Issues
With every election, we are deciding the fate of millions, the fate of our nation, even perhaps the fate of humanity. We are all responsible for that. And if that is not a sacred charge, I cannot imagine what is.
This is a new time, and we must bring forth something new within ourselves in order to deal with it.
As our case is new, so we must think anew, and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.
The Issues
My commitment to advocating for animal welfare is a long-standing and deeply held personal conviction. As President, I will lead on animal welfare by appointing strong leaders at the Agriculture and Interior departments and all other agencies with exposure to animal welfare issues. I’ll support bills that help animals and veto measures that hurt them.
I have long believed in the power of the human-animal bond and the hard-wired connection we have with wild and domesticated animals. Animals enrich our lives and are an antidote to loneliness and sadness. They comfort young and old alike, and make us more human and humane. More than two-thirds of American households have pets and hundreds of millions of us enjoy visiting national parks and other protected areas to see birds and mammals.
Yet there are still too many examples where the human-animal bond is broken and people treat animals cruelly.
The way to take care of our economy tomorrow is by taking care of our children today.
When it comes to health, hunger, addiction, education, and safety – we are shirking our responsibilities as a nation of parents. Child advocacy is not being addressed with the attention and care it deserves. Too many of our children are endangered physically and emotionally. This is a humanitarian emergency.
America’s criminal justice system creates just results for some people, but it is terribly unjust for far too many others. Research has shown that Our history of “tough on crime” laws have been directly responsible for America becoming the most incarcerated nation in the industrialized world. These laws disproportionately affect minorities and low-income communities. And because we do so little to rehabilitate those who are incarcerated, we have created a revolving door at our jails and prisons. Within five years of their release, three-quarters of formerly incarcerated persons are arrested once again, usually for minor infractions.
Criminal justice has become both a political and moral disaster.
Last year, 109,680 people in the US died from drugs, and every year that number has been rising. Add up all the motor vehicle fatalities and all the gun fatalities – and that is still less than the number of overdose deaths last year.
The War on Drugs has completely failed to alleviate the problem it supposedly set out to solve. It has only created more problems, fueling mass incarceration and violence at home and abroad. We have spent $1 trillion and continue to spend $100 billion annually on the failed drug war, and over half of our incarcerated population is in prison because of drug-related charges. Our approach is not defeating the drug cartels in Latin America, which feed the horrifying violence that fuels the crisis at our Southern Border.
A system that does not feel, which has no sense of ethical responsibility to people or planet, is a dangerous guide to America’s future. Living for our principles will provide more economic security than living for short-term corporate interests can ever provide. Our government should not be run like a business; it should be run like a family, where taking care of each other, and taking care of our home, are the values that guide us. America can create a care economy.
A core principle of the Williamson administration will be to realign public policy with the most basic elements of our humanity. The purpose of data and statistics, especially economic ones, should be placed in service to the human condition.
One of my favorite lines from Mahatma Gandhi is when he said that “the idea that economics is a verifiable science is one of the greatest evils ever foisted on the human mind.” The laws of physics, for instance, are objectively the same no matter where they’re applied. The laws of economics, however, often stray into subjectivity when applied to real people’s lives.
Education is more than a pathway to a better job; it is a gateway to a more empowered life. Good universal education is essential to a democracy because it gives the tools to all citizens to think, and to act, with the power that is necessary for self-governance.
A more conscious sense of citizenship is imperative if we’re to right the ship of our democracy; without training in the rigor of critical thinking, we’re less prepared for engaged citizenship. A world class education should be the right of every American citizen, not only for the sake of the individual citizen but for the sake of the country.
Democracy bestows more than rights. It bestows responsibilities as well: the responsibility to analyze intelligently what is happening in our country, and make carefully considered decisions regarding who should represent us. Education gives us a greater ability to direct our own lives, and the destiny of our country.
Over the past century, the advent of modern farming techniques, the corporatization of agriculture, the use of petrochemical-based fertilizers, and the subsidizing and encouragement of Big Ag have collectively created a poisonous brew that is now affecting our health and well-being in critical ways.
We need a single-payer healthcare system.
The WHOLE HEALTH PLAN expands the healthcare debate, tackling not only how to pay for healthcare but also how to provide greater opportunities for health. The problem in America is not just that our current healthcare system fails to adequately treat sickness. The problem is our current economic system, based as it is on an inordinate focus on short-term profit, actually increases the probability of sickness.
To say we have a housing crisis is a serious understatement. We have a housing emergency.
When I was growing up, the average American could afford to own their own home. Today, there is virtually no city or town where a full-time minimum-wage worker can even afford to rent a decent two-bedroom apartment. Over 18 million families are paying the majority of their income on housing. Over half a million people will be sleeping out on the streets or in homeless shelters because they cannot afford to put a roof over their heads.
