Our Platform for Outlining Colorado’s Future

Transportation

As our society becomes more mobile and interconnected, the need for 21st-century transportation networks has never been greater. However, too many of our nation's railways, highways, bridges, airports, and neighborhood streets are slowly decaying due to lack of investment and strategic long-term planning. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe that America's long-term competitiveness depends on the stability of our critical infrastructure. They will make strengthening our transportation systems, including our roads and bridges, a top priority. In the Recovery Act and his first budget proposal, the President made investment in high speed rail a key investment.

Sportsmen

President Obama did not grow up hunting and fishing, but he recognizes the great conservation legacy of America's hunters and anglers and has great respect for the passion that hunters and anglers have for their sports. Were it not for America's hunters and anglers, including the great icons like Theodore Roosevelt and Aldo Leopold, our nation would not have the tradition of sound game management, a system of ethical, science-based game laws and an extensive public lands estate on which to pursue the sport. The President and Vice President recognize that we must forge a broad coalition if we are to address the great conservation challenges we face. America's hunters and anglers are a key constituency that must take an active role and have a powerful voice in this coalition.

Science

In the past, government funding for scientific research has yielded innovations that have improved the landscape of American life — technologies like the Internet, digital photography, bar codes, Global Positioning System technology, laser surgery, and chemotherapy. At one time, educational competition with the Soviets fostered the creativity that put a man on the moon. Today, we face a new set of challenges, including energy security, HIV/AIDS, and climate change. Yet, the United States is losing its scientific dominance. Among industrialized nations, our country's scores on international science and math tests rank in the bottom third and bottom fifth, respectively. Over the last three decades, federal funding for the physical, mathematical, and engineering sciences has declined at a time when other countries are substantially increasing their own research budgets. President Obama and Vice President Biden believe federally funded scientific research should play an important role in advancing science and technology in the classroom and in the lab.

Child Advocacy

From http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/additional-issues

"President Obama and Vice President Biden are committed advocates for children. They will make sure that every child has health insurance, expand educational opportunities for low-income children, extend resources for low-income families, support and supplement our struggling foster care system, and protect children from violence and neglect."

Who isn't against violence towards children? They will make sure every child in the world has health insurance, or just America? The above paragraph is all I saw on the whole website, specifically dedicated to "child advocacy". I didn't see many specifics...

But should Obama "expand educational opportunities for low-income children? To many people, this is the most noble type of activity that a president could be engaged in. However, before stone me for daring to question something that seems so obviously beneficial, please consider the following:

The Federal Government shouldn't duplicate services provided for by the states. When you have administrators in Federal, State, and County agencies all with the same responsibility you are wasting money. When you have administrators in Federal, State, and County agencies all with the same responsibility there is no accountability for the performance of any of the government agencies. When the federal government has a mission that is the same as more local governments, they often don't really do anything besides set standards which the local agencies are not required to follow, and funnels money which they takes from individuals in each state, and put is back into other states. This whole process is overly complex, prone to corruption, bad incentives, inefficient with our money, and leads to bad results.

The Federal Government's power should be more limited than the states.

If cities, counties, and states all have agencies working to expand educational opportunities for low-income children, then there is no reason for the Federal Government to duplicate these efforts.

There is no reason to have a Federal Department of Education, because no one from the Federal government teaches kids. All kids are taught by teachers who are employed by local jurisdictions. The Federal Government is worse at providing services than local governments. When the Federal Government gets involved in the same efforts as the states, it prevents us from learning which states are doing things the right way and which states are not running their programs correctly, because the duplicative efforts from the Federal Government make it more difficult to tell what is the cause of success or failure.

Arts

From http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/additional-issues:

"Our nation's creativity has filled the world's libraries, museums, recital halls, movie houses, and marketplaces with works of genius. The arts embody the American spirit of self-definition. As the author of two best-selling books —Dreams from My Father and The Audacity of Hope — President Obama uniquely appreciates the role and value of creative expression."

This is all about trying to make artist like Obama. Romney, Cheney, and Bush also had best selling books! Does this also make them "uniquely" qualified?

Obama was wrong, in 2010 to spend $167.5 million on the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH)

Reasons to agree:

Publicly financed art is too easily censored

The federal government is too broke to be spending money on the arts.

The arts in America get enough money from the private sector that they don't need money from the federal government.

The Federal Government should only fund things we are OK with putting people in Jail, if they wouldn't want to pay their taxes for those things. For instance we can require people to pay their taxes to fund roads, because we all have to pay our share. But it would be wrong to put someone in Jail just because they didn't want money to go to a particular project.

Faith

In June of 2006, then-Senator Obama delivered what was called the most important speech on religion and politics in 40 years. Speaking before an evangelical audience, then-Senator Obama candidly discussed his own religious conversion and doubts, and the need for a deeper, more substantive discussion about the role of faith in American life. He has continued to foster open dialogues on faith across the political spectrum throughout his career.

The President believes a healthy discussion of faith in a pluralistic society includes the need for religious people to translate their concerns into universal, rather than religion-specific, values during public debate, and sincere respect on all sides. President Obama has found common ground in the importance of faith in the global battle against AIDS in particular.

