My name is Ken Witherow. I'm a 23 year old atheistic republican residing in Livonia, NY.
The following is my political platform:

Abortion: 
Our country was founded on the principal that people have certain inalienable rights which,
under no circumstances, can be taken away. Though only a couple were enumerated upon,
they include the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Because innocent life
is something that can't be taken away, abortion is nothing less than murder. Some argue that
the mother should have the liberty to choose whether the baby is to be born - however, they
exercised their liberty by creating the baby and must now bear the responsibility for their
actions. The only time in which abortion can even be considered is in the cases of rape,
incest and their kin.

Affirmative Action:
The process of state sanctioned racism must be ended. Under the system of affirmative action,
we judge people based on their race or sex rather than their merit and skill. In the name of
"ending racism", we've created a system that discriminates against those who are from a
caucasion background - specificly white men. We all have the same opportunity to succeed - 
it all depends on how hard you're willing to work for it. To say the son of a black executive
should have an advantage that a poor white son wouldn't because of the color of his skin is
indefensable. Nobody alive in the US today had slaves and many didn't even have ancestors in
the US during slavery. They should not be punished for being born with the wrong color skin.
The only group deserving ANY special benefits are the people of native indian heritage who
can prove they are descendents of such.

Campaign Finance Reform:
The Supreme Court has ruled that monetary donations are an expression of free speech. As such,
we should remove the barriers which allow individual political contributions - that is, all
people should be free to donate as much as they would like to any political party or
candidate. Where we need to see the most reform is on the side of corporations and paid
lobbyists. Corporations exist only because the state allows them to do so. They do not have
the right to vote and don't get imprisoned for murdering someone. They should not be able to
spend money to lobby Congress in their favor and to remove the rights and protections which
are enjoyed by the citizens.

Census:
The purpose of the Census is to apportion representatives to Congress and other government
bodies. It is not to figure out how to divvy up federal monies for programs. At what point
do you stop asking demographic questions? Are you bald? What's your eye color? How many
teeth are in your mouth? Do you have siding on your house? What is your favorite book?
What's your sexual prefence? We elect our leaders to lead, not to grok demographic data 
into new laws. Not to mention, what if your answers fit a profile that matches serial
killers or rapists? Do you want the government to harass you because of how you answered
your census? There's only one question that needs to be on the census: How many people live
in your household?

Conduct of Elected Officials:
We elect our leaders to represent us to the world and to each other. Everything they do reflects
directly on those who elected them. We would not accept immoral behavior in a military
officer and we should not accept immoral behavior in our officials. The higher up on the
ladder they go, the more harm their indescressions bring to America, it's people and it's
ideals.

Congressional Re-imbersement and Term Limits:
Congress was intended to be made up of people from different backgrounds and interests who 
wished to take a short period of time from their regular work to represent their fellow
citizens in legislation. Today's Congress is filled mainy with lawyers who have become career
politicians leeching off the system and micromanaging affairs. Diversity would allow
Congress be more informed on the issues they vote on. There is no member in Congress that I
can think of who truly understands technology. I believe there's only one doctor. How can
a bunch of lawyers understand issues completely unrelated to their field? They've also
haughty enough to figure they can decide whether they deserve a raise, special pensions and
other perks. Would you vote down a raise for yourself? Finally we come to term limits. After
a few years in office, representatives lose touch with reality and only live to get re-elected
to continue their perks. It is of absolute importance to refresh our legislators on a
regular basis so they don't get stale. Also, the vacations and other prizes given by lobbiests
must end as it's nothing short of bribery.

Crime:
Crime is the root of the violence in America today. Criminals are getting out faster than 
ever - the average sentence served for murder is 7 years. Most of these criminals released
back onto the streets get arrested within mere months and go back to jail. We need to end the
system of probation and reinstate penance to the penal system. Criminals get free shelter,
free meals, free cable, free education, free frivilous lawsuits, etc - they're not being
punished for their crime. In fact, there's as much crime in some prisons as there is out
on the street. It's also unfair to give a criminal an education for harming society while
countless people struggle to attend community colleges to earn a degree.

Defense:
One of the primary purposes of the federal government is to provide for the protection of
the country and it's people from those who seek to harm it. It is of the utmost importance to
keep a strong military with high morale that is equipped with the most advanced technology and
weaponry available to them. Our equipment is falling apart, we are short on soldiers and
morale is in the pits. We need to increase funding to repair vehicles and encourage our
warriors with higher incentives.

