Kenneth Cates

Issue #1 National Economy and Debt

The cost of goods and services will never go down unless the government stops its massive spending for programs both nationally and internationally. This leads to inflation which you end up paying for at the register. Each American currently owes $500,000 to pay off the current debt which is doing nothing but climbing. In 2020 the U.S. spent $637 million on foreign aid. Often this benefits the wealthy in poor countries. And this is something Republicans have supported just as much as democrats. The U.S. currently has 750 plus military bases in 80+ countries that cost $80+ billion dollars annually. Social security costs $1,134 billion per year, Obama care costs $50 billion per year, Medicare $776 billion per year, and Medicaid $829.5 billion per year, all three of these together account for 65% of the national debt. I understand that we need a strong military that is able to deploy anywhere, anytime at a moment’s notice, and that people need retirements and health care. But it seems we are now managing an empire and perpetual welfare state. Besides being bad for the economy, a welfare state also contributes to mental illness and drug addiction. People need to feel like they contribute and are wanted by society. If elected I would work to eliminate many of the overseas bases, and spending while not creating instability in the region. Many of these countries are capable of defending themselves. I would work to cut healthcare prices as outlined in section two so we could drastically cut Medicaid and Medicare over time. I would encourage people to save for retirement by possibly passing legislation with tax benefits if saving for retirement and having health insurance. I would work to eliminate costly national programs that have been added in secret by earmarks, and don’t help anyone but special interest groups.

Issue #2 Healthcare

I support a free-market healthcare system with limited government involvement. I don’t support the government providing insurance itself such as Obama Care, Medicaid, and Medicare. When you and I as citizens work together, we will improve the economy and healthcare system. Then, many people would not need this form of health insurance, and you will have better private insurance company choices that are affordable.

If the present government run healthcare insurance programs that are available now continue, there will be government programs taking over more and more of the healthcare segment, leading to mandates and rationing of care that will be unavoidable. Many physicians who currently accept Medicare and Medicaid are limited to the time they spend with patients because of the amount of billing paperwork they must do in order to get reimbursed by the government. Also, patients are limited in what care they receive due to certain regulations on testing and medications. I believe healthcare and insurance should be left to the private sector. Where you can buy insurance across state lines if you find a better and cheaper option. I also support medical tort reform which limits malpractice cost, deters medical errors, and ensures patients who are injured are compensated fairly. This would lower the cost to the patient by reducing overhead for malpractice insurance.

Hospitals were built on public trust, that trust has been lost, and now we have a public trust crisis in healthcare. While most in healthcare truly care about patients, a small group of special interests has made this a terrible system that the rest have got caught up in, and that only serves to profit them. More money is spent each year on healthcare lobbyists in Washington than the defense industry. That trust has been lost by the business modeling of price gouging, and predatory billing. 64% of patients say they have avoided healthcare for fear of the bill. New cures and treatments are useless if over half of patients won’t come in. We know it’s good people working in a bad system that’s got out of control. It’s a terrible system where we offer discounts to groups by inflation. Nowhere else do you buy goods and services and don’t know the prices until after the fact. Currently, there is literally a “code” for billing that most citizens are not made aware of and cannot read. This also drives the price up, because now you must hire secretaries to read the code. Trust could be regained if we have upfront pricing for common and predictable services.

Public accountability could do a lot for this, as well as possible legislation by the states, and congress. For example, when you Google a hospital on the review of the hospital you could put the average price markup, the leapfrog quality score, and their billing quality metrics. I believe hospitals should be required to provide a bill in plain English. These bills are uninterpretable by the hospitals that issue them. Patients should be given real prices for non-emergent services (over 60% of services elective and scheduled) when they ask. Prompter service should be given when patients call and ask about their bills by closing the loop, and calling the patient back. Any hospital that doesn’t provide palin English billing information doesn’t have the right to sue a patient and garnish wages. Many of these are non-profit that could get more back in tax benefits if they paid taxes instead of suing patients. There should be no surprise billing such as with “out of network” care. Patients should not be charged for “never events” when the provider makes a mistake.

