Pat for Commisar! (2010)

This is an attempt to build a platform based on my present values that would resemble a party platform or a candidate's platform for a presidential election. It is in some areas more moderate than my politics, representing a moderate form of capitalism rather than an actually socialist system.
It was written in a short period of time following 8 July 2010, and is structured after an earlier document.

General Principles


Electoral Reform

Public funding of elections will be greatly expanded to limit the advantage the wealthy have in elections, while limits on campaign contributions will be increased

A constitution amendment will be sought to replace the role of the senate in the United States with a party-proportional national body equal in size to the house and no limits on party size for representation provided the proportion rounds down to one member

A constitution amendment will be sought to switch to ordered-preference voting

A constitution amendment will be sought to switch to permit party coalitions to hold power

Voting days will be national holidays

Office of Science and Technology Policy

The directorate of this office is promoted to a cabinet-level position. The office is further directed to establish liasons with all prominent accredited universities in the nation for input on policies.

Drug and Alcohol Policy

Drug policy shall be structured so as to permit use of substances that can be used in moderation as part of a productive life. Controlled substances that fail to meet this guideline will continue to be controlled, but we expect recreational drugs such as marijuana to join alcohol in being permitted.

The ability of states and counties to regulate liquor will be reduced - while states may continue to operate liquor stores, they may not prohibit businesses from doing the same nor may they ban alcohol within their borders. Specific taxes on liquor may not exceed 15%. All drinking ages are abolished across the nation. Bans on alcohol while performing dangerous/delicate operations (such as driving or flight) are expected to stand, and their specifics should be normalised across the nation

The Office of National Drug Control Policy's charter is changed, and it is prohibited from political advocacy.

Nonviolent past drug offenders are granted clemency for that crime as well as any crimes reasonably accompanying efforts to hide drug activities (such as tax fraud).

Intellectual Property

The United States will adjust its concepts of intellectual property to recognise unwaivable and permanent moral rights as per the Berne Convention, except for provisions that would prevent modification of works.

Copyright will be set at a length of 20 years, nonrenewable. Existing works in copyright beyond that length will enter the public domain.

Patents on genes are prohibited. Patents on software, if permitted, are limited to five years.

Patents must be maintained at a yearly rate of 1% of the yearly value of the patent (affects damages in infringement lawsuits) or at a rate of ten thousand dollars (adjusted for inflation from this date), whichever is more. Patents may not be enforced until/unless they payment is recieved, and are considered abandoned after two years past due.

The Patent office is directed to charge fees sufficient to hire sufficient examiners of sufficient expertise to properly weigh patent claims. Sovereign immunity is extended to the patent office preventing lawsuits against all refused claims. The Patent office is further directed to have a panel of 50 experts to examine existing patents for consideration of nullification, which is likewise protected by sovereign immunity for their official duties.

IP bounties will be created to organise interest in solutions with organisations that may do research towards them. The results of such bounties will not be protected, and the state may pay for parts of these bounties when recognised to be in the public interest

ACTA will not be enacted or will be repealed

The DMCA, apart from "safe harbour" provisions, will be repealed

The United States will leave WIPO

Environment

The EPA will be strengthened

The United States will reexamine US noninvolvement in environmental treaties

Education

K-12 education will be federalised and funded through federal taxes, eliminating the vast funding differences available to schools across the nation

Home schooling is banned nationwide

Private schooling is limited to supplemental form - students are either to have five full days a week of public school or four full days public and two full days private

The Department of Education will create a model curriculum for the nation for K-12 and select textbooks for that curriculum. This curriculum will cover 60% of school content - schools will have flexibility to determine the rest of their content as per local initiatives. Schools that perform well enough will have additional flexibility of form and content.

A general policy will be to base the mandated content on broad academic consensus, regardless of local popular consensus or debate

The K-12 school year is extended to ten months, with December and June off.

The costs of university tuition are, beyond current provisions and scholarships, matched 30% by funds drawn from general taxes. In 2020, this rate will rise to 60%

Efforts to encourage ongoing education and involvement in university-level education over the entire lives of citizens will be made

Sex Ed is to be taught nationally with no exemptions

Corporate involvement in schools will be prohibited

Civics/Governmental/Legal Study will be a topic in every grade of public school

The Pledge of Allegiance will not be part of K-12 schooling

Secular, accredited universities may apply to manage the public schooling of districts near them

Transportation

Cities are directed, when and where prudent, to encourage use of bikes and footpaths and discourage or prohibit personal car use

DoT programs such as road maintenance shall be funded by special taxes on those who have a personal or commercial driver's license (at different rates) as well as through petrol taxes

Expansion of traditional rail service, maglevs, and other forms of mass-transit shall occur with the goal of replacing interstate trucking, most in-nation flights, and most private long-distance driving

An integrated and expansive national public transit system will be established by 2030

Minimal fuel-efficiency law loopholes permitting SUVs will be closed; SUVs will be banned immediately

VoA reform

VoA is permitted to broadcast in the United States

Energy

Investment in Nuclear Fusion research and engineering is to be increased heavily.

