Platform

Privacy, transparency, civil liberties, and democratic reform are the planks that guide the Arizona Pirate Party.

Defending Your Privacy

Whether it was the PATRIOT ACT, illegal NSA wiretapping or local surveillance cameras, our government has used 9/11 to increase its surveillance and control over us. Corporations have increased their spying on employees in order to get more work out of them. The arguments for each step on the road to a surveillance state may sound convincing, but that road leads to less control by people and more by government and corporate elites. Terrorists may attack the open society, but only governments can abolish it. The Pirate Party will prevent that from happening. PATRIOT ACT must be repealed, nothing left of it will remain. The NSA, the FBI, the ATF, the CIA, they must be either abolished in its entirety or consolidated into one department with a severely limited scope at best.

Promoting Culture & Knowledge Through Copyright Reform

The Founding Fathers created our copyright laws to promote knowledge & culture by giving the creator a limited monopoly over their creations. Congress, under the influence of corporations, has extended the duration of that government granted monopoly to seventy years after the death of the creator. Increasingly corporations have sought broader laws to ensure that they control and profit from more of our culture. Through Digital Rights Management (DRM) technologies they have locked down our culture, hindered sharing and criminalized their customers. The Pirate Party will:

  • Limit the copyright to five years for electronic media and fourteen years for tangible objects,
  • Make sure that all non-commercial copying, sharing and remixing are legal and ban DRM software.
  • There is no reason for copyright to continue until 70 years after death.

Everyone must have equal access to the internet, and the Pirate Party will foster network neutrality so that internet service providers cannot give preferential treatment to preferred web sites and we oppose three strikes laws that ban anyone from using the internet because of copyright violations. The internet has the potential to be a new Library of Alexandria, if we don't let corporations and governments lock it down

Opening up our Government

In order for citizens to control their democratic destiny, we need to know what our government is doing and which special interests are influencing our public elected officials. Increasingly government officials ignore open meeting laws, make deals favorable to corporations behind closed doors and sell off your public information to private interests. Some state laws prevent people from recording public officials in their duties, such as a police officer making an arrest, but the police cameras can record your actions without your permission. The Pirate Party will make sure that our government is transparent and accountable to the people.

People before Corporations or Government

The Supreme Court and Congress have expanded the power of corporations for over a hundred years and made them more powerful than people. Whether it is the Supreme Court's Citizens United decision that allows corporations to buy elections, or Congress' cuts in corporate tax rates while raising payroll taxes, real people end up with the short end of the stick. The Pirate Party will make sure our laws put people before corporations.

Neuter the Authority of the Executive Branch and an Absolute Rejection of the Unitary Executive Theory

Separation of Powers is a pillar of our Republic. It makes sure that each branch of our government, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, all operate on the same level; that one branch can’t be more powerful than the other. Ever since Lincoln, the Executive Branch has exceeded its bounds of power to the point of being a constitutional crisis and we treat the Presidency as no more than a king.

And, it has culminated in the Unitary Executive Theory. An abomination that should have never been allowed to propagate in US legal theory. We firmly and absolutely reject the Unitary Executive Theory and advocate for the decentralization and decreasing of the authority of the executive, and to bring power back to congress and the judicial system where separation of powers remain as it was.

Digital Bill of Rights

We support a Digital Bill of Rights to help protect privacy and freedom, from users of the Internet, to Video Game players. We all deserve the freedom and privacy the Internet gives us and for the government and corporations to deny it to us is unacceptable. Therefore, a Digital Bill of Rights is imperative for the future of the Digital World where such freedom and privacy is sacrosanct, regardless of the intentions of governments or corporations.

