Esrati Platform

Positions

As a junior congressman, I won’t have a lot of power to introduce legislation, but I will tell you the things I will support. I will always come down on the side of open, honest, transparent government of the highest integrity. I will work for the people, not the people with money. And I will work with anyone dedicated to making the following things a reality:

To me, there are two things that need to happen to fix America. Establishment candidates won’t talk about these things because they would weaken our “majority” parties:

1. Election reform. There are all sorts of problems caused by our broken election system: gerrymandering, polarization, and a complete lack of voter confidence. We can solve these issues with election systems such as ranked-choice voting. We also need to rid ourselves of any electoral systems that favor “major” parties over third-parties and independents.
2. Regulate Politicians. Our current politicians want to regulate all sorts of things but don’t seem to think any rules ought to apply to them. Politics is about the future, not the past. Politicians should have a mandatory retirement age of 70. We should also regulate their donations by creating a donor registration system that handles the money and record keeping. Politicians should also be forbidden from owning stock in any company that has a government contract/grant or has applied for a government contract/grant.

Platform

1. I am not Mike Turner. I am running to be your REPRESENTATIVE to the House of Representatives. That means I will meet with you, your groups, be involved in the community and report back to you daily on what I’ve been doing.
2. I will not be owned by lobbyists, corporations, defense contractors, or tolerate insurrectionists who don’t believe our elections are valid.
3. I believe in the right to choose what to do with your body – this isn’t just abortion rights, it also means that your health care isn’t controlled by anyone other than you and your doctor. I believe in health care, not health insurance.
4. If we are indeed a gig economy, I guarantee that no worker who is told what to do, when to be there, and how to do it, is anything but an employee and should be treated as such.
5. Small business means more jobs and a more diverse and stable economy. Anything that the government requires a small business to do- such as managing payroll tax collection to competing for Federal projects, must be on a playing field where size doesn’t give the bigger company an instant advantage.
6. The government should be open. It should use open-source software solutions so as not to be beholden to the titans of the digital world. This includes everything from electronic medical records systems, to the tools of government (elections software, agenda tools for public bodies) and even accounting tools to help manage small business.
7. It should provide open records except in very limited cases related to national security. Government officials—including law enforcement—should not be allowed to lie or keep secrets from citizens.
8. Privacy is a right and should be treated as such. If a social media or advertising company cannot stay in business without violating the privacy of users, then they should not be in business.
9. If you are the product, as in your data, the content you generate, the ads you watch on their platform, you should get paid for your creations like Youtube does. Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, Instagram etc would be nothing without you- and you should get a share of a majority of the profits (at least 51% and have voting power). Social platforms should be owned by the community, not the censors.
10. We have voter registration to stop people from voting, but we don’t have donor registration to make sure we know who is buying our leaders.
11. Your home should never be treated like a share of stock by a bank. An American has the right to own their home, without being taxed out of it, or thrown out of it by the sheriff.
12. Every American must do a year to 18 months of public service at 18- be it in the military, or in a civilian conservation corps, or caring for our elderly, or providing childcare. Being an American requires time spent in the service of our freedoms.
13. I believe in the first part of the 2^nd amendment “A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State”. And I’m going to be an “originalist” and say “Constitutional carry” applies to flintlock pistols and muzzle loaders. Anything else- it’s single shot, single action or you better be fighting a war as part of that “Well regulated militia”. Note, I believe legal gun ownership, should only be provided to those who have served in the military, and undergone the extensive training and evaluation that comes with it. Weapons of war are for militaries, not for hobbyists or “self-defense.” Safe gun storage is in an armory. Note, these are my personal beliefs, and I doubt they would ever be legislated. My goal is to level the playing field for small business- not waste time trying to pry weapons out of gun nuts hands. However in light of the recent shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, I issued a real proposal for Constitutional Gun Control- and how to implement it using the 14th Amendment. See the link GunControl
14. College should be affordable and not a debt sentence. We can make sure that a public education is available to all.
15. Being rich and white will no longer be a get out of jail free card. I can’t believe that our entire prison system is full of poor people and the mentally ill by anything other than our disdain for equality. We jail too many people for trying to survive- instead of for crimes against the community. Former Dayton City Commissioner Joey Williams violated our public trust accepting bribes while in public office- he got 3 months in prison. $130M went missing from Wright State and no one was charged.
16. The environment matters. I believe in clean energy, emission free vehicles, free public transit, recycling, electric high-speed rail, ending sprawl, and locally grown organic food.
17. No American should have to choose between health care and bankruptcy. Insulin shouldn’t cost 15x more than in any other country.
18. There should be a mandatory age of retirement for members of congress. I believe elections should serve as term limits, but if someone good comes along, it should be up to the voters. But, since we are entrusting our future to politicians, they shouldn’t be over 70.
19. LBGQT+ rights is summed up pretty well except the use of the word “Man” in the Declaration of Independence: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men [people] are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”

This post was published May 14, 2022 at 5:48 PM. It will evolve and change overtime, with input from those I represent. I will note all changes as they are made. Feel free to comment and make suggestions via the comments section. June 13, 2022 I updated item 13 with my full proposal on Gun Control.