PLATFORM

AMERICAN
REFORM
PARTY

American Reform Party Platform

Adopted October 4, 1999 - Washington, D.C.

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Political and Economic Objectives

• Restore trust and integrity in government
• Reduce government spending and size
• Increase disposable income for families
• Institute long-term fiscal policies to insure intergenerational equity

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Fiscal Priorities

• Pay down the $5.7 trillion national debt.
• Eliminate federal deficits without using excess funds from Social Security, Medicare, Highway, and other trusts.
• Require a balanced budget discipline, or pass a balanced budget amendment.
• Reduce the size, costs, and numbers of federal agencies by consolidating functions, purchasing, accounting.
• Bring congressional and federal pensions in line with those in the private sector.

Create a New Tax System

• Simplify the tax code, shift to a national sales tax or a graduated flat tax, and reduce the size and negative impact of the IRS.

Protect Entitlements

• Develop long-term programs to protect Social Security, but do not put the nation in greater debt or pass the burden on to the next generation. Improve delivery of Medicare and Medicaid programs and benefits.

Campaign Finance Reform

• Reduce the influence of money and special interests in campaigns.
• Establish public funding options for clean elections and shorten election cycles.
• Eliminate soft money from corporations, unions, and wealthy individuals.
• Prompt Internet disclosure of campaign contributions and voting records.
• Lobbyists provide information, not money.

Elections/Electoral Reforms

• States must grant fair ballot access for third party candidates and independents.
• TV and Radio debates and forums must include ballot-qualified third-party and independent candidates.
• Publish uniform statewide voters guides.
• Term limits for elected officials, legislative leaders, committee chairs.
• Proportional representation; require courts, not political parties, to construct equal legislative voting districts.
• Open primaries: a single unified ballot so voters can choose candidates of any party.
• Cumulative voting options, instant runoff.
• NOTA (None of the Above) on the ballot line as a voter's choice.
• Recall vote to remove legislators.
• Replace electoral college with popular vote.
• Citizen initiative and referendum laws in all states, and also as national advisories.

Foreign Affairs

• Keep our United Nations dues current, meet international obligations and humanitarian needs, and stay engaged in world affairs as the political and economic leader of the free world.
• Restore normal diplomatic and trade relations with Cuba.

Trade Policies and Jobs

• Eliminate the trade deficit, pursue fair-trade policies, and reestablish the nation's creditor status.
• End fast-track passage of trade agreements and require congressional accountability.
• Require trading partners to meet standards in human rights, workers rights, labor laws, and environmental laws.
• Retain U.S. manufacturing capacity and keep high-paying technical jobs at home.

Immigration Policies

• Establish a firm cap of 200,000 immigrants per year.
• Limit family reunification to spouses and minor children of legal immigrants.
• Ban future amnesties for illegal immigrants and review political asylum claims.
• Enforce job eligibility verification as well as all immigration laws and regulations.

National Health Care

• Establish a universal, single-payer health program across the states and the nation.

Environment/Conservation

• It is the responsibility of the American people to be stewards of the earth down to the seventh generation. We therefore support policies for clean air, clean water, endangered species, land and water conservation, stabilization of U.S. and world population growth.
• Conserve open spaces for human enjoyment and natural habitats for wildlife. Safeguard state and national parks, national forests, wildlife refuges, rivers, lakes, seashores, wetlands, wilderness areas, and fisheries.
• Eliminate subsidies to companies that pollute natural resources and threaten public health (mining, energy, grazing, timber). Prevent dumping of toxic wastes and harmful chemicals into oceans and inland waterways.
• Negotiate agreements with other nations to protect the global environment.

Farming and Agriculture

• Support fair crop-dairy-livestock prices and a living wage for family farmers.
• Make the transfer of family farms equitable from one generation to the next.
• Conserve arable farmland and curtail urban sprawl.

To renew democracy, our mission is to stimulate citizen participation in the political process, break the two-party monopoly, and guarantee free elections.

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