Stop Killing Internet & Games

  • Oppose OS age verification that reduces the anonymity of users and creates data that theoretically allows children to be targeted
  • Oppose Browser age verification, which will have the same problems as OS age verification and circumvents the fight to prevent OS age verification
  • Oppose the creation of the digital ID system. The price of convenience is dealing with leaks from mistakes and bad actors alike, as seen in:
    • IDScan.net
    • ShinyHunters
  • Oppose mass storage or access when storage of government documentation such as driver’s IDs is necessary. Where documentation must be stored, the payoff for a breach must be small, ideally requiring a separate breach per document, to prevent what has been seen in places such as:
    • Florida with their DAVID database
  • Furthermore, there should be no exceptions for a digital ID system or ID scanning system, including for:
    • Bars and nightclubs
    • Weed and drug dispensaries
    • Gun ranges and shops
    • Game, Video, and Content distributors
  • Companies shall disclose all telemetry including but not limited to:
    • Scanning and packet capture to detect all devices in their local network
    • User and user device tracking
    • Logging of and the sending of the data above to central databases or storage, and when these two things occur, in granular detail
  • The disclosures specified above shall be made in a pop-up that cannot be closed for 15 seconds after user scroll input, with an opt-out button made easily visible, available, and immediately toggleable
  • Payment processors should not be held liable for transactions that go through them; in other words, designating payment processors as common carriers and applying the common carrier law.
    • This avoids a dangerous trajectory where people want the ones they disagree with to be unable to access banking, but there will always be people from all sides pressuring payment processors to block people, theoretically leading to a universal loss of access
  • Support for everyone:
    • sex workers
      • Censoring through the proxy of payment processors does not prevent the hypocrisy of government officials and others paying for their services; it just makes their life inhumane within it all
    • activists
    • journalists
    • teachers of foreign languages and heritage of Persian/Arabic/Islamic/Middle Eastern/etc. origin
      • There should be no censorship of history, just a criminalization of inspiring violent extremist views
      • U.S. citizen teachers of these subjects are innocent until proven guilty; there can be no keyword flagging without due, but respectful investigation with a warrant
    • People sending money to their family, regardless of time, country, and war status.
      • No investigation without a warrant
    • Adult games and content providers
      • Liability should similarly be entirely on the uploaders of abusive material
    • Artists
    • Gambling
  • Hold processors accountable for freezing/seizing accounts without reason, including creating a team of investigators if necessary.
    • Normal citizens with unassuming presences and little to no digital activity have unlawfully lost their funds; people's mothers. If you don’t have a significant reputation, if you’re “forgettable,” it could be your mother, your brother, your sister, or your cousin.
  • Bolster organizations helping the homeless through their work in enabling the unhoused to create valid IDs to facilitate their access to work, banking, and livelihood.
  • Ban Flock in Arizona and heavily regulate data centers, if not outright ban them. It would be a great irony to install Flock cameras across Arizona "for the safety of the children" and the data centers to process the mass of data, only for dehydration within this drought-stricken land to leave no one to protect
  • Oppose the propagation of predictive policing. It may be a machine, but the “justice” of AI systems is not blind. Surveillance systems are not perfect, and current AI models perform racial and marginalized profiling, not just impartial detection of illegal activity.
  • Oppose banning Social Media for children, understanding that they may use it to reach out for help when there is no one available in person, and they do not understand how to obtain help otherwise.
    • Forcing a limited version of social media platforms on minors would violate children’s rights to information and the ability to participate in free public discourse, to which the First Amendment makes no exceptions to exclude minors.
  • Similarly, oppose age gating on social media, for having the same problems as OS age verification.
  • Raise awareness of parental control and protection tools that have been in existence for decades, such as firewall options for blocking unsafe domains, antivirus software, account linking on mobile that allows parents to see everything their child downloads, etc. This extends even to Linux distributions like Ubuntu that have parental controls. All big tech platforms, like Apple and Microsoft, already have excellent parental control systems.
    • Children's data should not be collected. On the contrary, with the help of age verification frameworks, tech companies can do fingerprinting and tracking, which circumvents rules against sharing the identity of the minor. This verifies who the minor is without them even being given the minor's name, in a manner where companies are not liable for serving targeted advertisements to minors.
  • Reinforce Consumer Protections for Video Game Players.
  • A constant internet connection should not be mandatory to play a Video Game.
  • Video game Companies cannot delist and take digital games off their platforms nor revoke licenses from players without reimbursement or providing a digital copy of said game to the consumer. When you buy a Video Game, you own it.
  • Video Game Preservation for Video Games so they don’t become lost media.
  • AB2047 from California, concerning 3D printer firmware checking models before printing, like other legislation on personal manufacturing, is unenforceable.
    • 3D printers are based on standardized components, which means that people should be able to easily learn to build them and acquire the components for them. As some would say, "you can't make motors illegal," but it seems like California will try.
    • Software for slicing 3D models for printing is also open source, but AB2047 may have conflicts with it.
    • People can design components for firearms in ways that make them seem unrelated to firearms, or, importantly, invisible to the law, hence the name ghost guns.
    • If components are too hard to detect, and developers try to increase the sensitivity of their detection model to adapt, they may create a program that flags way too many false positives, crippling the speed of general engineering and creative hobbyist design where individuals may be even more prone to simply quitting as they cannot be bothered for something that isn't critical for a major purpose.
    • The framework for gun printing restriction might also, in theory, be intended to be extended arbitrarily for authoritarian censorship.
  • AB2047 even applies to consumer robotics, which will still complicate people providing supplies for their children to build robots as a fun way to launch their building and programming learning journey.
  • Google is going to require app developers to pay a fee, agree to its Terms and Conditions, provide government identification, upload evidence of the developer’s private signing key, and list all current and future application identifiers to distribute an app. This will apply even to sharing your small developed apps like games for jams or compsci learning among friends and family. This wasn't how Android phones were marketed earlier, where the freedom to distribute apps interpersonally and publish them onto independent stores like F-Droid was a major advertising point. In working to funnel all distribution through itself, Google is attempting to become a monopoly. This is another feature on this list that can be extended to arbitrarily censor apps disliked by authoritarian powers. Please visit keepandroidopen to learn more.

