Positions and Issues

Environment

• Reduce our dependence on foreign oil; invest in alternative, low-emissions renewable fuels.
• Offer tax credits for conservation and alternative energy use.
• Balance sustainable harvests of natural resources with strong protection of our environment.
• Place stringent controls on the on the transport and storage of hazardous materials such as Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and petroleum, particularly in sensitive areas such as the Columbia Gorge and coastal regions.
• Aggressively address global climate change.

Economy

• Ensure a robust economy by investing in infrastructure and education.
• Rescind tax breaks for the extremely wealthy, levy a windfall profits tax on Big Energy.
• Fund alternative energy research.
• Amend bankruptcy laws that favor predatory lenders.
• Fix NAFTA: improve fair trade practices to reduce illegal immigration.
• Create a path for undocumented workers to achieve legal working status.
• Balance the federal budget, reduce foreign debt.
• Protect U.S. homeowners, workers and our manufacturing economy.
• Foster Yankee Ingenuity as a national value.

Health Care

• Make health care affordable and accessible for everyone.
• Properly fund the VA.
• Address the meth crisis.

Education

• Replace "No child left behind" with a system that fosters original and independent thinking.
• Increase Pell grant availability.

Restore America's Moral Leadership

• End the Iraq occupation.
• Support an international coalition of troops to ensure Iraq’s security.
• Refute the doctrine of preemptive war.
• Close Guantanamo and secret overseas prisons.
• Abide by the Geneva Convention, end torture.
• Fix FISA: no retroactive immunity for telecoms, no relaxing of judicial oversight.
• Defend states’ rights to establish marriage and civil union laws for their citizens.
• Defend a woman’s right to choose.

Restore the Government to the People

• Reform campaign finance;get special interests and corporations out of the driver’s seat.
• Reduce lobbyist influence.
• Require a paper trail for all federal elections.
• Hold the Executive Branch accountable: reestablish Congress as a co-equal branch of government, challenge signing statements and Executive Orders that amount to legislating from the Oval Office.