John Rogers: Platform
Introduction
The platform below is a living and working document setting out my positions on the pressing issues facing us. There are many issues not mentioned below, but my reference point on any issue is what is best for the people of Western North Carolina, always. America is in need of a moral reawakening. A destructive, hyper-individualistic ideology and full-on consumer materialism has for too long held sway, and it has led us to the abyss we now face. Our leaders have truly lost their way and we must re-establish community, caring, and connection with others. That is what this platform is about.
All the great religions of the world ask us to care for one another, to love one another. Without getting too sappy about it, this campaign is about love. We saw this love when we came together to help one another after Hurricane Helene. We need more of that love in this world, not less. We can make it happen: real change, right now and it starts with you. Please join us.
Rebuilding our Health Care System
Our profit-oriented health care system is a disaster. We pay more per capita, far more, than any other country and yet we face spiraling costs and many of us have no coverage at all. Health insurance marketplace premiums are doubling and tripling and people have to choose between feeding their families, putting a roof over their head or getting health care. This is absolutely insane.
Health care is a human right. We all deserve good, affordable health care.
Many here in Western North Carolina will lose their health insurance and access to hospitals because of policy choices made by people like Chuck Edwards. I will fight to fund Medicaid and Medicare and our rural hospitals so that people across Western North Carolina and North Carolina as a whole have access to the care they need.
I am a strong supporter of a Medicare for All system and I will oppose any cuts to Medicare and Medicaid.
Americans pay more for prescriptions per capita than any other country in the world. If elected, I’ll work to allow the US government to negotiate drug prices with Big Pharma. Unlike many people on both sides of the aisle, I will not accept contributions from Big Pharma and I will not be in their pocket. I’ll put the people of Western North Carolina first, not Big Pharma.
Affordability
We are all feeling the squeeze of sky-high price increases while our income stays the same. Corporate profits continue to hit new records, reaching a whopping $4 trillion in 2024. And the retail and healthcare industries—which working families rely on the most for their everyday needs—have enjoyed the highest profit increases.
How do we fix this mess? Here’s the starting point: I will push for policies to improve wages and bargaining power. This means indexing the minimum wage to the rate of inflation. And granting workers an effective right to unionize by passing pro-working family legislation like the PRO Act and the Faster Contract Act. I will also promote policies to limit the ability of corporations to enrich themselves at the expense of working Americans. I also support anti-monopoly efforts, to ensure that working families aren’t squeezed by skyrocketing prices.
The affordability crisis will not be fixed by some magical set of subsidies, “means tests,” and other marginal tweaks. I recognize these weak “solutions” offered by those in both parties for what they are: compromises that cannot solve the problems working families face. Since 2020, both parties have had a chance to resolve the affordability crisis, and both have failed. The people of Western North Carolina deserve a candidate who will offer effective solutions.
We need real change, right now, and it starts with you.
Protect Social Security
Social Security provides a safety net for the people of Western North Carolina, but it is under attack. I will vote to lift the payroll tax on Social Security and make sure that all who should pay for Social Security actually pay for it.
Action on the Housing Crisis
The housing crisis here and across the US is massive. The American dream of owning a home is fading away, as private equity firms and hedge funds buy up housing stock to enrich wealthy investors. We used to provide federal support for housing creation. I will work to bring that back. I also support expanding the VA home loan program to promote housing access.
I will work to prevent hedge funds from buying homes and mobile home parks and I will work to rein in the monopolists and keep them from stifling competition in the rental marketplace.
Foreign Wars
We have spent over $9 trillion dollars on foreign wars this century. Imagine how much better off we would all be if that $9 trillion had been spent here. We need to spend our tax dollars in America first, not on foreign wars. From Iraq and Afghanistan, to Ukraine, Gaza and now Venezuela, the deep state has never met a war it does not like. This has led to thousands of lost and injured American service members and devastating consequences for people in these regions.
I will not vote to continue paying for foreign wars. We should not be involved in what leading voices have called the genocide in Gaza, the war in Ukraine and regime change efforts in Venezuela. We should not have fought in Iraq, where weapons of mass destruction were never found. These conflicts have led to an unspeakable loss of life for all involved, and have diverted tax dollars that should be spent here, improving the quality of life for people in Western North Carolina. I will represent the interests of people here in Western North Carolina, not the war profiteers that so many in both parties serve.
Support Small Business – Break up Monopolies
Small business, in WNC and beyond, has entered a new period of crisis. I will support small businesses, remove red tape and reduce taxation and otherwise make it possible for as many people as possible to start small businesses.
I will also fight monopolies that strangle small business. Monopolies have significant control over the American economy, with a few large corporations and hedge funds dominating various sectors, leading to higher prices and reduced competition. This concentration of market power limits competition, causes inflation and hurts all consumers, who pay much more than they otherwise would in our monopolized economy.
