Policy Platform
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KEY POINTS:
Pass the American Anti-Corruption Act (AACA), which will make corruption ILLEGAL.
Public funding of elections. Give every citizen a voucher for them to be able to give to their preferred political candidates, the more popular the candidate, the more donations they receive. We need to replace corporate funding and donations from millionaires and billionaires with public funding of elections that amplifies small-dollar donations.
Restore the Voting Rights Act, and repeal the Supreme Courts decision of Citizens United.
Make Election Day a national holiday.
Secure automatic voter registration, and guarantee the right to vote for every American that is 18 years old and over.
End partisan gerrymandering and racist voter suppression.
Abolish burdensome voter ID laws.
Re-enfranchise the more than 6 million Americans who have had their right to vote taken away by a felony conviction, paid their debt to society, and deserve to have their rights restored.
A ban on Super PACs, and Lobbyists.
Nationwide Public Ballot Initiatives, giving the people the right to petition and then directly vote on issues important to them.
Ranked Choice Voting to allow 3rd party candidates an equal chance at winning.
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KEY POINTS:
Create a Medicare for All, single-payer, national health insurance program to provide everyone in America with comprehensive health care coverage, free at the point of service.
Stop the pharmaceutical industry from ripping off the American people by making sure that no one in America pays over $200 a year for the medicine they need by capping what Americans pay for prescription drugs under Medicare for All.
5 year plan of expanding Medicare to all within our country, with lowering the Medicare age from 65 to 55 in the first year. 45 in the second year. 35 in the third year. 25 in the fourth. Then continue to cover the rest of America in the final year.
No networks, no premiums, no deductibles, no copays, no surprise bills.
Eliminating All Medical Debt
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KEY POINTS:
Ensure that revenue from legal marijuana is reinvested in communities hit hardest by the War on Drugs.
Decriminalize all drugs, legalize some.
Instead of investing in mass Incarceration, we need to invest into our country’s future.
End private / for-profit prisons
Ensure the legalized marijuana industry does not turn into the new big tobacco
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KEY POINTS:
Reject the Supreme Court’s ruling on overturning Roe vs Wade and codify abortion rights into federal law.
Adopt Equal Pay for Equal Work through the Paycheck Fairness Act.
Guarantee health care through Medicare for All, repeal the Hyde Amendment and fully fund Planned Parenthood, Title X, and other initiatives that protect women’s health, access to contraception, and the availability of a safe and legal abortion.
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The United States stands out as one of the only industrialized nations that does not guarantee paid parental leave. While nearly every other major nation provides this essential support to families, American workers are left to navigate the demands of caregiving and employment without adequate protections. Catching up with the rest of the world and guaranteeing paid parental leave is not only a matter of fairness but also an investment in the well-being of families, the economy, and society at large. Here’s why this is essential:
Workers Need Paid Parental Leave to Thrive
Paid parental leave ensures that workers do not have to choose between earning a paycheck and caring for a newborn or newly adopted child. The early months of a child’s life are critical for bonding, caregiving, and establishing a foundation for healthy development. Without paid leave, many parents face financial hardship or are forced to return to work prematurely, which can lead to stress, health issues, and even lower productivity at work.
Global Standards Show What’s Possible
The disparity between the U.S. and other nations is stark. According to data from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the average paid parental leave in industrialized countries is around 14 weeks, with some nations going well beyond that:
Sweden: Guarantees 480 days (16 months) of parental leave at partial pay, with incentives for both parents to share the time.
Germany: Provides up to 14 months of paid leave, split between both parents.
Canada: Offers up to 18 months of parental leave, with a portion of that time covered at 55% of earnings.
Paid Leave Promotes Gender Equality
Paid parental leave helps close gender gaps in both the workplace and at home. When fathers and partners are included in paid leave policies, caregiving becomes more balanced, breaking down traditional gender roles and allowing mothers to return to work if they choose. Countries with robust paid leave policies, like Iceland and Norway, demonstrate that shared parental leave leads to greater workforce participation for women and a reduction in the gender pay gap.
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Key Points:
Guarantee tuition and debt-free public colleges, universities, HBCUs, Minority Serving Institutions and trade-schools to all.
Cancel all student loan debt for the some 45 million Americans who owe about $1.6 trillion and place a cap on student loan interest rates going forward at 1.88 percent.
