I’m a big believer in a transparent government. All meetings should be held in the open when possible, and there should also be an easy to use application for searching these.
We should also who\when\why amendments are inserted into bills. Too often amendments are added in secret because of payments under the table. By implementing a bill version control system, all changes will be tracked along with the reasoning behind them.
Our military is too often given lip-service. Politicians love to talk about how they support the military by issuing blank checks. However, this does not help.
Our military industrial complex wastes money with no consequences. As president, I will dramatically simplify the military procurement process with the goal being transparency and cost savings, while also ensuring our military is the best equipped in the world.
I’m for the idea of immediate taxation for wars and military operations. If every paycheck had a separate “Afghanistan Conflict” surtax, politicians would be more likely to think through using our military unless it’s absolutely necessary.
I will also simplify the Veterans Administrations with the goal being reduced costs and increased efficiency. We need to make sure our veterans not just adequate - but amazing and effective healthcare, with a minimum of red tape.
Modern government has intrusive tools that have never been available before. This includes drones, malware, social media monitoring, and more.
Because of this, we need to be extra vigilant to prevent our own government from infringing on our 4th amendment rights. The government should not be able to access our private email, social media accounts, and cellphone metadata.
As president, I will give a full pardon to Edward Snowden, and offer him a position of ‘Privacy Czar’, which will have the appropriate authority to take action.
Our patent system is broken. Companies are patenting blatantly obvious items, and using high-priced litigation to milk money from small businesses.
I will reform patent law - working with Congress to pass laws to make “patent trolling” more difficult and expensive.
I will also outlaw software patents. Software patents are basically patents on math, and stifle innovation in technical areas. Companies file thousands and thousands of patents with the sole purpose of being able to countersue, in the event they are sued. They also use these software patents to illegally stifle competition.
The United States healthcare system lags beyond other first-world countries is almost every metric. I will take an evidence-based approach to lowering the costs.
This most likely means that I will try to move to a single-payer healthcare or medicare-for-all. It’s logical that health care expenses will remain high (and continue to grow), when everyone is trying to make a profit at every single level.
I will also increase government funding toward pharmaceutical research for the general good. Too often large pharma companies only seek out roundabout ways to increase profit (such as investing in drugs for treatment, rather than the cure). Government funded research will target areas that won’t generate large profit margins for for-profit companies.
I will also end the practice of large pharma companies making inconsequential changes to their drug recipies in order to extend patents. In my policies, I will direct the AMA to validate that the changes are actually better. Furthermore, the old recipe will would then be able to be used for generic drugs.