Joel’s Political Philosophy

I want to try to summarize my political philosophy overall in one place with links to the subjects. I have thought about this for a long time from a lot of angles. Currently this is only a partial list.

All government should be guided by First Principles for Human Rights. We should also recognize that the world is becoming a much better place. Government should be based on consideration of Systems Thinking by considering people’s incentives and motivations and aligning these with the best interests of society as a whole.

The less government tries to do, the better. Government should be responsible to protect the people’s rights mentioned above and not to do much more.

A better regulatory framework would reduce bureaucratic agencies and shift that role to the public and a streamlined court system.

The most important issue of our time and possibly the scariest issue ever faced by humanity is the rise of Superintelligence. We need to be very, very careful here. Our world is rushing headlong towards this minefield as people fight their petty battles.

Free people all over the world owe it to their ancestors to fight to free the enslaved billions.

Your source of trustworthy vs fake news and who you trust in large part determines where your politics end up. Choose wisely.

These are the best ways to increase real GDP in America.

I do believe in America’s general system of government – checks and balances between legislative, judicial, and executive branches of government. I think these should have some fine tuning, but the basic mechanisms are good.

We should have a physical fitness test to hold elected office.

My opinion on guns.

Sunlight is the best disinfectant and government should default to making all information easy and publicly accessible. All sponsorships must be public.

Boomers and Generation X need to stop stealing the future from Millennials.

Scammy businesses need some sort of penalty. Perhaps the get-rich-quick types can be sued by a class of their customers or something. Stop predatory businesses.

Shut down unnecessary government regulations and agencies like TSA.

Our education system is badly in need of reform to modernize learning.

Pension reform for government employees is badly needed. People should not be able to just give themselves more and more benefits taken from their fellow citizens. Government unions should be disallowed for this reason.

Government should not create monopolies by issues licenses, such as those issued to doctors or lawyers or attorneys or many types of contractors to practice.

Healthcare needs to be set free of our insurance system. Doctors should be paid on outcomes, not procedures.

Borders should eventually be eliminated, as this would make for a vastly richer world. Global trade is very good. Immigration is good as it allows for labor to go where it is most needed.

Government should not restrict rents artificially, as this creates homelessness and shortages.

Taxation should be based on total property, not income. Here is a chart that helps shows why. This makes sure that the most capable people control the flow of investment. We need to remove America’s oligarchy. Taxes should be as easy as possible for people to understand and file. Inheritance is generally an evil as it directs investment resources into the hands of people not capable of managing it.

We have a problem of taxation without representation.

Tax and voting records should be public to avoid fraud.

Companies should face harsh penalties for misbehavior. A bad company will quickly be replaced by a better company in a free market if it is dissolved. Corporations need limits.

Free market capitalism is a good thing for societies and gives more freedom to citizens.

We need reform for Social Security.

Patents, trade secrets, and copyright need to be dramatically rolled back or even eliminated altogether. Intellectual property rights are generally not a great idea. Patents directly caused the deaths of untold numbers of people when the Covid-19 coronavirus erupted, and have caused the deaths of millions of others in quieter situations.

CEOs and board members of public companies should be personally liable for performance of their companies.

Politicians should have a significantly higher standard for ethics and should face stiff prison sentences. There should be an independent agency that handles this.

White collar criminal penalties should be enforced. Thousands of people should be in prison for scams such as the 2008 financial crisis, essential oils, and other MLMs with false promises. Prisons should only be paid based on how well they rehabilitate prisoners and reduce recidivism. These probably should not be private. I think we need to be creative with prison alternatives.

Net neutrality is important to fight the natural monopoly that rises through internet connection companies.

The standing military should be limited to no more than 0.5% of GDP as our current situation creates a giant corrupt and ineffective military industrial complex.

Close the military academies as they are not cost effective.

Corporations over a certain size should not be allowed to merge. This just removes competition and lines of the pockets of fat cat financiers at the expense of investors.

Not as relevant in 2018’s high flying economy, but you are not unemployed if you refuse to accept a job you consider beneath you.

Personal finance should be mandatory to learn in high schools.

Gun control should be done intelligently based on data and clear principles.

Published by

Joel Gross

Joel Gross is the CEO of Coalition Technologies.