Women

Progress

The President signed an Executive Order establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls to provide a coordinated Federal response to the challenges confronted by women and girls and to ensure that all Cabinet and Cabinet-level agencies consider how their policies and programs impact women and families.

The President signed the Affordable Care Act, which gives all Americans better health security, with a particular focus on women specific needs:

In 2014, the new law makes it illegal for insurance companies to deny any woman coverage because of a pre-existing condition or charge more because of health status or gender.

Up to 15 million women who now are unin¬sured could gain subsidized coverage under the law and 14.5 million insured women will benefit from provisions that improve coverage or reduce premiums.

Access to care is also expanded, including guaranteeing choice of a primary care provider within a plan’s network, including OB-GYNs and pediatricians.

The President signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which included a number of provisions of particular concern to women:

To help working mothers and fathers obtain quality child care, the Act includes an additional $2 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant, $1 billion for Head Start, and $1.1 billion for Early Head Start.

The Act boosts family incomes by expanding the Child Tax Credit to cover an additional 10 million children in working families and creating a new Make Work Pay tax credit.

The Act includes unemployment insurance reforms that will particularly benefit women, such as incentives for states to cover part-time workers and those who recently reentered the workforce.

The Act puts $225 million toward addressing violence against women in communities across the country, creating 5,000 jobs in the process.

The Act put thousands more police officers on the street, funded mentoring programs for at-risk youth in hundreds of communities and bolstered law enforcement efforts in cases of Internet Crimes Against Children and child exploitation.

The President signed the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, restoring basic protections against pay discrimination for women and other workers.

The President created the National Equal Pay Enforcement Task Force (pdf) to bolster enforcement of pay discrimination laws, making sure women get equal pay for an equal day's work.

The President has called on Congress to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, which will stop retaliation against employees who share or seek wage information and close a loophole that some employers use to avoid paying women equal wages.

The President cut taxes 16 times for small businesses:

The President signed the Small Business Jobs Act, which includes 8 of these new tax cuts that went into effect immediately:

Zero Capital Gains Taxes on Key Investments in Small Businesses

The Highest Small Business Expensing Limit Ever– Up to $500,000

An Extension of 50% Bonus Depreciation

A New Deduction for Health Care Expenses for the Self-Employed

Tax Relief and Simplification for Cell Phone Deductions

An Increase in The Deduction for Entrepreneurs’ Start-Up Expenses

A Five-Year Carryback Of General Business Credits

Limitations on Penalties for Errors in Tax Reporting That Disproportionately Affect Small Business

As part of the Recovery Act and subsequent legislation in 2009 and 2010, which put the following eight small business tax cuts into law:

A New Small Business Health Care Tax Credit

A New Tax Credit for Hiring Unemployed Workers

Bonus Depreciation Tax Incentives to Support New Investment

75% Exclusion of Small Business Capital Gains

Expansion of Limits on Small Business Expensing

Five-Year Carry back of Net Operating Losses

Reduction of the Built-In Gains Holding Period for Small Businesses from 10 to 7 Years to Allow Small Business Greater Flexibility in Their Investments

Temporary Small Business Estimated Tax Payment Relief to Allow Small Businesses to Keep Needed Cash on Hand

The President signed into law the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010, which puts in place the strongest consumer financial protections in history, including the creation of a new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau led by Elizabeth Warren.

The President proposed doubling the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for middle-class families making under $85,000 a year, builds on historic increases in Head Start and child care provided in the Recovery Act, and helps states provide paid family leave to workers.

The President is delivering comprehensive primary care for women Veterans at all VA facilities by 2013, placing full-time Women Veterans Program Managers at 144 health systems and expanding outreach to women Veterans in communities across the country.

The President signed the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, which promotes workplace flexibility and work-family balance.

Guiding Principles

Ensure Economic Security

Our society has made tremendous progress in eradicating barriers to women’s success. Women make up a growing share of our workforce, and more women are corporate executives and business owners than ever before. Today, women are serving at the highest levels of all branches of our Government.

Despite this progress, certain inequalities persist. The income for the typical American woman is still only about 78 cents for every dollar of the median income for the typical man, and women are still significantly underrepresented in the science, engineering, and technology fields.

President Obama believes that women have a right to receive equal pay for equal work.

Promote Work-family Balance

Millions of women and men face the challenge of trying to balance the demands of their jobs and the needs of their families. Too often, caring for a child or an aging parent puts a strain on a career or even leads to job loss. President Obama believes we need flexible work policies, such as paid sick leave, so that working women and men do not have to choose between their jobs and meeting the needs of their families.

Support Reproductive Choice

President Obama has been a consistent champion of reproductive choice and believes in preserving women’s rights under Roe v. Wade. At the same time, he respects those who disagree with him. The President believes we must all come together to help reduce unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion.

Prevent Violence Against Women

Violence against women and girls remains a global epidemic. The Violence Against Women Act, originally authored by Vice President Biden, plays a key role in helping communities and law enforcement combat domestic violence, sexual assault, and stalking. At home and abroad, President Obama will work to promote policies that seek to eradicate violence against women.