reduction in the corporate tax to make it revenue-neutral. If the prices of polluting cause industry to turn to methods that produce as much pollution but with different contaminants, Congress should add these new contaminants to the auction list at the appropriate price and amounts allowed. Congress may also deem it necessary to raise the reserve price of some pollutants more than others.   Emissions rights must be purchased for all commercial and industrial emitters. In the case of transportation, all car-, truck- and other vehicle-makers and airlines will be sold their rights at a fixed price of $22 per ton to cover transportation pollution. The amount of pollution rights they must purchase will be calculated by simply dividing the prior year’s total transportation pollution by each company’s prior year new-car fleet estimated emissions (based on vehicles sold and their MPG). Likewise, the airlines will divide up their allotment based not only on miles logged the prior year but also the estimated per-mile emissions from their particular respective fleets, thereby encouraging them to use less-polluting, well-maintained fleets of aircraft. Airlines may trade for pollution rights on the open market if they need more or fewer based on changes in fuel efficiency, miles flown, etc.   All existing pollution restrictions for the seven main pollutants will be lifted for industry: they may pollute as much as they can afford. Likewise, there will be no more CAFE standards for carmakers: if they choose, they may produce nothing but SUVs, but the costs would soon become atmospheric. A company that produces zero-emissions vehicles would obviously face far lower costs. The exception here is mercury pollution, which must be reduced by mandate, not free-market auction. We must insist through legislation that power plants reduce their mercury emissions to 24 metric tons by 2010, 12 tons by 2030 and zero by 2050.   II. Minimum Wage and Social Security   1) National Minimum Wage   The national minimal wage must be $8.70 (2004 dollars). After that, it should be revised automatically every five years by that period's total CPI. The minimum wage for minor workers, however, would be two-thirds of the adult minimum wage, with the understanding that no one under 18 may work more than 20 hours per week. Those minors aged at least 16 years who seek to work more must apply for a waiver and if granted one, they may work as much as they like and at the full minimum wage.   2) Social Security.   Excepting its role as provider of income to the pre-retirement disabled and minor children/homemaker-spouses of those who die before retirement age, Social Security as we know it should be phased out in favor of a national retirement plan that invests in supporting growth. The national retirement plan should be invested by the Social Security Administration in bonds/federal debt repayment (58%) until all federal debt is erased and in all publicly-traded American securities (42%), up to a maximum of 15% of the total market capitalization for all stocks and with the understanding that the government will waive any voting rights earned through its holdings. In periods of zero federal debt, the SSA may use the resulting surplus funds to purchase investment-grade American corporate bonds and/or foreign debt, either through direct loans to foreign governments or through their publicly-traded bonds, though never dealing with those countries on the list of rogue nations as laid out in the attachment below. This plan should give us a return at least five times higher than the current return on SS funds.   The actual payout for retirees should be based on total lifetime wages in relation to aggregate figures for the same period. And because all workers would participate, all would benefit: the annual maximum payout cap would be very high at $96,000 (2005 dollars and revised annually not by the CPI but by the growth in wages), a step that would help ensure national consensus. The only steps necessary to ensure that the system be progressive, would be the inclusion of a sliding scale of percentage of pre-retirement income and the continuance of income tax on the benefits. Income up to or equal to the national average for the bottom quintile (as of year of retirement) would need to be funded at 100% of pre-retirement income; the second at 75%; the middle at 50%; the fourth quintile at 25%; all income above the average for the fourth quintile at 20%, respecting the maximum annual payout as above. The rule for determining the basis salary would be simple: the sum of all wages, expressed in dollars of the retiree's last full calendar year of work, divided by 49 (maximum number of years in adult workforce). After retirement, the determined amount of pay-out should be increased automatically each year by the trailing CPI (minus the energy component) minus 0.2 percentage points. There should be no "death payment": seeing to one's burial and estate should be the responsibility of the retiree and his or her family.   As for homemakers, the legislation must set an annual equivalent salary basis for homemakers, as well as conditions for qualifying as such. For example, a homemaker might receive credit for his/her work for the period from nine months prior to the birth of the eldest child until the 18th birthday of the youngest child. At a minimum, the pay-equivalence should be equal to the average national SS pay-out for the period in question.   