Migration Reform

Fairness and equality for all. We are working with our allies in the forefront of the fight for justice and human rights for the millions of our immigrant neighbors and friends. I strongly support federal legislation that will give legal status and a path to citizenship for all undocumented persons living in the United States. Fast and efficient immigration well be extremely important as the ongoing and worsening climate disaster continues.

We call for a stop to all raids, detention, and deportation, and an end to the criminalization of immigrant communities. We believe that U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be abolished and replaced with an agency whose first mission is human rights, fairness, and family unification. We call for a government policy that provides protection and security without walls and militarization at our borders. 

We believe that the root causes of migration – Income inequality, U.S. government oppression and support for corrupt governments to the south and abroad, the “War on Drugs” and climate change to name a few – need to be thoroughly  examined and remedies acted on now, so that future immigration is, fair, humane, and regulated,  rather than chaotic and repressive. 

End Wars and Occupations

My dedication to peace has not wavered over the years. The U.S. war machine harms the planet and the peoples of the world. We call for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction that are constantly a looming threat to the world and its people. The production of nuclear materials must end.

We need a new U.S. foreign policy based on peace, cooperation, and support for human rights and democracy.  I oppose the unbalanced policy of U.S. sanctions on countries of Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba, while simultaneously giving political and military aid to repressive governments that are our so-called allies. Sanctions on foreign countries ruin their economies and promote immigration. Support for corrupt or repressive governments destabilize those nations and promote immigration. I support diplomacy and international cooperation, Palestinian rights and the rights of all indigenous peoples here and in foreign countries abroad.

I will support legislation that redirects our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs supporting a healthy environment, and other human needs. We must focus on repair of the natural world and the environment while we still can.

End Corporate Rule

The End Corporate Rule Issue. Given the ever increasing corporate control of not only our economy but also our politics. We are fighting for a government of the people, by the people, and for the people rather than a government for the corporations, by the lobbyists, and to benefit the wealthy. Monopolization of everything, locally, nationally, and internationally must be put in check and ended.

With the Supreme Court‘s 5-4 decision in the Citizens United case in 2010, the floodgates of millions and then billions of dollars have flowed into elections at every level. I advocate for a constitutional amendment not only to overturn Citizens United, but to declare that corporations are not persons with constitutional rights and that money is not speech. End Corporate Rule, fight against privatization of the Postal Service, and against the Koch network’s efforts to privatize public education and to foster climate denial. I have always advocated for Medicare for All and for Medicare being able to negotiate drug prices with the drug companies. I have resisted the privatization of prisons, and the massive inequalities in wealth and income exacerbated by the financial sector’s manipulation of the tax code. I oppose fossil fuel subsidies and the bloated Pentagon budget driven by the greed of defense contractors. 

Climate

The climate emergency is the existential threat of our time. Although we rarely agree with the Pentagon, we applaud their assessment that climate change is the single most dangerous threat to global stability and our national security. We support a WWII-style ramping up of focus and resources to bring about a fossil fuel-free energy system and sustainable manufacturing practices that will generate good-paying jobs as a result.

Scaling down of subsidies for destructive forms of Agriculture using millions of tons of toxic biocides. Ending subsidies for (CAFO’s) concentrated feed operations like the ones polluting the Buffalo River area here in Arkansas. An increase in subsidies for sustainable and regenerative forms of agriculture, and rotational grazing systems. For too long giant agribusiness have taken advantage of as a cheep source of natural resources and land, and a cheep place to leave a toxic legacy with little over-site and regulation.
 
I recognizing that communities of color and the poor are disproportionately hurt by pollution inherent to our current reliance on fossil fuels and other sources of pollution, and that any path forward must address these issues of environmental justice at every turn.
 
We can develop new technologies and approaches to consumption and biodegradable and recyclable materials that will provide a high standard of living for all, while protecting our most valued resources: our earth and our diverse ecosystem.

Equal Rights Amendment

I fully support Equal Rights for all women, and will fight to make sure the Equal Rights Amendment is passed and implemented nationwide.

The Equal Rights Amendment was passed by Congress on March 22, 1972, and sent to the states for ratification. In order to be added to the U.S. Constitution, it needed approval by legislatures in three-fourths (38) of the 50 states. A deadline for state ratification was set, then extended to 1982, but fell three states short. Since then, Nevada (2017), Illinois (2018), and Virginia (2020) have ratified the ERA. Legislation was reintroduced in 2021 to remove the deadline. It passed the House with a bipartisan majority, and is pending in the Senate. I encourage passage of legislation to remove the arbitrary ratification deadline.

Healthcare Human Rights

Fund Human Needs.. We endorse and work primarily on Expanded and Improved Medicare for All (National) and state-based single-payer universal healthcare plans with elected officials and allied organizations. The Arkansas Private option is just a gift to insurance giants. I will advocate for an end to the MediCare Advantage Plans, that are another gift to the insurance industries.

It is a amoral for a country as wealthy as ours to have over 27 million people with no reliable access to health care and tens of millions more with inadequate or overly expensive coverage. In addition, despite spending nearly twice as much as other developed nations on healthcare, our system performs poorly, because the commercial U.S. insurance bureaucracy soaks up as much as one-third of all the money and pharmaceutical interests overburden America with predatory pricing and by avoiding price competition.

Expanded and Improved Medicare For All will save millions of lives and hundreds of billions of dollars. I am fully committed to enacting Medicare For All.

