Official Party Platform
The North Star Party has a variety of views upon several policies in the political spectrum ranging from nuclear armament to biological research and preserving the environment. The topics most heavily focused upon in the North Star's 2021 campaign include domestic policies (stem cell research, minimum wage) and foreign policies (relations with North Korea, Human Trafficking, handling of Mexican drug cartels,)
Foreign Policies
North Korean RelationsFor decades, the totalitarian Kim regime in North Korea has ignored UN regulated human rights policies and threatened nuclear destruction over the globe with no obvious intent to repeal their malicious advancements. In order to quell the increasingly dangerous North Korean nuclear threat and enforce their currently dormant human rights policies as they threaten the rest of the globe, the United States should not interfere directly in an aggressive motion as to share a threatening position, as it would escalate the probability of war that has devastating implications for the globe and would further damage possibilities of unity amongst the nation. A constructive alternative approach would be to use the US's large standing in foreign affairs with other nations and the UN to enforce a unified motion to tariff and block trade with North Korea. Because the nation has a struggling economy and depends on nations, primarily China, for resources, they would have to undergo changes in their human rights policies and nuclear programs before the other nations would be willing to resume trade. This policy not only considers relations of the US and Korea, but also its connected nations including China. Because China has expressed a fear of North Korea continuing their nuclear efforts, they would most likely be cooperative in the efforts to reduce the threat of nuclear war in their region. This policy allows for the North Korean threat to be suppressed and controlled all while solidifying healthy relations with other nations involved and preventing any violence from occurring. These measures would be overseen and implemented by the United States executive branch and would involve action from the President as well. Once North Korea has been successfully controlled under these movements, they will then be expected to enter nuclear treaties (including NPT weapons inspections) and undergo negotiations with other world leaders over nuclear arms handling.
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Handling Mexican CartelsIn order to win Mexico’s drug war and stop the distribution of narcotics that plagues both the US and Mexico and creates issues in receiving immigrants from the border, the US and Mexico need an alternative plan. Currently, their policy is “decapitation.” Mexico deploys military onto the streets, and their goal is to eliminate “high-value targets, the heads of cartels,” (Felbab-Brown, 2010). Although this has been slightly successful, this lacks the public safety that Mexicans need. I suggest the creation of new jobs that give cartel members a superior alternative to their current income. Mexico should, most importantly, deploy police officers instead of soldiers. Police officers tend to be more qualified in conducting investigations than soldiers. They will also protect the streets. The soldiers’ main jobs were to eliminate or arrest cartel leaders, not protect the public. Police will do both, protect the public and deal with cartels. If cartels become too violent, then the military can be deployed, but only as a second step. If difficulty arises in deploying police all over Mexico, then they should be relocated to the hot spots. Former President Felipe Calderón already revealed programs to bring jobs, but mainly implemented them in Ciudad Juarez. This strategy should be implemented throughout Mexico.
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Human TraffickingHuman trafficking is the practice of illegally transporting people from one country to another, typically for forced labor or sexual exploitation. This is a serious issue in the United States. The U.S. is ranked as one of the worst countries for human trafficking. It is estimated that 199,000 incidents occur within our country every year. We believe that decreasing human trafficking is primary, if not completely eliminating it. Although controlling human trafficking would be very expensive and increase the workload for police officers, it would be worth protecting 199,000 people a year. The North Star Party will focus on putting a stop to human trafficking and protecting all citizens. We will increase the punishment given to those who have been caught in the act of trafficking, so that they will hopefully decide not to traffic again. We will also increase police officers and other surveillance in areas that are reported to be highly trafficked at areas.
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War in AfghanistanThe United States has had a long and perilous journey in its struggle with many Middle-Eastern countries, and Afghanistan is no exception. Its conflict was triggered by the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York, Washington D.C., and Pennsylvania, and has resulted in a 13 year long conflict between the United States armed forces and the Taliban, an authoritarian regime that disregards human rights policies and harbors terrorist organizations such as Al-Qaeda who facilitated the 9/11 attacks. In recent years, conflict has gradually de-escalated and diplomatic negotiations are being established. In order to maintain a strong control over the heavily divided and violence-prone Middle-Eastern area while still adapting to the changing status of the situation, the United States should continue troop occupation of the area as a method of policing, but should still continue to withdraw troops gradually from the region as the situation continues to develop. The US should also be responsible for furthering relations with other countries and work towards pressuring other countries into accepting long overdue human rights policies and continue its strong and steady support of other Middle Eastern nations such as Israel who has extremely bitter relations with its neighbors.