The retirement age must be dynamic, a function of estimated life-expectancy at birth as determined by the CDC. In the coming decades, life-expectancy might well reach triple digits and we simply can’t afford to have people working less than half their lifetimes. It is an economic impossibility. For example, an American born in 1985 can expect to live to the age of about 75 and retire at 67. Using this as the basis, the retirement age should thus rise to 71 1/2 for people born in or after the year the life-expectancy raises to 80, 76 for 85, etc. Obviously, this would also affect the above-mentioned divisor for determining pay-outs, raising it, for example, to 50 for someone retiring at 68. Finally, to encourage but not force people to stay in the workforce, any income earned after the retirement age will be credited towards retirement without changing the divisor.   Finally, as for funding, as stated above there should be no separate SS tax, but rather an annual set-aside based on current funds in the SS pool and long-term averages on returns v. its current and future obligations. By doing this on an annual basis, we assure proper funding on the principle of 'pay yourself first' with respect to long-term income security. The SSA must advise the executive each year on its projected need for the coming year's budget in order to meet their goals, based on dispassionate, non-political analyses of investment performance and the relevant demographics, as agreed with the GAO, OMB and CBO.   III. Foreign Policy   Establish a list of repressive or rogue regimes (see attachment below) and take the following actions:   - Absolutely no sale of weapons or provision of direct or indirect military support. - Economic sanctions against said regimes when the executive and legislative branches agree that the nation's security or economic interests are being directly threatened. - Force is to be used only as a last resort and only with congressional approval or a clear and present, immediate danger. Our renunciation of pre-emptive force, except in cases of a clear and present danger, should be put in writing and made clear to all through the U.N.   All dues (current and past) must be kept current with the U.N., but the executive branch must at the same time demand meaningful reform of the Security Council. The permanent members should reflect the current geo-political realities, not the expired realities of the Cold War. Such reform should include revamping the permanent Security Council to reflect the new realities: members should include the US, Russia, France, Germany, UK, China, Japan, India, Brazil, Indonesia. Five seats should be open to the rotating system currently used to assign ten seats and sub-Saharan Africa and the Semitic (Jewish and Arab) Middle-East/North Africa must each be guaranteed one of these at any given time. The current single-veto system must be scrapped in favor of a voting system requiring vetoes from three permanent members to override a simple majority of the whole council. (As now, abstentions will not count as vetoes.) No nation in violation of an active Resolution may serve on the UNSC.   It is in our own interest to encourage the growth, prosperity and stability of developing democracies. To that end, we must budget the equivalent of 1% of GDP annually for this goal. (This would mean approximately $117 billion in 2005.) See separate page for details.   IV. Defense   Use of the United States Armed Forces shall be limited to the defense of the nation, its citizens, its allies and its primary interests globally. The legislative branch must specifically and explicitly approve use of the United States Armed Forces in offensive operations and the waiver of this responsibility by any representative of the party is expressly prohibited. Evidence that the executive branch has deceived the legislative branch in order to win approval for military action shall be considered an act of treason and prosecuted as such. Added to such a charge would be charges of first-degree murder for every person killed as a result of the military act in question. These charges would apply to every government official found to be complicit in the deception of the legislative branch.   In keeping with the above doctrine and recognizing the end of the Cold War, all forces deployed outside of the United States that are not directly utilized for the defense of our country or its allies, will be redeployed. This includes the out-dated deployment in Europe, forces that seem to be deployed in defense against a non-existent Soviet invasion force. Forces in the Korean DMZ will be maintained as their mission is still relevant. Indeed, given the current conditions, they may need to be reinforced.   In peacetime, military spending must be capped at no more than 3% of prior year's GDP, excepting years when there has been a recession of more than 2% (real GDP) in the prior year, in which case it should be flat. Pay levels for all personnel must be at least $20,000 (2004 dollars). All restrictions on spending are suspended in wartime, as defined by Congressional declarations of war.   Defense spending must also be reformed. A comprehensive review of the Armed Forces of the United States will be undertaken with the goal of standardization and streamlining while also planning the long-term defense of the nation. This review will have the following goals:   a) Pay and rank structure and promotions will be standardized. Pay and benefits will be standardized with incentives and benefits applied for hazardous duty and specialization.   b) A single Office of Procurement for the combined armed forces will oversee all procurement. The procurement office will always attempt to use "off-the-shelf" acquisitions from the open market, wherever possible. Contracts will be fully competitive.   