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Issues

This list is not exhaustive by any means, but these are my biggest concerns. Also, I'm open to your feedback, as that is kind of the point of asking to be your representative.

End Government Corruption

You can read every issue I have on this page and it means nothing if we don't get big money out of politics.

  • Citizens United is legalized bribery. Money is not speech.
  • We need to close the revolving doors between government and special interests.
  • We need politicians who would rather speak to voters than take donor calls.
  • We need to ensure that the $1.2M that Aaron Bean has "raised" this cycle doesn't get one more vote in the House. Take a look here at OpenSecrets👀
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Protect Free Speech

“First Amendment freedoms are most in danger when the government seeks to control thought or to justify its laws for that impermissible end. The right to think is the beginning of freedom, and speech must be protected from the government because speech is the beginning of thought.”—Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy

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Reduce 'Defense' Spending

Our FY2024 defense budget was $886 billion.  That is an increase of more than $100 billion from FY2022. To put those numbers in perspective: Ending homelessness in the US is estimated at $20 billion.  We could have ended homelessness AND increased the defense budget by about 10%.

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Diplomatic Foreign Policy Solutions

Ever since WWII, the United States has been in a position of global dominance through the use of force abroad. We've also weaponized the US Dollar against countries we don't agree with through sanctions and tariffs.  We have chosen demonization over diplomacy on the world stage for decades. The end result of that is the formation of BRICS. In 2023, BRICS GDP exceeded G7 GDP and they are still expanding. We need to rethink our entire foreign policy strategy before we are left completely isolated.

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Fair Minimum Wage

We haven't raised the minimum wage since 2009!!! That's 15 years and we are facing historic inflation. Is $15 the right number? Should it be $25? Is it the same in NY or CA as it is here in FL? 

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Healthcare

I don't care what we call it. Medicare for All, Single Payer, 'Merica Healthcare... it doesn't matter. This should not be a right/left issue.

The simple fact is: There should not be a profit motive in people's healthcare.

It is time that the richest country in the world joined the rest of the developed world in taking care of our own people. Period, full stop.

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Housing Affordability

We have seen no lack of new housing developments in our area, but we've also seen a rise in investor purchases of single family homes by out of state investors. 24% of single-family home purchases nationwide in 2022 were by owners with more than four properties. These were turned immediately into rental properties. This trend pushes up both home prices and rental rates. It is also a way to siphon money out of our local economy. That is to say, those owners do not reinvest that money locally.

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Union and Labor Support

Strong labor unions were the biggest backers for a lot of policies that we take for granted: 8-hour work days to 40-hour work weeks to child labor laws. They have fought for unemployment insurance, worker compensation, on the job safety standards, and family medical leave.

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Ranked Choice Voting

We are all very aware that we only have two 'viable' political parties in this country. They do everything they can to hold onto that power. They can run whatever candidate they want and in most cases all it takes to win is a heartbeat and a nice (R) or (D) next to their name. They exert their power to ensure it is more difficult for opposing parties or candidates to even run. They then use the Red Blue fight to further divide the country.

The largest voting block in this country is eligible non-voters. In the 2020 election, 1/3 of voters decided to stay at home. People have lost faith in the system since neither party really cares about them. We need to change that.

Rank choice voting removes the poison pill of 'Spoiler Candidates' from the duopoly toolkit. If you support the Libertarian over the Republican or the Green over the Democrat, you as a voter rank them in your preferred order.

This is obviously done at the state level, but I will support any effort that is ongoing to make this a reality for voters. More choice is more democracy.


Todd Schaefer for Congress
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