Issue #3 Covid19

While I don’t deny CV-19, and that it has taken lives, I see many issues in the way it was handled. I haven’t supported any lockdown, mask, or mandates by any form of government. John Hopkins released a study that shows lockdowns were not effective and actually cost more lives than they helped. We have also seen that mask mandates were ineffective, by numbers just as high in high mask compliance countries, states, or cities than those with none or limited. I believe fear, masks, and lockdowns were a catalyst to getting the public to accept the vaccine. I support the reinstatement by any employee or service member who’s been let go or discharged for not getting the vaccine. I believe since the beginning of the pandemic that policy has been led by fear to push the vaccine to make a profit. While from the beginning the CFR was low, even for the elderly. We are now learning the number of deaths from CV-19 alone is much lower, and the majority of deaths had multiple comorbidities. We have seen alternative treatments that are effective be demonized, and their proponents canceled. We now know that natural immunity is 5x more effective than the vaccine that still allows you to get and spread CV-19. VAERS data was encouraged to not be reported accurately, and individuals who would have otherwise lived if exposed to CV19 died from the vaccine, and that has been suppressed as well.

Issue #4 2020 Presidential Election

While I don’t want to make a judgment beforehand, I believe the voter fraud accusations should be investigated. They investigated Pres. Trump for 2 years at a cost of 34 million dollars to the taxpayer, but when multiple reports of voter fraud were claimed by multiple sources they wouldn’t give him five minutes, Republicans included such as Senator Boozeman. The lack of a thorough investigation has led to half the country now believing the current president is not legitimate, whether true or not. If elected I will push for or support a non-biased, and thorough investigation, and accept the results either way. I also support legislation against mass mail in ballots in federal elections.

Issue #5 January 6th Protest

I believe an investigation into January 6th should be conducted by an outside source. Questions should be asked such as why Capitol Police let protesters into the Capitol, was the shooting of Ashli Babbitt justified, and who released the information saying Officer Sicknick died from being attacked by a Trump protester when D.C. The Medical examiner said there was no trauma, and he had died from a stroke. If elected I will fight to free any January 6th protest who is being held unjustly as a political prisoner, as well as any other protester in the same situation.

Issue #6 Military/Intel

While I believe a strong military is a critical deterrence, I also believe ours has been hijacked by the defense industry to make a profit in wars of aggression. President Eisenhower tried to warn us about it. I believe we are less safe because of the way Afghanistan was conducted. That war cost the taxpayers $2.3 trillion, tarnished the US’s reputation, and most importantly cost our precious servicemembers’ lives. It was allowed to continue with very little presidential and congressional oversight. For years and years, ineffective policies were allowed to continue. There are numerous reports of billions of dollars wasted on equipment and buildings that were never used, and during the disastrous withdrawal we left military equipment and cash to the enemy, and 13 service members lost their lives. There was no accountability for this in D.C. Republicans talked tough but still approved the defense budget. Most recently our military was also hijacked by politicians through the military leadership to push “woke politics’ and purge the ranks of any conservatives. I believe politics should be left out, and our military leadership focuses on one thing and that’s defending the constitution and this nation. If elected I would make it my personal mission to rebuild our military’s mission, effectiveness, and morale. And one way to do that would be reinstating any servicemen kicked out for political views or not having the vaccine. in regards to intelligence gathering which I do support if limited to a few agencies, and congressional oversight. I would work to eliminate the 16 spy agencies, $1.25 trillion in national security state spending, and massive warrantless data collection on Americans. The U.S. admits 9/11 was a communication failure so their answer was to make more agencies that have to communicate with each other, and will compete for the budget just like before.

Issue #7 Borders

While I support the freedom of individuals to move without government intrusion into their privacy, I also believe that we are a sovereign nation that needs borders and should secure them from unlawful entry, as well as unlawful occupation. I understand that most people who come here are just seeking a better life. I believe if we close the borders, and cut down on the welfare programs the number of illegal aliens would drop. I think the U.S. needs to drastically reform its immigration policy to allow quicker entry, while still being vetted to those who truly want to come here for a better life.

Issue #8 Criminal Justice Reform

I support law enforcement and admire their bravery in doing a very dangerous job. Any crime with a victim I believe should be prosecuted. I don’t believe any crime without a victim should be against the law such as illegal drugs and prostitution. I know this sounds counterintuitive to what we’ve been taught. I want to first off say that just because I think illegal drugs and prostitution should be legal, doesn’t mean I don’t think they have a negative consequence. The reason I think they should be legal is that making them illegal has not stopped them all, and any good leader should look at his policies for effectiveness. The enforcement of illegal drugs has cost trillions of taxpayer dollars and destroyed lives, including our brave law enforcement officers, and not made us safer. I believe if drugs are made legal in a controlled manner, then officers would have more time to deal with real dangerous criminals.

