THE FREEDOMS

A 50-PLANK PROGRAM TO CREATE THE FOUNDATION FOR AN UPWARD SPIRAL IN AMERICAN SOCIETY, PLANETARY CARE AND HUMAN FLOURISHING, GROUNDED IN THE TEN ISSUES THAT 18-34 YEAR-OLDS CONSISTENTLY IDENTIFY AS THE MOST IMPORTANT.

THESE POLICIES:
• ARE SUPPORTED BY 60-85% OF THE ENTIRE ALL-AGES POPULATION*
• WILL DIRECTLY IMPROVE MILLIONS OF LIVES IN LESS THAN TWO YEARS
• ARE JUICY ENOUGH TO ENGAGE HEARTS AND MINDS IN WORKING FOR THEM

* A couple are supported by a bare majority but are crucial to the success of the platform as a whole

#1 FREEDOM TO RAISE A FAMILY

10 weeks of paid family leave, $0-10/day (means-adjusted) childcare for all, and permanent Child Tax Credit.

#2 FREEDOM TO AFFORD A HOME

Build enough new nonprofit and publicly owned ecological homes to stabilize out of control rents and ensure every American has a healthy and affordable place to live. End the corporate buyout of US housing stock. $25,000 in down-payment assistance to first-generation home buyers and $400/month tax credit to first-time home buyers. Tax credits for renters who earn less than $100,000 for housing costs in excess of 30 percent of their incomes.

#3 FREEDOM TO NEED ONLY ONE JOB

$17/hr national minimum wage.

#4 FREEDOM TO PAY FAIR PRICES

Cut inflation by eliminating the 60% of it caused by monopoly profits of giant corporations (including the 25% of it caused by big oil price fixing and collusion); eliminate junk fees that cost $90 billion per year—$650 per household.

Level all the playing fields to enable everyone to afford a decent life — while making corporations and the wealthy contribute fairly.

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#5 FREEDOM FEELS FAIR

Make corporations and the wealthy pay their fair share by ending the Trump tax cuts and instituting a wealth tax on individuals worth over $50 million.

#6 FREEDOM TO UNIONIZE

Pass the PRO Act to protect and strengthen the right to join a union and bargain collectively.

ECONOMIC FREEDOM

#7 FREEDOM FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS

Transition the grid to 100% renewable energy by 2033, end all fossil fuel subsidies and give a gasoline and heating fuel rebate to all Americans—paid for with a windfall profits tax on big oil and a fee on carbon.

#8 FREEDOM TO FARM FOREVER

End subsidies for soil-depleting, ecosystem-poisoning practices, reward farmers for protecting ecological functions, and transition to 100% regenerative agriculture in ten years.

#9 FREEDOM TO DWELL FABULOUS

Modernize homes, buildings and schools to reduce energy costs and improve well-being; require the use of better technologies in all new buildings and construction.

Later is too late. Federal, state, local and international laws and treaties to spur the largest global mobilization in history, aimed to protect the planet for future generations and end the climate emergency and its root causes quickly, sufficiently, equitably, profitably and joyfully.

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#10 FREEDOM TO GET AROUND

Europeanize trains and public transit, and provide $1000 instant rebates for e-bike purchases.

#11 FREEDOM FROM CRUELTY

End federal purchasing of food from factory farms.

CLIMATE
FREEDOM

#12 FREEDOM FROM AN OCEAN OF PLASTIC

Phase out single use plastics by 2027.

REPRODUCTIVE
FREEDOM

#13 BODY FREEDOM

Ensure and protect the right to access abortion care throughout the United States.

Give all people autonomy over their own bodies and legal, affordable access to the care they need.

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#14 FREEDOM TO PLAN PARENTHOOD

Allow birth control pills to be sold over the counter without a prescription, contraception to remain universally available and abortion medication to be sent by mail; protect IVF.

JUSTICE
FREEDOM

#15 FREEDOM TO CHANGE

Implement alternatives to prison for non-violent crimes, eliminate mandatory minimums, and direct minors convicted of a crime into restorative justice programs or other alternatives.

Heal the soul of America by facing up to the deepest inequities in our society, beginning with a systemic reform of our unjust and ineffectual carceral system and an examination of the structural roots of inequality and injustice.

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#16 FREEDOM FROM PRISON PROFITEERING

End all for-profit prisons and immigrant detention centers.

#17 FREEDOM TO ADULT

Legalize marijuana nationwide for adults, free everyone currently doing time for non-violent drug offenses, and respond to drug addiction with treatment rather than punishment.

#18 FREEDOM FROM BAD COPS

Increase accountability for law enforcement misconduct and eliminate discriminatory policing practices.

DEMOCRACY
FREEDOM

#19 FREEDOM FROM MINORITY RULE

End partisan gerrymandering, remove dark money from campaigns, and eliminate the filibuster.

Ensure that government and elections reflect the interests of the American people—rather than the wealthiest few, the worst actors and the biggest corporations—by restoring and protecting Americans’ fundamental right to vote, restoring integrity to the supreme court, and ending elite capture of elections and policy.

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#20 FREEDOM FROM TYRANNY

Fix the corrupt, unrepresentative Supreme Court with term limits and additional justices.

#21 FREEDOM TO BE COUNTED

Make Election Day a federal holiday, institute universal vote by mail and automatic voter registration, re-enfranchise citizens convicted of a crime and mandate that all voting machines produce a paper record.

#22 FREEDOM FROM TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION

Make Washington D.C. a state and give Puerto Rico a choice.

#23 FREEDOM FROM ABSURDITY

Replace the Electoral College with the National Popular Vote.

#24 FREEDOM TO VOTE MY HEART

Nationwide ranked choice voting.

