I am a muscular democrat. I think and I act with purpose and strength, and I never give up.
I believe in the Rule of Law, and the Constitution of the United States.
I believe people, organizations and nations must face the consequences of their actions.
I am a tough, tenacious, Zelensky democrat, with a small “d,” determined to fight to the death for what I believe, and to create a better world for the people I love.
I believe in directly facing down bullies, like Trump, Putin, Assad, MBS, Q-Anon, The Proud Boys, DeSantis, the January 6th criminal insurrectionists and conspiracy planners, Mark Meadows, Pardoned Traitor Gen. Michael Flynn, Jim Jordan, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Marjorie Traitor Greene, and other terrorists, foreign or domestic, or their enablers, like Kevin McCarthy.
I believe in confronting autocrats head-on, like the Russians in Ukraine, and fighting tyrants whenever they threaten democracies and human rights, at home or abroad.
I believe in preventing Genocide when we see it happening, not just predicting it, and immediately punishing the mass murderers, not waiting for War Crimes trials, years down the road.
I believe that when we say “Never Again” about the mass murder of fellow human beings—especially on Holocaust Remembrance Day– we mean it, and will push our government relentlessly to act to prevent another Holocaust from ever happening again.
I believe in freezing and seizing Russia’s $100 billion of bank reserves in the US, and spending the money on arms and humanitarian aid for Ukraine, and Ukrainian refugees.
I believe in emergency relief for European nations whose natural gas and oil supply has been frozen by Russia, and in the rapid disinvestment from fossil fuel and into renewable energy resources, as a matter of national, international and planetary security.
I believe in immediately housing Ukrainian refugees in the seized mega-Yachts of Russian oligarchs, and in confiscating the fortunes of those Oligarchs to rebuild Ukraine.
I believe in free and responsible speech, and in standing up for the rights of parents and children to live in a free and liberal democracy, to be taught from banned books, to be educated about all cultures, and to learn of this country’s 230 year history of racism, sexism, anti-Semitism, and inequality.
I believe in giving all children, our peers, our colleagues and ourselves, every single constitutional right to which all American citizens are entitled under law, regardless of race, religion, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnic background, age, mental or physical disability, or income.
I believe in the freedom of religion, as well as freedom from religious zealotry; that no religion can dictate for all either the legal beginning or end of life, and that violent, inhumane actions are inherently anti-religious, as well as against all civil law.
I believe that any religious institution or related-entity that engages in politics or promotes or tolerates violence, forfeits its’ tax-exempt status.
I believe that public taxpayer dollars should only be used for public education, not religion-based or private education of any kind, nor for hedge-fund supported Charter schools.
I believe that only law enforcement and military personnel should have guns and ammunition. With death-by-gun as the leading cause of death among children this year, I believe that the use of guns in the commission of a crime should result in long jail sentences for the gun-users, as well as prison time for the gun manufacturers, distributors, importers, sales people, gun show operators, or computer app creators, who are part of the chain of gun creation, design, manufacture, distribution and/or use in commission of a crime.
I believe in fully-funding law enforcement to uphold the rule of law—including cracking down on white collar crime, prosecuting gun crimes, and investigating and prosecuting militia organizations, vigilantes, and the funders of groups organized for the purpose of overthrowing the government, carrying out hate crimes; or killing or kidnapping public officials at the local, state or national levels.
I believe in a woman’s right to choose, in consultation with her doctor, precisely whenthe life of her fetus begins. I believe in the immediate arrest and prosecution of anti-abortion terrorists or anyone who does physical harm or threatens to commit physical harm or interferes with anyone pursuing or delivering healthcare.
I believe in the primacy of public health and public health emergencies at all levels of government, and in the prioritizing of medical and scientific research.
I believe that the users of all social media sites, should be required to pass basic high school competency tests in Math, Science, Language Arts, and History, and that the posting of junk science about climate change or communicable diseases, or the use of hate speech or threats of violence, are legitimate grounds for lifetime social media bans.
I believe that the United States should return to the pre-Reagan Era requirement that the ownership of media platforms (including radio, television, internet, social media)—more essential to our national security than ever before—should be restricted to Citizens born in the US, just as a birth-citizenship requirement exists to serve as President of the US.
