Outreach and Exploratory Candidate questionnaire for the 2016 GPUS presidential nomination
Submitted by Raymond Haigood on 2/5/2016 to the the GPUS Presidential Campaign Support Committee
1. Are you interested in seeking the Green Party 2016 presidential nomination? Are you considering seeking the nomination, but have not yet made up your mind? What factors are you taking into consideration?
Yes, I am interested in seeking the Green Party 2016 presidential nomination.
2. What do you believe the goals should be of the 2016 GPUS presidential campaign? If you were the GPUS presidential nominees, how would your campaign work to achieve them? (Will your campaign succeed?)
I think the goal of the 2016 campaign should be to put people first. If I was a nominee I would focus on issues of discrimination, healthier food, medication and the lack of government support for holistic medical solutions, improving the educational system, the lack of efficient living expenses for those on social security, clean energy. I strongly feel like my campaign will succeed. I feel like the people are tired of the “politics” of politics and tired of being looked at as numbers instead of individuals.
3. Please list five issue areas that you feel are most important and what would you do about them. (Who are you?)
1. Discrimination – I would push for mandatory body cameras on all armed security personnel, including police officers. I think this would reduce instances of police misconduct as well as false accusations against police officers. I would also push to rewrite laws that are geared toward certain groups of society and focus our laws on the crime being committed instead of the demographics of the individual committing the crime. Push to have corporations make employee statistics public knowledge. Encourage diversity in public and private educational institutions. Discourage the discrimination of individuals based on race, socio-economic status or religion, no matter what events are taking place in the world.
2. Separation of Corporation and State – I would push to remove corporate donations to political campaigns. I’d remind politicians that they are supposed to be representatives of the people not of the corporations. Push to remove corporations involvement in policy and decision making.
3. Clean Food – Work to ban the usage of GMO’s and other proven hazardous ingredients from food grown and imported into America and try to convince other countries to follow suit.
4. Clean Energy – Work to life alternative fuel bans on car consumers. Fight to ban offshore drilling and fracking. Work to move towards building a solid clean and renewable energy infrastructure.
5. Education – Push to overhaul the educational system. Create better national standards, reduce red tape and equalize funding. Make the performing arts and daily gym classes mandatory. Incorporate a healthy lunch and breakfast menu. Increase teacher salaries. Make it easier to remove teachers who are failing their students, as well as the educational system.
4. What parts of the GPUS platform do you feel most closely aligned with? What parts do you disagree with, if any? Are there parts you would improve upon and how? (Who are we?)
The GPUS platform that I feel most closely aligned with is its stance on Civil and Equal Rights. I feel like this country was built on and continues to run on a “privileged’ system based on either race, religion or socio-economic status. It’s time to be reminded of the second sentence of our Declaration of Independence. It’s time to remove laws and institutionalized norms that discriminate, segregate, and defecate on people based on race, religion, gender, sexual preference and socio-economic status.
The GPUS platform that I disagree with is some of its stances on immigration. The idea that we should grant everyone already here legalization has been done multiple times and has yet to solve the problem. Saying we should allow verified good people to go and come as they please with a permanent pass and keep the bad people out does nothing to solve the problem of the bad people who are already here. That would also create a fake pass black market to go along with the fake passport and social security market. The world doesn’t need any more criminal markets. Though I agree that animals shouldn’t be separated from their habitat, I disagree with the refusal to erect a wall at the borders. I feel like the immigration issue in this country is like a boat with a hole in it, we can’t continue to just throw water out and we can’t continue to just allow water in, we have to fix the hole. I propose the following as a starting point in solving our immigration issue:
1. Erect a wall on the borders with numerous border patrol guarded points of entry, deep enough to combat drug smuggling tunnels.
2. A 30-45 day window for everyone already living here illegally to file for legalization or renewal of expired work or student visa’s, with prioritized processing.
3. Issuance of a temporary transitional ID until their paperwork has been processed.
4. Hiring of more staff to handle the processing of these files and once completed to handle the backlog of files.
5. Once approved, the issuance of an applicable state ID to be used to obtain a license, social security number, passport or anything else that requires photo ID.
I feel like this process would drastically reduce the number of people coming into the country illegally which would allow us to handle legalizing the people who are already here. By controlling who comes in and properly legalizing those who are already here you’re solving the biggest part of problem. From here the process of legalization and citizenship can then be streamlined and more efficient so some immigration laws will no longer be necessary. Families can all be registered and eliminate the possibility of separation. Human trafficking and the use of “coyotes” would also be greatly reduced.
4a. The GPUS platform contains specific planks that address how presidential elections are conducted and financed (gpus.nationbuilder.com/democracy#DemPoliticalReform). Do you support or oppose these planks and if you support them, how would you include them in your campaign, if at all?
f. Abolish the Electoral College and provide for the direct national election of the president by Instant Runoff Voting. As a step in that direction, support National Popular Vote legislation which would guarantee the Presidency to the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes in all 50 states (and the District of Columbia), which would take effect only when enacted, in identical form, by states possessing a majority of the electoral votes — that is, enough electoral votes to elect a President (270 of 538).
g. Create a new publicly-funded People’s Commission on Presidential Debates, and open its presidential debates to all candidates who appear on at least as many ballots as would represent a majority of the Electoral College and who raise enough funds to otherwise qualify for general election public financing. Any candidate who refuses to participate in such debates would lose general election public financing for their candidacy. Amend federal law to remove the non-profit tax exemption status that allows corporations to fund the existing Commission on Presidential Debates and other such exclusive privately controlled debate entities.
h. Amend the Federal Election Campaign Act to change the percentage of the presidential popular vote required for a new party’s candidate to receive first time General Election public funding from 5% in the previous General Election to 1%; and change the percentage of the presidential popular vote required for a new party to receive public presidential convention funding from 5% for its candidate in the previous general election to 1%.
