By Loren Colin, Candidate for US Congress, CA34 | May, 2025
A government by the people and for the people guarantees every American:
1. A living wage for every full-time job that allows the worker to pay for their own home, food and clothing
2. Universal healthcare
3. Universal education
4. Our common defense
5. The freedom to live your life without interference by the government or anyone else
These are not pie-in-the-sky ideals. They are common-sense guarantees rooted in liberty, fairness, community and human dignity. Our platform exists to make these guarantees real for every person in America.
You have the right to be yourself, to live your life, love who you love, believe what you believe, and pursue your own happiness without anyone—especially the government—getting in the way. Universal individual liberty isn't a culture war. It's the end of one.
Let us guarantee to each other as our highest civic virtue the freedom to simply be.
The government’s most essential job is to protect your right to live as you see fit. That means defending your freedom of thought, speech, belief, identity and lifestyle—as long as you don’t infringe on someone else’s life, liberty or property. No one, including the government, has the right to tell you how to live. And no ideology, left or right, gets to become law at the expense of individual freedom.
Competitive markets are freedom in action. It’s how we keep prices down, wages up and opportunity real. The government must break up monopolies, tax excessive wealth and level the playing field so that everyone—worker, small business, entrepreneur—has a fair shot. When private profit-driven markets are impossible, like in healthcare and education, the government must step in to create systems that serve the people, not profit.
We have plenty of places to point to that are competitive market economies with great individual freedom. With our own eyes we can see the success of the Nordic Model in Denmark and Norway. These countries are meeting the metric: the government is guaranteeing that the most possible people can exist as they are and can fairly participate in competitive markets.
Our magic as a people is when we have a positive vision for today and tomorrow. We must reverse the perverse belief from the 1980s that greed is good, that vice is virtue. No more! Greed is a vice. Greed is evil. We cannot outlaw greed, but we can certainly tax away its negative effects.
Champion the universal virtues. Justice is good. Courage is good. Wisdom is good. Temperance is good. Integrity is good. Fairness is good. Self-control is good. Prudence is good. Wherever and whenever we can, let us celebrate happiness, joy and fulfillment.
Throw out the tax code. Count all income from all sources of income exactly the same for individuals and corporations. No loopholes. No tax on the first \$500,000 of yearly income and then tax every dollar over $500,000 a year at the the rate that fully funds the government including healthcare, education, basic income and public goods. Eliminate tax breaks for the rich and powerful.
We need a new system that works for all of us. Think big, have imagination and advocate for meaningful change now!
We balance the budget by law every year—no gimmicks, no cuts to what matters. Adjust the wealth tax rate to match the budget. Don't pay down the $37 trillion debt with surpluses. Refinance it, and move forward.
Amazon, Microsoft, Google, meat and poultry cartels, telecoms, airlines—break up the monopolies and oligopolies now. Competitive markets mean lower prices, higher wages and more opportunity. Monopoly is not capitalism. It's tyranny.
Abolish the minimum wage and replace it with an adjustable minimum living wage that allows for the worker to pay for their own home, clothes and food. Today, this minimum living wage is $28/hr. Tax the companies that pay less than the living minimum wage the difference of the minimum living wage minus what they pay. No more freeloading businesses stealing our wealth!
Every American adult gets $1,000/month. Every child gets $250/month. It's called the USA Dividend. It replaces complicated welfare systems with cash and trust. Seniors get $2,000/month starting at 62 on top of that. Fully funded. No exceptions. No means testing.
The USA Dividend Payment replaces all social safety net redistribution programs like Social Security, Disability, SNAP, etc, (Section 8 Housing Vouchers excepted). There are never any restrictions to how the benefit is spent. The payment rises with inflation over time.
End the private health insurance racket. Create a single Universal Health Insurance system that covers everyone and saves us $10 trillion over 10 years. This is the same universal healthcare system that Japan and Germany use to deliver outstanding healthcare outcomes for half the per capita cost of our entire healthcare economy. In fact, The German Bismark system insures all 85 million Germans and covers medical healthcare, mental healthcare, long-term care and prescriptions.