I believe that all money originating from non-US Citizens, enemy nations, or from shell companies or entities designed to hide the identity of investors– should be prohibited from political campaigns, as personal payments to public officials or their non-profit organizations, or as investment in critical American industries, such as steel, energy, infrastructure, health care, telecommunications, space exploration, or media. I believe all shell companies should be banned.
I believe in paying teachers, healthcare workers, mental health therapists & social workers, childcare professionals, and first responders a minimum salary of $150,000 annually, to be paid for by a progressive Public Service Tax on millionaires, multi millionaires, billionaires and large corporations.
I believe in returning to the income tax and corporate tax levels of the Eisenhower Administration, to reduce income inequality in this country, and in taxing the wealthy at twice the current rate to continue funding Social Security and expand and improve Medicare coverage.
I believe in the absolute right for all workers to unionize, especially if they work for Starbucks, Amazon, any social media company, and all companies with more than 500 employees, or annual profits in excess of $10 million.
I believe in making union-busting a federal crime, punishable by one year in jail for the CEO of the company.
I believe in stiff jail sentences—not just fines– for CEOs, Executives, and Directors of Pharmaceutical companies which knowingly manufacture, produce and distribute harmful drugs.
I believe in strengthening the investigative and prosecutorial powers of the SEC, the IRS, the FDA, the Treasury Department, and other similar enforcement agencies in pursuing crimes of financial fraud, corporate and individual tax evasion, stock and market manipulation, and the fraudulent use of COVID-19 federal relief funds.
I believe in a strong, law-abiding Justice Department, and in local, national and state law enforcement entities which prioritize diversity of their workforces, the rule of law, respect for civil rights, and equal punishment, regardless of race, income, or political connections.
I believe in swift Federal criminal indictments and prosecution of Mark Meadows, Steve Bannon, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Green, Roger Stone, Dan Scavino, Stephen Miller, John Eastman, Donald Trump and the Trump children, Members of Congress and others, for conspiring to overthrow the US Government, and corrupting the election process at any level of government.
I believe in punishing Koch Industries for violating present economic sanctions against Russia, and for continuing to do business in Russia right now, the way they continued to do business with the Nazis, during WWII.
I believe in impeaching Clarence Thomas for failing to recuse himself from a case in which he had a direct conflict of interest, and prosecuting Ginni Thomas for being a leader of the Trump conspiracy to overthrow the US Government.
I believe in guaranteeing FBI and local police protection to all election officials and public officials at every level, and setting minimum prison sentences of 10 years for threats to the lives of such public officials.
I believe that Black Lives Matter, that I’ll say “Gay” anyplace and anytime I please, and that ALL teachers, public officials and media have the right to educate about gender diversity, racial history, the massacre of Native Americans, slavery, the dropping of the Atomic Bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the internment of Japanese Americans in the US, the Nazi Holocaust and the systematic murder of 6 millions Jews, the Ottoman Empire’s slaughter of millions of Armenians early in the 20th Century, and Josef Stalin’s state-sponsored starvation of some 3 million Ukrainians in the early 1930’s.
I believe in critical thinking in Math, Science, History, Religion, Ethics, and all of life, and the selection of school textbooks by professional educators, trained in curriculum development.
I believe in multi-lingual education, as essential to national security, and in granting full citizenship rights to America’s Dreamers
I believe that all fossil fuel companies should be held personally and corporately liable for the destruction of our natural environment, and their CEOs, executives and shareholders be subject to lengthy jail sentences, and be required to do work-release from prison to clean up local waterways and the earth they have destroyed.
I believe that the protection, preservation and repair of our environment is our sacred obligation.
I believe in love, and allowing consenting adults to exercise their individual right to love whomever they choose, without government or religious-group interference.
I believe in science and faith, in personality and community, in personal freedom andcommunity responsibility.
I believe in changing the name of the Democratic Party to the Democracy Party.
I believe in consequences for our actions, in being fearless in fighting for humanity and the advancement of good over evil, love over hate, and embracing the use of power constructively, to achieve the best results for the most underserved and marginalized among us.
I am a thinking, loving, muscular democrat, who will continue to devote my life to repairing this imperfect world and make it more fair, inclusive and livable for our children and grandchildren.