Summary of political beliefs

[SATW]

Writing my views now, will post later.

[SATW]

Economic Issues: Fiscal Conservative/Economic Libertarian
Taxes:
- Strong opponent of progressive taxation.
- Supportive of a flat tax system but would like some minor to medium level adjustments to ensure economic stability.
- Supportive of eliminating national corporate tax and support lowering state corporate taxes.
- Oppose the estate tax, carbon tax and sin/luxury tax.
- Believe that states have a right to eliminate state income taxes, if it is feasible (FL, TX, TN, NH etc...)

Healthcare:
- Oppose Obamacare
- Oppose Universal Healthcare and Single Payer Healthcare
- Supporting raising the Medicare age to 67 and implementing necessary reforms to save the program.
- Support minor to modest cuts in medicare/medicaid, if needed, but oppose gutting either program.
- Support Medical Malpractice/Tort Reform and limiting the influence of powerful trial lawyers.
- States have the right to reform their healthcare systems how they want as long as it does not supersede other states' systems or policies.

Social Security:
- Supporting raising the retirement age to either 67 or 69.
- Support a partial privatization and/or a full privatization of social security (prefer the latter) and would like to see a phasing out of the program. If a privatization process begins then it must be ensured that older people still receive their owed social security benefits.
- Would support create of online courses that teach people how to properly save money for short, medium or long periods of time. This surely would cost less then social security currently does.

Minimum Wage:
- Oppose granting a $15 (or $20) minimum wage in general and especially for fast-food workers.
- Oppose minimum wage increases in general with the exception of adjusting for inflation.
- Speaking of minimum wage, am also against a basic universal income.
- The minimum wage system should be reformed and broken up by career field and cost of living in a specified area.
- Every state has a right to raise or lower the minimum wage and honestly would prefer all minimum wage decisions to be made on the state and local level with little to no input from the federal government.

Welfare and Unemployment Benefits:
- I support a minimal welfare system and prefer to have a working requirement for it (but this should not be a federal requirement and believe each state should decide if it is appropriate or not).
- I support keeping unemployment benefits intact but oppose extending it for people who were rightfully fired and/or were fired and subsequently convicted of a serious felony.
- I strongly oppose giving welfare and/or unemployment benefits to illegal immigrants.
- I like the idea of drug-testing welfare recipients but there needs to be a cost effective method of enforcing this. If forced to choose, I would tenuously support enacting this type of policy but with heavy reservations due to cost.
- Job training programs should be mandatory immediately for anyone receiving welfare benefits.
- Ending welfare abuse, where it is being caused by poor people or rich people (yes, the latter does happen), should be a top priority of the federal government. People who abuse the system should receive hefty fines, a felony on their record and jail time.  

Education:
- I support charter schools and private voucher programs.
- I support promoting private schools, religious and secular, but not with state or federal money.
- I support our public schools and believe massive reforms need to be undertaken to improve the quality of education in this country.
- After school programs in inner-cities DO work and need to be promoted. It benefits everyone to support programs that keep kids off the streets. Would prefer for these programs to be funded through private organizations and means but I also support public schools engaging in efforts with organizations to former partnerships.
- I strongly oppose teacher's unions, especially in states like New Jersey. That being said, our teachers are underpaid in many states and I support finding ways to increase teacher's pay in reasonable manners.
- I oppose the elimination of the Department of Education. I agree that localization is very important and should be promoted but the DOE has a real purpose and should not be allowed to be dismantled.
- I oppose common core standards.
- I support homeschooling. I don't think it's a bad method of education as long as they are following required protocols and procedures set by the government.

