Sorry to all the bots who crawl my page and the few people who’ve seen my website. I’ve been MIA for a couple months. Such is life.

OK, If I’m going to run for anything, I need to share my stance on several topics, building upon my prior post found (HERE)[https://unitedwith.me/forward/].

A summary of my points on that post are below:

1. Privacy. Check out the 4th Amendment. Big tech has infiltrated the government and allowed harvesting of all sorts of data in order to lie, manipulate, mislead, redirect, obfuscate (hide), and omit- to name a few.
2. Common-sense policy. Too often, everything is intentionally painted black and white. I REALLY don’t like how split the media and 2-party system forces us into such polar opposites on purpose.
3. A FOSS mentality. A what? Free & Open Source Software. I want policy that’s reviewable, transparent, collaborative.
4. A fair wage. Really, I’d aim for $17.50/hr to start, with increases beyond that.
5. Finally, I want to be modern. Better voting transparency and technologies that are built on open source tech so code can be reviewed and improved.

What will I do? What good could I bring? What reason would you have to vote for measly ole me?
1. Presidential pardon of Luigi Mangione. I mean, far worse people have been pardoned, and far worse has come from healthcare company leadership and decision making.
2. Do the right thing. It has become lost; almost to the point where it feels hopeless to even utter those words, but I don’t want anyone to just vote for me. I feel the need to earn everyone’s trust. Some of that would come through interactions, and other forms through word of mouth. I cannot imagine any large press outlet speaking any bit in my favor, but if I start early enough, I hope to gain enough momentum to have a lasting effect, even if I don’t succeed.
3. See https://www.forwardparty.com/pledge/. I cannot say that the Forward Party would 100% back me, but I really believe in their purpose and goal to get good people back into politics, and I have signed the agreement to their ethics and values so that anyone can see I am serious. I mean, heck, I have paid to host my own site so that I (hopefully) cannot be discredited or gone against or lied about. I will uphold what I believe in, and I believe the Forward Party is the best way to move… well, forward (I’m full of dad jokes and puns, you’ll also get that too). Unfortunately, while the Democratic Socialists have seem to make progress, it seems they’re not fully united and have aligned values; therefore I don’t believe that’s the best path forward, while I do agree with a lot of what they believe in as well. I believe Hakeem Jeffries just rejected Medicare for All after winning the primaries.
4. I tend to say what’s on my mind and wear my heart on my sleeve, and that might get me into some hot water with some people not liking what I have to say. It’s also a possible reason “parties” wouldn’t back me because I often use fowl language and politically incorrect verbiage. With that said, I think it shows trustworthiness for not lying or always putting on a facade. People would get to see the real me and while it may not make me look charismatic, I’m certainly not going to be fake.
5. I am empathetic, compassionate, and have a heart for helping others. I think that’s part of the reason I feel compelled to go to an extreme for office. I want to help my neighbors and strangers I pass on the street or in the store. We’re all struggling, it’s time we work to try to fix things for the rest of us and stop feeding the billionaires more money and intrinsic power.
6. I want better term limits for those in Congress. I want age caps for any/all political role. If 35 is the minimum for presidency, then 65 should be the cap for anyone entering a political position for competency, health, and not being too detached from reality. We need modernized thinking, but we also need to understand we’re all so vastly different with different upbringings, values, ideals, and interests. We need others to step up into political positions locally, to state and national levels so we can expedite improvements vs. dealing with those who value “campaign donations” for taking advantage of the American people.
7. Better foreign policy. This is YUGE, and I never expected things to be so bad, but the outlook of the American people from other countries is probably at its lowest it has ever been, and it’s time to restore those relationships. I’d like to encourage international travel, and getting outside our “bubble” of a geographic space, so that we can learn what others have, or don’t have, and appreciate culture. That FOSS mentality really hits hard with me here because we’re losing our innovation and settling for tick-tock upgrades of mediocracy in technological areas.
8. Regulate the F**K out of AI and big tech companies who are absolutely destroying our planet, our wildlife, our homes, and our families. Do I really need to say more?

These are some of the things that I think stand out the most and are some hot talking points that are avoided right now. It’s up to us to push for real change, and while you don’t really “know” me, who I am, or what I look like… Think of Batman. Anyone could be Batman. ANYONE could take a stand, unite, and want to improve things for the greater good, and just not themselves. Maybe I’m no Batman, and I’m certainly not as wealthy as him, but he’s a symbol of hope in the deafening volume of corruption.

Any other talking points? Anything you’d like to see? I’m on Lemmy, unitedwithme@lemmy.today. Fortunately, but unfortunately, I’m on no social media, I don’t use big tech any longer. I run an nonstandard phone OS and same for my computer. I like my privacy, as do many of you. I’m not for sale to the highest bidder with data I make no money on while it’s MINE. Since i’m not for sale personally, I’m definitely not for sale politically, either.

-Nick