Replace Tom Cotton

The time has come for America to follow  every other industrialized nation and give it's citizens universal healthcare. Our current health system is putting profits above the health of Americans. Citizens are literally dying because they cant afford their prescription drugs! The working class is spending 10-20% of their total income on health insurance which is completely unacceptable. There is not a single country on Earth that has reverted from a single payer health insurance to a private system. Dan's family spends around $8,300 a year on their insurance premiums, then must pay $3,500 in deductibles  before his private insurance helps. Last year he lost part of the hearing in his left ear (and now has tinnitus, never ending ringing, for the rest of his life) because of the costs (nearly $1,200 to get a referral and see a specialist plus the tests involved) required to get medical help. Dan understands the struggles of private health insurance and wants to make sure no more Americans suffer because they can't afford medical care while paying huge sums of money for insurance. America is the only modernized nation in the world where citizens can go bankrupt just for getting sick. Last year the top 5 pharmaceutical companies profited $69,000,000,000, while Americans DIED because they could not afford their prescription drugs! As a cable guy I went into houses where senior citizens had to cut their prescription pills in half because they couldn't afford a refill! Its time we tell these insurance companies that enough is enough and that we start putting People > Profits. Human misery should never be monetized.

If we are to continue to be the greatest nation in the world we must continue to educate without the threat of having a lifetime of debt. Students are graduating with tens of thousands of dollars of debt and get stuck paying the interest while barely touching the principle debt owned. I propose we cap the interest rate on Federal Student Loans at 1-2%, the current rate is 4.5%+. Its time we stop punishing our youth with endless interest payments and start rewarding them for furthering their education in order to better our society.  We also need to start promoting the  continuing of education after high school . We need to promote vocational training and college degrees. I understand not everyone wants to get a degree, but the option should be there. Let's focus on supplying vocational training for those not wanting a degree, and helping support our future working class by providing free college tuition to community colleges.  The price of college textbooks has risen 1000% over the last 10 years. Colleges have become an industry of giant profits and huge debts, rather than a tool for education and the betterment of society.

We live in a time where  there are more than 29 lobbyist per U.S. Congressman that spend 24/7 trying to get your congressman to vote a certain way. Billionaires funnel unlimited amounts of money into our political system in exchange for political favors. The Koch brothers alone spent $400,000,000 in 2018 to help candidates get elected, when 91% of candidates with more campaign funds get "elected." Why would someone spend 400 million to help candidates get elected you ask? With the last tax bill that was passed by the congressmen they helped get elected, they were able to save over $50,000,000,000. We NEED elected officials to start representing their constituents and not the special interest donors that are making them rich. When a brave citizen enlists in the military they give up certain rights, and I believe elected officials should do the same. If running for a public office a candidate should give up the right to financial privacy. Constituents should be able to go online and view their representatives bank accounts. People should be able to see where money is coming from and where it goes. If someone doesn't like this because they are engaged in unethical or illegal activities, don't run for public office. I also believe elected officials should give up their right to plead the fifth amendment. If you want to represent  people, don't be a criminal. Period.

Corporations Amazon are getting away with paying little to no taxes.  Amazon paid $0 in taxes last year.  While these corporations are skating by taxes, billionaires are also dodging them. An estimated $21,000,000,000,000 is floating around offshore bank accounts avoiding taxation. When we spend our money we expect it to be taxed and come back into our communities, but it is instead going to offshore banks to build interest rather than building our economy.  We need to close the loopholes that allow the rich to avoid paying their fair share.  Why do we punish people for working? Why do we tax the working class so high while giant corporations and billionaires get away with paying little to nothing? The answer is simple: billionaires lobby money into legislators pockets in exchange for favorable legislation.  What we need to do is enforce taxes on those avoiding them, then lower taxes for the working class.  The new tax bill that our "representatives" voted to pass cost Americans $93,000,000,000 more in income taxes in 2018, while corporations paid $90,000,000,000 less. This is not what a representative should have done. This is what happens when legislators are on the payrolls of the corporations.