Bigotry

We proudly condemn bigotry as irrational and repugnant. We believe this behavior to be fundamentally incompatible with our core values. Pirates stand for everyone, even when others do not.

Police Reform

We believe that major police reform is not only a legitimate idea, but a necessity. Due to the divisive and hot button nature of this topic, the USPP(United States Pirate Party) is dedicated to finding quality solutions that can be agreed upon by the vast majority. Here are a few steps we can take towards reform:

  • Demilitarize the police through actions such as ending the 1033 Program and discouraging technique sharing between the neighborhood police and the military or federal intelligence agencies;
  • End qualified immunity and hold officers accountable when they break the law;
  • End civil asset forfeiture and its enabling of “slush funds” to be used for any purpose;
  • Invest money into community care instead of more policing, especially in areas currently impacted by over-policing;
  • Require warrants for all forms of surveillance and end no-knock warrants;
  • Force departments to collect statistics in order to outline biases in enforcement and which enforcement methods are better for the community;
  • Ensure nobody is put in jail for actions of basic survival;
  • Properly train our police forces with regular training in all aspects of the job. This will include but not be limited to mental health assessments, first responder medical certification, community policing, & public engagement.

There are many things that must be done in order to fix the issues with policing in our country. There are also many different end goals that many different people have in mind. What we need right now is an honest, no-nonsense start to the process, and that is what the USPP hopes to achieve.

Drug Decriminalization

The War on Drugs has been a stain and a black eye on our country for half a decade, and what has been the end result? What have we gained? Nothing but high incarceration rates, broken communities, black and hispanic communities targeted just because, countless deaths and murder, and the militarization of the police force. Turning America into a police state just to fight this war is a zero sum with nothing to gain.

When we advocate for drug decriminalization, we mean for the users of drugs, not dealers and makers. Drug dealers and Drug makers do not get a pass. Their actions are why we are here. They need to be in prison where they belong.

What we mean is that drug users shouldn’t be made criminals for something that at a certain point is out of their control and needs rehabilitation. Furthermore, prison is not a good place for drug rehabilitation. Drug users when caught should be immediately sent to rehabilitation centers to serve as a proper substitute instead of prison.

Education

Education in America is at a crisis. Student achievements, widening achievement gaps and a struggling teaching workforce coupled with literacy levels decreasing each year makes the current situation impossible to ignore and pretend it is all fine when it is not.