Free Trade:
- Strong supporter of free trade policies and oppose protectionism.
- Strong supporter of NAFTA and TPP.
- However, I also understand the concerns of working-class workers and believe there are ways to alleviate the effects of free trade on them without hindering the benefits of trade. We, for some reason as a country, think we are locked in a game of intensity of preferences when in reality we could provide a good compromise.
- One way to do this would be by promoting job training programs that would specialize manufacturing workers in more profitable careers. This way when free trade washes away some outdated professions we can avoid mass lay offs in areas like Northeastern OH and PA.
- I'd prefer if private companies and corporations engage in this themselves and perhaps we could provide incentive for them to do this by lowering corporate taxes or signal support for future free trade agreements in the future. However, if this is not feasible, I would not oppose limited government funding for these job training programs.
- This is clearly an issue I agree more with Hillary Clinton (and neoliberals) then Donald Trump on but there are some aspects of his policy that I'm not opposed to. The U.S. should want to strengthen its rewards in its agreements with China, India and Japan.
- I support the idea of a European Union, meaning an organization that strengthens ties via free trade and market economics, but I cannot support the current structure of the EU we all know. I supported Brexit and will likely support other reasonable efforts to leave the EU by other countries (key word: reasonable).

Immigration:
- I don't just see this as a national security issue but also as an economic issue, which is why I put it here.
- I oppose amnesty and open border policies but I also support compromise.
- I support adopting the e-verify system to help stop criminal illegals from coming into the country.
- I support building a stronger border fence/security fence.
- I support deporting illegal immigrant criminals and illegal immigrants who are abusing entitlement programs.
- I oppose allowing illegal immigrants to obtain welfare and unemployment benefits as noted earlier and also oppose letting them obtain driver's licenses.
- I oppose granting citizenship to illegal immigrants but I do support a provision of the DREAM Act that allows people to obtain citizenship after serving in the military. I think military and/or national service via charity work (etc...etc...) would be a good measure to enforce.
- I, however, oppose the DREAM Act as a whole. I also oppose granting working VISAs to illegal immigrants who came in as illegal immigrants. It is not America's obligation to find work for non-citizens. I do want to make a distinction and state that I'm not against working VISAs for immigrants or people from other countries staying here for work. I am just against granting working VISAs for people who came in illegally.
- I also would like to propose a plan that would grant citizenship to permanent U.S. residents w/ valid green cards (assuming they pass background/criminal checks and have lived in the U.S. as perma. residents for a minimum of 10 years). These people have been here legally for a long time and deserve to be citizens.
- I also supporting renewing green cards and VISAs for people who came to America legally but for whatever reason could not renew their green card or VISA. Requirements for this would be 1) having a job or a reason for being in the US 2) having a clean criminal and background history.
- Ultimately, I believe in legal immigration and oppose illegal immigration. I want to promote the legal usage of our process and discourage coming into the country illegally.

Deficits and Budgets:
- Balancing the budget should be a priority for the government.
- Best way to start is by cutting the fatty, unnecessary elements in each department (do we really need Item A this year? can we hold off on that for a few years? etc...etc...)
- Prefer to see entitlements cut over defense of national security budgets but I think everything will likely need to be cut a bit to balance the budget in an effective and stable manner.
- I support a balanced budget amendment but I'd like one less strict then the one my fellow Conservatives usually call for. I think it should have some exceptions for war times or natural disasters and other dire situations like that.  

Environmental and Energy Issues:
- I oppose the idea of a carbon tax and also oppose cap and trade style policies.
- I side with businesses over environmentalists when it comes to regulations and taxes.
- I oppose the EPA's war on coal.
- I support fossil fuel usage as a reliable source of energy.
- I support diversifying our energy resource pool by engaging in domestic offshore drilling, drilling for Marcellus Shale and fracking. I also support diversifying where we get our foreign oil from and also support investing in natural gas and nuclear energies. Diversification politics is even more important for the EU when dealing with Russia and Iran.
- I oppose public funding of windmills or other wind-based forms of energy. I do support private research and implementation of more progressive and environmentally friendly resources if businesses choose to do so.
- I believe climate change is natural and that man has no effect on it one way or another. Therefore, we should engage in pro-business, pro-economic growth policies on energy issues.
- I am a strong supporter of Hunter's rights but I also support strictly enforcing the regulations relating to the endangering species list (fines, jailtime etc...). I also support the rules in place for when hunting season can and does occur.
- Animal cruelty is a severe problem and must be tackled. This includes enforcing harsh penalties for cockfighting, dogfighting etc...