PEACE AND SAFETY
FREEDOM

#25 FREEDOM TO NOT GET SHOT BY A FELON

Establish universal background checks on gun purchases and a red-flag law to take guns away from people who are a danger to themselves or others

Stand for peace and safety in our communities and worldwide by updating our gun policies and demilitarizing the economy and planet.

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#26 FREEDOM TO NOT GET MASSACRED / FREEDOM TO FEEL SAFE IN PUBLIC

Ban assault weapons and high capacity magazines.

#27 FREEDOM FOR PEACE

Condition US military aid to Israel on an immediate bilateral ceasefire, full hostage deal and humanitarian relief; further leverage US power for a two-state solution. Pressure and support all allies to negotiate an end to the war in Ukraine and all other global wars in which the US has influence.

#28 FREEDOM FROM WAR

Cut Pentagon funding by ten percent ($80 billion) annually for the next five years, and use the savings to shrink the national debt and support true freedoms.

#29 FREEDOM FROM ANNIHILATION BY ROBOTS

Intelligent legislation to contain the critical and existential risks of AI.

EQUALITY
FREEDOM

#30 FREEDOM TO THRIVE AGAIN

Pass a Seven Generations New Deal to restore, protect and expand Indigenous rights, land, health, opportunity, education, justice, housing, language and culture.

Safeguard the sovereignty, health and well being of all of our precious people, by reimagining our relations with indigenous communities, ensuring equal rights for women, confirming the right to same sex marriage, and protecting the human rights of LGBTQ Americans.

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#31 FREEDOM TO BE LEFT ALONE / FREEDOM TO MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS

Amend the 1964 Civil Rights Act to explicitly protect LGBTQ Americans from discrimination.

#32 FREEDOM TO LOVE

Codify same-sex marriage as the law of the land.

#33 FREEDOM FOR WOMEN

Pass the Equal Rights Amendment and the Paycheck Fairness Act, enshrining equal rights and equal pay for women nationwide.

HEALTHY
MINDS/BODIES
FREEDOM

#34 FREEDOM TO GET WELL

Medicare for all, including dental, vision and fully funded addiction treatment and prevention.

For those lucky enough to have it, Medicare is one of the best health insurance systems in the world. Expand it to cover everyone. Address the root causes of preventable disease to make us healthier and save $1 trillion per year.

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#35 FREEDOM TO GROW UP SANE

Mass, collective, voluntary opt-out from smart phones and social media accounts for under-16 year olds. No phones in schools.

#36 FREEDOM TO BE CHRONICALLY WELL

Invest $50 billion per year (five percent of what we currently spend to treat preventable disease) to support dietary changes, exercise, sleep, stress relief, and healthier lifestyle habits, and update dietary guidelines, subsidize healthy foods, improve and expand school meals, and increase nutrition education in medical training.

#37 FREEDOM TO BE WELL IN THE HEAD

Invest in culturally relevant, non-carceral mental health resources for youth, adults and the elderly, a professionally trained nationwide first responders program, community-based crisis-response organizations, and a federal body to oversee non-punitive approaches to public safety.

EDUCATION
FREEDOM

#38 FREEDOM FROM SCHOOL DEBT

Cancel up to $50k in student debt for every borrower, means adjusted.

End corporate profiteering from student loans and ensure that every child and adult is able to receive a world-class education that enables them to lead a meaningful life.

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#39 FREEDOM TO LEARN

Make public universities, colleges and trade schools free for families earning less than $100,000.

#40 FREEDOM TO THRIVE EARLY

Universal free preschool for all 3- and 4-year-olds.

IMMIGRATION
FREEDOM

#41 FREEDOM TO DREAM

Path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and for farmworkers and other essential workers.

Build a 21st century immigration system that reflects our highest values, heals our communities, honors the irreplaceable role of immigrants in our national identity and renews our global leadership as home and sanctuary for both the adventurous and the desperate. Meanwhile, deeply invest in improving conditions elsewhere to make it possible for folks to stay home if they choose.

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#42 FREEDOM TO ESCAPE HELL

Path to citizenship for people who are contributing and working here legally due to war, political persecution or natural disaster in their home countries.

#43 FREEDOM TO STAY HOME

Invest $10 billion per year (ten percent of the Dept of Homeland Security budget and ten times current investments) in addressing the root causes of forced migration.

INTERNET
FREEDOM

#44 FREEDOM TO SURF

Get high speed internet access to everyone.

Make sure everyone can access it, and remake the rules to benefit humans and communities and their safety and privacy while dis-enshittifying its dirty players.

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#45 FREEDOM FROM ENSHITTIFICATION

Rein in, break up and reform abusive big tech monopolies, and protect privacy for the benefit of users and society.

MISSING
FREEDOMS

What’s missing here that’s critical to “create the foundation for an upward spiral in the most important areas of American society, planetary care and human flourishing?”
#46 ?

#47 ?

#48 ?

#49 ?

#50 ?

HELP COMPLETE THE FIFTY!

HUMAN
FREEDOMS

In order to escape the harmful and destructive cycles of history—the darkness of abuse, injustice, violence, fear, oppression, revenge, hate, colonization, war—we humans must evolve. While institutions and laws can ease living conditions and make it easier to devote time and energy to “working on ourselves,” ultimately, we as individuals each bear responsibility for attending to our inner work. Such work supports healing and changing societal-level patterns that keep us in oppressive cycles that continuously harm ourselves, our communities, our planet—and our descendants. Although these freedoms are presented last in the list, they are the ones which help us get to the roots of all the others and set the stage for the next global renaissance. Like the other categories above, this list is meant to be provocative and fundamental, not exhaustive.
a. Freedom to understand the other
b. Freedom from identification with negative emotions
c. Freedom to believe in world peace
d. Freedom to heal trauma
e. Freedom to commune with nature