It starts with Common Core and the No Child Left Behind rule. They have to go. Whether the Department of Education is to blame or not, they have reported no benefits nor progress since its inception and the larger population has decreased in reading, writing, math, history, science and other educational programs and academia. And no teacher supports them, to the point of loathing.

In order for education in this country to be rectified and to stop the bleeding of the poor, the first measure to take is to get rid of Common Core.

Healthcare Platform

Our current Healthcare is in an inefficient and horrid state that cannot be allowed to continue as an apathetic status quo. Why aren’t we asking ourselves, “When did we allow Europe to lead the way when it comes to the gold standard of humane and ethical healthcare?” Advancements in healthcare lengthen lives and allow more and more people to live who would have otherwise died early in life.

Materials science develops novel materials which make technology possible, from medicine and rocket science, to the crucial filtration of contaminated water to clean water; see metallic-organic frameworks for extracting PFOA, or even using biofilms for the same purpose. If you've ever tried to keep up with science news, you will soon realize it's futile, as people are doing more work across the world to preserve the things we take for granted than we'll ever be able to comprehend. This wouldn't be possible without funding.

What kind of world will we live in if we decide to brush off all of these unsung heroes or underreported work now? A world where no one tries to cure the kids born with new rare diseases because every one is a project that needs its own funding, and the industry can't make a profit off of cures they can only sell to a few people. Unfortunately, this is already reality. Some doctors care about their patients, some don't, but the industry thinks of the everyday person the same way as the people they don't want to bother to help; there are just enough to sell to.

Things have to change for the betterment of everyone and their health. We will fight for universal healthcare, for putting America back at the forefront, and for the following policies:

  • There are patients in Arizona and elsewhere who cannot receive the medical care they need due to doctor and insurance laziness or unwillingness.
    • Someone can try a med and have it drastically increase their QOL for a month only for Insurance to cut their supply in an unwillingness to cover it, superseding a doctor's opinion
    • There are patients requesting diagnostics for months for worsening pain and conditions until they find a doctor willing to provide appropriate diagnostic procedures such as scans & imaging
    • People going to the ER for serious issues are being dismissed as drug seekers and hypochondriacs.
      • Accidentally swallowing foreign objects from machining/part cutting is dismissed.
      • People are sometimes dismissed due to a lack of insurance.
  • Insurance somehow must be prevented from making healthcare decisions. How are they not technically practicing without a license? Even if it is illegal, it does not stop some of these companies' actions.
  • We need laws that a patient's pain is real(demanding diagnostic procedures) until it has at least been attempted to be proven otherwise.
    • The inadequacy of tests needs to be addressed; diagnostic science must continue advancing without the assumption that it is sufficient
      • Example: no scan that can show protracted withdrawal
    • Agreeing to diagnostic procedures does not equate to drug seeking
    • How do we certify patient adherence when part of the problem is the underlying attitude of the industry?
  • We must increase the visibility of information on places to report damage from medical malpractice and negligence that are confirmed to be independent parties to the facilities they check
    • Employees of such facilities also shouldn't originate from within the government or receive funding from the government because of its revolving-door ties to big pharma
  • We need laws that stop dependency-causing medications from being stopped abruptly, such as requiring by law that the handling of a prescription be transferred between doctors, and that stop cancer-treating meds from being switched from the input of insurance companies, as both scenarios have resulted in death.
  • We must create a policy to remind patients to report when doctors or pharmacies refuse to fill scripts(and provide patient protection) for dependency-causing or life-critical medications when said patients would be harmed by the medication cut-off
    • Such as to the pharmacy management.
  • Well-designed studies revealing unsatisfactory conclusions within a treatment or drug clinical trial should be published as valuable media to better spread information about what might no longer need to be tested, and the accurate overall success rate of a drug class, not remaining unpublished out of shame or censorship.
  • The people making changes to policies should be in touch with the industries they concern, not necessarily career politicians. Doctors, scientists, tradesmen, etc., should be welcomed to take a political term and then return to their usual line of work, just like the founding fathers of America intended.
  • Recombinant human insulin, such as the kind manufactured through yeast, generally costs $3-8 to produce. Vials for veterinary use may be under $100. But, without insurance, consumer insulin may cost up to $1000 monthly. One exception to this seems to be Novolin Insulin.
    • People need to continue to fight against the power the pharmaceutical industry has to stifle Insulin startups so that Insulin prices can get more competitive to approach the actual production cost. The only concern should be that they adhere to safety standards.
  • Epinephrine has a similar, potentially worse problem. A two-pack of epinephrine auto-injectors only costs a bit more on average to produce than insulin products, at $8-10. Prefilled epinephrine syringes sold only to licensed healthcare professionals can be $35, or less on sales. It was possible to find a $26 price on Mountainside Medical Equipment. Both of these prices are rather fair for consumer auto-injectors. However, if you are a normal consumer, you will be lucky to find prices under $300 per pen. It was possible to catch "EpiPens" for consumers at a cost of over $800 per pen, but recently, this luckily seems to be changing. It may have been because as a result of such price hikes, even average consumers had resorted to using manual syringes as a cheaper alternative.
    • Epinephrine auto-injector producing startups should have the same treatment as Insulin startups optimally would have.
  • Patients should have full control over their medical and personal data, including options on how long it is retained, the ability to download a copy for their own review at no cost, and the right to request the removal of such data immediately.
  • If offered to those 13 and up who need immediate life-saving care, the patient cannot be denied care or procedure because of a parent's refusal.
    • Pediatricians should not refuse blood transfusions to pediatric patients under 18 because of a parent's refusal.