Other:
- I support auditing and ending the Federal Reserve.
- I support right to work on a state level but oppose a federal bill
- I oppose overregulating Wall Street despite my weariness towards them.
- I am very opposed to populist economics promoted by both sides (Trump/Buchanan on the right; Sanders/Warren on the left).

Will make separate post for social/foreign policy issues.

[SATW]

Social Issues: Moderate to Conservative

Abortion:
- Pro-Life, with exceptions for rape and when a mother's life is endangered.
- Oppose embryonic stem cell research but support adult stem cell research.
- Support overturning Roe v. Wade and support a federal ban.
- Support defunding Planned Parenthood.
- Support Personhood amendment.

LGBT Equality:
- Support Marriage equality and LGBT Adoption.
- Support ENDA strongly.
- Support the Matthew Shepard Act.
- Believe every public university should have resources to support at-risk LGBT youth.
- Support banning "conversion therapy" and oppose public money going to "conversion therapy"

Drugs:
- War on Drugs has not been successful, thus far, and needs to be reorganized ASAP.  Like education, I think our efforts against drugs can and should be localized.
- Part of this localization effort requires the repeal of the federal ban on marijuana. I think the federal government's overzealous focus on pot has had devastating effects on society. Let states decide if they want to legalize it or not but it should not be a criminal offense, unless one is dealing. 
- Another step in the localization effort would be to focus on each state's biggest drug epidemics. Heroin, Meth, Crack all have bad epidemics in key areas of the country. We should be focusing our efforts on tackling the drug dealers spreading these drugs and not on some college kid smoking weed.
- Go after drug cartels and drug dealers harder then ever before. They are a menace on our society.
- I support the legalization of medicinal marijuana and also support legitimate medical research on marijuana. 

Voter ID Laws:
- I support photo and non-photo ID Voter laws.
- Photo ID options: License, passport, driver's permit, a simple ID card from the DMV.
- Non-Photo ID options: social security cards, voter registration #, birth certificate.

Gerrymandering:
- Independent Redistricting Commission in every state. Tired of people on both sides whining about muh gerrymanders by the other side.

Congressional Term Limits:
- Generally against term limits for Congress but I could see myself supporting a solution that has a 24 year limit for the U.S. House and a 24 year limit for the U.S. Senate.
- I'm big on preserving seniority in Congress but I am also against congressional lifers (people serving like 50 years until they die).


2nd Amendment:
- Strong supporter of the 2nd Amendment.
- Oppose most forms of gun control.
- Support criminal and background checks.
- Oppose bans on AR-15s, or other semi-auto's.
- Oppose waiting period for gun purchases.
- Support bans on suspects listed on a terror watch list.

Vaccines:
- I trust medical professionals, doctors, nurses, scientists and 100% support the usage of vaccines to help people.
- Anti-Vaxxers are crazy conspiracy theorists and pose a danger not only to themselves but to others as well.

Death Penalty:
- Strong supporter of the death penalty on the state and federal level.
- Believe that each state has a right to ban or not ban the usage of the death penalty.
- I only support using the death penalty for heinous and serious crimes such as terrorism, sadistic crimes against humanity, murder/mass murders/serial killers, serial rapists, serial pedophiles etc...

Law and Order Issues/National Security:
- For localities and states, I support law and order anti-crime measures to keep our societies safe. This includes the death penalty, the broken windows theory, the three strikes law etc...
- Also support stop-and-frisk policies.
- On the federal level, I strongly support the work the NSA engages in. I also support the TSA but believe that there is much room for improvement there.
- I support the PATRIOT Act.
- I proudly support our law enforcement officials.
- We need to do a better job on educating the youth about sexual assault and rape and how to prevent it, how to help the victims and how to properly handle these situations in the public sphere. Of course, people convicted of rape and sexual assault deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law.  On the same note, there needs to be an effort to counter fake rape and sexual assault reports as well, as rare as they may be.

Affirmative Action:
- Oppose affirmative action, especially in regards to college education.

