Mason City, Iowa | Sunday 28th
Faulkner was canvassing just a day after a large rally at Cedar Rapids. Last night he was able to secure the backing of a group of new New Hampshire businessmen. Small business was his focus when it came to financing, especially people with motels or convention centers. He was able to secure two sites for rallies, in Concord and Portsmouth Harbour, each hosting around 3,000 people. New Hampshire was a must win state in the primaries, to gauge his ability to contest it in the general election. Mason City was his second last stop before the debate, and it was first time canvassing since coming to Iowa. He had a few questions to ask Iowan voters: what problems they faced in Iowa, how they felt America should conduct her foreign policy, and if they would be voting in the primary election.
Summary of Questions
Issues Faced: The Economy/Jobs (62), Fischer's failed foreign policy (14), Social Issues [2nd Amendment and Abortion mainly] (14) and Social Security (11)
American foreign policy: We need to be more active [Pro-Intervention] (54), It's fine how it is (23), We need to be more active [Non-Intervention] (22), We need to be less active (2)
Will you be voting?: Yes [Democrat] (34), Yes [Republican] (32), No [Democrat] (14), No [Independent] (11), No [Republican] (10)
"Interesting results eh. That's a majority favouring a greater role along your lines. Pro-intervention in the Middle East, what you like to hear huh?" Cooke said.
"Yeah, it's good. I can use it to attack Fischer and anyone else promoting his isolationist bullshit. Oh, and I got your memo for the debate, take down Brae early on, got it. If Guess, who only recently announced, makes it to the debate, he'll be easy picking for any social security discussion. As should anyone left of me and Brae."
"Yeah that's true. Make sure to emphasise the benefits of free trade, and if anyone brings up resource scarcity, hit em with some 'fund NASA so we can begin asteroid mining.' rhetoric. Which, by the way, would be good to win over the pro-science centre-left."
"I'll take that on board. We're only in Sioux City for less than a day, then we gotta make it to Des Moines for the debate."
https://www.RichardFaulkner.com/platform52
Foreign Policy
America has been on the decline for over a decade now. President Fischer has been an incompetent president in many fields, but foreign policy is the one where he takes it to a new extreme. His dangerous pseudo-isolationist stand must be ended, and America must renew her position as global leader. I am the only candidate who can do this, and here is how. We must start by rejoining NAFTA, and negotiating new free trade deals with the world to signal that America is open once more. After that, we must begin fighting the expansion of Iranian influence in the Middle East, and combating Chinese dominance of global trade. To top it off, we must support and expand NATO and her allies across the world, in our global fight to spread free enterprise, democracy and civil liberty.
The Environment
I have a track record of defence for the environment. A simple look at my congressional record, and my terms as governor, reveal a dedication to preserving the environment. I have supported the construction of solar farms, subsidies and tax cuts for the manufacturing of electric vehicles, and have continuously promoted animal preservation efforts, at home and abroad. As President, I will continue this streak. I want to create a program to phase out the use of fossil fuels within two decades. A very ambitious task, but we can achieve it. I will achieve this by supporting the construction of electric cars in the United States, which will help bring back our manufacturing base, a task many candidates talk of, but fail to achieve.
Social Security
Social security is a tough issue we need to face. We need to fix the system, but the cost of upkeep under a nationalised system would be way too high. As a privatised system however, it becomes your responsibility, not the government's, which is how it should be. I would not take any significant effort to re-nationalise it until we can get a report explaining the financial implications or benefits of it, however I will not rule out the possibility of re-nationalising it.
The 2nd Amendment
The Constitution is an integral part of our nation. As President I will defend the 2nd Amendment, a vital part of the country. While people say that massacres committed with firearms justify strict gun control measures, I disagree. I will safeguard the right to bare arms for the four, hopefully eight, years I could serve as President. Yes, gun control measures need to be taken, background checks and requiring an ID to purchase a firearm. I will enact that, however I will not ban "assault weapons" or anything of the sort. Most firearm crimes are committed with illegally owned guns, so why should we punish legal gun owners?
Employment
Jobs, jobs, jobs. Everyone wants to talk about them. Every campaign its the same rhetoric: "I will create jobs in XYZ field for XYZ state." I'm sick of it. As President I will do what I did as governor, spend wisely, and negotiate wisely, to bring business opportunities to the American people. As I have and will mention in the rest of this platform, I seek to create a lot of jobs in certain fields, specifically manufacturing and with the space industry. Most importantly, I want to back small businesses. The family-ran cafe you get coffee out of every morning, the old man behind the grocery store counter, the local plumbing business, the bar you drown your sorrows in... Big corporations are fine and dandy, but it's small business that is the backbone of American society, and it must remain that way.
Role of the Federal Government
The federal government's role, in my eyes, is not to serve the people, like other candidates believe. It is to serve the constitution and to serve the country. As President, I will not seek to expand government, but to minimise it, and to instead work towards creating a small state, that aims to embolden the people, not to subsidise them. The Federal Government is way too big now, and I will begin delegating more and more powers to state governments, who I hope will delegate more powers to local governments. It's time we cut down on the oversized federal government.
Government Spending and Debt
The debt has gotten way out of hand. So has government spending. I'm a believer that we should aim to balance the budget, but that a small deficit isn't necessarily the worst thing, especially if it's invested wisely towards balancing the budget in the future, or even towards a surplus. The areas I will increase spending in are the education, science, the environment, the military, and public works projects, in order of importance. I will attempt though to cut spending in unnecessary areas, by getting together a bipartisan committee of Democrats and Republicans from all sides of the parties, to analyse current spending, and cut down on wasteful spending, or move it towards smarter investments.
A Future for NASA
NASA has been stagnant for decades now. With resource scarcity on earth, we must look to space for precious metals. I will fund research into the feasibility of asteroid mining. Yes, a very ambitious task, but it must be done sooner than later, before we run out of materials to even attempt to mine asteroids. There are asteroids with enough platinum or titanium to pay off half the debt of the United States as it stands. If we could mine a few of them, we could introduce global prosperity, and begin funding greater space missions through out our solar system. Anything, no matter how ambitious, must be considered possible, for us to create a future for our children.