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Hong Kong ProtestsIn April 2019, a bill in Hong Kong was passed that allowed criminal suspects to be extradited to China. Hongkongers believed that this would give China more power over them and could be used to target activists and journalists. They also feared unfair trials and violent treatment. Starting in June 2019, hundreds of thousands of people took to the streets, protesting months on end. As the protests continued, clashes between protesters and police became more frequent and violent. Many people were injured, or even killed. Finally, in September 2019, the bill was withdrawn, but protesters said this was “too little, too late.” The five things the protests request are: For the protests not to be characterized as a "riot", amnesty for arrested protesters, an independent inquiry into alleged police brutality, implementation of complete universal suffrage, and the withdrawal of the bill, which already occurred. The clear solution would be to give the protesters their five requests. Violence is not working and many people are getting hurt. Most of their wants were not hard to accomplish. This would have been an easy fix, for the months of treachery that occurred. In the future, the bill could be withdrawn quicker. This would stop the protests dramatically quicker. Because China and the US have a varied relationship and China would most likely not accept interference from the US, we would operate indirectly in support of the Hong Kong protesters through funding and media presence to push for these people risking their lives for the sake of their cause of liberty.
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Domestic Policies
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Stem Cell Research |
COVID-19 Response |
$15 Minimum Wage |
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In order to maintain the benefits of stem cell research with its many medical uses while still satisfying the ethical requirements for studying, stem cell research should be conducted only under the circumstances that do not harm or destroy the embryos, and techniques to further improve such processes should be put in place to ensure it can be done efficiently and safely. This should take the form of focusing research and genetic experimentation on adult stem cells during extraction and analysis, which has proven to show signs of embryonic stem cell properties that can serve the same function without putting embryos at risk. This policy should be enacted on the federal level, given that this issue is universal across the states and no state has any underlying differences that would make the proposition unfeasible.
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Throughout the history of the United States, there have been a number of epidemics and pandemics, whether it be by yellow fever, influenza, or polio. An epidemic would be a virus spread throughout a community or a local region while having a more finite range of impacts. A pandemic is a virus spread across a country or the entire world. Almost everyone in the world is currently affected by the outbreak of the current pandemic which would be from the deadly virus covid-19 and as such can relate to issues regarding virus outbreaks. As of 5 months ago, according to Mr. Phil West from Nautilus, covid-19 is ranked the 11th deadliest pandemic in history with over 117 million cases and 2.6 million deaths. It is unconfirmed if this has changed. Covid-19 has affected everyone in one way or another worldwide, and as such measures have been put in place to limit the spread. People are required to socially distance six feet apart from one another, wear masks in public, public spaces such as supermarkets have been implementing limited entry, and people infected with Covid-19 are required to quarantine themselves for no less than two weeks. There has been a recent vaccine created to help prevent the spread of covid. To combat this, the United States should do more to prevent the spread of covid, such as pass a bill by the president that develops study for the vaccine for all ages and quickly distributes vaccines to all ages as quickly as possible, and fund private organizations to mass produce vaccines in order to prevent further spread of a contagious virus, all citizens are required to be vaccinated.
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Federal minimum wage is the law set by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) that mandates the lowest hourly wage employers can pay their employees. Currently, the federal minimum wage is $7.25 when it was raised was in July of 2009. This means the United States is in the longest drought of a federal level minimum wage increase ever. To achieve a proper minimum wage, Congress should increase it several times at even intervals until $15 is reached in 2025. This way, no businesses are hit too hard with a massive jump in wages and they can prepare. If the minimum wage was increased directly to $15, business, especially small business, might experience difficulty with this change. It would be slightly over a 200% increase, so it would double the money spent on employee’s wages. This policy would be the best and most efficient way of increasing federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. The current minimum wage is far too low for the average person to live on. Necessities like housing are not affordable in some states for employees working for minimum wage. It is essential for the federal minimum wage to be increased to $15 an hour. This change should be made at the federal level by the legislative branch, as they have always overseen federal minimum wage. This large increase should be executed over a few years, ending in 2025. Every year, the federal minimum wage should be increased until it is at $15 in 2025.
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Gun Control |
Environmental Action |
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Gun control has always been a controversial subject of debate for many Americans in the presence of tragic and deadly shootings such as at the Highlands Ranch STEM high school in May 2019 and at the King Soopers in Boulder, Colorado in March 2021. Many people advocate for legislature to prohibit gun rights and limit civilian access to firearms in an effort to quell the shooting occurrences, but such advocations sacrifice important liberties of Americans that can still be protected with alternative methods of change. In order to maintain safety and security guaranteed to Americans under the Second Amendment of the United States Constitution while still ensuring that dangerous individuals do not create havoc with the presence of firearms, gun rights for Americans will be protected and preserved but additional background checking and processing is necessary to ensure that whoever is hoping to possess a firearm is safe to do so and is not set on any malicious intent. This concept will include additional processing for citizens who have mental illness or instability, a common attribute of many past shooters. Allowing law abiding and safe citizens at the legal age to own firearms is perfectly fine and helps keep our nation safe.
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The Paris Climate Agreement is crucial to reducing global warming rates, which will hopefully address weather changes and guarantee cooler summers throughout the world. The Paris Climate Agreement is an international agreement among many different nations that sets a goal of keeping the global temperature below a certain point. The United States has been in and out of this agreement for the last ten years. Although there are some cons to being a part of the Paris Climate Agreement such as decreasing or halting job growth, hindering manufacturing, and negatively impacting certain industries, the Paris Climate Agreement helps to fight global warming and climate change. The North Star Party believes that the United States should be a part of this agreement because then we will be part of a global effort. This could create further unity between the United States and the rest of the world.
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