Civil Rights Issues:
- I obviously oppose all forms of bigotry, sexism and racism but people have a right to think and speak in bigoted manners. They just cannot act on those pretenses in a physical or threatening manner.
- I strongly believe in promoting equality in the form of opportunity. Everyone, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexuality has a right to have the opportunity to succeed in the public forum.
- I especially focus on countering antisemitism as I am Jewish. I specifically believe that antisemitism on college campuses is a severe and growing problem in the U.S., Canada, Europe and other places.
- Clearly, we have some work to do in our country in relations to the African-American community but I strongly oppose Black Lives Matter (BLM) as I think they are extreme in actions and rhetoric and do nothing to better the situation.  I think a dialogue needs to be opened up between legitimate organizations on both the people of color's side and the law enforcement side. Community outreach, compassion and bridging of differences is the only way we will be able to solve anything.
- Finally, I believe diversity in friend groups and culture is a positive and should not be feared.

Freedom of Speech and Political Correctness:
- Supporting civil rights causes is almost always a positive but social justice warriors have taken their pursuit of justice to a very dangerous extreme. I oppose SJWs with an undying passion and believe that they are against freedom of speech and freedom of expression when they disagree with an opinion.
- Everyone has a right to freedom of speech in a public forum, even if that opinion is controversial, unpopular or bigoted. Safe Spaces are jokes and should not be allowed or encouraged. People who get "triggered" need to grow up.
-  However, freedom of speech does not mean one is void of all consequences that may occur. A private company has a right to fire a racist if it violates their vision for their workplace and mission statement. Private organizations, like twitter, do not have an obligation to let you do whatever you want on their time or domain.
- I despise people who burn the American flag but it is a form of legitimate political expression and should not be banned.

Other Social Issues:
- Oppose Prostitution legalization but it is a state issue.
- Oppose euthanasia and assisted suicide but it is a state issue.
 

[SATW]

Foreign Policy: Neoconservative/Hawk

Alliances:
- The United States should always stand by its allies across the world, especially those that are democracies.
- Examples: UK, Israel, Canada, Japan, Australia, and countries of the EU.
- I am 100% in support of increasing foreign aid to our allies, in terms of military aid, technological/scientific aid, financial aid and humanitarian aid. In many cases our allies cooperate with us and provide useful information relating to cyber-security, counterterrorism and other fields.
- In relations to some of our more controversial, non-democratic allies (Egypt, Saudi Arabia, China, Jordan, Azerbaijan etc...) I believe we should also support them in many cases, as they are our allies for often very important reasons. This is especially important in relation to the Middle East where power and trust are valued over anything else. However, we do have a right to question these non-democratic countries when it is in our interests to do so.

War on Terrorism/Radical Islam:
- The United States and the world as a whole should remain vigilant in its efforts to counter, defeat and destroy terrorist organizations and terrorist cells. A Government's main responsibility is to protect its own people and to protect its own interests.
- One of our main goals should be to weaken/destroy (preferably the latter) ISIS and its offshoots in Iraq, Syria, the Sinai and Libya.
- Another main goal should be to stabilize Syria. The humanitarian situation there is depressingly disturbing and the international community's reaction has been...lacking. Obviously, it easier said then done. I always don't want to create the impression that only the US should be involved in stabilizing Syria and alleviating the suffering there. The entire world, especially the western world has an obligation to stabilize Syria's borders. I honestly think cooperation with Russia is the only way that a possible ending to this bloody civil war is even remotely foreseeable.
- After those two quagmires get addressed, the world can then focus on tackling other terrorist organizations, such as Hamas, Hezbollah, al-Shaabab, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, al-Nusra and others. the world will also need to address the two elephants in the room - Iran and Turkey.

Turkey:
- Obviously, a difficult situation for the western world here. Turkey is on the border of Europe, separating us from ISIS in Syria, and is in NATO. They should be a trusted ally but because of Erdogan's insane power trip things have become extremely problematic.
- Since the coup, Erdogan has purged all of Turkey of secular leaders, of pro-democracy teachers, journalists and military officers. I honestly think this is grounds for sanctions on Turkey and a discussion of Turkey's future in NATO.
- Turkey has threatened to jump to the Shanghai Bloc, if this is done then Turkey should be suspended from NATO.
- Also, in light of Turkey's continued anti-democratic actions, I believe we should renew the international community's opposition to revisionist history and formally recognize the the Armenian Genocide. It is imperative that countries like the U.S., Israel, the U.K. and Germany all do so on a national level.

