Core "Humanity First" Policies
Universal Basic Income, the Freedom Dividend
The Freedom Dividend is a form of Universal Basic Income (UBI). The idea is to capture tax revenue from automation and online businesses like Amazon and Facebook and give it directly back to Americans in the form of a base income of $1000 per month, for everyone above the age of 18. This would inject billions of dollars into American communities left behind by automation and provide a financial base on which to start solving our global problems.
Addressing Money in Politics
We support "Democracy Dollars" as a way of providing public funding of elections that puts power in people's hands: Every American gets $100 account to donate to political campaigns of their choice, enough to completely drown out super-PACs and lobbyists. Providing an opportunity for more Americans to donate to campaigns would empower a wider and more diverse field of candidates. We advocate for policies that limit the financial conflicts of interest of politicians. For example, we want to ban or greatly restrict the extent to which politicians can take industry jobs after leaving office.
Non-Plurality Voting
We also support Non-Plurality voting systems in America, like Ranked Choice Voting or Preference Voting. While no voting system is perfect, some are better than others. The winner-take-all system in America tends to lead to two-way races, and the "spoiler effect" creates a situation where voters are forced to chose "the lesser of two evils" rather than voting for the leaders we really want. Addressing these weaknesses in our voting system will lead to better outcomes in American democracy: candidates who better reflect the will of the people, and politicians who unite rather than divide.
A New American Scorecard
An important step in changing how we approach problems as a country is to rethink how we measure success. We seek to replace GDP as the primary metric of economic success with a new score card that includes health and well-being, and environmental metrics. We would like to see these new metrics presented regularly by our governor, president, and leaders thoughout the nation.
Changing the Definition of "Work"
Through the Freedom Dividend and Score Card, our country would start to recognize and value forms of work that don’t usually fit into GDP calculations: caregivers, mentors, volunteers, artists, etc.
Citizens Voice
Elected Officials rarely vote for reforms that will hurt their competitive edge. This is why election reform can be so challenging to achieve and why lobbyists often exert undo influence on the legislative process. We support an amendment to the state constitution of Iowa which would allow a pathway for citizens to pass laws through popular ballot referendum. This would give power back into the hands of Iowa citizens.
Green Energy / Clean Environment
Climate change is up there with automation as a society-wide threat. This is exactly the kind of problem that government must rise to meet. We must evolve and take responsibility and encourage our legislature to do so as well. We should invest in renewable energy and do what we can in general to lower emissions.