Issues

Since the 1980s, the American Dream has become harder and harder to achieve. It's not for lack of hard work — it's systemic. 

Republicans and even some Democrats have shifted the economy from helping workers get ahead, to helping the rich get richer, while hurting the poor. 

It has been more than 8 months since the one-two punch of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, that left more than $56 billion in damage in their devastating wakes. Since then, according to the state of Florida’s own records, more than half of the resulting insurance claims have been rejected. Not pending. Not in process. Rejected. Homeowners are caught betwixt and between city and county inspectors who mandate the replacement of damaged roofs and structures, while insurance companies balk at the expense and tell homeowners they will only pay for surface repairs. These families have been living with relatives, in cheap hotels or small apartments for 8 months, with barely enough space for everyone as they balance the expenses of rebuilding with the rising cost of living. 

Meanwhile insurance companies rake in roughly $11 billion a year in premiums, up from $5 billion in 2020. Worse, Florida officials tried to bury a 2022 report that revealed insurers who claimed they were losing millions insuring Floridians were actually steering billions to investors.

Companies have established a parent company on paper, and then below the parent company is the insurance company, and then there's a spider web of other companies that spawn off of this. These different companies carve up the services insurers offer. For example, one company handles all underwriting services, so when policyholders call about their claims, they aren’t actually talking to the insurance company, but rather a sister company. And all these other companies are the recipients of customer premiums, enabling insurance companies to rake in billions, far more than the 4.5% profit allowed by law, while still being able technically to claim they are losing money.

This is how the rich get richer while the consumer gets shafted. It’s time for this nonsense to end.

It used to be that Social Security was the third rail of politics. You touch it, you die. For decades, the very notion of tinkering with Social Security’s benefits to the elderly — which lifted millions out of poverty — was considered blaspheme. Today, far right Republicans are trying everything to diminish the program we pay into our entire working lives: let’s privatize it, let’s raise the retirement age, let’s lower benefits, let’s give it to Elon Musk, because he’s such a genius after co-owning PayPal. It’s time to redraw the line in the sand. I will fight fiercely against anyone who wants to fundamentally change Social Security in any way that would jeopardize the monthly payments upon which millions of Americans rely. And the same goes for Medicare and Medicaid, which we should be expanding instead of cutting. Since the advent of the ACA (Obamacare), the rates of uninsured Americans have fluctuated between 7.9% and 9.2%, with 2025 predicted to reach as high as 8.9%. We are not making progress, and we are teetering on the edge of going backwards again. Healthy people are good for the economy, so we need to stop this nonsense discourse about not wanting to use tax dollars to fund someone else’s healthcare, which is precisely what happens with private health insurance, too.

Florida’s environment is as much about business as it is about preservation and protection.

Agriculture is a vital sector of Florida's economy, second only to tourism in its impact. With more than 47,000 farms and ranches, Florida's agricultural industry generates billions of dollars annually and supports millions of jobs. The state's diverse climate allows for the production of significant portions of the nation's citrus, vegetables, and sugarcane. 

Florida’s agriculture industry is also essential for the country, as we supply the rest of the nation with fresh produce, especially during the winter months. But it’s not all about capitalism. Florida's agricultural lands also provide essential ecosystem services, such as water supply and quality, flood control, and habitat for wildlife. 

Over the last decade, we have seen protections for Florida’s environment erode, and we need to fight for more federal funding and resources to ensure Florida can sustain its wildlife, natural resources and agricultural lands for generations to come.

Since the founding of our country, education has been considered essential to informed participation in self-government, and preserving liberty. Many founders, including George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, advocated for a well-educated citizenry to ensure the success of their democratic experiment. Our public school system is chronically underfunded, and that needs to change. Too many children are not getting good enough educations to join the workforce and succeed. While the right wing has whittled away at existing budget levels, pushing to rob more resources from public education for private school vouchers, teachers have been struggling with greater class sizes and supply budgets that are so low, teachers themselves are paying for notebooks, paper and crayons. We are one of the wealthiest nations on Earth. Surely we can do better.

Gun violence is a serious problem in America. So are loneliness, mental illness, online false and provocative conspiracy theories, and hate-mongering, all in an era of grievances, blaming, and victimhood. We need to address all aspects of why and how so many Americans resort to mass murder with guns. Responsible gun ownership is an American right; but it's not absolute. Guns should be regulated like cars, which are also capable of killing people, and laws that help prevent mass shootings must be adopted: universal background checks, prohibition on gun ownership by those convicted of violent crimes, safe storage, and red flag laws, enabling those closest to people struggling with mental issues to get their guns removed until they're more stable.

