Social Justice and Equality

“In these days of difficulty, we Americans everywhere must and shall choose the path of social justice… the path of faith, the path of hope, and the path of love toward our fellow man.” 

– Franklin D. Roosevelt

The Problems:
  • Discrimination: Persistent discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation, and other characteristics.
  • Reproductive Rights: Women face government overreach and lack full control over their reproductive health, including access to safe and legal abortion services.
  • Religious Nationalism: The separation of church and state is under attack, with groups attempting to integrate both and undermine religious/non-religious autonomy and liberty. 
  • Mass Incarceration: The criminal justice system disproportionately affects marginalized communities and perpetuates inequality.
  • Immigrant Rights: Immigrants face legal and social barriers, often lacking protection and opportunities.

Our Solutions:
  • Civil Rights and Affirmative Action[1]: Strengthen laws to combat discrimination and enhance affirmative action to address the legacies of discrimination.
  • Protecting Reproductive Rights: Prevent government overreach into personal health decisions of the Citizenry. Ensure that everyone has full control over their bodies for reproduction by guaranteeing access to affordable contraceptives, and women have access to safe and legal abortion services.
  • Upholding Secular Governance: Ensure the separation of church and state, maintaining the state’s agnostic stance in all matters, especially religion, and focusing on fighting for the entire working class without ideological bias.
  • Justice Reform: Implement comprehensive reform to end mass incarceration, eliminate private prisons, ensure fair treatment for all[2], democratize access to justice, and remove financial barriers. All while keeping dangerous people off the streets. 
  • Immigrant Reform: Protect the rights of immigrants, provide a pathway to citizenship for undocumented individuals, and ensure humane treatment of migrants by modernizing immigration processes to improve screening, ease of entry, and safety.

Our Reasoning:
  • Equality: Strengthening civil rights and affirmative action promotes equality and addresses historical injustices.
  • Autonomy and Protection: Ensuring reproductive rights supports the fundamental right to bodily autonomy, protects women from government overreach, and enhances overall health and well-being.
  • Secular Governance: Upholding the separation of church and state ensures that the government serves all citizens equally, without ideological or religious bias, and focuses on the collective well-being of the working class.
  • Justice: Comprehensive justice reform creates a fairer legal system and reduces the negative impact on marginalized communities.
  • Inclusion: Protecting immigrant rights and providing pathways to citizenship promote inclusion and social cohesion.

How we will accomplish the task:
  • Legislative Action: Pass laws strengthening civil rights, affirmative action, reproductive rights, separation of church and state, and justice reform.
  • Community Programs: Develop programs that support marginalized communities and provide legal assistance.
  • Policy Implementation: Create policies that protect immigrant rights and facilitate pathways to citizenship.

Funding:

Social Justice and Equality | Net 0 change in federal spending with these policies

  • Civil Rights and Affirmative Action:
    • Estimated Cost: $15 billion annually (for enforcement and expansion of civil rights programs).
    • Funding Source: Reallocate from other social justice programs.
  • Protecting Reproductive Rights:
    • Estimated Cost: $10 billion annually (for access to contraceptives and abortion services).
    • Funding Source: Included in Medicare for all, and reallocated from other reproductive health budgets.
  • Upholding Secular Governance:
    • Estimated Cost: $2 billion annually (for maintaining secular policies).
    • Funding Source: Reallocate from religious and ideological programs.
  • Justice Reform:
    • Estimated Cost: $25 billion annually (for comprehensive justice reform and eliminating private prisons).
    • Funding Source: Redirect funds from criminal justice programs and private prison contracts.
  • Immigrant Rights:
    • Estimated Cost: $20 billion annually (for protecting immigrant rights and providing pathways to citizenship).
    • Funding Source: Reallocate from other immigration enforcement budgets.

[1] Regardless of race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, ancestry, national origin, or physical/mental disabilities, all U.S. citizens are guaranteed the natural liberty of their bodies, mind, spirit, and labor. Any compulsion—whether private or public—that infringes on the liberty of U.S. citizens must be prohibited. The United States must support a society and economy that offers equal opportunity to all citizens, who, in turn, have the right to utilize the services provided by their government with their tax dollars to develop necessary skills for their success. Discriminatory practices, such as legacy admissions and nepotism, must be prohibited. Individual liberty should remain absolute until an individual’s words or actions impede the liberty of fellow citizens.

[2] Including introducing a new fining system that is based off of a percentage of someone’s net worth or salary, rather than a standard dollar amount. This way, everyone will be disincentivized by fines in the same way.