Brett Smith

Identifies corruption and institutional capture in both major parties as the most important problem facing government.

• The section is primarily a diagnosis rather than a detailed policy prescription.

Create a wage-gap surcharge on Oregon employers with 50 or more employees when wages fall below a living-wage benchmark.

• Sliding surcharge from zero at the living wage to the full rate at the state minimum wage • Employers under 50 workers exempt • Partial phase-in for employers with 50–249 workers; full rate for 250+ • Annual recalibration using living-wage and public-assistance cost data

Direct surcharge revenue toward public programs affected by low wages and require employer-level transparency.

• Majority of revenue to Oregon Health Plan and food-assistance administration • Additional share to wage support and workforce training • Small administrative reserve • Publish covered employers' low-wage workforce share and surcharge payments • Civil penalties for false or late reporting

Expand the Oregon Health Plan into a public option open to all Oregon residents while retaining private insurance as a choice.

• Universal eligibility regardless of income or employment • Comprehensive benefits with no core-service deductibles • Automatic/simple enrollment using existing OHP infrastructure • Income-based premiums, including zero premium below the median-income threshold • Maximum premium caps for higher earners • Multi-year phase-in using existing Medicaid infrastructure

Cap education administrative spending, standardize reporting, and redirect savings toward classroom instruction and teacher compensation.

• Cap Oregon Department of Education administrative spending • Annual district overhead reporting • Corrective plans and temporary hiring restrictions for high-overhead districts • Restructuring grants tied to classroom reinvestment

Separate statewide academic standards from locally controlled cultural and curricular framing.

• State retains core academic outcome standards • Local elected boards control historical framing, social theory, sex education, and gender-identity curriculum policy • Protect local authority in statute • Maintain diploma portability and parent curriculum-transparency rights • Preserve federal civil-rights compliance and student-transfer protections

Use gubernatorial appointment authority and Port rules to restrict specified military exports to designated active conflict zones.

• Appoint commissioners committed to ethical export oversight • Restrict military-grade weapons and specified military-only components • Use documented findings from established international bodies for designations • Create an independent legal/human-rights advisory panel • Condition leases and port access on compliance; use fines or suspension for violations • Publish designations and enforcement decisions

Support state-level Defend the Guard legislation barring deployment of Oregon National Guard units into active combat without a formal declaration of war by Congress.

Proposes an Oregon constitutional amendment under which artificial legal persons would not possess political spending or election voting power except for defined political committees.

• The proposal includes civil enforcement, forfeiture of state-conferred privileges for violations, disclosure rules, and severability provisions.

States that society should protect vulnerable people and that any freedom or right afforded to one person should be afforded to everyone.