This is a crisis and a blight on our land that is taking everyone down.
There are legislators on both sides of the aisle who recognize this. I will work with them to identify and solve problems and to support small business. Righting these wrongs will be a top priority for me.
End Billionaire Tax Breaks
When I worked at the IRS in the Office of Chief Counsel, I enforced the tax law against large corporations. I have also worked at low-income taxpayer clinics at Catholic University Law School and Pisgah Legal Services and I see how the Tax Code hurts America’s less well off. The Tax Code is often a tool to make the rich richer and the poor, poorer, and I will work to change that.
I will work to lower tax on small businesses, to allow taxpayers to claim refunds over the same period that the IRS can collect taxes, and work to ensure that hedge fund profits are always taxed at ordinary rates so they pay their fair share.
Freedom
Government and corporate surveillance threaten the freedom of every American. This surveillance has gone too far, and I will work to roll back this surveillance and to impose safeguards.
This surveillance apparatus threatens the most fundamental freedoms of Americans. I support free speech unequivocally. Enough of people losing their jobs or being deported because they say things that others don’t like. People who don’t like what they hear should join the conversation in a civilized fashion.
Similarly, the surveillance apparatus threatens the right to choose. If unhindered, the surveillance state will gain access to your phone and use information on your phone to prevent you from making your choice and, potentially, prevent you from traveling freely across the United States.
I support the right to choose. I believe Roe v. Wade was correctly decided and I will work to restore this approach. I also support cheap and easily available birth control so that we can, to the greatest extent possible, stop unwanted pregnancies and prevent the need for abortion in the first place. I also support marriage equality.
Our freedoms are what made us great in the past and made us a beacon of hope to the world. I proudly support these freedoms.
Protect WNC’s Economy; Raise the Federal Minimum Wage
The buying power of the American worker has eroded since we last raised the minimum wage. The federal minimum wage needs to be raised and indexed to inflation so that all workers have an income floor and certainty.
Reverse Citizens United
Under Citizens United, corporations are people with free speech rights. Thus, corporations now spend massive amounts on elections. Corporations are not people and their ability to spend massive sums in elections is distorting democracy. I will work to reverse the Citizens United decision.
Stop Mass Deportation; Pass Real Immigration Reform
Many large corporations have no interest in immigration reform. Some want illegal workers with no rights to whom they can pay low wages and abuse without consequence. Rather than going after large employers who hire undocumented workers/illegal immigrants, the government is picking people off the street and putting them in horrific prisons. There are innumerable better, more humane and moral measures this government could take to control the border.
A strong and secure border is necessary, but we have to recognize that our policies (like trade policies that destroy local jobs in other parts of the Americas - like NAFTA) which are supported by large corporations and hedge funds, produce mass immigration. These policies hurt us here and they hurt migrants, too.
We also have to remember that one of the things that makes us exceptional is our immigrant history. People came here in their huddled masses yearning to be free and to live, work, and raise families. We have to do right morally and legally in our immigration policies. We need real immigration reform and I will work to ensure that the rights of all are met and that these performative street actions stop.
Defend the Post Office and Enact Postal Banking
The Post Office is a vital lifeline for towns across America. I will protect it from all those who want to gut it for private profit, and I will act to reverse the shameful delays in processing time brought on by decades of underfunding.
I will also work to pass a Postal Banking Act, which would allow the Postal Service to provide basic banking services to Americans not otherwise able to access the regular banking system.
Support our Military Personnel
Our military service members serve to protect us and have in far too many cases made the ultimate sacrifice for us. We must be forever thankful and must never shirk from our responsibility to take care of them and their families. I will vote to make sure that our military personnel are properly paid and to ensure that our service members and families always have all the resources they need.
Law and Order
I believe in law and order. We have a right to walk the streets without fear. I will work to ensure adequate funding exists to address all aspects of lawlessness, including, if need be, prison, drug treatment and counseling.
Paying for All This
Right now, the cost of America’s war spending is tremendously high. As noted, we have spent $9 trillion on foreign wars this century, all failed wars. Imagine if that money had been spent here in America first. America is strong when its people are strong. Right now, though, America’s people are hurting, America is hurting and we need to focus our resources here rather than on failed wars abroad. That $9 trillion should have been available for everything I’ve discussed above. It is just a matter of will. I will do everything possible to ensure that we do not spend more trillions on misguided foreign wars and that we spend that peace dividend here, in America.
Reach Out
Unfortunately, the ills pervading our society are numerous and I’ve not mentioned many of the policy issues to take them on, like free child care and community college and a thorough review of the government’s activities here after Helene. I, of course, support these initiatives. I also support the ideas behind former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s economic bill of rights. If there are specific issues you would like me to discuss with you and your neighbors, please contact our campaign and ask us to come visit.
Also, please consider downloading and signing the petition to get my name on the ballot in November 2026, and reaching out to our campaign to canvass.