In the past several years, Marijuana has made a revolution in the United States, even being legalized in some states. Recent studies have shown that both alcohol and cigarettes pose higher risks of death than that of Marijuana, begging the question of why the latter substance remains an illegal drug in this country. Additionally, the legalization and regulation of Marijuana would decrease the influence of drug cartels and underground dealers and also decrease the risk of dealers altering the substance prior to sales. This would also establish a minimum age of either 18 or 21 in order to prevent young users from abusing the drug as much as well as decrease the fear of seeking addiction counseling (and being prosecuted) due to the decriminalization of the drug. As representatives of your individual freedoms, we pledge to push for the legalization and decriminalization of marijuana nationwide so you can make your own personal choices.
Here at the Graduation Party, we fight to preserve your freedom to own a gun for self-defense, hunting game, or both. If a strict gun control policy were to be implemented, it would be harder for the good citizens to get guns even though the people determined to do harm with guns would find other ways to obtain one via the black market. Additionally, there are already policies in place that ensure that the buyer has undergone sufficient background checks so that the gun doesn't fall into the wrong hands. We are definitely open to different methods of decreasing common mass shootings in the United States, but we don't believe restricting gun laws to law-abiding citizens will help solve this particular problem. Furthermore, we want to allow you, as citizens, to be able to obtain a gun (if you so choose) based on your second amendment rights as well as your right to life, liberty, and and the pursuit of happiness (scroll down for video).
Currently in the United States, Minimum wage is set at $7.25 per hour. At first glance, it would seem intuitive to suggest that raising this amount would allow low-income workers to have more money to support themselves. However, many other ramifications come along with raising the federal minimum wage (scroll down for a video). First, assuming that a business didn't fire anyone or give them less hours, they would be forced to increase prices for all of their consumers, possibly being a dent in the economy. Second, if they want to keep their same prices, they would have to either hire less workers or give their current employees fewer hours. This would actually give the minimum wage employees less income than they normally would get, thus being a detriment rather than a benefit to these workers. As promoters of individual freedom, we want you to be able to both pay lower prices on goods as a consumer and be able to receive more income as a minimum wage worker at the same time.
The death penalty is concept that is often viewed as being cruel, unusual, or inhumane by many people. However, Oftentimes solitary confinement or life sentences could be viewed as more cruel and unusual given that humans are social by nature. Given that one main purpose of prison is to ready the prisoners for the outside world again, it seems somewhat futile to lock up prisoners for their entire lives without any intention of letting them out. Regarding the possibility of being falsely sentenced to the death penalty, we consider this to be an issue that can be eliminated in our imperfect justice system rather than an issue with the death penalty itself. Therefore we propose that the death penalty is ethical when administered to certain horrendous cases and does not violate the eighth amendment. While the death penalty is certainly not desirable for anyone, the current climate in the Untied States warrants such actions to administer justice to the prisoners. While we do work towards decreasing the amount of people in prison, we still fight for the freedom of everyone, as in some cases the death penalty would warrant more freedom for the inmate in a case in which he is sentenced to life and/or solitary confinement. In cases like this, the risk of letting certain individuals back into society would hamper the freedom of many citizens.
Immigration is one topic that is very important to many people because it involves personal identity: am I an American citizen? As a country we need to decide how many immigrants (currently 675,000/year) from which categories should be let in to the country in order to gradually grow America both culturally and economy without letting illegal immigrants come into the country uncontrollably. Since lots of this illegal immigration occurs at the southern border involving both simple harmless civilians and harmful drug cartels, we believe it is best to have a legal process by which we accept people into the country. This way, we will be more positive that we are letting people into the country that would contribute and have lower likelihoods of being harmful to the country (not 100% guarantee, but better than illegal immigration). Additionally, we believe that a wall on the southern border would benefit both the security of American citizens already in the country and immigrants who have taken the time and effort to go through the legal process to become a safe and free American citizen (scroll down for a video). As promoters of individual freedom, we believe that increasing the ease of the legal naturalization process and building a wall to prevent illegal immigration will help ensure your personal liberties that are given to both you (as current American citizens) and future Americans immmigrating from all over the globe.
We believe that healthcare is a choice by every citizen to make as to what they want to have covered and what they wish to purchase. Additionally, we believe that heath insurance should be able to be purchased across state lines to facilitate a free market and create competition to drive prices down for consumers. Regarding those who might not be able to purchase quality healthcare due to their economic standing, we support government aid for situations on a case-to-case basis. This way, the economically disadvantaged will not be injured from this idea of independent insurance, as competition across borders and government aid to those in need will ensure the freedom of citizens to choose their own healthcare policy. Universal healthcare would ideally be an excellent prospect, but we believe that it fails to give citizens their right to choose what specific healthcare plan they wish to have. As promoters of personal freedom, we support the individual right to purchase private insurance no matter your economic status (lower incomes have government aid).
First of all, nobody likes war (including supporters of the military). We can't speak for everyone, but we at the graduation party certainly don't enjoy having non-peaceful relations with other countries. However, given the climate we are currently in, it seems necessary for our great nation to defend ourselves against possible outside threats to protect our citizens. We arm ourselves not to wage war with neighboring states, but to protect the personal rights and freedoms of our citizens residing inside the country. We believe that the end goal of the military is to work towards resolution and peace with neighboring nations, but if our diplomacy attempts are not well-received, we have no choice but to stand our ground and take action when we need to. The ultimate end goal of this defensive action is, of course, to protect you (as United States citizens) from offenders. As supporters of your personal freedom, we assume the responsibility of maintaining an exceptional defense force composed of brave citizens who have decided to risk their lives to keep you safe.
R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S
Supplemental Materials
What does it mean to be a US citizen?
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How will companies react to the minimum wage?
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President Reagan discusses the rights of the people as listed in the constitution
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