What We Believe

The Surprise Party Platform

Our Party Platform: Events

Role of the U.S. Military

In 2014, the United States spent about $610 billion on the military, which is more than the next five countries combined. Military spending was projected to make up 54% of America’s discretionary spending in 2015. Under President Obama, the military has been shrinking and we need to continue this effort. We need to bring more soldiers back from overseas, which will help cut some of the budget. Rather than focusing so much on attacking terrorism and quelling conflicts in the Middle East, America should focus on building up domestic defense and preventing terrorism attacks at home. Since the 9/11 attacks, there have been about 40 terrorist attacks in the United States, with an increase in the past few years. The United States must do more in protecting its citizens from attacks. In short, the military budget needs to continue to be reduced while we lessen our world presence and build up domestic defense.

Domestic Surveillance

Privacy is a very important right of American citizens. However, in order to keep our country safe, there are certain precautions we must make. Thus, we must keep our citizens under surveillance. However, there is a line that cannot be crossed when undertaking this task. While security cameras and other ways of monitoring people in public domain are allowed, tracking phone calls and private emails should not be. Currently, the NSA has a plethora of techniques that they use to spy on American citizens including the PRISM Program and the ANT Catalog. The PRISM Program allows the NSA to have access to emails, photos, videos, stored data, online social security details, and more from providers such as Google, Yahoo, Skype, and Facebook. The ANT Catalog uses cell phone networks, routers, servers, and computers among other sources to get data. These methods violate the privacy of Americans and need to be stopped. The exception to this is that those on terrorist watchlists can and should be watched as this would preserve the safety of American citizens. Otherwise, public surveillance is allowed as it is the public, but privacy must be respected and law abiding citizens should not be monitored.

Abortion

Abortion is a very controversial issue debated by many Americans today. Whereas some people believe that abortion should be illegal as it is essentially the same as killing, we believe that people should have a choice. Abortion should be an option for women who are not ready to properly care for children or have been victims of sexual violence. If for whatever reason a woman believes that she cannot support a child, she should have the choice to decide whether to keep the baby or not. Although some may argue that abortion is the same as killing, allowing a child to live through a rough childhood because their parent cannot support them is also a crime. Thus, the choice is up to the parents.

Immigration

Our platform rests on this simple truth, America is a nation of immigrants, always has been, and always will be. These immigrants who come from Syria, Mexico, and anywhere else in the world strengthen and fortify our American culture and society as a whole. With this philosophy in mind, we plan to introduce comprehensive immigration reform that allows immigrant families who have been good, law-abiding citizens easier access to citizenship. To do this, we plan to create a new presidential cabinet that solely focuses on immigration. We also plan to bring in more Syrian refugees into the U.S. and make it easier for other asylum seekers to be brought into the U.S.

Medical Care

We are in support of creating more affordable health care for the lower to middle class citizen. Even though Obamacare had good intentions, it has to be greatly reformed to work properly. The main goal is to make prices reasonable for most citizens. This would be accomplished through the support of state and local governments and would aim to help the lower income Americans.

Environment

First and foremost we believe that climate change is a real and serious threat that can destroy the fragile environment and ecosystems of this planet. We plan to implement the comprehensive use of clean and renewable energy. We will also commit to slashing the U.S’s non-renewable energy use through reforms and regulations. Promoting conservation efforts will also be a focal point of our campaign. To do this, we plan to incorporate more land as national parks and increase the protection of endangered animals through the stricter enforcement of anti-poaching laws.

Social Security

Social security is currently more or less stable. No drastic changes are needed, and it can still function properly for a time. However, some additional funding will be provided to social security so that it can function for longer and support people paying into it for longer.

Judicial Nomination

In order to ensure that the men and women on the Supreme Court are fit to be in this position, they will be required to take annual physical and psychological examinations after they reach the age of 65. This will also apply to the people already on the Supreme Court. These changes would both keep the people in the court fresh and ensure that they are physically fit and able to perform their necessary duties, unlike what it has been in the past where even though a justice is old, sickly, and can’t do their job, they still remain part of the court. The current method of selecting people to become judges would remain the same.

Education

In order to reform education, our first step would be to remove standardized testing and replace it with a standard curriculum system. Standardized testing puts too much unnecessary stress on students and teachers and wastes school time hours, but exchanging it for a standard curriculum would make sure that everyone learns mostly the same things for each course and would remove some of the stress. Additionally, it would allow teachers to teach in their own style instead of having to imitate other teachers for the sake of test grades.

Economy

With the economic crash of 2008 caused by the major banks, Obama not only withstood one of the worst recessions since the the Great Depression, he overcame it. Now America is seeing job and economic growth. Because of this, our party supports Obama’s economic policy. We support extensive government regulation of the economic sector. However, when we say ‘government regulation’ we do not mean limiting our capitalistic economy. Instead we mean the government's accountability to make the economy work for everyone. We also plan to introduce a fair tax system that will increase taxes on the wealthy and eliminate corporate tax loopholes that so many major companies abuse.

Gun Control

We believe that civilians should be prohibited from purchasing or owning fully automatic weapons. Only members of law enforcement will have access to automatic weapons, and only when on duty. Civilians are still allowed to own and carry semi and non automatic weaponry. However, in order to be authorized to own and have access to these weapons, extensive background checks and a passing psychological examination within the past six months are necessary each time a firearm is purchased. Members of law enforcement are not exempt, and also require background checks in order to purchase a firearm. Additionally, a gun license is required to purchase, own, or carry a gun.