Drugs:
Liberty is a very important right to every individual. However, your right to do something
ends with your body and property. Someone under the influence of drugs can lose control
of their faculties and harm someone else even without meaning to. Even if they don't
physically harm someone, their productivity will decrease, they'll abandon their 
responsibilities, become a burden on the medical community and otherwise harm society.

Education:
The Constitution clearly lays out the powers of the federal government. Nowhere in the 
Constitution does it say that anyone has a right to a free public education or that the 
government has a duty to provide one for everyone. The government run schools are a joke compared
to their privately run counterparts and they're continuing to go downhill. We need to dissolve
the Department of Education, stop taxing people in the name of education and return their
money to them so they can pick the school which will best educate their kids and return
competition to the school marketplace. The government extorts local school districts by
demanding implentation of their propagandic ideals else funding will be yanked - that can't
work with a private school. My school district consists of some 2500 kids and the school has a
$24 million budget (remember, this is a small rural community and not an affluent suburb) and
of that $24 million, $400000 actually goes to the kids education. Half is spent on salaries,
pensions, perks, etc for a couple hundred teachers. The next biggest chuck goes to the second
major addition to the high school in 8 years. They could have built a new building for the
price of one addition and yet, we've paid double for half the space.

Energy:
We must remove the barriers to private industry using the resources they own to provide various
forms of power. It is of utmost importance to our sovreignty to remain as independent as
possible on the most important resources we need. Alaska has enough oil to serve our needs for
at least the next 30 years. We must harvest that oil. Environmentalists argue that we can't else
we would destroy the environment... would you rather have a US company drilling and shipping
over land according to US regulations or a madman in Iraq setting oil wells on fire? Also,
the accident rate of land based transport is VERY low; it's far riskier to transport oil in
sea tankers.

Environment:
The preservation of the planet and it's resources are of utmost importance. However, we shouldn't
have broad federal laws governing what we can do with our own property, whether we can hunt
"endangered" species that are destroying our land due to overpopulation, or whether we can go into
publicly owned parks that are barred to people. We should provide tax incentives for businesses
and people who respect their environment and attempt to renew resources.

Executive Orders:
The proper method of creating law is to have Congress create it and the President ratify it. The
use of executive orders to create new law is a usurping of the checks and balances provided by
the Constitution and must be rescinded.

Family:
A marriage is a contract between a man and woman, society and, if they believe in one, their god. 
The purpose of this contract is to provide a stable family structure in which to raise children.
Should the contract be violated, the offending party should be severely penalized; it must be
made clear that marriage isn't a fad and having kids is an imporant responsibility which can't
be shirked because it grew passe. It is also important for the development of children to have
both a mother and a father whenever possible as both are crucial for different intangibles
which can't be replaced by a nanny, a gay partner or casual friend. We must restore the family 
structure to encourage our children to excel, provide for proper social development and
curb crime. It is also important to stop drugging our kids to get them to act like adult; they're
kids, let them have fun because they have their whole life to be an adult.

Federal Monies/Aid:
The federal government is meant to be a small government because it's too far away from the
people to understand their everyday life and removes the ability to move to a state more favorable
to someone's needs. Most governing should be done as close as home as possible. The 10th Amendment
recognizes that and reserves all powers not explicitly given to the federal government to the
people and the states. The federal government has no business in taxing people to give monies to
the states or otherwise interfering with powers not granted them in the Constitution. Federal
aid creates a feeling of resentment, encourages extortion of the states and inbalances the
federal government's power.

Foreign Policy:
The government of the United States of America owes it's allegience to the people of the USA and
not to other foreign nations or governments. We should not interfere in the political turmoil of
other countries or provide monies to them unless it poses a direct threat to the United States.
We also should not provide tariff free trade to other countries else they destabilize the 
economy of the US by removing high paying jobs to these countries to save money. The more free
trade opens up and the higher the minimum wage of the US goes, the more business will move their
manufacturing labor forces out of the US. We've seen NAFTA displace many jobs to Mexico and
Canada to save money; we need to stop this now. We must not let foreign decrees, including those
from the UN, subvert the Constitution.

