Since I feel that neither candidate has policies that will promote American freedom and growth, I have decided to announce my own candidacy for President, as a Republican. Unlike my opponent, I will support a platform of sensibility, opposing wars of imperialism, and gradually reducing federal spending and scope over both the populace and industry.
- Charles E. Huntington, Senator from West Virginia
Abortion
I believe we should overturn Roe vs. Wade, and in its place support the states' right to determine the legality of abortion. I also oppose any federal funding for abortion.
Affirmative Action
Affirmative Action laws should be repealed; why should a less qualified person get a job simply on the merit of his or her gender, ethnicity, religion, or nationality. A purely meritocratic system.
Agriculture
Reduce federal subsidies of agriculture, and oppose the conglomerate corporations that dominate the field.
Budget and the Economy
On economic matters, I oppose ending the Bush tax cuts; for my first term in office, if the economy is still not recovering, I will only maintain them. However, if the economy is beginning to recover, I will support their expansion. Regarding spending, I support reducing spending in most areas of government, starting with a ten percent slash to all aspects of the federal government, followed by more precise cuts in military spending and entitlement programmes. I also support welfare reform, reforming social security, and reforming Medicare/Medicaid.
Campaign Financing
I support limiting campaign donations coming from unions, businesses, and other powerful lobbying entities and special interest groups. However, first and foremost, I support total transparency, which I feel would reduce the need to restrict donations.
Censorship and the Internet
I oppose any form of regulation on the internet. Let the internet be the spirit of freedom, and voice of liberty, and a symbol of the free market.
Child Support
I support limited forms of child support, but would rather most such programmes come from state and local governments.
Church vs State
I support the Constitution, and remain committed that Church and State should remain separated.
Civil Rights
I support civil rights, but the Civil Rights Act of 1965 needs to be reworked; it grants to much power to the federal government, especially the presidency.
Federal Reserve
We need to audit the Federal Reserve at once. Limit its power to print money at will.
Global Warming
I oppose federal regulation of businesses; as such, I feel the best way to promote any substantive change would be to promote tax incentives to improve our standards, and to reduce federal support and funding of the chief producers of CO2 emissions (that is, end any federal support to automakers and coal companies). I support reforming and scaling back the powers of the EPA.
Crime
Law enforcement should be left to the states and local communities to regulate and control.
Death Penalty
Capital punishment should be left to the states; however, the federal government should be authorized to use the death penalty against those who commit treason.
Drugs
I believe we should repeal all federal drug prohibition, favouring instead a regulated system like alcohol and tobacco; reduce restrictions on the latter two, as well.
Education
We should repeal No Child Left Behind, dismantle the Department of education, and support a more local, and more privatised form of education. I also believe we should transition our funding from schools to the students themselves, to help promote more choice and educational freedom.
Energy and Oil
Energy independence is my goal; however, it will not happen overnight. What I propose is tertiary; first, we begin deregulating the energy market, so that we can have more competition, more room for innovation, and promote more jobs in the process (they would need fat less money to protect themselves from lawsuits and to obey foolish government restrictions, so they would be able to invest more or hire more); the second goal will be leaving the Middle East, which would hopefully stabilize and bring prices lower in the meantime; third, we will cut some restrictions on drilling and mining (we will maintain the National Parks by creating agreements to trade land (we give up some land that is mineral rich, in exchange for land that is being restored environmentally) to tide us over whilst newer, greener technologies are made more practical and available to the general public.
Taxes
We should, first, maintain the Bush tax cuts; once the economy begins recovering, we should further cut taxes (and spending as well). We do not need a large government, so taxes should be, at most, no higher than, say twenty percent (and would hopefully go much lower than that).
Foreign Policy
American foreign policy has been a wreck since the turn of the 20th Century. We need to drastically change our course of action; first, we need to return our soldiers home from abroad; second, we need to reduce military spending and end foreign aid; third, we need to return to the constitutional and sound principle of actually declaring war.
Free Trade
Free trade is ultimately good for everyone; our problem is not that trade is too free, but our labour market and industrial sector is too regulated.
Gay Rights
I believe that the legality of all forms of marriage should be determined at the state level. I believe the Defence of Marriage Act is substantial in protecting states rights in rejecting another states marriage, but we should go no farther in either direction.
Gun Control
We should repeal all federal gun control, and challenge most state and local laws on their constitutionality.
Healthcare
I believe we should repeal Obama-care, and favour privatising the healthcare industry. Medicare and Medicaid need drastic reform.
Homeland Security
We need to end the Department of Homeland Security, and curtail the powers of the military and FBI to protect civil liberties.
Illegal Immigrants
Liberalize our immigration system; support a method by which illegals presently living in the United States can gain citizenship. Only deport criminals.
Medicare and Medicaid
Medicare and Medicaid should be reformed to keep them solvent for the time being, but should ultimately, and gradually, be phased out.
NAFTA
NAFTA was a good idea, but poorly executed; we need to make some reforms, but most of our problems stem from an overly regulated industrial sector.
Nuclear Energy and Weapons
Reduce nuclear weaponry; support nuclear energy (not with federal funding, though).
Political Corruption
Stricter laws and detection should be put in place to ensure Political Corruption does not happen. We also need to reduce the size and power of government to further stem the growth or power of corruption.
Personal Privacy
I completely oppose any attempt at infringing personal liberties, the cornerstone of our nation; immediately repeal both the PATRIOT Act and the NDAA. Furthermore, federal powers must be reduced to and states' rights protected to limit the power of the government and keep civil liberties from being abused.
School Prayer
School prayer is not in the scope of federal powers; leave it to the states and the local schoolboards to determine.
Stem Cells
I oppose federal funding of stem cell research, but it should be completely legal.
War and Peace
Begin withdrawing from Afghanistan within first month in office; oppose war with Iran.