I believe Marijuana should be federally decriminalized. It should be up to the voters in each state whether or not they want this drug to be illegal, whether medicinally or recreational. Let the people vote for the laws they adhere to. The war on drugs has done nothing for Americans but create a way to mass incarcerate individuals and ruin lives. If you look at the success of states that have legalized marijuana you would understand why this is such an important issue. Oregon has used the tax dollars gained from marijuana sales to fund their schools. Colorado made so much money they even refunded their tax payers! If your child goes to school in Oregon their bus rides are free, their school lunches are free, their school materials are free, the instruments for band are able to be rented for free. No citizen, resident, guest, or undocumented immigrant should EVER go hungry. Their is so much  revenue gained from marijuana taxes that  conservatives have come together with liberals to support legalization across more that half of the states.  Not only do we need to give states the option to vote on this legislation for themselves, but we need to pardon all marijuana possession crimes across our great nation. That includes possession and paraphernalia.

Climate change is real. Period. 97% of the scientists on Earth have come to agreement this is no longer a political issue. You can say it is not and pretend all you want, but that does not change the facts. The impact mankind has had on our ecology is so unsustainable that we have already entered the sixth great extinction. We stand to lose 70% of ALL species on our planet within the next 50 years. We have already lost over 50% of the corral reefs around the world which contain 25% of ALL sea life. To make things worse this cascading effect will continue to hasten. As the ice melts around our planet the oceans are less white and more blue, which means the earth absorbs more light and reflects less heat. As the ice melts it is uncovering millions of acres of frozen tundra that is releasing carbon and methane that has been stored for millions of years. We have a mere 12  years to make drastic changes before we reach the point of no return. I am not saying the world is going to end, but the world as we know it is  now changing. Our children will suffer dire droughts and great storm to the likes mankind has never faced.  A republican Mayor in Texas was able to get his constituents to agree on changing to a 100% renewable energy source, and has since then created safer jobs with less hours and higher pay, lowered the electric bill of residents to less than $20/month, while lowering  emissions. We can follow this brave republicans model and make Arkansas the leader in clean energy. Lets keep our Natural State the most beautiful in the nation. 

For FAR TOO LONG America has been in the business of war. We have turned our military into a last resort occupation for poor kids looking to get free education and healthcare. Giving the military industrial complex a steady supply of soldiers. Companies that profit from these wars, such as; Exxon Mobile; Raytheon; and Boeing, have been lobbying billions of dollars into our political system in order to receive favorable votes that allow them to keep these wars going. We have been at war with foreign nations for the last 222 out of 239 years.  What we need to do is bring all of our troops home and stop destabilizing foreign governments, which in the long run makes regions worse for their inhabitants while creating terrorists that hate America.  I do not support spending $25 billion tax payer dollars to build a wall, but I can support bringing our troops home and having them build the wall instead. 

Disarming citizens and taking our guns goes against everything that America stands for and further it is wrong for the Government to seize personal property. We should not be disarming ourselves while we are militarizing our police. At the same time, I do believe we need to close some loopholes in our gun laws. We need to close the Gun Show loopholes that allow pretty much anyone to purchase a firearm. We need to raise the age required to purchase a firearm to 21. We need to provide, enforce, and properly fund background checks in order to prevent the wrong people from being able to legally purchase firearms. If our smart phones now have fingerprint scanners on them, it is possible to implement fingerprint requirements for new guns. Biometric scanners could be implemented in new handguns which would save a lot of lives. Biometric scanners do not work well in bad weather, and not always working properly in such, so should not be implemented on rifles.  This would prevent children, and criminals, from using our firearms. We should also be supplying trigger locks for every firearm purchased.  As for assault weapons, I believe if a person goes through proper training, obtains a special license, and undergoes psychiatric evaluations, we should not ban them from owning an assault weapon.  This would keep these dangerous weapons in the proper hands, and out of the hands of people unfit to wield them. I do not believe that the Government should be relieving law-abiding citizens of their right to own a gun.