Iran:
- Iran is one of the biggest threats to world stability at the moment. They are determined to continue sponsoring terrorism abroad, especially with Hezbollah as its proxy and are even more determined to obtain nuclear weapons.
- I vehemently oppose the Iran Nuclear Deal negotiated by the P5+1 and I believe it will go down as a historic mistake that will only worsen the state of the middle east in the long run.  I think that increased sanctions would have been a better alternative until we were able to get a better deal.
- Iran's military threats are not the only thing concerning about their quests. They want to gain economic control of the region for then anything else, which of course includes the oil markets. This would bring Europe to its knees economically and leave them no choice but to cave to pressure created by Iran.

Israeli-Palestinian Conflict:
- I have long supported the two-state solution for a very long time but I am starting to look for other alternatives. I am not convinced that the Palestinian leadership wants peace with Israel nor do I think a solution will be finalized anytime soon.
- I also side with Israel on most issues relating to the conflict. Mainly on security and counterterrorism issues. I also side with Israel, mostly, on settlements (especially in relation to East Jerusalem and the Gush Etzion region of Judea and Samaria).
- I believe reform within the Palestinian Authority is the only way a two state solution is salvageable, but sadly, I don't see that occurring anytime soon.
- I believe the U.N., most of the western media and a good amount of western countries are appeasing the Palestinians and that this is very much apart of the reason why they aren't taking peace seriously.

U.S. Military/Defense Issues/Veterans Issues:
- U.S. Military should always be prepared for the worst and should always be updated with high tech weaponry and intelligence.
- The Defense Department should continue its cooperation with important allies such as Israel, the UK, Australia, India etc... in fields such as cyber security, military tech advancement and training ops.
- I am a huge supporter of the U.S. military and am thankful for all the sacrifices they make for us.
- In relations to Veterans' issues, I truly believe our country has done our veterans a disservice. The VA is a circus show and clearly needs to be reformed. We have a serious backlog problem (relating to benefits) and it must be addressed ASAP. I don't see how anyone can propose creating new benefits plans for veterans when we haven't even cleared our current, giant stack of owed benefits.

Russia:
- I have changed my views on Russia recently. We need to continue an increase in sanctions and to continue opposing Putin's lack of respect for human rights in his country and abroad.
- Our policy in the Middle East when it comes to Russia needs to be more aggressive in diplomatic terms. We need to weaken it's influence as it has its fingers deep in Assad's Syria and in Iran. Russia emboldens Iran by continuously selling it high grade weapons and by ignoring Iran's sponsorship of terrorism. 
- In regards to Russia's European expansionist policies, I think its clear we need to put our foot down and increase pressure and sanctions on them. Russia was threatening out diplomats last year and we had no response except to ask them to halt their harassment. Extremely pathetic response. 
- Russia respects power confidence more then anything else and they have not seen any of that under Pres. Obama, and this has not gotten better under Pres. Trump.


China and the South China Sea:
- We must continue to assert our strength and opposition to China's claims to the South China Sea.
- Our allies' security in Asia  depends on it (Japan, S. Korea, Taiwan etc...).
- In general, I believe we need to adjust our policy on China. Especially in relations to Taiwan. I believe we need to move away from the One China policy and start moving towards accepting Taiwan into the community of nations in a reasonable time frame.
- I do strongly support maintaining close and intimate ties, economically, with China but it should be made clear that our foreign policies are clearly opposite of each other's and that the United States will not abandon its positions because of pressure from Beijing.

The Philippines:
- Duterte is a sociopath. The world should continue to monitor his activities and words over the coming months. I would prefer to denounce him formally at the UN but, unfortunately, it seems that the people of his country wanted this type of leadership.
- We should be ready to sanction him if he starts engaging in more ludicrous behavior and if he starts to engage in anti-democratic activities (i.e. curbing the media, etc...)