Demand Universal Healthcare now! You will be healthier and wealthier!!
Provide free, high-quality early education and childcare to every child
Free high-quality education from pre-K to public college or trade school. Funded nationally. Implemented locally. Let's raise a generation ready to thrive.
Voting is a right, not a privilege. Pass an affirmative, automatic right to vote. Create a national voter registry. Vote-by-mail, four-week voting periods, and Election Weekend. Ranked-choice voting and non-partisan primaries nationwide.
End gerrymandering. Expand the House to reflect the actual population. Make D.C. and Puerto Rico states. Directly elect the President. End the Senate filibuster. Reform the Senate to represent people, not just geography.
Money is speech. But it should never be anonymous speech. We deserve to know exactly who is funding our elections.
Transparency is simple. The tech exists. What we lack is political will. Let’s fix that and take back our democracy.
Increase the size of the Supreme Court to 13 justices to match the number of Circuit Courts. Establish clear ethics rules for federal judges with a clear path to impeachment by the House of Representatives and conviction by the Senate to remove unethical judges.
Your body is your own. Period. Abortion is healthcare. Bodily autonomy is liberty. We will codify this right with federal law and constitutional amendments.
Document the 11 million undocumented. Increase legal immigration to 2 million people, including asylum seekers. Protect seasonal workers. Celebrate immigrants. Return America to being the most pro-immigrant country on Earth.
End the drug war. Legalize and regulate all vice. Focus on violent and liberty-violating crimes. Abolish private prisons. Abolish cash bail. End the death penalty. Decriminalize poverty. Make it easy for felons to return to society and to work.
Quickly scale Unarmed Model Crisis Response (UMCR) teams for non-violent calls in every local jurisdiction. Invest in detectives, not low-level patrols. Solve crimes, try and convict the offenders, make us all safer and more secure in our persons. End qualified immunity to better protect life, liberty and property from police overreach and actions that violate our civil rights.
If we were a serious country that really wanted to end the methamphetamine, opioid, fentanyl and other drug overdose crisis epidemics, we would not be discussing cuts to Medicaid for the ultra rich, we would immediately pass Universal Healthcare.
Regulation should serve the public without wasting money or favoring big corporations. Every rule should aim for clearly stated goals, cost corporations no more than what is required to meet the goals and never pick winners. Review strategies every year. Revise them when they fall short. Keep the system honest, efficient, and fair—for people and business alike.  
The right to organize is a First Amendment freedom—period. Workers must be free to unionize, picket, and strike without government interference. That means repealing the Taft-Hartley Act and all state-level "right-to-work" laws that undermine unions.
Card-check recognition and first-contract bargaining should be guaranteed by law within six months. Let’s put real power back in the hands of workers—on the picket line, at the bargaining table, and even on the board of major corporations.
Strong unions mean a strong economy. Let’s make it happen!
America is in a housing crisis, and it’s dragging down our entire economy. The federal government must help us build our way out of it—fast, everywhere, and for everyone.
Outlaw single-family-only zoning. Upzone everywhere. Streamline permits to 30 days or less. Make almost all housing construction by-right and eliminate local interference. Repeal discriminatory laws like the Mills Act and HPOZ that restrict supply and segregate neighborhoods.
We need a national push to build millions of homes—from duplexes to high-rises—especially in high-demand areas like Los Angeles. Build 4 million new homes in LA County, 450,000 in the City. Off transportation corridors: small-scale density. On transportation corridors: go high and deep.
Fully fund Section 8 for everyone who qualifies. Explore social housing models that mix incomes and work at scale. Expand FHA loan guarantees for multi-family and missing middle housing.
Housing is also the biggest jobs program we’ve got. It means property tax revenue and a shot at prosperity for all. Let’s Build! Build! Build!
To fix homelessness, replace wasteful programs with direct cash payments, free healthcare, free therapy and free medication to treat mental health including ptsd, adhd/add, depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. We already spend enough—we’re just spending it badly. Direct help works. Let’s do it.
All Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate must move all their stock-based assets into a blind trust during their term. No more representatives or senators trading stock on insider information.
Free speech is a public right—guaranteed fully and only in public spaces. The government has no role in regulating private speech or telling a private company what it must publish. That’s not censorship. That’s freedom of association and property rights.
No private platform—whether a social network, newspaper, or website—owes anyone a microphone. They can make their own rules. And we should stop pretending otherwise.
You are free to say almost anything in public. But freedom of speech isn’t freedom from consequences. Libel, threats, and incitement come with legal responsibility. That’s how a healthy society balances liberty with accountability.
Student debt is crushing millions of Americans—and most of it is already backed by the federal government. It’s time for relief that makes sense.
Cap total repayment at 125% of the original loan amount. If you've paid more than that, you're done—and you get a refund for the excess. If you're still paying, the loan ends once you hit that cap.
And if you're in financial ruin? You should be able to discharge student debt in bankruptcy—just like any other kind of debt. It's time to stop punishing people for trying to get an education.
End subsidies for oil, gas, and all energy. Enforce emissions rules. Hold polluters accountable. No more corporate handouts. No more corporate freeloaders!
Trade should be fair, simple, and transparent. The U.S. must eliminate rent-seeking protections and outdated tariffs that only benefit a select few. Our policy should be based on clear principles: meet US safety standards, ban forced labor and respect intellectual property—then let markets compete.
Duties should cover only the cost of processing imports. Countries that trade all goods and services at 0% tariffs get 0% tariffs in return; those that charge even a 1% tariff on even 1 American good face a 100% tariff on all their goods. It is time to withdraw from the WTO and negotiate trade directly, nation to nation.
With a comprehensive wealth tax, luxury tax, and fair corporate taxation in place, we may no longer need most federal excise taxes. If they continue, they should be simple, unsubsidized, and non-deductible.
Revenue from excise taxes should help lower the wealth tax rate and balance the budget—nothing more.
Our public lands are the people’s wealth—and when they’re tapped, every American should benefit. The U.S. currently gives away too much to oil, gas, and mining companies for too little in return.
Raise royalty rates, raise lease fees, and end all tax breaks for extractive industries. This is common sense—Alaska and Texas already do it. The revenue from our shared resources will lower the tax burden on working Americans and help balance the budget. It’s our land, our wealth, and our future. 
End the empire. Bring troops home. Cut the military budget from nearly \$1 trillion to \$500 billion. Stop overspending on a military that does not make us any safer. Inflating profits for Lockheed Martin, RTX (formerly Raytheon), Northrop Grumman, General Dynamics, Boeing and the rest of the private defense industry is not the job of the American taxpayer. Cut the budget; we will be just as safe and way more secure.
Russia must withdraw from all Ukrainian territory, including Crimea. The U.S. should return all Ukraine-related economic rights and royalties, and support Ukraine’s full sovereignty. We must also demand \$100 billion in war reparations from Russia paid to Ukraine over 30 years. No compromise on borders. No profit from war.
The U.S. must lead with a clear principle: there should be no ethno-religious states—only secular, democratic ones. A just and lasting peace in Israel and Palestine starts with recognizing the equal birthright of all who live there. The only real path forward is a single, secular state with equal rights and freedom of religion for everyone—Jewish, Muslim, Christian, and otherwise.
This must be the starting point of any honest negotiation. Peace comes when all 14 million people in Israel and Palestine choose coexistence over control.
The largest voting block this election was once again the 95 million Americans who did not vote. While their participation might have left us all with the same result, they left all of their civic power on the table. Our mission must be to activate the 95,000,000 non-voters! A politics that activates the apolitical will be a winning politics.
Elect independents. Deny both parties a majority. Return power to the people. No more voting for a letter. Vote for your future.
Vote Loren Colin. Together, we can build a better America that works for everyone.
This platform belongs to all of us. Let's make it real.
