Kenneth R. Kaplan

Economy

The most effective way to stimulate the job market is for government to get out of the way! Not just the federal government, but state and local government as well. Multiple layers of regulation and taxation put a stranglehold on existing businesses and make it extremely difficult for new businesses to start. Rather than singling out certain businesses or business sectors (usually the ones who spend the most money on lobbyists) for government bailouts or subsidies, we need to give new businesses a chance to innovate and succeed on their own, in the process, creating new products, new services, and new jobs! Learn more

Environment / Energy

What the government should do is let the free market do what it has always done, come up with creative solutions to problems. Fossil fuel alternatives, such as solar, wind, and hydro should be encouraged by an informed public that wants to improve the environment and end our dependence on imported oil. However, the government should not be subsidizing these alternatives and thereby picking winners and losers. Let the free market decide which alternatives are most efficient and cost effective. The adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) should be market-driven, not government mandated. Learn more

We all share the earth, water, and air. Both the government and private individuals should be able to enforce laws against polluters, who should be held strictly accountable. Learn more

Foreign Policy

We should only engage in wars that are declared by Congress in accordance with the Constitution. I would work toward the closing of many of our bases around the world unless they actually play a strategic role in protecting our country. Our engagement with the rest of the world should be through trade relationships and cultural exchanges. We can be a shining example to the rest of the world, but we cannot force other countries to adopt our ways Learn more

Immigration

Create a simpler path to citizenship for immigrants who are already here. Some eight million undocumented immigrants are currently present in our labor force, doing essential jobs, paying payroll taxes, and contributing to our economic growth. Formalizing this arrangement will not only allow them to further contribute to the economy by meeting critical labor demand and reducing inflationary pressures, it also saves taxpayers billions of dollars in enforcement costs. Learn more

Collaborate with Congress to return to an Ellis Island style of processing immigrants. It should be simple for those who wish to come here to work and build a better life to appear before immigration officials at an accredited port of entry, be given medical and criminal checks to assess their safety and receive a visa allowing them to immediately find employment. This is a process that should take, at most, days; not months or years. Learn more

Social Services

Changing the rules on retirees and those close to retirement would be a violation of their trust. They must receive their benefits. Going forward, payroll deductions to fund Social Security and Medicare need to be actuarially based. Workers just starting out should be free to choose other retirement plans, and those in the middle of their working years should have the option of taking a lump sum distribution to be used to buy annuities or otherwise provide for their retirement and medical needs. As to Medicaid, there are much better ways of dealing with the medical needs of the poor. I highly regard the Zarephath Health Center ( https://zh-center.org/ ) as a model for how volunteer doctors and nurses can deliver quality health care to those in need. Learn more

Taxes / Budget

If we want to shrink the deficit, we have to shrink the government! The federal government has reached way beyond what our founding fathers envisioned. Successive Presidents and sessions of Congress have gotten the federal government involved in activities that should have been left to the states or the people in accordance with the 10th Amendment to the Constitution. We must start returning these functions to the local level. Deficit spending must end immediately. If elected, I will only vote to approve a balanced budget. Learn more

Eventually, I would like to see the federal income tax completely eliminated. That is quite doable if we strip the federal government back to the functions that the Constitution directly mandates, such as providing for the national defense and maintaining a federal court system. Such a government could be fully supported by existing excise taxes, such as those on alcoholic beverages and tobacco. Since such a transformation will not occur overnight, I would suggest temporarily replacing the income tax with a national sales or consumption tax. At least that would eliminate all the special interest loopholes that are in our current tax code. One such tax is the so-called Fair Tax, but I would like to see it instituted at a lower rate. Learn more