LIT Platform

Capitalism has cost the lives of countless people in the U.S. For us all to thrive there needs to be a massive change in the values of our economy.

Instate a federal minimum wage of at least $16/hour across all sectors and including service industry/tipped workers, incarcerated people, people with disabilities, and youth under 18.

• Adjust for inflation and use higher wages to reduce unemployment and improve economic security and opportunity for the working class.

• Raise the wage to relieve people from the threat that capitalism has put on our lives.

Completely reform social welfare in this country to end the policing of participants and direct efforts towards stability and empowering self-determination among participants.

• The failing policy that governs current social and economic welfare programs is based in fear of fraud and harmful myths about participants. Refocus policy to unconditionally meet the basic needs of participants and empower them to determine what’s best for themselves.

• Ensure that people receiving disability support are given livable and just benefits and strengthen national standards to reduce disparities in access to benefits across geographic areas.

• Protect bodily autonomy for people with disabilities and foster their self-determination.

• End the gatekeeping in welfare programs and eliminate the risk of losing benefits due to strict eligibility requirements, resource limits, or punishment for mistakes a person makes.

Increase accountability from lenders by adding to loan rate reporting and disclosure requirements, and taking other measures to protect people from predatory lending practices.

Value and compensate young people for their time, labor, energy, and experience.

• Center the people most affected by low wages- young people, Black and Brown people, trans people, and other members of communities who are marginalized in the economy.

• Fund the innovation that young Black and Brown people bring to this country.

Enforce taxation, regulation, and redistribution of wealth to foster equal opportunity and equal responsibility in creating a just and equitable society.

• Close the wealth gap. Macro-level economics continuously widens the gap between races, genders, education levels, differing abilities, etc. 

• Under our current economic system wealthy, white, cis-male people are getting richer while poorer, Black and Brown, womxn and gender non-conforming people are pushed further away from financial stability and access to opportunities for acquiring economic power.

• Those closest to the pain of economic policy failures should be the closest to the decision-making table.

Protect workers by supporting their rights and enforcing regulations that protect them.

• Support unions and collective bargaining and raise the bar for fair pay and benefits.

• Enforce regulations for employee rights and good working conditions with safe channels to report violations, including for undocumented workers. Impose high penalties for violators.

• Recognize the use of questions about a person’s criminal record as a discriminatory practice and “ban the box.” Ensure that hiring practices, including banning the box, are included under non-discrimination laws and enforcement.

Reclaim our economy to ensure that basic necessities are being met, and opportunities are accessible to all regardless of race, gender, or immigration status.

• Reprioritize federal spending to bolster equity and fund local innovation. Put more funds into grants for youth, BIPOC, womxn/femme, and/or LGBTQ people and institutions.

• Increase federal poverty levels by at least 50 percent and provide a basic income to all households living under 200 percent of the poverty line.

• Decrease defense spending to improve the federal budget deficit and fund investment in other areas of the country’s spending.

• Expand relief for individuals most impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic including direct payments and protections related to basic needs such as housing security and a regular income.

Fully fund public education and commit to the reform of school environments.

• Schools should be well-resourced, students should be safe and supported, and educators should be compensated appropriately for the immense value of their work.

• States should not rely so much on property taxes to fund education, as this approach fuels disparities.

• Reform national standards for schools to provide historically accurate curriculum, trade, life skills, and creative education curriculum, and comprehensive and inclusive sex education.

• Students should have complete access to on-campus/in-school mental health support, thorough guidance counseling, nurses, and classroom technology and resources.

• Invest in extracurricular programs and spaces for youth as well as after school programs.

Make higher education accessible to all and remove the financial burdens students are left with for pursuing a post-secondary degree.

• Make all public institutions and technical colleges tuition-free and make the federal aid application process more inclusive and simpler to follow.

• Eliminate student loan debt with immediate relief to low-income people and those affected by predatory lending.

End the systemic criminalization of youth of color, youth with disabilities, and undocumented youth in schools.

• Protect schools and school activites as sanctuary spaces for undocumented students and their families and end all cooperation between ICE and public education institutions.