Abortion

We are pro-choice. We believe that while abortion has many ethical and moral qualms, it’s still the right of women to choose whether or not to keep the baby because at the end of the day, only we can decide what’s best for us, not a governmental administration that may not have the best intentions in regards to the matter at hand.

Many studies have shown that Abortion bans and restrictions have significant negative impacts on women's economic and educational outcomes, often leading to decreased income, higher rates of poverty, lower educational attainment, poorer health, and reduced social support. While access to abortion has been linked to higher income, increased college graduation rates, greater financial stability, better health outcomes, and enhanced social and educational opportunities.

And such Abortion bans coinciding with bad sexual education and peer pressured if not enforced Abstinence only programs from the State down to the parents only increases teen pregnancy and doesn’t reduce it since teens can’t be stopped from having sex with each other without a stronger China-like surveillance system. Especially, considering this study here that says 30% of teens are having and will have sex, mostly without contraception and no sex education.

It’s one thing for someone to believe Abortion is morally wrong and not want an abortion for themselves or their partner. It’s another thing to pretend that everyone wants the same thing and there won’t be consequences for such. A Pro-Choice policy is the only acceptable position, with varying limits or preferences that can only ensure the woman’s health and their social and economic outcomes, and also prevent the rising tide of teen pregnancy.

Gun Rights and Gun control

We fully and completely support the individual right to bear arms laid out in the 2nd Amendment. That any attempt to assert that it is not a right for the people, but rather for the government, its military, national guard, corporations, etc., is incongruent and dishonest. That it is a right for everyone to exercise, especially in these dangerous times. People of Color, Lgbtq+, minorities, everyone must be able to defend themselves should the administration start to try them as they did Garcia which is completely unacceptable in any manner that is American. The 2nd amendment is not some secondary or even third level right. It is on the same level as the rest of the nine and needs to be treated as such.

We recognize that mass shootings are a problem in this country and no sane person will sit by and say it is just a part of American Life. That’s just an unacceptable proposition, especially when mass shootings only got worse after Columbine, not relatively before.

However, a lot of gun control proposals, such as assault weapon bans, or increasing the age to buy/own a gun, or registries of all gun owners, are not interested in stopping mass shootings but rather taking as many guns out of circulation as possible if not all, limiting if not restricting gun access and just red meat for the voting base that wants a Gun Free America. Which, to many gun owners, especially single issue gun owners, is a canary in the coal mine and just a nonstarter for obvious reasons that just pushes them right into the arms of the GOP.