In 2008, the working class bailed out the big Wall Street banks, now it is time for Wall Street to bail out the working class by paying taxes to eliminate student-debt and fund public education.
Invest $1.3 billion every year in private, non-profit historically black colleges and universities and minority-serving institutions
End equity gaps in higher education attainment. And ensure students are able to cover non-tuition costs of attending school by: expanding Pell Grants to cover non-tuition and fee costs, tripling funding for the Work-Study Program, and more.
We need to guarantee the right to a good, public education for all. We will free generations of Americans from the outrageous burden of student loans by canceling all existing student debt. The United States needs to catch up to the many industrialized countries of the World and recognize that education is a RIGHT and it is a great investment into the future of our nations as our people will be more trained and educated, giving us an edge in all industries compared to our competitors across the world.
Education is the great equalizer when it comes to a healthy meritocracy, which the current system is definitely not! Having free public higher education will allow historically disparaged communities to catch up and get higher level jobs, creating more racial and economic justice across the country.
This campaign agrees with Senator Bernie Sanders’ plan to place a relatively small tax on Wall Street to pay for this plan. As Bernie says:
“We can guarantee higher education as a right for all and cancel all student debt for an estimated $2.2 trillion. To pay for this, we shall impose a tax of a fraction of a percent on Wall Street speculators who nearly destroyed the economy more than a decade ago. This Wall Street speculation tax will raise $2.4 trillionover the next ten years. It works by placing a 0.5 percent tax on stock trades – 50 cents on every $100 of stock – a 0.1 percent fee on bond trades, and a 0.005 percent fee on derivative trades.
If Wall Street can be bailed out for several trillion dollars, then more than 45 million Americans can and will be bailed out of the more than $1.6 trillion burden of student loan debt and we can provide free college for all. Some 40 countries throughout the world have imposed a similar tax, including Britain, South Korea, Brazil, Germany, France, and Switzerland.”
- Senator Bernie Sanders
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KEY POINTS:
Transform our energy system to 100 percent renewable energy and create 20 million jobs needed to solve the climate crisis.
Commit to reducing emissions throughout the world, including providing $200 billion to the Green Climate Fund, rejoining the Paris Agreement, and reasserting the United States’ leadership in the global fight against climate change.
Details:
Climate change is a global emergency. The Amazon rainforest is burning, Greenland’s ice shelf is melting, and the Arctic is on fire. People across the country and the world are already experiencing the deadly consequences of our climate crisis, as extreme weather events like heat waves, wildfires, droughts, floods, and hurricanes upend entire communities, ecosystems, economies, and ways of life, as well as endanger millions of lives.
As your congressman, Jackson Franklin will fight for the decade of the Green New Deal, a ten-year, nationwide mobilization to make our nation’s net carbon emissions ZERO. We know that it is not regular people who are the main contributors to climate change, in fact, 100 companies emit more than 70% of all of our nations Co2 emissions. Our duty then is to subsidize green technology, and implement it in all sectors of the economy to make sure the future of life on
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Key Points:
Stop arming and funding Israel in their genocide against the Palestinians.
End the occupation: The Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories has been deemed illegal by the United Nations. Continued U.S. funding perpetuates this occupation and the systemic oppression of Palestinians.
Stop funding apartheid: Leading human rights organizations have declared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians a form of apartheid. U.S. aid directly finances policies that segregate and marginalize Palestinians based on their ethnicity and nationality.
Condemn collective punishment: The blockade on Gaza and repeated military offensives have created a humanitarian crisis, punishing over 2 million civilians for the actions of a few.
As of January 8, 2025, reports indicate that over 45,900 Palestinians have been killed since the onset of hostilities on October 7, 2023. The humanitarian situation in Gaza has deteriorated significantly due to the ongoing blockade, leading to severe shortages of food, water, and medical supplies. The United Nations has warned of a looming famine in the region, with the blockade exacerbating the crisis by restricting the flow of essential goods and humanitarian aid.