c) Non-discrimination. The armed forces will not discriminate on any basis, be it by sex, race or sexual orientation, for any role in their ranks. Having said that, this concept will cut both ways with respect to sex: no physical standard may be lowered for any combat position in order to accommodate a candidate. In short, physical standards should be set by function, not by sex.   V. Trade   Restrictions on the free flow of trade constitute a failed anachronism. It is better to spend a dollar adapting to the new reality than ten dollars propping up an expired one. The world has become too integrated to turn back. However, the new reality of freer world trade is not without consequences. Therefore, all workers deemed to have been displaced by free trade will qualify for the benefits of free (re-)training.   It must also be recognized that free trade cannot truly be considered free if a trading partner takes advantage of poor environmental and working conditions to undercut its trading partners. Wages are a function of local economic conditions, but these two factors need not and must not be. Preferred trading conditions should be limited to those countries who respect both the environment and the rights of their workers. If the WTO cannot be reformed to recognize these fundamental human rights, the U. S. must abandon it and propose a new organization.   One argument that developing countries make against enforcing workers' and children's rights and addressing environmental concerns, is that the true motivation of wealthy countries is to protect their own interests and shut out poorer countries. That is certainly not the motivation of the policy, but one can understand why developing countries might hold on to this suspicion. As a compromise, therefore, the following system is proposed:   A global, annually-updated Cost of Adult Labor and Environmental Standards Index (CALESI) will be developed for every country. The goal of this index is to be able to compare apples to apples: what is the cost of production of one unit of output if one assumes minimum labor, safety and environmental standards? By applying this index to goods, one can control for true differences in cost.   After applying the CALESI to a given imported good, the resulting levy will be awarded to a global development fund, which will in turn use the proceeds to help developing countries build infrastructure, strengthen environmental standards, improve education and reduce poverty.   In the area of agriculture, all government subsidies to this business - and agriculture is a business, today more than ever - must end, just as all business subsidies should be eliminated. The Department of Agriculture should also be eliminated. Any worthwhile research projects and oversight/enforcement duties conducted by this department would be shifted to RDEE and the Justice departments, respectively. If our trading partners refuse to stop subsidizing their own agriculture, we should impose balancing tariffs until they do.   VI. Healthcare   The system is broken. Millions are without healthcare insurance, malpractice litigation is out of control and healthcare costs in general have skyrocketed. As a starting point in our pursuit to address these issues, three principles are submitted:   Healthcare must be recognized as a universal human right.   While our market-based economy is the best in the world and solves many problems through its own mechanisms, the healthcare system cannot be left to its tender mercies. Healthcare provision and widgets do not follow the same rules: if one tries to sell a product worth one dollar for five hundred dollars, the demand will quickly disappear. Demand for healthcare, however, is far less elastic: one cannot simply choose to do without it.   Just as healthcare cannot be addressed strictly through the marketplace, neither can its delivery simply be given over to the state. Socialized medicine is neither practical nor, in America, desirable.   In short, healthcare is a right of all, not the luxury of some, but we must be pragmatic in the delivery on the assurance of this right.   To help limit costs and improve healthcare in general, the right to sue physicians, hospitals, nurses and other practitioners will be eliminated. However, gone, too, will be the right of the AMA to police itself, a job in which it has failed miserably. An Agency for Medical Oversight will be established. All claims of malpractice will be submitted to and mediated by this office. Where a practitioner is found guilty of malpractice, settlements according to strict and unemotional guidelines will be awarded to the patients or their heirs, based on percent of disability, potential future earnings lost, etc. More important still, however, will be the centralization of all claims of malpractice and its consequences so that medical schools and nursing programs might benefit from and avoid these mistakes. A points systems will be established and any practitioner who is penalized with more than the maximum number of allowed points will have his/her license suspended or revoked as necessary. If we suspend the right of a reckless driver to operate an automobile, how can we take less care with those in whose hands we put our lives?   All Americans who do not enjoy private health insurance will be provided with private insurance negotiated centrally by a Dept. of Health. In effect, the government will negotiate a large group contract with private HMOs/PPOs. To avoid encouraging companies to dump their employees onto this new government plan, no company that employs more than 400 people may refuse to provide at least basic HMO or PPO coverage to its employees. Companies employing 400 or fewer employees must reimburse the Dept. of Health for 0.25 percentage points, for each employee, of total costs. Note this is a blanket system for all uninsured Americans: Medicare and Medicaid will disappear.   