Survey of 2016 Presidential campaign websites: on Government Reform
Evan McMullin:
Too much power in Washington and in Executive branch
A healthy government is accountable to its people. There is too much power in Washington, centered too far away from the lives of everyday Americans. An all-powerful government centered in Washington has eroded the separation of powers
in a way that is corrosive to our Republic and our Constitution. The Executive Branch now routinely creates major rules and regulations that have the force of law, adjudicates disputes, and issues fines--all on its own.
Article I of the Constitution clearly states that all legislative powers belong to the people's representatives in Congress.
Power should be shifted back to the States where it is closer to the people to whom it belongs.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website EvanMcMullin.com
Aug 12, 2016
Ajamu Baraka:
Replace Electoral College with national popular vote
- Protect voters' rights by enforcing and expanding the constitutional right to vote (including a new amendment if necessary). Enact the full Voter's Bill of Rights guaranteeing each person's right to vote, the right to have our votes counted on
hand-marked paper ballots, and the right to vote within systems that give each vote meaning.
- Make voter registration the responsibility of government, not a voluntary opt-in for citizens.
- Abolish the Electoral College and directly elect the
President using a national popular vote with ranked-choice voting..
- Restore the right to run for office and eliminate unopposed races by removing ballot access barriers.
- Guarantee equal access to the debates to all ballot-qualified candidates.
- Reduce barriers to voting by making Election Day a national holiday.
- Enact simplified, safe same-day voter registration to the nation so that no qualified voter is barred from the polls.
Source: Stein-Baraka platform on 2016 presidential campaign website
Aug 8, 2016
Jill Stein:
Replace Electoral College with national popular vote
- Protect voters' rights by enforcing and expanding the constitutional right to vote (including a new amendment if necessary). Enact the full Voter's Bill of Rights guaranteeing each person's right to vote, the right to have our votes counted on
hand-marked paper ballots, and the right to vote within systems that give each vote meaning.
- Make voter registration the responsibility of government, not a voluntary opt-in for citizens.
- Abolish the Electoral College and directly elect the
President using a national popular vote with ranked-choice voting..
- Restore the right to run for office and eliminate unopposed races by removing ballot access barriers.
- Guarantee equal access to the debates to all ballot-qualified candidates.
- Reduce barriers to voting by making Election Day a national holiday.
- Enact simplified, safe same-day voter registration to the nation so that no qualified voter is barred from the polls.
Source: Stein-Baraka platform on 2016 presidential campaign website
Aug 8, 2016
Jill Stein:
Reject campaign donations from military-industrial complex
"President Eisenhower's dire warnings about the military industrial complex acquiring undue power over our government and stifling democracy have come true," said Stein. "Far too much of the military budget has
become wasteful corporate welfare, and war profiteers drive our foreign policy. Profit-driven military adventurism is not making us more secure, it's making the world more dangerous for Americans and everyone else.
We need to refocus our military on defending our country, not dominating the globe," Stein asserted.Stein called for all candidates to reject campaign contributions from military contractors.
In 2014, military contractors gave $8.9 million to Democrats and $13.5 million to Republicans in Congress. Virtually all members of Congress focus on securing defense contracts for companies in their districts.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website, Jill2016.com
Apr 18, 2016
Ted Cruz:
Current administration defies Constitution and rule of law
Our nation's founding document and the supreme law of the land was crafted by our founding fathers to act as chains to bind the mischief of government and to protect the liberties endowed to us by our Creator.
Unfortunately, recent administrations have defied the Constitution and the rule of law, and as a result we are less free. We need to restore the Constitution as our standard.
We need to protect the people by rolling back the federal government to the functions the Constitution sets out. We need to give power back to the states and the people so that we remain a land where liberty can flourish.