The AIPAC lobbying effort has corrupted and bribed our politicians on behalf of Israel, yes our politicians are placing the needs of Israel, another country, over the needs and will of their own people. Is that not the definition of treason? Our politicians are bought of by AIPAC to continue the funding of what the UN and many others around the world realize is a full scale genocide. Unlike other politicians, this campaign is not bought off by big donors and only listens to working class Americans, and so we are not scared to fight back and go toe-to-toe with these large interests, ESPECIALLY WHEN IT COMES TO A GENOCIDE! Contrary to what some may tell you, this is not a complex or hard to understand issue, we as a country are either for justice and equality, or we are not.
CEASEFIRE NOW!
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KEY POINTS:
Eliminate “Right to Work for Less” laws and guarantees the right to unionize for workers historically excluded from labor protections, like farm workers and domestic workers.
Democratize corporate boards with worker-elected representatives. We need to push for workers to be represented by at least 45% of the board of directors in any large corporation with at least $100 million in annual revenue, corporations with at least $100 million in balance sheet total, and all publicly traded companies will be directly elected by the firm’s workers.
Give workers an ownership stake in the companies they work for.
Break up corrupt corporate mergers and monopolies, including reviewing all mergers that have taken place during the Trump administration and institute new merger guidelines
Deny federal contracts to companies that pay poverty wages, outsource jobs overseas, engage in union busting, deny good benefits, and pay CEOs outrageous compensation packages
Provide unions the ability to organize through a majority sign up process and enact “first contract” provisions to ensure companies cannot prevent a union from forming by denying a first contract.
Details:
It was the trade union movement that built the middle class in this country, and it is the trade union movement that is going to rebuild the middle class in America once again. There is no doubt that union membership is good for workers: union workers earn 22 percent more, on average, than non-union workers. In America today, 72 percent of union workers have a defined benefit pension plan that guarantees an income in retirement compared to just 14 percent of non-union workers. Union workers are also half as likely to be victims of health and safety violations or of wage theft and 18 percent more likely to have health coverage.
Declining unionization has fueled rising inequality. Today, corporate profits are at an all-time high, while wages as a percentage of the economy are near an all-time low. The middle class is disappearing, and the gap between the very rich and everyone else is growing wider and wider.
There are many reasons for the growing inequality in our economy, but one of the most significant reasons for the disappearing middle class is that the rights of workers to join together and bargain for better wages, benefits, and working conditions have been severely undermined.
If workers had ownership stakes in their companies and an equal say on corporate boards:
Corporations would be far less likely to shut down profitable factories in the United States and move abroad;
CEOs would not be making over 300 times as much as their average workers; and
Companies would be far less likely to pollute the communities in which workers live.
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Key Points:
Start off by being able to negotiate to lower drug prices as big pharm companies currently spike prices only for more profit at the expense of vulnerable Americans.
Establish a publicly owned national pharmaceutical organization to oversee the development, production, and distribution of medications.
Focus on providing affordable access to essential medicines while prioritizing public health over profit.
Ensure that medications developed through taxpayer-funded research at universities and federal institutions (e.g., NIH grants) remain publicly owned and are not sold to private companies.
Set transparent, fair pricing for all medications based on production costs and public health needs.
Prevent exploitative pricing and patent abuse that forces Americans to pay inflated costs for lifesaving medications.
Expand public manufacturing facilities to produce generic versions of high-demand drugs at cost, reducing reliance on profit-driven pharmaceutical companies.
Many Americans are currently cutting their drugs in half to spread out their use as they cannot afford to refill their prescriptions, thanks to these companies consistently spiking prices up because they know that many are forced to pay the cost no matter how high since their lives depend on the medications. THIS IS UNACCEPTABLE!
We will lower drug cost and hold the pharmaceutical industry accountable to ensure that Americans can afford the medications they need.
Big Pharma lobbies our politicians to gain profits at our expense.. This campaign is only listening to working class Americans, no big donors! We are ready to fight for you to lower cost and prevent this issue from arising in the future by banning their lobbying efforts, getting their grip off our politics.
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KEY POINTS:
Full Tricare for life for all servicemembers.
Eliminate the VA benefits backlog, fully fund and resource the VA, and reverse the disastrous privatization of services for veterans.
Expand VA, and filling the nearly 50,000 vacancies at the VA.
Provide at least $62 billion in new funding to repair, modernize and rebuild VA infrastructure.
Expand the VA’s Caregivers Program as well as mental health services for veterans.
Reform harmful VA regulations that restrict access to care and benefits based on character of discharge.
