Leinad for Senate: 12 Policy Proposals/Issue Stances of Christmas!

[Leinad]

Leinad gives a speech in the city of New Orleans, in the state of Louisiana, and the region of the South--simultaneously!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vraoiVCDdaM (okay not a song about Christmas, but it's called "holiday" and I'm using the font mentioned in the song for this campaign...so...relevant enough )

I feel you should get an idea of what I'm looking to do as Senator (also I can look back at this to remind me of my plans):

1. Fiscal Responsibility - I'm fully aware, as a pragmatic sort, that going full-on "taxation is theft" wouldn't work, but nevertheless I will be an advocate for the taxpayer, and for responsible use of their hard-earned money. I will be a skeptic of all new government expenditures, and while I will keep an open mind, I will vote against waste and excess.

2. Personal Freedom - In a nutshell, people have the right to live their lives how they want to, as long as it doesn't hurt others. Of course, I'm not advocating a libertine lifestyle, just a libertarian government-style.

3. Restrained Foreign Policy - The cost of war is not only in billions of taxpayer dollars, but in thousands of lives. And not only lives directly lost to war, but in people seriously wounded, people who lost family and friends to war, and the alarmingly high number of veterans with PTSD who commit suicide every day. And for what purpose is this? Most foreign interventions just destabilize other regions of the world, often replacing tyranny with either more tyranny or simply chaos. For these reasons I'm generally opposed to military intervention, and will be a skeptic of government intervention in foreign affairs just as I am for government intervention in domestic affairs.

4. Checks, Balances, and Using the Full Power of the Office - It's not the job of the legislator to rubber-stamp any bill that looks okay, or confirm every nomination without questioning. Nor is it a proper use of the office to simply take stances without explaining why. I will do what I can to make every piece of legislation the best it can be, and that nothing that will harm Atlasia finds it's way onto the President's desk.

5. Regional Sovereignty - I will be an advocate for federalism, as there are many reasons (both practical and philosophical reasons regarding government, but also for the sake of a functioning Atlasia) why regional control is better than federal control. This issue has been a dominant force of the Atlasian right for many years, and a potential Senator Leinad would continue that.

6. Criminal Justice Reform - Our incarceration rates are the highest in the western world. That's absurd, and an existential problem in our society. While a lot of criminal justice reform is a regional matter, there are certainly things that can be done federally.

7. Free Trade - Trade between nations with minimal interference from government is not only good economic practice--lowering prices for consumers--but also good diplomatic practice: as Bastiat said, "when goods cannot cross borders, armies will."

8. Gun Ownership - I oppose legislation that makes it harder for people to defend themselves, whether nationally or regionally. Also, I recognize that gun control does nothing to keep dangerous weapons out of the hands of criminals.

9. Equal Treatment Under the Law - It's not the government's job to legislate equality, nor is that even possible in most scenarios, but it is the government's job to treat people fairly in all scenarios. No special privileges, no legislated inequalities. Oh, and I will also propose an amendment to the Constitution so that it doesn't implicitly ban women from becoming President.

10. Education Reform - Education is tremendously important, yet too often schools aren't doing well enough at preparing the next generation for a the real world. I look forward to working with people from both sides of the aisle, along with regional governments, to find ways to take education into the future: flexibility, affordability, and the ability to empower yourself with knowledge, and succeed in life.

11. Immigration - Legal immigration is good, illegal immigration is bad. Deportation of otherwise law-abiding citizens is morally wrong and fiscally irresponsible.

12. The Free Market - While a purely laissez-faire system is going a bit too far, I support creating an environment that allows businesses to succeed, innovate, and give people jobs. This will also be my approach to the energy and healthcare sectors.

No real order, although I did want "fiscal responsibility" and "the free market" to bookend the whole deal.