Promoting Democracy:
- I strongly support promoting countries, organizations and people that engage in pro-democracy activities. This includes supporting the State of Israel and Taiwan against its enemies.
- I also support the creation of an independent and democratic Kurdistan in Iraq and believe the world has not done nearly enough to support the Kurds in their historic aspirations for freedom. I also believe the world has not done enough to support the Pershmerga.
- It is a known fact that the International community is not always keen on territories or conflicted areas seeking independence. This is because it is difficult to create an environment for these new countries to succeed in. The Czech Republic and Slovakia have been, for years, a gold standard example of successful separation and independence. Neither country is perfect but they have been recent examples of successful countries that separated from previous, existing alliances/countries.
- I think we should be evaluating potential areas of the world that want independence and, as a international community, determine if independence is sustainable or desirable. For example, I think many would agree that the South Sudan experiment has been a failure on almost every level.
- The said could be partially said about Kosovo, which sits as Europe's most impoverished nation at the moment.
- I believe in promoting democracy in areas of the world where it is sensible to do so. Not every country is ready for democracy and that must be understood. This is especially important to remember when dealing with allies of our allies who aren't necessarily democratic.  

[SATW]

Russia:
- I have changed my views on Russia recently. We need to continue an increase in sanctions and to continue opposing Putin's lack of respect for human rights in his country and abroad.
- Our policy in the Middle East when it comes to Russia needs to be more aggressive in diplomatic terms. We need to weaken it's influence as it has its fingers deep in Assad's Syria and in Iran. Russia emboldens Iran by continuously selling it high grade weapons and by ignoring Iran's sponsorship of terrorism. 
- In regards to Russia's European expansionist policies, I think its clear we need to put our foot down and increase pressure and sanctions on them. Russia was threatening out diplomats last year and we had no response except to ask them to halt their harassment. Extremely pathetic response.  
- Russia respects power confidence more then anything else and they have not seen any of that under Pres. Obama, and this has not gotten better under Pres. Trump.

Changed my Russia policy.

And also have my views on Latin America policy here:

Latin America:
- The United States should seek stronger relations with allies such as Colombia and Argentina. I think these two countries have the potential to be the long-term leaders of democracy and influence in that region. I think they will be important assets in stabilizing the region and opposing autocratic dictatorships in the region.
- I am a staunch opponent of the Castro Regime in Cuba and support restoring the embargo fully. We need to demand the release of all political prisoners in Cuba. I believe one day Cuba will be free and democratic, but until that day I oppose any relations w/ Cuba.
- I am also a fierce opponent of Bolivarian Socialism and Peronism. Two political plagues that need to never return.
- I am especially active in opposing the disgusting Maduro Regime in Venezuela. The United States must continue to put pressure on the Regime and continue placing sanctions on the regime. We should support those in the opposition who are fighting against the regime. Democracy must be restored in Venezuela. OAS has been doing better at playing a productive role in opposing the Maduro Regime, but it still needs to do more and the U.S. can play a positive role in encouraging them to do so.
- I'm also not a fan of Evo Morales of Bolivia who reminds me of Moe from the Three Stooges. He's more of a nuisance than anything else, though. Just wanted to state my dislike for him.
- President Macri of Argentina wants to implement a Marshall Plan for Argentina to help rebuild the economy and to restore infrastructure. I support this move. So much so that I want a multi-country coalition to commit to a Latin America-wide Marshall Plan. Preferably would like the U.S., Colombia and Argentina to lead the way on this.
- In regards to Mexico, I believe we need to maintain relations, obviously. Same goes for the Central American countries, but the illegal immigration problem needs to be addressed. I think it can be best addressed by tackling the drug cartel problem. The illegal immigration issue will not go away with a strong alliance (much stronger than it currently is) with Mexico on defeating the cartels. There is too much to go into in regards to details and requests, but overall we need to have a relationship w/ Mexico based on common goals related to international and geopolitical concerns not just on separate domestic concerns.

[SATW]

^ And you have been reported.