Richard Boddie for U.S. Senate

POVERTY, RACISM, AND INNER CITY PROBLEMS

These problems can only be solved through individual empowerment.
Government welfare and "anti-poverty" programs have failed, despite
the hundreds of billions of dollars poured into them. They have failed
because, for the most part, people are not empowered when they are
given something for nothing. Furthermore, these programs have drained,
through taxation, resources from the local communities which could be
used for economic development by private citizens. I am in favor of
eliminating federal mandating of local government spending, so that
communities can direct their resources toward solving their most
serious problems as they see fit.

Government can further encourage individual empowerment by
dramatically reducing or eliminating business licensing and regulatory
requirements. This would empower citizens of the inner city to go into
business, by reducing start up capital requirements. It would also
dramatically reduce the fringe costs of hiring workers. I support the
elimination of the minimum wage, to encourage the hiring of otherwise
unemployable workers. I support the establishment of free enterprise
zones in the inner city, including the elimination of property taxes
in those areas, to encourage businesses and corporations to invest and
develop commercial opportunities in the inner city. The elimination of
the federal income tax and social security payments for the first
$25,000 of income will not only reduce taxes, but will help combat
poverty by creating incentive and more spending power for the lower
economic income groups.

Most importantly, government must fulfill its primary charter of
protecting the rights of individuals through equal protection of all
citizens under the law regardless of race, religion, creed, or
national origin. I oppose racial quotas in hiring that might prevent
minority firms from hiring more minority workers. Without the
perception that a poor African American in the inner city can get
equal justice to a white cop in Simi Valley, strife and racism will
continue.

Ending the drug war, which is a main excuse for the violation of the
rights of African Americans in the inner city, which makes role models
out of rich drug dealers, and which supplies criminals with economic
power to oppress law abiding citizens, would do a great deal toward
this end.

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