VII. The Environment   It is a fact that Earth's climate is being adversely affected by the pollution we humans are producing. The EPA should continue its work, but only if the agency maintains a clear and unambiguous mandate and set of goals, to wit:   1) Enforcement of all current environmental legislation. 2) Aiding the private sector by educating companies on business practices that are both environmentally and economically sound. By helping private enterprise identify these areas of improvement, we can help take ideology out of the debate and introduce the concepts of pragmatism and mutually inclusive goals for both business and environmentalists. 3) Oversight of national recycling and conservation campaigns and granting of funds for local campaigns. Such funding must be granted only for proposals that include no less than 60% of funds for tangible, concrete steps such as building of recycling centers, etc. Marketing ideas can be valuable, but without action, it is a waste of taxpayer money. 4) Continued collection of the relevant environmental data.   VIII. Affirmative Action   This controversial practice is often derided as 'reverse discrimination'. However, emotions aside, it is clear that some minorities do not receive the same level of consideration in our economy as others or as the majority.  This is easily quantifiable: most minorities do not earn the same, on average, as do whites. Until these inequalities, as tracked by the Census Bureau, have disappeared, affirmative action is fair and necessary. Having said that, no affirmative action plan implemented by any state or private or public enterprise may violate the Constitution. That, however, is for the judiciary to decide.   Affirmative action, defined as a system of preferences for minorities only in those cases where qualifications are equal or where targets for diversity are met by considering separate lists of candidates divided by race, must continue for any given minority until the Census Bureau determines that that minority no longer earns less on average than 90% of the overall average for all Americans. Once that threshold has been reached, all such programs for that minority must be ceased permanently and immediately, to be restarted only if earnings once again fall below the threshold.   IX. Education   Daycare/Primary/Secondary:   We have been struggling with this issue for over a generation, but as tempting as it is to take aggressive federal action to help students all over the nation, we must respect the right of the states to see to the education of their citizens. That said, we must expect results from the states and help them to achieve these results:   1) Results: In order to receive federal education loans or grants of any kind or to apply for a federal job, one must have earned the American Baccalaureate. This exam will be available to all students in the final semester of high school but will not be a GED or a replacement for a high school diploma. That said, like the GED, it may be taken at any time by adults who failed it in high school but who then wish to apply for a federal loan, grant or job. The need for the A.B. will not be retroactive for those who graduate high school before it is introduced. It will be an exam of the most basic skills: reading, writing, mathematics, civics and science. Any student who can read at the 10th-grade level, who can do basic math, algebra and geometry and who has a general knowledge of American history, the Constitution and government, and who has a fundamental grasp of scientific principles, should pass easily.   2) Help: To help the states achieve these results, block grants will be issued to local school districts. These will be matching grants as they should not replace state and local spending, but supplement it. To qualify for a grant, a district must meet minimum qualifications regarding the percentage of total funds spent on learning (textbooks, teachers, etc. vs. building, extracurricular activities, administration, etc), education funds as a percentage of local earnings and teacher salaries in relation to average earnings in the district. No exam results, however, will be used to qualify for aid as it makes no sense to punish those who need the help most of all.   Creating and overseeing the A.B. and reviewing the districts’ applications for grants should be the only jobs of the Department of Education at the primary and secondary levels and the Secretary of Education should not be a cabinet-level post, recognition of the states’, not the federal government’s, leading role in education.   As mentioned above, all tuition for daycare will be fully deductible.   Finally, to ensure competitiveness in the global market place, we need to ensure that all schools have the resources to offer a 210-day school year and the language skills needed to do business and research in the international market place. To address the latter point, all schools must be able to offer classes in at least three of the world's eight most important languages: Mandarin Chinese, Spanish, Russian, French, Arabic, Portuguese, Japanese and German and every student must study at least one of these languages for eight years between the ages of eight and eighteen. One of the three languages offered in any given school must be a language using non-Latin script (Mandarin, Russian, Arabic or Japanese).   