The #22aday epidemic, 22 veterans commit suicide every day in America, this issue should be at the top of all headlines. The VA does not work. We need to have both Veterans and Doctors comes together to find a way to make sure our soldiers get the care they need when they come home.  

The imprisonment of humans is at a record high. The U.S. accounts for only  around 5% of the worlds population, yet we account for nearly 25% of all incarcerated people. We have prisons that deny parole to inmates merely to keep jail cells filled, because that's how they get paid. Between 1990 and 2009 the prison population increased by nearly 1600%!  In 2010 the two largest private prisons received nearly $3 BILLION in revenue while paying their executives over $3 million per year. It's time we stop putting criminals in cages, and start rehabilitating them instead.  Take some times to read this amazing book, Banking on Bondage to better understand the terrible conditions we subject American citizens to.  https://www.aclu.org/banking-bondage-private-prisons-and-mass-incarceration  The migrant child detention facilities are costing tax payers $22,000/month in order to incarcerate innocent children in conditions that doctors have deemed "torture conditions." Children belong in homes, not concentration camps. I propose we offer loving American families $2,000/mo/ to house a child. This would be similar to foster care but would be a limited amount of time while the child's parents are undergoing the immigration process. 

The most important thing in our country is the nourishment and education of our future generations. In Arkansas the beginning pay for a teacher averages at $33,973.  This has created the problem where we lose so many quality teachers to other professions that our children are suffering. We need teachers pay to reflect the importance of the job they have, to mold and prepare the future of our society. A few months  ago we raised teachers minimum wage to $36,000, but that isn't enough. I propose we raise teachers minimum to $40,000. We can do this by improving the economies in rural towns. We need to bring industry to these areas which will bring more income to their communities. We can do this with new cash crops and clean energy. 

I keep getting the question, "What is a livable wage?" and here is my answer. A person should not be working 2-3 jobs or 50-60 hours per week just to live paycheck to paycheck. There are no more cities in America where a single mom can work a full time job and be able to afford a 1 bedroom apartment.  This wage should not be determined by the federal government, but should be determined state to state and county by county. But the current minimum wage is too low. We have seen workers wages remain near stagnant over the last 20 years while CEO's pay has increased 168%. If we change the way we classify business we can take on this challenge more easily. We can reclassify business as small, medium, and large. Small business will be mom and pop shops that profit under $1,000,000/year. Medium business will be companies that profit under $100,000,000/year. Large corporations will be classified as business that profits more than $1,000,000,000/year. Large corporation should be REQUIRED to pay a minimum of $15.00/hour. We can then tax businesses in a progressive way where small pay around 10%, medium pay around 20%, and large corporations pay 30% in taxes. This will alleviate that tax burden on struggles small business while enforcing corporations that profit billions to pay their fair share.

One of the most dangerous jobs in America is being a lw enforcement officer. On top of being a dangerous job, they are severely underpaid. This has caused the problem of having a lack of intelligent police officers. The average police office salary is $34,500 in the state of Arkansas. How many people are willing to put their life on the line for such a small salary? I believe if we raise the salary, and educational requirement, for police we will end up raising the quality of police we have enforcing our laws. Most police officers don't even know the law they are supposed to be enforcing. We also need to have community boards that can hold police officers accountable for their actions. The duty of an officer is to uphold the law with the minimum force necessary, yet we continue to see police brutality day after day, majorly against minorities.  With a high paid, better educated, and responsible police force, I believe we can transform the image of our protectors.

It is law that all government building are handicap accessible. While traveling to Little Rock I spent a few hours talking to a group of homeless citizens. Who are the most vulnerable people in America? The elderly? The homeless? The disabled? Well one of the gentlemen I spoke with is in all three of these categories. There are 2 homeless shelters in Little Rock and only one of them has handicap access. We need to require ALL homeless shelters to be handicap accessible. 

