Important Issues

Strengthen our Educational System

Republicans want to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education
We need to invest more in education for our future generations to be able to compete in a global market

I know the Affordable Health Care Act debate was 2 years ago, but the Republicans are still calling for its repeal
President Obama should have started with single-payer, but he didn’t. He knew that he would need a filibuster-proof majority and didn’t have one. He needs people that will back him up on progressive issues…like me.
We already pay for the most expensive people to receive health care (elderly, disabled, young, and poor)
Businesses could save billions in direct health care coverage/spending and those savings would be taxable profits or money to re-invest
State and local governments would save billions on employee, retiree, and Medicaid payments
We need to revisit this

President Obama has on on the road to removing troops from Afghanistan, but we will still have tens of thousands of American personnel in harm’s way long after our deadline dates.
When President Obama says he is removing troops faster, the Republicans complain.
When he says the troops will have to stay longer, the Republicans complain.
The people need to complain.

What do we do with the prisoners at GITMO? We need to close the facility but we need to deal with the prisoners held within.
Republicans have blocked any effort to bring the prisoners here to put them on trial, yet they bring up the fact that President Obama hasn’t lived up to his campaign promise.

While we definitely needed to have additional protective measures in place after 9/11, I don’t believe we needed to completely circumvent the Constitution and FISA Courts to do it.
We need to revisit the Patriot Act and gut the parts that violate our rights in the name of protecting us from terrorists.
If we continue to subvert our own Constitution and laws in the name of protecting us against terrorists, the terrorists win.

Discoveries and inventions that came out of designing and developing the tools and equipment necessary to explore space.

Social Security is not part of the budget. It was included in the same document from President Johnson to Congress, but it is separate
Social Security gets its money not from income taxes, but from payroll taxes.
The fund currently has well over $2 Trillion in surplus and will continue to have a surplus until the mid-2030′s
Social Security can only invest in the World’s safest investment (by law) which is a special kind of US Treasury Bill (T-Bill).
T-Bills are how the U.S. Government borrows money (from you, me, public and private institutions, mutual funds, 401K plans, etc.)
Even if the National Debt was paid off, Social Security would still be investing in T-Bills
When negotiating the budget, leave Social Security out of it.
To Fix the future Social Security Crisis, eliminate the cap on wages (currently between $100-110,000)

We need to balance the budget. We need to make the budget so that we are actually paying down the national debt. We just need to do it.
I may be a progressive or liberal, but I see the need to make our government more efficient
I also see the need to invest in our future. Our infrastructure is falling apart because Republicans have blocked maintenance spending for decades.
There is a difference between investing in infrastructure and annual spending, like business capitalization and expenses