• End the use of police, school metal detectors, arrests and citations, suspensions and expulsions, and seclusion and restraints completely from all public education systems.

Protect and expand Title IX and anti-discrimination protections in higher-ed.

• In addition to Title IX and ADA coordinators, invest in racial equity on campus by mandating a role committed to addressing discrimination and harm along lines of race, color, or national origin. This role, possibly a Title VI Coordinator, should be provided with guidance for ending race-based hate and discrimination in campus communities.

Invest in students and education staff of color by providing targeted investment to Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI), and Tribal Colleges.

• Specific funding should be dedicated to the success of these institutions and federal grants and loan repayment programs should have specific commitments to students in these institutions.

Reconcile for the state-sponsored oppression of Black communities.

• Pay extensive reparations to all Black Americans who are descendants of slaves. Publicly acknowledge and apologize for the racial injustices that have been committed and occur to this day.

Reconcile for the genocide and the political and economic violence committed against Native communities.

• Pay reparations and expand protections and tribal ownership of sacred and native land/reservations.

Abolish police and prisons and reconcile for the harms and abuses of Black and Brown people at the hands of the U.S. criminal “justice” system.

• Expand and enforce civil rights in all areas of government, with a focus on the criminal justice system and the elimination of police brutality.

Eliminate the power of government systems to discriminate and marginalize BIPOC communities in grants, welfare programs, civil rights, environmental protections, and every other area of government oversight.

• Enforce discrimination protections and establish harm and bias prevention expectations, such as training, for entities seeking accreditation or government grants or contracts.

Prioritize sustainability and widespread job-creation in infrastructure policy and development.

• Transportation can be a barrier between many people and jobs, food, healthcare, and education. Develop modern, sustainable transportation options that improve access.

• Strengthen environmental protection and sustainability standards for new infrastructure.

• Concentrate the jobs created by development in geographic areas with fewer employment opportunities.

Internet infrastructure should be developed so that high-speed internet is safe and accessible to all.

• The protection of civil liberties must extend to internet data. Limit monitoring and ban censorship by establishing clear protections for digital property and information.

Safe and affordable living spaces should be accessible to everyone, regardless of where they live. Communities should be afforded protection from gentrification and displacement.

• Guarantee housing as a right and provide housing for all who cannot afford it. Protect communities from gentrification and displacement to ensure people can afford to stay and can live safely in their own communities.

• Provide more homeownership to those historically marginalized and support and invest in the physical development of communities by the people who have lived there. Limit the ability of people to own many properties outside of the community they live in.

• Make improvements to the built environment, such as roads or green space, requested by low-income communities and needed in high-traffic areas.

• Direct funds towards development and ownership models such as cooperatives and community land trusts. Implement policy that facilitates community and equity.

Build for accessibility for all and dedicate funds to updating currently inaccessible structures.

• Add elevators and ramps at public transit access points and ensure accessible rest stops or waiting areas along transit routes.

Require healthcare and pharmaceuticals to be priced at cost and provide universal access to free healthcare, including mental healthcare, and pharmaceuticals for all people in the United States.

• End the for-profit model in all aspects of the healthcare field, including insurance, care, and prescriptions.

• Often excluded or out-of-pocket care, including preventative healthcare, holistic and cultural approaches to care, and access to contraceptives or abortion care, is included under universal access for all. Provide coverage and immediately require its coverage by insurance providers seeking to be included in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) marketplace.

Target the institutional bias that leads to disparate health outcomes and provide equal opportunity for funding to community-based and culturally relevant approaches to care.

Deem menstrual products “necessities of life” and ban taxation on these products.

Redirect resources divested from policing and prisons towards free, high-quality drug rehabilitation and mental healthcare.

Invest in progressing the U.S. healthcare system to serve quality care to all.

• Provide extensive education funding and training or pipeline programs, specifically for people of color and low-income people, to join the healthcare field.

• Invest in new healthcare infrastructure, prioritizing geographic areas that currently have less access.

• Address disparities in healthcare, namely the dangerous experiences of women of color as well as queer, trans, GNC/non-binary, and fat people, all of whom have been targeted by the harms of our healthcare system.

• Fund tribal communities to develop healthcare access on their land.