We cannot aim to solve the epidemic of mass shootings and only propose solutions that make volatile the right to bear arms in the process, with no proper lines in the sand drawn as to where this all ends, and expect Gun Owners to not be hostile.

Crucially, many gun control proposals are incompatible with our desire for police reform. One can not heavily criticize the police for their actions, lack of accountability and police brutality with at best a bare minimum regard for citizens rights, and then in the same breath want to give such authoritarian powers that much gun control proposals would give them. If the police are the horrid enforcement agency that we criticize them to be, then why give them more power and authority through gun control? It’s just inconsistent and incompatible.

With that said, our solutions for mass shootings are as follows:

  • A Comprehensive subsidiary and guideline program for mass media, from Fox News to CNN to PBS, to responsibly cover mass shootings without going into 24/7 constant news coverage that will just inspire other mass shooters. Many studies have confirmed a link between constant mass media coverage and mass shootings mainly because mass shootings fall into the same problem as copycat suicides. They are not new. They are done with the intention of attention and fame or in this case infamy. In other words, copycat mass killings. We need to treat these shooters as the insgnificant bugs that they are and have the media responsibly cover them instead of giving them the infamy they want. We are not interested in trying to protect the 2nd Amendment just to violate the First and vice versa. It shouldn’t have to be one or the other here.
  • Mental Health programs aimed toward Men and young teen boys to help cope with their mental health issues. What's more, supporting healthcare change and universal healthcare. We cannot say that Mass Shootings are a mental health problem and then not mean it, by refusing healthcare changes or universal healthcare. It’s just trying to handwave the problem, which isn’t acceptable.
  • Actual compromises with Gun Owners instead of half baked false promises. In order to stop mass shootings, both sides need to come together for better, not false promises disguised as compromises.
  • Remove zero tolerance policies in schools. Even if it does nothing, it’s long overdue to get rid of it for more than just the one reason. It’s a win win regardless.
  • Fix inequality in this country. The evidence on this is clear cut that inequality drives crimes. Naturally, when the inequality gap is significantly shrunk, less crime will transpire and logically less mass shootings will occur.
  • Look into operation ceasefire and the omaha violence prevention program to see how and what can be replicated and used on a national scale.

Pan-Americanism

Continents have been united in various ways, such as Europe in the form of the EU, Africa with the AU, or Southeast Asia with ASEAN. While the existence of the OAS (Organization of American States) signifies a previous willingness to come together in the name of Pan-Americanism, a restructuring from a paradigm of United States dominance to genuine collaboration and friendship is essential. A more united American Continent will help each country become stronger and create a tighter bond between every American, from Greenland to Patagonia.

  • We advocate for increased diplomacy in Central America, South America, and the Caribbean, especially where we do not have a good record of friendly and diplomatic relations. We need to earn the trust of our fellow American countries in the New World by being a helpful ally rather than an overarching imperial authority.
  • We advocate for increasing trade and signing friendship treaties with these countries in order to assist them economically, helping to bolster the continent's economy in general, and strengthening our cultural ties as Americans.
  • We call for free movement for Americans from every American country.
  • We advocate for ending the Cuban embargo and lifting sanctions on Nicaragua and Venezuela

It's no secret that the treatment of Latin Americans and other ethnic/cultural minorities within these United States have been less than stellar. There will be high expectations if we claim that we have changed for the better, and rightfully so. It will take years of work to repair the damaged relationships and restore continental trust back in the USA and its citizens, but that is something we here at the US Pirate Party, joined in partnership with the Pirate Parties on the American continent, are committed to doing.

Foreign Policy

We call for the free movement of all peoples.

  • We advocate for the right to free association and self-determination. People living in a political entity should have the right to maintain, alter or conclude their relationship to larger entities, or join in union, if it is the will of the people.
  • We advocate for lifting sanctions on countries who only have said sanctions because we disapprove of their government.
  • We advocate for legislation which ensures our government and intelligence agencies do not interfere in any elections in Europe, Africa, Asia or any part of the American Continent and that the will of the people is respected.

This would likely require quite a significant foreign policy change on the USA's part, however. The US has made a lot of missteps along the way, so we should make the first steps to fix them.