Putting People Before Corporations
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.
Opening up 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.
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.
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 government lock it down.
Fostering Innovation by Abolishing Patents
We seek the abolition of patents. The patent system stifles innovation by making it difficult to incorporate an existing invention into a new one. It discourages researchers from sharing their new ideas until after a patent application. It prevents hundreds of thousands of people in poor countries from receiving the drugs they need. Currently pharmaceutical companies spend only 15% of their revenue on new drug research. The remaining 85% is spent on activities such as marketing and profit taking. A reformed system would dramatically increase the money available for innovation, while removing the obstacles to innovation posed by the current patent system.
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 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 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.
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.
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 stronger 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 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.
Clean Water
Water is life, and it belongs to everyone. As a core part of the commons, it must never be polluted, privatized, or restricted for profit. Decades of deregulation, judicial rollbacks, corporate influence, and government negligence have left communities poisoned and ecosystems collapsing. “Self-regulation” has consistently failed; polluters place profit above public health, and our waterways have paid the price. Pirates refuse to let rivers, lakes, aquifers, and seas become dumping grounds for corporate abuse or political indifference.
Water must be stewarded transparently, democratically, and with the protection of future generations in mind. It is a human right, a public trust, and a shared responsibility.
The Pirate Party Will:
- Defend water as a protected common resource and guarantee universal access to safe, affordable drinking water.
- Keep water systems under democratic public control; oppose privatization and profiteering from essential water services.
- Reject any laws, rulings, or policies that weaken environmental protections or reduce accountability for polluters.
- Demand strict penalties, mandatory cleanup, and full public oversight for all contamination events.
- Ban water shutoffs due to inability to pay.
- Promote lead pipe replacement, PFAS remediation, building of desalinization plants and climate-resilient water infrastructure.
- Require open, real-time, public, and interoperable data on water quality, spending, infrastructure, and contamination.
- Support community-driven stewardship of waterways, including local boards, cooperatives, and open-data monitoring.
- Advance the development and adoption of safe, environmentally inert materials and processes that cannot poison water through accident or abuse.
- Promote scientific innovation and sustainable materials engineering that provide alternatives to harmful substances.
- Protect Indigenous water rights and uphold treaty obligations.
Clean water is not negotiable. Pirates stand for clean seas, healthy waterways, and a future where every community has the power, the data, and the resources to defend its water. We will fight to protect it, restore it, and ensure it flows freely for generations to come.
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.
Furthermore, we see the support of gun ownership and the 2nd Amendment consistent with our support for additive manufacturing technologies.
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 that have been proposed, 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 Free Gun 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 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.
And 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 of regard for citizens rights. And then in the same breath want to give such authoritarian powers that many gun control proposals would give them. If the police are the horrid enforcement agency that we criticize them for, then why give them more power and authority through gun control? It’s just inconsistent and incompatible.
And with North Carolina being a southern state, it would make sense for us to support gun rights since guns are an important part of North Carolina and American Southern culture in general.
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 nsignificant bugs as they are and have the media responsibly cover them instead of giving them the infamy that 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. And supporting healthcare change and universal healthcare. We cannot say that Mass Shootings is 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 come and logically less mass shootings will come.
- Look into operation ceasefire and the omaha violence prevention program to see how and what can be replicated and used on a national scale.
Additive Manufacturing Technologies
Additive manufacturing is a process that builds three-dimensional objects layer by layer from a digital design, a stark contrast to traditional methods that remove material from a larger block. Also known as 3D printing, it uses a computer-controlled machine to add materials like plastics, metals, and ceramics, making it ideal for complex, customized parts and prototypes. We believe that one day, additive manufacturing technologies will allow everyone to have access to the means of production from their household. We view it as a sort of democratizing technology.
Infrastructure
We support a public works program for rebuilding American infrastructure like roads, bridges, energy, public transportation and telecommunications. We support creating programs similar to the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), a federal corporation created by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 as the nation's largest public power provider and a New Deal Program to:
- Provide affordable, reliable, and sustainable electricity in the South
- Protect the environment by managing the Tennessee river for flood control and navigation
- Bringing business and industry to support good jobs in the service area to advance economic growth
This program should focus on nuclear, solar, wind and biofuels as sources of renewable energy in order to reduce unemployment, rebuild and create new cities, and protect the environment.
We also want to reinvest in trains used for public transportation instead of throwing more money into outdated trains. One great example is maglev trains, which are magnetic levitation trains that use powerful magnets to produce fast speeds of at least 310 miles per hour for a smooth, quiet, and fast ride to your destination to reduce wait times. We want to have stations in every metro area in NC like Asheville, Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro, Wilmington, Greenville, etc.
We also support a land value tax (LVT), which is a tax on unimproved land (meaning land that is not being built or improved by buildings, personal property, or other improvements). Initially proposed by Henry George, the LVT does not hurt economic activity and even encourages development without subsidies since the supply of land is fixed. Don’t worry, they don't punish people for making improvements to their houses. Land ownership is also correlated to income and wealth.
LVT also preserves privacy rights since it avoids delving into individuals’ private financial information, thus no need to fear extensive data collection. They should be tried in small towns first before implementing them on a state wide level. They could replace some forms of taxation, which is always good.
