First, thank you for taking the time to visit this site! I appreciate your interest in our democratic process and in lighting the fire of Liberty.
This website is still being formed, so I am in the process of adding content and finalizing the style, so please excuse the construction.
In the meantime, here is an outline of part of my platform. I have many more ideas for reforming our state government, this is just a start.
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1.) Jobs
–Create a New York State charter bank like North Dakota’s to give New Yorkers an opportunity for banking profits to be re-invested in their community.
–Meet with local businesses to find out what legislation should be removed to help them do business and be able to take on more workers.
– Create an emergency currency plan to be put into use in the event of a financial crash.
–Petition the Federal Government as an elected state representative to audit the Fed and restore sound money for America.
2.) The Budget
–Amazingly, the legislators in Albany never seem to be able to pass a budget on time, and never seem to be able to balance it without going deeper into debt. Evidently this is very hard work. To help them out, I have created a plan to make their job simple and easy.
–I will set up a website and use “crowdsourcing” to let the people of New York State determine which items in the budget they think should be cut, and in what order.
–Once the people of New York have expressed their preference on what stays and what goes, the legislatures will have no excuse not to pass the budget, since the people will have done their job for them. All they have to do is sign.
3.) Taxation
–Simplify New York State’s personal and business tax code to reduce the time and energy spent complying with taxes, and to reduce government’s distortion of the marketplace.
–In the event that the Federal Government cannot implement a stable currency system, introduce a a graduated flat tax and/or consumption tax. The reason it needs to be graduated is to compensate for the “hidden tax” imposed by the constant devaluation via inflation of our current fiat currency by corrupt government and feckless bankers. This hidden tax is incredibly regressive, and affects the lowest in the economic strata the most.
–Put all government services up for private bidding.
–Create a “hand’s-off surplus fund” so that when good times return, money can be held in reserve, saved and invested so that NYS can deploy those funds when the inevitable economic downturn happens.
–If the crowdsourcing of the budget isn’t sufficient to balance it, I will preserve government jobs by instead cutting wages across the board, 10-20-30 (10% for direct service providers, 20% if you spend less than half your time dealing with the pubic directly, and 30% if you are a legislator and created this mess).
–Freeze pension raises, raise pension age limits, set pensions according to total hours worked over the entire career (as opposed to the last year worked, to stop “overtime stuffing” of pensions), enact legislation to tax abusive pension payouts.
–Re-task government accountability agents (and if we do not have them, create these positions, using existing government workers) to verify that workers are being productive. Eliminate workers that are not performing. Government workers simply must be providing essential services and be productive in their work for NYS.
–Reassess property taxes annually to reflect the accurate market value, or do away with them completely.
4.) Education
–Allow schools to expel disruptive students or remove them to special schools. Education is a privilege, not a right, and teachers do not take the place of parents.
–Introduce a voucher system to combat waste and ineffective education. Each student’s family is given a voucher, and if the student doesn’t pass, they school doesn’t get paid.
–Eliminate teacher’s union’s “rubber rooms” where teachers who are being disciplined sit and watch TV all day while receiving full pay. If you’re a bad teacher (or worse, a criminal who abuses kids), you will be fired and lose your pension.
–Work with dedicated educators and administrators to modernize our education system using charter schools, the principles of great educators such as Marva Collins, and systems such as the Sudbury School.
–In the event that the teacher’s union will not accept the necessary changes, create a voucher and school tax rebate program so that parents can choose how their child’s education dollars are spent.
–Include study of the United States Constitution, the New York State Constitution, and monetary theory in high school curriculum.
5.) Revitalizing industry and manufacturing
–Clear the legislative way to remove barriers to job and business creation.
–Clear the legislative way to allow “Run of River” hydro systems in the Adirondacks, Catskills, and where ever else it’s practical.
–Bring NYS’s two mothballed nuclear power plants back online with thorium power. Compared to conventional nuclear power, Thorium is vastly cleaner, safer and abundant. This clean, cheap power can be used (in combination with removal of anti-business legislation) to revitalize NY’s manufacturing.
–Money to convert and activate the plants can be obtained by approaching venture capital with the profits from a percentage of future power production (the money to pay back the loan to start the plants is secured by those plant’s power production).
6.) State’s rights vs. the Federal Government
–Invoke New York State’s 10th amendment right wherever the Federal Government has intruded in the people’s right to live in the pursuit of life, liberty and happiness. (E.g. Medical Marijuana).
–If the Federal Government decides to exert it’s power by punishing New Yorkers through withholding their tax dollars, New York State should begin the process of secession until the Federal Government relents or New York State secedes.
7.) Police quotas & fines
–Law enforcement should never be used for revenue generation. It demeans the police officer, leads to corruption, and puts police in danger by reducing the respect they need from the public. Introduce legislation to bring harsh penalties on any politician who implicitly or explicitly requires law enforcement to act as a revenue generating mechanism.
–Any violation of the law which does not involve “ill gotten gains” (e.g. theft or fraud, dealing in contraband, etc.) should not invoke a monetary fine. When someone is fined for a traffic infraction, it is in essence a regressive tax.
8.) Gay Marriage
–Simply put, marriage is the domain of the church, and civil unions the domain of the state.
–Under the Establishment Clause and the Free Exercise Clause (the “separation of church and state”), the state shouldn’t be marrying *anyone*, it should only be in the business of creating civil unions (which are essentially a special form of business partnership between two people).
–Under the Equal Protection clause, the state cannot deny any two people a civil union for any reason.
9.) Transportation
– If the DOT will not provide Staten Island with transportation services, then barriers to private transportation services (cronyism in the City Council preventing private transportation licenses) must be removed. The MTA does not, and never should have a monopoly on public transportation, and if they will not service our borough, then our neighbors should be allowed to provide that service.
10.) Term Limits
– I will introduce legislation to limit state senators and assemblymen to three terms. I self impose 3 terms regardless. I intend to get in, fix what I can, and get out while I still have my principles.
11.) Health Care
– Invoke NYS’s 10th amendment rights and nullify the federal government’s constitutionally illegal National Health Care Plan for so that it no longer affects New Yorkers.
– Allow people to buy insurance from out of state. If New Yorkers can purchase health care more affordably outside the state, it is not the state’s right to interfere.
11.) Over-legislation
– We need one last new expansion of the law: One law in, three laws out. Government works best when it has a few well written laws that are justly enforced. When there are so many laws it would fill a room, it become impossible to do this. Any new law must be balanced by three old laws leaving. This will prevent the endless expansion of our state legal code and help reduce it to a manageable size.
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Again, this is just the first draft of what will become a more complete platform as time goes on. I welcome citizens to send me their own ideas on how we can improve New York State by reducing the intrusion of government and allowing the initiative of people to make a difference. Please email me at dave.narby@StatenIslandLP.org with your suggestions!
Yours in Liberty,
Dave Narby
Staten Island, NY