Immigrants are not our enemies. I don’t know any progressive who is arguing for open borders, but we are arguing for open hearts. This is so important to remember today as immigrants are often viciously scapegoated. Scapegoating immigrants, particularly Mexicans and Central Americans, is a deliberate dehumanization technique. Dehumanizing others has always been the required first step leading toward history’s collective atrocities. This is not the first time dehumanization has reared its head in our nation, and we must stand up against it now as other generations stood up against it in their time.
All Americans deserve a job, no matter their education. Every employee should be able to thrive in their workplace, no matter the work. All work should have respect, and all workers should have dignity.
Our Declaration of Independence holds that the inalienable rights of, “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” are endowed to ALL humans by their creator at birth. In 2015, marriage equality became the law of the land, yet there is still no federal law explicitly protecting the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) communities from discrimination. These communities, therefore, do not enjoy the full breadth of freedoms that this country espouses to guarantee to each and every citizen. This is in direct violation of our founding principles.
In the words of John F. Kennedy, “We cannot afford to be materially rich and spiritually poor.” Our system of mass incarceration is a huge wound upon the spirit of America, and that wound can only be healed if we address what it is, how it got here, and how it can be changed.
Central to our problem is a penchant for punishment, rather than rehabilitation, that runs through too much of our criminal justice system. While there are many good people working within the system, institutionally we remain stuck within an obsolete consciousness that does more to prepare people for a life of crime once they get out of jail, than for a life repaired.
One of the great tragedies of American history, not only for Native Americans, but for European settlers as well, is that we denied ourselves the extraordinary cultural and spiritual possibilities of what might have been. Had a partnership rather than dominator model of social organization been chosen centuries ago, not only Native American culture, but also European American culture, would now be much more advanced. Due to increased historical and spiritual awareness, America is now ready to repair wounds both old and new, so that we can pave the way to a more enlightened future. As President, I would be honored to preside over both.
According to studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), our country’s inadequate response to COVID-19 has resulted in over 1.1 million deaths and on average over 3200 people hospitalized daily. This means that the pandemic should return to status as a national emergency.
Long Covid has caused both cognitive and physical impairments, and we must ensure those affected are protected in their workplace, as well as with the potential impacts to their housing and healthcare needs. As a country, we cannot compromise on relieving the trauma inflicted upon working people, and disabled and otherwise marginalized communities.
Ending the scourge of violence in the United States and across the planet requires more than suppressing violence. Lasting peace requires its active and systematized cultivation at every level of government and society. The U.S. Department of Peace will coordinate and spur the efforts we need to make our country and the world a safer place. Nothing short of broad-scale investment and government reorientation can truly turn things around. Both domestically and internationally, we must dramatically ramp up the use of proven powers of peace-building, including dialogue, mediation, conflict resolution, economic and social development, restorative justice, public health approaches to violence prevention, trauma-informed systems of care, social and emotional learning in schools, and many others.
I do not believe the average American is a racist, but I believe the average American is undereducated about the history of race in America. When our history is viewed through a clear lens – historically, economically and morally – white America is seen owing a debt to the descendants of enslaved people. That is why I support, and have a plan for, a program of reparations to the descendants of American enslaved people.
Regarding abortion rights, I am one hundred percent pro-choice.
I believe the decision of whether or not to have an abortion lies solely with a pregnant woman, according to the dictates of her conscience and in communion with the God of her understanding. I trust the moral decision-making of the American woman, and I do not feel the government has a right to deny or restrict her decisions.
Social Security has worked well for generations to reduce poverty among seniors and the disabled. It is under attack today by Wall Street banks and related financial “service” entities who want to privatize it for no other reason than to tap into another new and huge source of income and bonuses.
Under no circumstances should we put Social Security at risk. We need to protect this successful and compassionate program that retiring Americans have relied on for nearly eighty-five years.
In our country, there is no greater horror than the vortex of poverty.
Poverty is people sleeping out in the streets.
Poverty is children going to bed with hungry stomachs.
Poverty is life without a break from overwhelming stress.
Poverty is anti-human.
One of the most profound shifts of the 21st Century is the emerging power of women. From the #MeToo movement to issues of equal pay for equal work, from shattering glass ceilings to dismantling patriarchal economic and social systems, the 21st Century will continue to see a deep rebalancing of male and female power.
As the first woman President of the United States, I would be deeply aware of my pivotal role in ushering in a new era of female leadership. If I am given the authority, I will use the full powers of the presidency to advocate for the things women care about.