Gun Control:
"The right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed." The Second Amendment clearly
states that any attempt to regulate military armaments in the hands of citizens is blatently
Unconstitutional. The Founding Fathers knew just how important this idea was since, had they not
been armed with the most advanced military armaments of the time, they could not have succeeded
in their revolution from the empire of England. Arms are the check the keeps the government in
balance. As George Washington stated, "Firearms are second only to the Constitution in importance;
They are the people's liberty's teeth." The arguement of reducing crime and "saving" the children
don't need gun laws to succeed - they need enforcement of laws existing on the book. Areas with
concealed carry laws have seen the highest rate of decline of crime and areas with outright gun
bans, like Washington DC, have some of the highest murder and crime rates. To quote Ben Franklin,
"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither
liberty nor safety." If we have the right to bear advanced military arms, where does that right
end? Quite simply at the point in which a weapon is only useful as a terrorism mechanism; that is,
nuclear, chemical and biological weapons should be banned but everything else from tanks to
bombers to M16s is fair game. 

Health Care:
The federal government has no business in the arena of health care save for tracking of communicable
diseases and a minimal amount of research to determine how to stop their spread. Nobody has a 
given right to free health care or insurance. Since the health care industry is run by corporations
which exist only because government grants them that priviledge, it would be appropriate to grant
laws allowing the suing of health care companies and hospitals for improper conduct, malpractice,
failure to provide services, etc. Government health programs like medicaid and medicare have 
reduced the quality of health care, flooded care providers with un-needing patients and have gouged
tax payers of billions of dollars since their inception and should be ended.

Immigration:
The United States is a country built on immigrants and while we provide more opportunity to succeed
than any other country out there, we have reached a maximum density capacity. The densely packed
cities are filled with crime and the more rural farmlands need that broad space to feed everyone.
Many immigrants come here soley to leech off the socialistic programs provided by the federal
government and no longer care about working to make their lives better. America was made strong by
a vast variety of people all bringing different talents and ideas here. Today's immigrants could
care less about integrating with our society and becoming Americans - they refuse to learn english
and form large communities where outsiders are not welcomed. We're now a mixing pot rather than a
melting pot and we're now foreigners in our own country and must stabilize ourself before 
continuing to allow some million immigrants per year to flood our country. To curb the problem of
illegal immigration, we should move military bases to the boarders to show a sign of force. Right
now, along the border with Mexico, there is one guard for every 40 miles. You could drive a Mack
truck through a hole that size without anyone knowing - and that truck could be filled with illegal
aliens or illegal drugs.

The Judiciary:
It is important to understand that the judges can only determine the veracity of a case and the
legalities surrounding it. Judges should not be allowed to legislate from the bench and must only
hear cases within their jurisdiction.

Minimum Wage:
The federal government has no authority to determine the minimum wage for someone employed in work.
Wages should be determined by the market forces surrounding the position needed to be filled.
Should desire for a job be low, it's salary will raise to attract people. Also, any business would
be glad to pay a good worker more money in order to keep them and save the costs of retraining a
replacement. Very few adults who make an attempt at their job make the minimum wage; if they show
up on time and provide an honest effort, the business will give them a raise. The vast majority of
people earning the minimum wage are young, teenage workers who live home with their parents and
usually have everything they need provided for them. That means that all the money that, as USA
Weekend Magazine called them, "the richest generation of teenagers ever" make is disposable
income. Since the amount of disposable income on the market raises, prices go up accordingly raising
inflation which primarily affect the working class. More inflation will be an excuse to raise
the minimum wage which again would bring another cycle of inflation.

Money:
Once upon a time, we based the value of our money on a certain amount of precious metals that backed
that value. A dollar was always worth a certain amount of silver or gold and since we only created
as much money as we could back. Today, we print as much money as the Federal Treasury determines 
that we "need". Because the dollar is no longer backed, it allows the treasury to directly tinker
with inflation/deflation, allows the value of the dollar to swing wildly on the foreign exchanges
and generally creates an unstable market. While inflation can still occur if the value of precious
metals go up, it has a much more stable influence and prices would adjust accordingly, cancelling
out the inflation and keeping prices stable.

National Security Administration:
The NSA is an investigative body without any oversight from Congress or the people. While setup to
protect the military secrets of the US government, it's overstepped it's bounds and is now actively
listening to all citizens communication through the phones and internet according to an international
project know as Project Echelon. The NSA are the "men in black" that go around confiscating anything
they want in the name of security without regard to the Forth Amendment. They use black book money
for covert operations in the US and abroad. The department but be absolved.