Every 25 seconds, an American is arrested for drug possession. The number of possession arrests has tripled since 1980. Arrests for possession are 6 times more than for sales. 456,000 Americans are serving time for possession. Another 1.15 million are on probation or parole for drug offenses. Incarceration shows little impact on drug use, and it shows increased mortality from OD. Once released from incarceration users are 13 times more likely to overdose than the general population. The number one death of the recently released user is overdose. The recently released have a 129% more chance of dying from OD than the general public.

Black people are 4 times more likely to be arrested for marijuana than white people. Black people make up 30% of all drug-related arrests, despite being only 12.5% of users. Black people are 6 times more likely to be incarcerated for drug-related offenses than white people, despite equal substance abuse rates. In federal prison black and Latinos makeup 80% of drug-related offenses. In-state prison people of color make up 60% of drug-related offenses.

In federal prison, a black person convicted of a drug-related offense will serve nearly the same amount of time as a white person convicted of a violent crime. People of color make up 70% of all conventions with mandatory minimums. Prosecutors are twice as likely to pursue mandatory minimums for back defendants than a white one with the same charge, and black defendants are less likely to receive relief from mandatory minimums. On average every addict subject to mandatory minimums spends 5 times longer in prison than those with other convictions. Since the “war on drugs,” the U.S. has spent $1 trillion. In 2015 the US spent $3.3 billion annually to incarcerate drug-related offenses.

State governments spend $7 billion annually. In 2016 11.8 million people were addicted to prescription opiates or heroin. Every 16 seconds a person dies from opiate OD, that’s more than in car crashes. Americans consume 80% of the opiates the world produces. 1 out of every 100 Americans misuse opiates.

The opiate epidemic cost the U.S. $504 billion dollars annually in health costs, criminal justice, and economic impact from premature fatalities. Doctors wrote 259 million in opiate prescriptions in 2012. Among women prescription painkiller OD deaths jumped 400% from 1999-to 2010. Fatality rates jumped 28% from 2015-to 2016 largely in addition to fentanyl, a synthetic opiate that is 50 times stronger than heroin. For the first time in 2016 synthetic opiates were the leading cause of all drug-related deaths, claiming 200,000 lives.

The availability and use of Narcan have saved many lives. We were taught that physical addiction or “hooks” is the reason people get addicted, while this, genetics, and other factors do play a role, it’s not the primary cause. The primary cause is mental and social problems, not just physical addiction. If a person is given meaning in their life and a good social environment they are much less likely to use it. This addiction problem needs to be treated for what it is, a medical, social, and psychological problem, not a criminal one.

Safe Injection Facilities have been used in over 60 international cities. The user can go to this facility and get the correct dose from a licensed medical provider. Injecting it while under their supervision, not leaving with the substance or syringe. The site also connects users to social services. These sites have shown a reduction in addiction, and bloodborne pathogens which have saved lives and millions in healthcare costs, as well as a reduction in prostitution, in which most cases are doing it to support a drug addiction. Nationwide there are 3,100 drug courts. These courts refer users to substance abuse treatment, social services, and supervision monitoring instead of incarceration. This has shown a 40% lower rate of reoffending.

Another program LEAD (Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion) refers users to treatment facilities instead of arrest. This program has been shown to reduce re-arrest, incarceration times, improve economic stability and housing, and save taxpayer money in criminal justice system costs. If elected I would propose legislation to make illegal drugs legal and work with the communities, and healthcare systems in implementing clean, safe, and efficient treatment centers that also provide social support like job placement and housing. While I support the legalization of illegal drugs, and addiction treated like the medical condition it is. I don’t support drug trafficking across our borders, especially Fentanyl coming from Mexico produced by chemicals shipped from China. I believe if drugs are made legal under close medical supervision then trafficking across our borders would be greatly reduced due to a reduction in demand. I believe the crime rate would fall as well due to dealers not competing for territory.^[1]