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Political Philosophy for Kevin C. Babcock
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Second we need to eliminate the personal income tax and cut government spending accordingly. The income tax is not an efficient way to raise revenue and it taxes honest, productive citizens while letting dishonest, and non-productive citizens off without paying. This sends the wrong incentives and the results are predictable. The founding fathers did not authorize a direct tax on income and we never should have altered the constitution to allow this intrusive tax. I believe we can cut federal spending enough to get by without replacing the income tax with anything, it would require cutting federal spending back to the levels of less than a decade ago. However, if there is going to be a tax to replace the income tax I would support a tax on consumption such as a very limited sales tax. It would need to have generous exemptions for low income people, and have an iron clad limit on the top amount so future politicians could not keep raising it. A sales tax will eliminate the problem of all the un-taxed off the books income and give people back their privacy as they would no longer be forced to sign (under penalty of perjury) an income tax form that they probably do not understand in the first place. Third the United States needs to seriously look at the so-called "war on drugs" and admit defeat. We are never going to stop the flow of drugs with interdiction and arrests. We do not have enough money or prison cells. Drug use is a serious problem, as is alcohol use. It is a public health problem, and people on drugs need treatment not prison. The drug users are people's sons, daughters and parents, they deserve compassion and help not arrest and prison. The street crime associated with drugs is mainly from the illegality of drugs and not their actual use. Being illegal, the price is kept artificially high leading desperate users to commit crimes to afford the high prices. Additionally the illegality of drugs is what leads to drive-by shootings and turf wars for the drug dealers that have harmed the quality of life in neighborhoods like mine. The billions of dollars in illegal drug activity also goes untaxed. Finally the Billions of dollars the United States spends on fighting this unwinnable "war" on drugs (really the war is on other American citizens that do something others do not approve of) could be used policing the streets for real crime and not on trying to arrest some college student for having some marijuana. Let me be clear: I do NOT approve of drug use and have never used illegal drugs--I do not even drink alcohol. I advocate drug legalization only for adults (like the way we regulate alcohol) and only for the reasons mentioned above. Like any candidate for federal office, I vow to uphold the constitution. I will only support laws that are authorized by the enumerated powers of the constitution. I will fight any effort to distort the Commerce Clause to allow the federal government to go beyond its rightful power.
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Created from information supplied by the candidate: September 29, 2008 18:10
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