Deep sea oil drilling is to be phased out, with increased use of public transit and a phase-out of private car ownership lessening the need for oil.

Communities

A structure for community-based ownership of land and resources will be designed and given legal status, giving neighbourhoods easy ways to purchase a shared structure in which items for their shared good may be placed and managed through highly-local elections and taxes. Communities are expected to use this for shared kitchens, laundry space, recreation, community organising, and similar on scales where town/city/state involvement is not desired.

In large cities, groups of neighbourhoods shall have structures analogous to town halls so as not to deprive them of the opportunities of community life. These community halls may create laws, taxes, and other structures additional and generally subordinate to the cities in which they exist.

Cities will have a mechanism to absorb nearby communities that act effectively as tax todges

Corporations

Representatives of the public interest are entitled to attend any board meetings of any corporation operating in the United States

Corporations do not have a right to privacy per-se

Corporations are prohibited from participation in the political process. Existing mechanisms permitting PACs will be permitted until electoral reform makes that issue moot.

Corporate personhood will be abolished by 2020, with the rights of corporations defined by a new framework of law to be established by a commission, led by consumer advocates, directed to bind their activities tightly to things justifiable under the public interest.

Corporate charters will not be granted without an expectation that the corporation will benefit society, and they will be withdrawn more readily when the corporation fails to serve society

Corporations will have a maximum lifespan of 40 years plus 1-8 years chosen randomly (to stagger the transition and prevent synchronicity)

Finance and Economy

Banks and Credit Unions are prohibited from financial activity besides loans, general banking, and simple stock. Other organisations are prohibited from participation in general banking

Many instruments of high-finance that are not justifiable in terms of the public good will either be prohibited or structurally eliminated through changes in corporate, stock, and other law. The distributed judgement on allocation of resources will be largely kept, but aspects of the system too abstractly related to that will disappear.

Estate taxes will have a very low minimum, greatly simplified to prevent tax dodges, and a very high rate, on the theory that it is the least injurious and disincentivising type of tax, and that privileged classes are themselves an injustice in society

Medicine

Abortion is legal and publicly funded for the first two trimesters, and is illegal and heavily fined during the third trimester unless the mother's health is endangered. Requirements for parental, spousal, or other notification are abolished and prohibited.

Birth control is legal and provided free as a matter of public health and planning to all citizens, anonymously and regardless of age

Government funding for homeopathy, acupuncture, or other "medical" procedures not deemed effective by the surgeon general will be prohibited at all levels of government

A National Health Service will be created, managed by the Department of Health and Human Services, providing comprehensive healthcare for all Americans and supported by general taxes.

The FDA is directed to use "improvement over existing available medication" as a metric for approval of new drugs instead of "shows an effect". Special consideration will be given to medication that shows fewer side-effects than existing medication for the general public or for certain groups, but circumventing copyright expiration through new near-identically effective drugs combined with marketing will no longer be viable.

Drug companies will no longer be permitted to advertise prescription drugs to the general public

Public campaigns will be waged to combat obesity

Living Wills dictating end-of-life care will be respected nationwide

Faith

The DOL, VA, and HUD centres for faith-based initiatives/partnerships will be dissolved.

All government chaplaincies will be dissolved

No exemptions will be made from any law or regulation for reason of the faith or philosophy of a person

Civil Rights and other legal issues

Marriage shall be legal between any two consenting people of marriable age and mental state, regardless of gender. The civil institution of marriage will occur only through a justice of the peace - cultural ceremonies, if applicable, will be entirely distinct and no justice of the peace is permitted to oversee such ceremonies

Amerindians must choose, on a per-tribe basis, between citizenship for its members and subnational status. Those that choose citizenship retain no tribal privileges after transition, putting an end to any treaty-provisions. Those that choose subnation status have their tribe granted nearly full autonomy with their tribal lands treated as an effectively separate nation in most areas, but their members lose their American citizenship (but retain American nationality)

Prostitution remains illegal because so long as people require funds to survive in society, the situation could force someone into activities which we recognise as especially harmful without consent deeper than that borne of urgent need

Private Prisons are banned across the nation

Private management of police forces is banned across the nation

The death penalty is temporarily abolished nationwide until racial and other prejudicial issues are convincingly resolved

Prisons will be restructured to prevent the growth of "prison culture". Smuggling of items will be entirely prevented

General Legal

Exclusive contracts with government are not generally permitted

Laws may not incorporate or reference codes that are not publicly available

All contracts are public

All salaries/incomes across the nation are public information

Public service should more generally be part of punishment for crime

Immigration policy must balance rule of law and national interest. Religious fundamentalism will bar immigration. Refugee immigration will be sharply curtailed and temporary in nature

Large cities will not have commercial landlords -

Foreign Policy

Embargo and travel bans to Cuba will be immediately and entirely lifted

Efforts to normalise relations with Iran will continue

Foreign policy will heavily depend on international cooperation, particularly with nations that broadly share our values

Taiwan will be recognised as a nation after China is maneuvered to permit this