I agree with the planks, however I would not address them during my campaign. I feel that there are more serious issues that need and should be addressed. I would wait until after I am elected and in position in which I would be able to not just address but to also help implement those planks.
5. What in your background qualifies you to be a credible presidential candidate? What assets would you bring to your campaign in addition to those already existing within the Green Party? (What do you have to offer?)
I don’t feel like there’s any one aspect of my background that qualifies me as a credible presidential candidate, I believe it’s my background as whole that does. I grew up in what many would consider the worst part of New York City, Far Rockaway. I’ve lived well below and above the poverty line and I’m familiar with the needs and struggles of both. I’ve attended both predominately white and predominately black schools and saw first-hand the huge differences in the things being taught as well as not being taught at each end. I’ve experienced racism, stereo-typing, racial profiling, and police harassment. I’ve also experienced people of different races and religions treating like family and I know good police officers. I’ve been a teacher as well as a juvenile corrections officer so I know how a child can go from a scholar to an inmate. I also know how broken our educational system is. I’ve lived in New York, West Virginia, Georgia, Florida, and now Virginia so I’m familiar with issues of urban, suburban and rural areas. As a military spouse I’ve lived in Belgium and I’ve traveled the world and saw first-hand how far behind our country is in a variety of areas. I’ve lost friends to unnecessary wars. I’ve lost family due to health care politics. I participated in Occupy Atlanta. I’ve never been judgmental and because of that I have close family and friends of various races, religions, genders, nationalities, sexual orientations, political views, ages and socio-economic statuses. I believe these life experiences and relationships allow me to understand and relate to the majority of America which I think is important for any credible presidential candidate.
The biggest asset that I would bring to my campaign are the variety of people I have in my corner. I currently have the support of registered democrats and republicans, soldiers, various races and ages, church leaders, musicians, radio personalities, young activist groups, and other people from all aspects of life ready and waiting to work on and promote my campaign.
6. Presidential campaigns are legally independent entities from the political party whose nomination they received. Yet most successful political campaigns meld candidate and party synergistically. If you were the GPUS nominee, how would you envision that working relationship? (How can we work together?)
I envision it to be a partnership where we promote and support each other. However, knowing that I am the “new guy” when it comes to entering the political area, I would understand if some people feel like their support for me should be earned.
6a. The Green Party both supports transparency in campaign finances and privacy rights for donors guaranteed under local, state and federal law. Given that according to federal law, it is public information that all donors of $200 or more are listed on each presidential candidate’s campaign finance report, Given that such information can only be legally used for fundraising by a political party, if the list is donated to the party by the candidate as an in-kind donation; and given that candidates may donate such lists to political parties as in-kind contributions, without any limit as per the reported in-kind value of such a list; would you donate your list of all donors of $200 or more to the GPUS after the election, and if you planned on doing so, would you give your donors an opt-in/opt-out option to have their information shared with the Green Party after the donation to your campaign is made?
I envision it to be a partnership where we promote and support each other. However, knowing that I am the “new guy” when it comes to entering the political area, I would understand if some people feel like their support for me should be earned.
7. Do you believe that an independent party like the Greens can succeed in the US? How would you define such success? How can it happen? (Will we succeed?)
I believe independent parties, such as the Greens can succeed and need to succeed in the US. The domination of the Republicans and Democrats over our political system needs to stop in order for there to be fair and equal representation of the people in law and decision making. I define success as holding offices and being represented on the federal, state and local level. In order to achieve this we must make our voices heard by the people. Even in 2016 there are people in this country who think that there are only two political parties. I firmly believe the strength is in the people, and if the people don’t know you exist than you remain powerless. So in order to succeed the Greens, as well as other independents, have to increase their exposure to the masses and take advantage of the public’s lack of faith and support of those two major parties. The public has to see that there are parties out there that are aligned with their wants and their needs and for the betterment of not just our society but the entire world.
7a. How would you respond as a candidate to the accusations of ‘spoiler’ that are often leveled at Green candidates, especially for president (optional to answer this one)
candidate chose not to answer this question
8. There is some interest within the Green Party of having the party’s nominee run together with a Green Cabinet, that would feature prospective cabinet members and federal agency heads that would serve in your government, should you be elected president. Such an approach could demonstrate what a Green government might be like and would do so during the election, promoting transparency. It could expand the number of people campaigning, with Cabinet members on the road and in the press in addition to the nominees. What do you think of this approach? Who might hold positions in a Green Cabinet? How would you see your candidacy interacting with those individuals during the campaign? (How might we connect the dots?)
I believe independent parties, such as the Greens can succeed and need to succeed in the US. The domination of the Republicans and Democrats over our political system needs to stop in order for there to be fair and equal representation of the people in law and decision making. I define success as holding offices and being represented on the federal, state and local level. In order to achieve this we must make our voices heard by the people. Even in 2016 there are people in this country who think that there are only two political parties. I firmly believe the strength is in the people, and if the people don’t know you exist than you remain powerless. So in order to succeed the Greens, as well as other independents, have to increase their exposure to the masses and take advantage of the public’s lack of faith and support of those two major parties. The public has to see that there are parties out there that are aligned with their wants and their needs and for the betterment of not just our society but the entire world.
9. Can we publish your reply on the GPUS website in a public section reserved for such responses?
Sure!