Improve the GI Bill: Increase benefits to cover the full cost of higher education, including tuition, housing, and books, at public and private institutions
Whether they were drafted three-quarters of a century ago, commissioned or enlisted within the last few years, no one with prior military service should have to spend months, years or even decades fighting through red tape and government bureaucracy to prove they’re entitled to the benefits they were promised. We need to guarantee veterans they will receive the benefits and services they were promised.
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KEY POINTS:
Codify Obergefell v. Hodges: Protect the right to same-sex marriage through federal law to prevent it from being overturned by future court decisions.
Ensure Parental Rights: Guarantee that LGBTQ+ parents have equal adoption rights and legal protections as any other families.
Ensure LGBTQ+ people have comprehensive health insurance without discrimination from providers.
Strongly oppose any legislation that purports to “protect” religious liberty at the expense of others’ rights.
Advance policies to ensure students can attend school without fear of bullying, and work to substantially reduce suicides.
Investigate every murder of trans individuals as a federal hate crime.
Make it easier for LGBTQ+ workers to form a union.
In 2022, Congress refused to codify gay marriage and interracial marriage, a decision that undermines the fundamental rights and freedoms of countless Americans. This is unacceptable in a nation that prides itself on equality and justice for all. The right to marry the person you love, regardless of gender or race, should not be subject to political debate or judicial whims—it must be guaranteed by law. We need to codify Obergefell v. Hodges to ensure marriage equality is protected for future generations, safeguarding these rights against any potential rollback by the courts. Our fight for equality cannot stop here; it is essential to protect and expand LGBTQ+ rights and civil rights for all individuals.
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KEY POINTS:
Universal Free Day-Care: Provide free, high-quality daycare for all families, ensuring every child has access to safe and nurturing care regardless of income.
Universal Pre-K: Guarantee free, high-quality pre-kindergarten education for all 3- and 4-year-olds to provide an equal start in life.
Universal Free Lunch: Provide free, nutritious school lunches for all K-12 students, eliminating the stigma of free or reduced-price meals.
Job Creation: Invest in building daycare facilities and training a robust workforce of caregivers, creating good-paying jobs in local communities.
Support for Working Parents: Enable parents, especially working mothers, to stay in the workforce without the financial strain of childcare costs.
Developmental Benefits: Focus on early childhood development by offering educationally enriched daycare programs that prepare children for future learning.
Equity in Access: Ensure rural and underserved communities have equal access to daycare services by funding local facilities and transportation options.
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KEY POINTS:
Universal Right to Housing: It is cheaper to house the homeless than to keep our current system, let’s do it.
Rent Control and Tenant Protections.
Ending Systemic Inequality: Under our current system, housing is often treated as a speculative investment rather than a basic need.
Details:
At the start of 2025, Homelessness is record high, yet there are still Sixteen empty houses per every one houseless person. No Hoosier should be freezing to death outside. Not ONE single veteran should be unhoused, and 13% of the homeless population are vets. At a time when the richest Americans are reporting record profits, we have a record amount of houseless people. Poverty is a policy choice.
The solution is not rocket science, give the people who need housing houses! There is a class war going on, and we are losing badly. The people must secure one of our most basic human rights: Shelter.
Immediate measures should be taken to protect tenants and ensure that housing remains affordable for those who rent. This includes implementing strong rent control policies to prevent rent gouging, as well as tenant protections against unjust evictions. Rent control would cap rent increases at a level that keeps housing affordable and prevents displacement. Tenant unions and rent control boards would play a key role in ensuring that the rights of renters are protected and that landlords do not exploit their tenants for profit. This also includes policies that protect people from eviction, especially during times of economic hardship, such as during job loss, illness, or natural disasters.
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KEY POINTS:
Reinstate and expand DACA and develop a humane policy for those seeking asylum
Completely reshape and reform our immigration enforcement system, including breaking up ICE and CBP and redistributing their functions to their proper authorities.
Dismantle cruel and inhumane deportation programs and detention centers and reunite families who have been separated.
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Key Points:
Support “red flag” laws and legislation to ensure we keep guns out of the hands of domestic abusers and stalkers
Enact universal Background checks.
End the gun show loophole. All gun purchases should be subject to the same background check standards.
Prohibit high-capacity ammunition magazines.
Implement a buyback program to get assault weapons off the streets.