One of the easiest ways to remove the threat of gun violence is to ensure that convicted violent offenders, such as Domestic Violence convicts, have their gun rights eliminated upon conviction. Domestic violence offenders have a higher recidivism rate compared to non-violent offenders. Research indicates that a significant percentage of individuals convicted of domestic violence are rearrested for similar offenses. What’s worse is that the probability of re-offending increases with each prior felony conviction. Escalation from fists to guns is also common, which is why taking guns out of the hands of those who have already shown violent tendencies is critically important to reducing the vast wave of completely avoidable gun deaths that happen in our country.

Immigration is part of the heart and soul of America, as it was built by immigrants and the enslaved. Common in the American experience is the knowledge that many of us — and many of our families — are from someplace else. And this is why this right-wing war on immigrants is so un-American.

Many important sectors in our economy depend on foreign workers. Our current immigration system is chaotic and out of control. We need an immigration overhaul that honors the needs of US businesses, respects foreign workers, and honors our country's tradition of taking in true refugees (those facing political persecution). 

Beyond that, we cannot welcome everyone around the world who wants a better standard of living. There are simply too many people living in countries whose governments are failing their own people. Our foreign policy and aid should work to help those countries do better by their own people, thereby reducing those seeking to flee.

As those who read history know, the "land of the free" hasn’t always been free.

Women, for instance, couldn’t vote until the 1920s, couldn’t open a bank account without a male co-signer until 1968, and still don’t get paid equitably for doing the same jobs as men. The civil rights movement made great strides decades ago, as has the movement to ensure social and political equity for those in the LGBTQ community.

Most glaringly, women no longer have the right to control their own bodies. The Supreme Court's Dobbs decision was a slap in the face to our system of law (50-year-old established precedent), and to women. It revealed how political the High Court has become, which has caused distrust and cynicism about the Court's integrity. Abortion care is not political. It is personal healthcare. The government and the courts should have no role in it, just as they have no role in whether men get a vasectomy or access to Viagra, or whether women try to have a baby via IVF. Abortion care should be between pregnant women and their doctors, not the Federal or State Government. 

The extreme right-wing minority seem hell-bent on taking us backward. Many marginalized groups are finding the rights they have slowly gained through decades of fighting are now being taken away by our government.

The land of the free needs brave and bold fighters in Congress to end this regressive rollback.

We are a huge country with lots of different people. During the Civil War era, and now in the MAGA era, differences among us have divided us to a violent degree. It is painful to experience our country in such a polarized place. I grew up in NYC and now live in Palm Beach County where diversity is the norm. My neighbors are gay and straight, black, brown, and white, old and young, rich and poor, immigrant and non-immigrant, religious and atheist. Everyone in our country is entitled to dignity and safety. Those who cannot tolerate differences need to work on themselves and their worst instincts, not target and attack people who are different. It's that simple.

The media landscape today owes its chaos and misinformation to one individual: President Ronald Reagan.

In 1987, Reagan repealed via executive order the FCC’s core principle: The Fairness Doctrine.

The Fairness Doctrine was a policy enforced by the FCC from 1949 until 1987. It operated on the principle that broadcasters should serve the public interest (not just profits), mandating that broadcasters provide adequate opportunities for contrasting viewpoints on controversial issues. Broadcasters had flexibility in how they presented these views, which could include news, public affairs programs, or editorials. 

In 1985, the FCC concluded that the doctrine had a "chilling effect" on free speech, as broadcasters might avoid controversial topics to prevent legal challenges and compliance burdens — a pretextual argument against neutrality. 

Additionally, the increase in media outlets like cable and satellite television in the late 1980s lessened the argument that broadcast frequencies were a scarce resource, which was a key justification for the doctrine. Opponents also argued that the doctrine infringed on broadcasters' First Amendment rights by giving the government some editorial control. Although Congress attempted to reinstate the doctrine, President Reagan vetoed the bill. 

I have zero doubt that the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine has contributed greatly to the rise of politically biased talk radio, cable “news” shows, and increased media polarization. My intention is simple — to push Congress to reinstate the doctrine. Let’s level the playing field by using a foundational principle that faithfully and reliably kept the media focused on truths, which simultaneously upheld the First Amendment rights of news outlets to report the news without prior restraint.

Race, gender, religion / no religion, sexual orientation, disability, hair color - whatever makes us who we are - is to be respected. Period. Targeting minority populations with cruelty is immoral and an emotionally manipulative distraction from bigger agenda items — like cutting services for the poor while lowering taxes on the rich. If I make it to Congress, I will fight like hell to have the government back off individual liberties and rights. The United States is and always has been a pluralistic country, and most of us embrace and celebrate that fact.