Property Security:
The Fourth and Fifth Amendments protect us from illegal searches and seizures from the government
and to protect ourselves from self-incrimination. Laws subverting these rights in the name of
combating terrorism or drugs are very Unconstitutional. It is illegal to get a wiretap without a
judge determining that there is already evidence which incriminates the accusee. It's also wrong
for the government, especially the FBI and NSA, to confiscate property without it's timely return
after the investigation of it has concluded. There are warehouses filled with confiscated property
from people who didn't break laws that the government is holding just to give them a hard time.
Also, it brings me to emminent domain; the purpose of which is to allocate property for military
bases, government buildings and federal roads, not to create parks, preservation or environmental
havens.

Religion and Separation of Church and State:
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free 
exercise thereof." Pretty simple. Separation of Church and State, as paraded by propenents,
means that nothing religious can take place in/on/around anything owned or run by the government,
is a myth. It is Unconstitutional to ban someone from exercising their First Amendment rights
on public grounds, or anywhere else. The whole purpose of restricting the practice of religion
is because many of the original settlers were fleeing persecution and didn't want another
government telling them how and where they could worship since it's an infringement of their
rights to think and believe what they want. According to the proponents of SoC&C, elected officials
who believe in a religion have no place in office as they might be influenced to do something
by the church. It is a valid concern since it was a major problem with western European christian
countries BUT, their power is limited in what they're capable of doing. Checks and balances my
friends!

Social Security:
Americans have no right to a federally funded retirement and the government has no authority to
establish one. Someone my age can use that money for much better things and with some insight, I can
create a retirement fund for myself with that money which will far outweigh my federal benefits,
especially if I should die before retirement. Of the thousands confiscated in my name for SSI, my
kin would get a whopping $250 of that money back. My private retirement can be transferred to
my heirs. Further, in my dad's case, had he been able to put his SSI money into his private account,
He could be getting nearly $8000 a month right now compared to the $1900 he gets ($1169 SSI and
$775 private on 1/10 the amount). Social Security didn't save us from the depression, Adolf Hitler
and his war did.

Statehood and the Properties and Territories of the United States:
Our territories, such as Puerto Rico and Guam, enjoy all the benefits of being a member of the US
without any of the costs that are associated with it. We must demand these semi-states either 
accept full statehood or lose the protections afforded by the governement.

Tariffs:
The Constitution states that Congress has the power to lay tariffs to incoming goods to imported
foreign goods and that this money may be used for the operation of the federal government. Not only
would taxation of our people be able to end, it would ensure that our manufaturers would have to
pay a price to move their jobs out of the country. It's much less desirable to pay for a new 
manufacturing plant in a foreign country to get cheap labor if their is a penalty for importing
goods into the US. We're becoming a low paying service economy because many of the good manufacturing
jobs have left for cheaper pastures. They get to make more profit at the same price and we get to
make less money.

Taxation:
Taxation is unneccessary if the concept of tariffs are applied appropriately and the federal government
reduces itself back to the purposes it was meant to do according to the Constitution. The progressive
tax law and the IRS is open to extreme abuse and perversion based on one's power and provides a
disincentive for people to earn more money. The Constitution states that Congress cannot tax the
people unless it's apportioned according to the census. What that meas is that everyone is responsible
for paying the same amount of taxes if it's required. The Sixteenth Amendment providing for the
taxation of income was never properly ratified and thus is Unconstitutional. I'm in favor of an
amendment to repeal the Sixteenth Amendment.

Veterens of War:
The men and women willing to put their own lives on the line to defend America, it's citizens, our
beliefs and way of life deserve the utmost respect and thanks from the populous. I support a strong
pension, education and health care system for anyone who honorably served to defend the United States
and to the children and spouses of those killed in that defense.

Welfare:
The Declaration of Independence says we have "the right to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness."
Nowhere in the Constitution are we guaranteed to be provided shelter, food and clothing - only the
right to be free to earn them. Welfare encourages irresponsibility because it says the government will
always be there to take care of you if you decide not to work. It's also demands the middle class pay
an unfair burden to care for those who are too lazy to work so it creates a certain amount of
resentment from those working hard to provide for their families. Government's purpose is to defend
your rights from those seeking to harm them, not to redistribute wealth. Also, people living in
areas of dense welfare and public housing have a very disproptionate amount of murder and other crime -
largely in part because they have no responsibility and plenty of free time to sit around causing
trouble.

NY State specific stuff to come