I propose we require candidates on ballots to record short videos covering their policy stance on at least three different policies. When a voter shows up at the polling station they can watch these candidate videos while waiting in line so they know exactly who and what they are voting for.  There are too many voters that show up at polls merely to cast votes for the candidates in their favored party, without even having seen the candidate name before. I prose we remove party affiliation from ballots in order to force voters to be better educated on the people they are voting for. 

When a citizen enlists in the military they I've up certain rights. I believe an elected official should have to do the same. Politicians should be required to give up their right to financial privacy. A constituents should be able to access every politicians financial records to see where their money is coming from, and where it is going. If you don't like this, don't run for a public position. Elected officials are public servants, they are supposed work for the people, not the other way around. Legislators should not have any financial interest in the laws they vote on. I propose we require all elected officials to liquidate their portfolios upon taking office. While in office legislators will not be allowed to be shareholders during their time of public service.

Why is it OK for a person to buy a $100,000 house then have to pay over $300,000 for it over 30 years? Then later that person sells their house and the big banks get yet another $300,000 out of it. If we capped home loan interest rates at 1-2% a persons mortgage on a $100,000 house would not be around $900/month, it would instead (without all of the huge interest included) be nearer to $500/month. This would allow more people to purchase houses, creating more homeowners. It would also allow investors that must charge insane amounts of money for rent, to lower the renters costs because in turn their mortgages would be lower. Banks are profiting hundreds of billions while Americans are struggling to pay these crazy interest rates while barely touching their principle amounts.

I propose we lower elected officials pay. Why does a senator need to make $174,000 a year while his constituents are making closer to $40,000? Yes, it is important to understand a congressmen must own a residence in both his home state and in Washington DC, but that doesn't require such giant lavish salaries. It should be up to constituents to determine if their representatives salary either increases, decreases, or remains the same. 

It has come to my attention that there is a large amount of corruption in our Judiciary system. Lawyers use their knowledge to prey upon their clients as well as other Arkansans. I propose that we require a jury to bear witness to each child related case. We need to hold lawyers accountable for the actions they take that determine the well being of children. Part of being a member to our society is jury duty. So lets protect ourselves by requiring a jury for cases related to children. 

Corporations spending unlimited amounts of money to help candidates get elected is not freedom of speech. When 91% of candidates with more campaign funds get "elected," and the majority of their finances are coming from huge corporations there is a problem. We can fix this issue, strengthening our democracy, by ending Citizens United.

In this day and age we need to eliminate the grey area on what belongs to us and what does not. Our political representatives in the us senate gave our Internet Service Providers, after taking huge sums of money from them, the rights to our private internet usage data. Our ISP monitors, records, then sells our internet history to third party advertisers. We need to put an immediate stop to this. We must make it clear that what we do online is OUR personal property and not someone to sell to others.

We need to focus on the millions of calls being sent to Americans from over seas that put their private information at risk. Far too many people are being called by scammers pretending to be the Social Security Administration, claiming that their SS# has been suspended. There are many other instances of scam calls trying to steal Americans data and this needs to be stopped. We need protections against this type of criminal activity. 

Businesses have been taking advantage of workers and enough is enough. Your boss could walk into your office today and let you know the company no longer needs you and send you on your way, they don't even have to pay your PTO. Workers need protections that ensure as long as they are doing their job, they need not be worried of losing it. Just because your company no longer needs you, does not mean your bills will wait. 

Back in the day every single American working for a large company had the right to vote to form a Union. It took 51% of the workers voting yes. Workers also had federal protections that prevented the companies for retaliating on any worker that participated in the voting process. CEOs from fortune 500 companies have been meeting together for decades at the "Round Table." These CEOs have helped candidates get elected in both local and federal positions to weaken and destroy the Unions that protected Americans as we built America. We need to regain workers rights and protections through the choice of Unionism.