Voter Protection

Florida 2000 was fresh in memory, where a partisan Secretary of State, who was the Republican candidate’s state co-chair, purged 96,000 mostly voters of color from Florida rolls and went to the Supreme Court to stop a paper ballot recount that was trending towards reversal of the Republican victory. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA, 2002) made things worse. In the name of efficiency, paper ballots disappeared across the country in favor of paperless electronic voting machines. Elections were being counted invisibly. I call for an end to the increasing power of money in our elections, especially after the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United that ended restrictions on corporate contributions. 
 
In 2013, the Supreme Court struck again, gutting the Voting Rights Act and releasing states with Jim Crow histories from per-clearing new voting laws with the Justice Department. They could pass whatever restrictions they liked – and they did, burdening mostly the poor, the young, and people of color.
 
The welcome sight of paper ballots being recounted to publicly confirm results in Arizona and Georgia was testament to the democracy movement that has grown exponentially. Suppression and stealth are being exposed. But the right is fighting back with suppression and gerrymandering in many states, and refusal to pass any federal voting protections. I will continue to organize, and to educate both voters and officials about transparency, increased voter access, and putting the “free” back in free speech by ending the unrestricted buying of candidates and elections.

Economic and Social Justice

The enormous wealth disparity between the top 1%—the billionaire class, where just 5 families have more wealth than the bottom 50% of the entire population—and the rest of America is unsustainable and clearly a blatant case of economic and social injustice. Instituting a wealth tax is imperative to balance wealth distribution in America.

I am fully committed to fighting for the multi-racial working class on all issues stemming from economic inequality. A society that guarantees all people the right to life’s basic necessities—and guarantees those rights regardless of income, race, religion, gender, country of origin, or sexual orientation.

Federal legislation is needed to end poverty, homelessness, and massive disparities in the availability of housing, jobs, healthcare, and education. We call for full employment, a raise to the minimum wage, workplace democracy, support for all labor unions and organizing efforts, expanding Social Security, cancellation of student debt, and the end to wage, economic, and social discrimination against women in American society. Economic justice must include excellent education for all people.

Real social justice in America and Arkansas demands an end to mass incarceration—particularly for people of color, and an end to the for-profit criminal justice system, including for-profit prisons and detention centers. We must have sweeping changes to systemic race-based policing policies and practices, and support redirecting funding into social needs and away from continuing militarization of police departments.

I will work toward a future where all people are treated fairly, and equal before the law and within society.

Voter Protection

Florida 2000 was fresh in our memory, where a partisan Secretary of State, who was the Republican candidate’s state co-chair, purged 96,000 mostly voters of color from Florida rolls and went to the Supreme Court to stop a paper ballot recount that was trending towards reversal of the Republican victory. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA, 2002) made things worse. In the name of efficiency, paper ballots disappeared across the country in favor of paperless electronic voting machines. Elections were being counted invisibly. Clean, Fair, and Transparent Elections challenged these evils and I call for an end to the increasing power of money in our elections, especially after the 2010 Supreme Court decision in Citizens United that ended restrictions on corporate contributions. 
 
In 2013, the Supreme Court again gutting the Voting Rights Act and releasing states with Jim Crow histories from per-clearing new voting laws with the Justice Department. They could pass whatever restrictions they liked – and they did, burdening mostly the poor, the young, and people of color.
 
The welcome sight of paper ballots being recounted to publicly confirm results in Arizona and Georgia was testament to the democracy movement that has grown exponentially. Suppression and stealth are being exposed. But the right is fighting back with suppression and gerrymandering in many states, and the refusal to pass any federal voting protections. I will continue to advocate, to organize, and to educate both voters and officials about transparency, increased voter access, and putting the “free” back in free speech by ending the unrestricted buying of candidates and elections.

Comprehensive National Immigration Reform

Fairness and equality for all. We are working with our allies in the forefront of the fight for justice and human rights for the millions of our immigrant neighbors and friends. I strongly support federal legislation that will give legal status and a path to citizenship for all undocumented persons living in the United States. The United States constitution makes it the responsibility of the federal government ; To establish an uniform Rule of Naturalization, and uniform Laws. I will support our Congressional Representatives in Washington to do what is right.

We call for a stop to all raids, detention, and deportation, and an end to the criminalization of immigrant communities. We believe that U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) should be abolished and replaced with an agency whose first mission is human rights, fairness, and family unification. We call for a government policy that provides protection and security without walls and militarization at our borders. 

We believe that the root causes of migration – Income inequality, U.S. government oppression and support for corrupt governments to the south and abroad, the “War on Drugs” and climate change to name a few – need to be thoroughly  examined and remedies acted on now, so that future immigration is, fair, humane, and regulated,  rather than chaotic and repressive. 

End Wars and Occupations

My dedication to peace has not wavered over the years. The U.S. war machine harms the planet and the peoples of the world. We call for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction that are constantly a looming threat to the world and its people. The production of nuclear materials must end. President Eisenhower warned us in his farewell address.

We need a new U.S. foreign policy based on peace, cooperation, and support for human rights and democracy.  I oppose the unbalanced policy of U.S. sanctions on countries of Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba, while simultaneously giving political and military aid to repressive governments that are our so-called allies. Sanctions on foreign countries ruin their economies and promote immigration. Support for corrupt or repressive governments destabilize those nations and promote immigration. I support diplomacy and international cooperation, Palestinian rights and the rights of all indigenous peoples, and growing calls for peace in conflicts around the world.

I will support legislation that redirects our tax dollars into healthcare, education, green jobs supporting a healthy environment, and other human needs. We must focus on repair of the natural world and the environment.