Post-secondary:   One of the factors contributing to the high inflation rate for university education is the unrestricted grants given to universities, grants used on non-education facilities that in turn help jack up the cost of tuition. To curb this, the federal government must limit help at this level to providing educational grants and loans to students and research project-specific grants to the institutions. All post-secondary tuition should be tax-deductible for the filer paying the tuition, up to the limits described in Section I.   X. Federal Welfare    Human dignity must be maintained and we can not call ourselves humane if we allow the economically least of us to be left behind in dire need. Welfare should be granted to anyone who has run out of unemployment or for any reason can not find work. That said, recipients need to continue to seek to return to the workforce. Therefore, we must guarantee a welfare recipient $350 (2005 dollars) in monthly food stamps coded for use on meat, baby supplies, vegetables and fruit and basic staples such as cleaning supplies, flour and spices, etc, as well as an extra $265 (2005 dollars) in such food stamps for each minor dependant; $350 (2005 dollars) in cash; $350 in rent- or mortgage-vouchers. We must also expect that they must be enrolled in federally-subsidized vocational training, with children in federally-paid daycare as necessary, and actively seeking work, as determined by their case-workers. In areas of much higher costs of living, the states must see to their own to make up the difference. Finally, all recipients must undergo drug-testing whenever the caseworker deems it warranted and, as a condition of receiving funds, agree to be committed for federally-paid drug rehabilitation if they fail these tests.   All welfare recipients must repay the welfare they receive by paying 1% of their gross wages up to 20,000 (2005 dollars) back to the government; and 5% of all gross wages between 20,000 and 30,000 (2005 dollars); 15% of all other wages, until their CPI-adjusted benefits are repaid or until they reach the then-current retirement age, whichever comes first.   An excellent complement to this system would be the recently conceived "IDA" (Individual Development Account) idea, which seems to enjoy bipartisan support. Once someone is off welfare and is working, in order to help keep him or her from slipping back, the former recipient would be eligible for the IDA program, in which one receives matching funds to encourage savings as well financial training to help one manage spending, saving, investing and financial planning.   For those who complain that we shouldn't subsidize "laziness", remember this practical point: no capitalist system has ever functioned without excessive inflation unless at least 3% of the workforce was unable to find employment at any given time. In short, we depend on there being excess supply in the labor market to keep costs under control for all of us.   XI. Exploration   There are two great frontiers challenging us: space and the depth of our oceans. Exploration helps give a society a sense of wonder, possibility and hope for the future and is too important, and too expensive, to be left to the private sector entirely. And besides the intangible returns, space exploration has given us countless tangible returns that have benefited all humankind.   NASA must be funded at a level that allows them to reach the goal of replacing the Shuttle fleet with spacecraft appropriate to the three main goals for the early 21st-century, to wit: expanding the ISS, returning to the moon with the task of establishing a permanent base there by 2020, and preparing for our first manned mission to Mars by 2025.   An NOEA, National Oceanographic Exploration Agency, must be established to explore our oceans and seas to the greatest depths possible. Research and discoveries in recent decades have shown us how little we know and how much potential there is for furthering our understanding of life on Earth (and the nature of life in general) as well as many other fields, from geology and plate tectonics to archaeology.   There is no reason we should go it alone in either of these endeavors. Any nation not on the attachment below should be welcome, indeed encouraged, to participate according to their means, ambitions and knowledge. In an ideal world, for example, the moon base and the Mars mission would be international in funding and composition.   XII. Crime & Punishment   We must re-evaluate our so-called war on drugs, reframing it in more rational and less sensationalist terms. Certain drug use must be fought, to be sure. We can not allow highly addictive drugs such as cocaine and heroin. But to focus on the truly dangerous drugs, we must accept that other drugs are only as dangerous as or less dangerous than our accepted drugs such as alcohol, nicotine and caffeine. America is not ready for the legalization of marijuana and other non-addictive drugs, but we are ready for the federal decriminalization of such drugs. We must stop tracking and prosecuting traffickers and users of such non-addictive drugs as marijuana, hashish, LSD and ecstasy and use these resources to combat the other drugs. Maintain the federal ban on these drugs, but stop wasting money fighting them on the federal level. Let the states go after these drug-dealers and -users if they so choose.   