Ted Cruz has spent a lifetime fighting to defend the Constitution: 70 Supreme Court briefs authored; 9 arguments in the Supreme Court.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website TedCruz.org
Mar 15, 2016
Ted Cruz:
Authored 70 Supreme Court briefs & argued 9 cases
Ted Cruz has spent a lifetime fighting to defend the Constitution: 70 Supreme Court briefs authored; 9 arguments in the Supreme Court.Stood for Americans' First Amendment rights against Democrats who sought to repeal our free speech rights.-
Defended Hobby Lobby against Obamacare's contraception mandate.
- Fought and won a landmark victory at the Supreme Court in Medellin v. Texas; protected US sovereignty against 90 foreign nations and the president to ensure the US is not subject to
rulings of the "World Court."
- Led the way to preserve the words "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.
- Successfully defended the constitutionality of the Texas Ten Commandments monument, winning a 5-4 landmark decision.
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Successfully defended the Texas schools' moment of silence law in federal district court.
- Galvanized national support for Houston pastors who had been subpoenaed by the City of Houston and forced to turn in their sermons.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website TedCruz.org
Mar 15, 2016
Marco Rubio:
Next president should appoint in mold of Justice Scalia
Nominating judges is one of the president's most important responsibilities, and in 2016 the question of whom the next president will choose to defend the Constitution is more important than ever. The next president will probably appoint at least two
Supreme Court justices. These appointments will shape the Court--and our country--for decades to come.As president, Marco will:- Nominate Supreme Court justices and lower-court judges who will apply the Constitution as originally written and
understood, and are committed to enforcing the rights that actually appear in the constitutional text, rather than inventing rights that do not.
- Fight for term limits on federal judges, to restrain the power of any one judge or president to shape
law for decades.
- Appoint well regarded lawyers to lead the Department of Justice who respect these same principles, including a Solicitor General who will argue on behalf of these principles before the Supreme Court.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website MarcoRubio.com
Mar 1, 2016
Gary Johnson:
Strong advocate of term limits for governors & Congress
Americans are increasingly frustrated, even angry, that--regardless of which political party is in control--nothing really changes in Washington, DC. The spending continues unchecked. The wars continue. Government keeps taking away more freedom.
This disastrous allegiance to the status quo by career politicians is a direct result of the reality that those politicians are more concerned about keeping their jobs than about doing what needs to be done.
That's why Gary Johnson is a strong advocate of term limits. Run for office, spend a few years doing the job at hand, and then return to private life.
That's what Gary Johnson did as Governor, and that's what Senators and Representatives should do.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website GaryJohnson2016.com
Jan 11, 2016
Lawrence Lessig:
Voter vouchers: matching funds for federal campaigns
A core corruption of our political system is the concentration of funders of political campaigns. That concentration creates extraordinary inequality.
The Citizen Equality Act would end that inequality, at a minimum by adopting a campaign funding proposal that is a hybrid between the "Government by the People Act," and the "American Anti-Corruption Act."
That hybrid would give every voter a voucher to contribute to fund congressional and presidential campaigns; it would provide matching funds for small-dollar contributions to congressional and presidential campaigns.
And it would add effective new limits to restrict the revolving door between government service and work as a lobbyist.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website Lessig2016.us
Sep 25, 2015
Lawrence Lessig:
Referendum president: pass voting reform, then step down
Larry Lessig would run as a "referendum president" who promises to serve only as long as it takes to pass the Citizens Equality Act of 2017. Once this package is passed,
Larry Lessig would step down, and the vice president would become president.The Citizens Equality Act of 2017 is a package of reforms designed to restore citizen equality.
It guarantees the freedom to vote, ends partisan gerrymandering, and funds campaigns in a way that would give us a Congress free to lead. Each part is drawn from existing proposals for fundamental reform.
We are not reinventing the wheel. And taken together, they would give us--finally--what we were promised: a government of, by, and for the people.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website Lessig2016.us
Sep 25, 2015
Lawrence Lessig:
Automatic voter registration; make election day a holiday
We must have a system that guarantees a meaningfully equal freedom to vote. To achieve that, we must at a minimum enact the Voting Rights Advancement Act of 2015 and the Voter Empowerment Act of 2015.
