Higher Education- If elected,
• I will introduce a proposal and fight for an immediate end to tuition at Illinois’ 48 community colleges
• I will introduce a proposal for an immediate end to the collection of student debt by ISAC, including the lifting of ongoing administrative garnishments and tax refund intercepts-
• I will introduce a proposal to fund expanded debt-free higher education akin to the recent LaSalle Street Tax (S.B. 1970) calling for a $1/contract fee on all agricultural futures and options and a $2/contract fee on all other futures, options and other derivatives traded on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Board Options Exchange, accepting options on individual stocks. Average contract size at these exchanges is more than $225,000, so this tax amounts to less than 2/1000 of a percent of average contract value. Each year the value of products traded on these two exchanges totals well over $900 trillion. This tax rate is very low but, because the number of trades is so large, the proposal would raise between $10 and S12 billion per year for Illinois.
Illinois’ Reparations, Truth & Reconciliation Commission– If elected,
• I will propose the formation of an “Illinois Reparations, Truth & Reconciliation Commission” to investigate the history and lasting effects of African-American Slavery on Illinois citizens and its institutions, public and private and to devise restorative legislative remedies for the disparate status of African-Americans citizens/
• The Commission will have the power to subpoena, hold hearings, call witnesses and investigate instances of discrimination in employment, housing, education, labor unions, public accommodation, criminal justice and the corrections system within the State of Illinois since the adoption of the 13th Amendment, and to make findings and recommendations for legislation to ameliorate the pernicious and lasting effects of slavery on Illinoisans.-
• The Commission I will propose will consist of seven members, each serving a six year term, with terms to be staggered, appointed by the Governor of Illinois and confirmed by 2/3rds of the Illinois Senate, each member with a substantial familial attachment and familiarity with the slave legacy and condition-
• Three of the seven members will be licensed attorneys or academicians with substantial, demonstrated knowledge of International Human Rights, Civil Rights, and Constitutional Law.
• In addition, I will work within the General Assembly to create both a standing Committee and Joint Legislative Committee on Reparations, Truth & Reconciliation to implement the recommendations of the Commission.
Environment– I fully support the Green New Deal and the need to divest from oil,coal,and nuclear power. We need fundamental change in our nation’s investments toward green energy. We need sustainable public transportation, buildings,and agricultural processes.
If elected I will push for a plastic tax in efforts to divest from single use plastics and move towards more reusable options such as a closed loop recycling system seen in the bottle deposit industries.
Economic reform- The present state of income inequality in America is unsustainable, undermines our social cohesion, and is antithetical to American Democracy. Simply put, a nation where half the wealth is controlled by three families cannot plausibly be characterized as “democratic.” Passing the Fair Tax is a necessary first step towards giving Illinois’ elected officials the resources necessary to lift Illinois out of its current dysfunction. But the electorate can, and must, hold these officials accountable, and only donor-free candidates and a donor-free party are in a position to guarantee such accountability.
When we elect officials accountable to the electorate, and not to corporate special interests, business associations and lobbyists, we empower these officials to become change agents and to have the courage to make tough decisions in the best interest of all the people.
As the wealth gap continues to grow between the mega-rich and the poor and middle-classes, we need to enact policy changes that will reverse the transfer of public resources into private hands and redistribute those public resources to the people, their rightful owners. The first step we can take is to pass the Fair Tax Act.