Recidivism is our biggest crime problem, and until we address it, we will make no further progress. We must give ex-convicts a choice, a hope for a new life that doesn't involve victimizing the rest of us. This must be addressed during incarceration by forcing all federal convicts to undergo psychological therapy, drug rehab as necessary and career training and education. A convict who is released with the skills and foundation to become a contributing member to society will be less likely to return to crime. To reduce the possibility of convicts using their time simply to become better criminals, we should also ensure all federal convicts are celled individually with their own facilities (shower, toilette, etc) and are locked down with the exception of eight hours a day of therapy and training and two hours a day of exercise and/or open air. Hopefully the states will follow this example, but that is their choice.   We must join the rest of the civilized world in giving up vengeance through federal capital punishment. It is a disgrace that we are associated with such pariah states as Iran and China in pursuing revenge by state-ordered murder. At the same time, we must respect the states' rights by only outlawing federal capital punishment, allowing them to decide for themselves on the issue of this punishment for state-tried crimes.   The Second Amendment guarantees the right to bear arms, but whispers not a word about the type of arms we allow the citizenry to maintain. Just as no private citizen may own a tank or RPG, neither can we allow the citizenry to purchase firearms that threaten our public safety. Non-automatic hunting rifles are rarely used in crimes, but are as useful as any arm in self-defense. Handguns and automatic weapons, however, are more likely to be used for criminal enterprise than for defense of one's home, family and property. We must therefore reserve the sale of handguns to citizens who undergo training for their safety and use, who have no criminal background, who submit to a psych profile at each purchase, and who are willing to be re-certified every two years in the safe use of the weapons and in the applicants' lack of criminal convictions. Automatic and semi-automatic weapons must be banned for sale to the general public. Standard-shot rifles and shotguns should remain unrestricted.   So-called white-collar crimes must be dealt with more harshly as in many cases they have broader ramifications than other, less severely punished crimes. To ensure more appropriate punishment, a technical aspect must be added to these proceedings. For example, sentencing guidelines must suggest at least one year in prison for every ten people deprived of retirement savings by fraud and one year for every ten million dollars deprived of investors by fraud, on top of other sentences related to the fraud itself.   XIII. Human Rights   One of the most important documents in our history stated unequivocally that we all deserve the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The issue that has plagued us throughout our development has been the definition of 'we the people'. At first it meant white males. Later it meant all males. Later still it meant all people regardless of race or sex, though in practice with lingering limitations on non-whites and females. In short, we have changed, grown, improved, marching towards an ever broader definition of 'we the people'.   It should be the goal of our party to support this evolution towards universal inclusion. 'We the people' must mean 'we the people, each and every human among us'. Each of us must be free to marry the person of his or her choice. Each person must have full authority when it comes to our bodies' natural cycles of birth, life and death. The state must not be allowed to intrude or influence our choices in these matters, but must rather serve as guarantor of these liberties. The state must only intervene in those personal areas where our choices clearly and demonstrably harm other sentient, physiologically independent humans.   Having said all this, neither is it the responsibility of the federal state or individual states to encourage or facilitate a given behavior, regardless of its consequences (or lack thereof). In practice, we should not, for example, prohibit such controversial practices as gay marriage, but neither is any government obliged to encourage it. What must be prohibited is any policy favoring any one person's choices over another's. The state must remove itself from the question entirely by making marriage - be it gay or straight - a strictly civil, private affair. For tax purposes, federal and state governments must recognize any and all such civil unions without prejudice.       Military No-sale/No-Support List:   Country Region Trade acceptable? Sudan Africa N North Korea Asia N Iran Middle-east/North Africa N Syria Middle-east/North Africa N Angola Africa Y Cameroon Africa Y Central African Republic Africa Y Comoros Africa Y Congo, Democratic Republic of Africa Y Equatorial Guinea Africa Y Eritrea Africa Y Gabon Africa Y Guinea-Bissau Africa Y Liberia Africa Y Mauritania Africa Y Nigeria Africa Y Sierra Leone Africa Y Somalia Africa Y Swaziland Africa Y Tanzania Africa Y Togo Africa Y Zimbabwe Africa Y Cuba Americas Y Haiti Americas Y Venezuela Americas Y Bhutan Asia Y China Asia Y Maldives Asia (Indian Ocean) Y Kazakhstan Central Asia Y Kyrgyzstan Central Asia Y Nepal Central Asia Y Pakistan Central Asia Y Turkmenistan Central Asia Y Uzbekistan Central Asia Y Belarus Eastern Europe Y Russia Eastern Europe Y Algeria Middle-east/North Africa Y Bahrain Middle-east/North Africa Y Egypt Middle-east/North Africa Y Kuwait Middle-east/North Africa Y Libya Middle-east/North Africa Y Oman Middle-east/North Africa Y Palestinian Authority Middle-east/North Africa Y Qatar Middle-east/North Africa Y Saudi Arabia Middle-east/North Africa Y Tunisia Middle-east/North Africa Y UAE Middle-east/North Africa Y Tonga Oceania Y Brunei SE Asia Y Laos SE Asia Y Myanmar SE Asia Y Vietnam SE Asia Y