We should as well add automatic registration, and shift election day to a national holiday.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website Lessig2016.us
Sep 25, 2015
Lawrence Lessig:
Ranked Choice Voting: end political gerrymandering
Equal citizens must have equal representation in Congress. That means, districts must be drawn, and election systems structured, so as to give each citizen as close to equal political influence as possible. FairVote has offered the most comprehensive
solution to achieve this equality. At a minimum, the Citizen Equality Act would incorporate their proposed "Ranked Choice Voting Act," which ends political gerrymandering and creates multi-member districts with ranked choice voting for Congress.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website Lessig2016.us
Sep 25, 2015
Jill Stein:
Establish a constitutional right to vote
Empower the People: Abolish corporate personhood. Protect voters' rights by establishing a constitutional right to vote.
Enact electoral reforms that break the big money stranglehold and create truly representative democracy: public campaign financing, ranked-choice voting, proportional representation, and open debates.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website, jill2016.com, "Plan"
Jun 25, 2015
George Pataki:
Empower the citizens to take back our government
George Pataki's agenda empowers the citizens of our great nation to take back our government. He believes that Washington has overreached, and that the culture of Washington needs to be changed, not managed.
Liberty is the only way for the independent spirit of the American people to thrive. Governor Pataki was elected as a Republican in a deep blue state--the only New York governor to win on the Conservative Party Line.
He has demonstrated the ability to unite people over the issues that matter and lead our nation back to prosperity. The future of this country and the Republican Party depend on choosing a candidate that can speak to the entire country and win votes
across the aisle. As governor, Pataki provided real solutions that inspired people of all backgrounds to work together towards a better future.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website GeorgePataki.com, "Meet"
May 28, 2015
George Pataki:
Ban lobbying by former Members of Congress
Government has grown too big, too powerful, too expensive, and too intrusive. Washington politicians and bureaucrats believe they know better than us, and can tell us how to run our lives, from what health care each of us can have, to trying to dictate
what every child in every school must learn.If I have the honor to lead this country, let me tell you some of the things I'd do right away to get oppressive government off the backs of Americans.-
Today, there is one former member of Congress lobbying for every current member and the first thing I would do is ban members of Congress from ever lobbying. If you serve one day, you are banned, go home.
- I'd repeal oppressive laws like Obamacare
and end Common Core.
- And I'd shrink the size of the federal work force, starting with bureaucrats overseeing Obamacare, and fire every corrupt IRS employee abusing government power to discriminate on the basis of politics or religion.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website: Announcement speech
May 28, 2015
Rick Santorum:
1990s "Gang of Seven": exposed congressional scandals
Rick served in the House of Representatives from 1991 to 1995, and in the Senate from 1995 to 2007 where he was known as one of the most successful government reformers in our history.
Rick took on Washington's powerful special interests from the moment he arrived in our nation's Capitol in 1991. He was a member of the "Gang of Seven" that exposed the Congressional Banking and Congressional Post Office scandals.
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website RickSantorum.com, "About"
May 27, 2015
Rand Paul:
End the profession of "career politician" with term limits
We have all seen the consequence of long-term incumbencies. Career politicians seem to care more about their career than what is best for their country. We have seen politicians grow more and more out-of-touch with each successive term.
We have all seen the consequence of long-term incumbencies. Career politicians seem to care more about their career than what is best for their country. We have seen politicians grow more and more out-of-touch with each successive term.
It is time to put an end to the profession of "career politician," and impose limits on how many times a member is allowed to seek re-election. As a Senator, I introduced legislation that would limit the amount of time a member of the
US House of Representatives or Senate may serve in office to a maximum of 12-years per chamber.
As President, I will continue to support term limits in the hopes of ensuring that your elected officials act in direct representation of you and your needs
Source: 2016 presidential campaign website, RandPaul.com, "Issues"
Apr 7, 2015
Page last updated: Dec 09, 2018