Immigration

The question is not whether we should secure our borders. We need to make sure our borders are secure and enforce them effectively. That said, I am very much in favor of legal immigration. Immigration has been the life blood of this country from the very beginning. We are a nation of immigrants, coming from all around the world, and we should continue that tradition by improving the ability of LEGAL guest workers and LEGAL immigrants to enter this country.

A fundamental responsibility of the Federal government is to secure our borders and enforce them. While our government is spending far too much attention in areas it shouldn't be operating in, the areas where it should be operating to the fullest are suffering.

Steps to solve the problems:
• No Amnesty.
Providing amnesty again would further degrade the rule of law in this country. It is not right to provide the same benefit of citizenship to those who disregarded our laws as those who regarded them. If we provide amnesty, which laws do we then choose to obey and which ones do we choose to disregard?

• Attrition through Enforcement and a no option deadline:
There is no practical way to deport all the illegal aliens in the United States. However, by removing the employment and entitlement incentives combined with a no option deadline individuals will be self motivated to deport themselves and return through a legal process.

No option deadline: At a specified date in the future, anyone caught in the United States illegally will have no option for future citizenship or the option to participate in a guest worker program. Prior to this deadline, all illegal aliens will have the option to return to their country, and then return to the United States through the proper channels via the citizenship path or a guest worker path. Of course, we will also need to speed up and improve the citizenship process and provide for a guest worker program.

Baby Boomer Retirement Plan

Brooks will use actions, not just words, to prove to our seniors that there is no such thing as a spare New Jerseyan, and to build a nation where seniors are treated with fairness when it comes to taxes, retirement security and health care. Our government must take the lead in making America the most senior-friendly nation. We need leadership that works to increase the independence of and secure the retirements of older Americans.


Paths to Progress
As America’s next US Senator, Daryl Mikell Brooks will fight for:

• Provide Statewide Prescription Drug Assistance. Brooks will work to help seniors afford their prescription drugs and implement a statewide program to help seniors navigate the confusing Medicare prescription drug plan.

• Strengthen New Jersey Retirement Security. Brooks supports the strengthening New Jersey state employee retirement system, protect private-sector pensions, and make smart investments to guarantee the financial security of our retirees.

• Preserve Financial Independence. Brooks will fight for tax relief to adults who are covering their own health care expenses independently of Medicaid. Brooks also supports expanding individual and employer credits for long-term care insurance, developing caregiver tax credits, and special assistance for custodial grandparents.

• Support Families with Older Adults. Brooks supports family leave policies for state employees so that they can take time off to care for their parents and grandparents without worrying about losing their job.

Why I'm Running

Why I'm Running
America was built on the idea of making and leaving a better place for our children and grandchildren. President Bush and Senator Frank Lautenberg have not kept this promise.

A misguided war and record deficits are crippling our future.
I will ask tough questions and dig for answers and expose sweetheart deals that are costing you and your families millions of wasted tax dollars. Today, that corruption continues, quite frankly, because our government is held hostage by special interests groups, who are the real rulers in Washington. They prevent us from dealing with the problems facing our nation. We have to act now to break their grip and return power to you, the American people.
Washington is broken and our Senator, Frank Lautenberg and the Democrats, are fully complicit in this culture of corruption. He works against New Jersey’s interests and rewards his big money donors with his votes…big business, large insurance companies and lobbyist friends. Our jobs are being outsourced, Lautenberg has no leadership on immigration, and instead works for his friends in China.
Lautenberg has turned his back on students and their families as college tuition skyrockets.

We also have to fix our tax system and change it in a way that provides across-the-board tax relief. It has to provide at least as much help to the middle class and small businesses as it does to the special interests who can afford high-powered lobbyists. A tax system that shifts its burden to the middle class and small businesses while giving special breaks and loopholes to the wealthy and powerful is just wrong. Let's tell it like it is…The IRS has lost the trust of the American people and need to abolish and replace with a better system.

You may be asking yourself why will be any different when I get to Washington. You may think, like I do, that politicians always talk a good game at election time, but then get to Washington and become part of the problem. I will be different. I will not take money from special interests PACs or registered Washington lobbyists - not for this campaign, and not after I get elected. The best way to stay true to what I promise you, and to what I believe, is to stay outside the system that has corrupted so many before me, and that's why I will never take money from PACs or registered Washington lobbyists.

I hope you'll join me. Since I am not taking the easy money that's corrupted so many, I need help from individuals like you, who want to take our country back. We're going up against wealthy, powerful special interests, so anything you can afford to give will be greatly appreciated.

I respectfully ask for your support. It is time we fight back.
I offer trustworthy, competent and genuine leadership. I am not a Politician.

Together we can make a difference.
I am Daryl Mikell Brooks. I am running for Senate.

Who is Daryl Mikell Brooks

I have been a resident of Trenton and New Jersey for 39 years and I can say in all honesty that I love this place. It has been my home and my support for a long time. It is the place that provided me with an education, with work and with opportunities. As a former host of a talk show on WTTM and Comcast, running for Congress in 2004 and US Senate in 2006. As editor of Today's News or founder and president of Positive Link, the needs of this community have always been foremost on my mind. As an activist I have sought to confront those issues that plague our neighborhoods: drugs and alcohol, guns and gang violence, an inadequate educational system and police corruption.

I seek to create relationships and build bridges between residents, business leaders, politicians and social-service agencies. I want to recognize the voice of our young people and, with everyone, to begin the serious work of change.
My friends, America is a troubled place and we have all seen too many dreams fade away in the face of hopelessness. We have millions who are impoverished, millions in prisons, and millions more without access to decent healthcare. We live in a nation where not one, but both of the leading parties - yes Democrats and Republicans - have abandoned those who need them the most in order to guarantee the privilege of those who line their pockets. But there is one thing they have forgotten; there is one thing that they have underestimated. They have forgotten that it is precisely those who struggle who built this country and it is the poor, the oppressed and the neglected who will fight the good fight to make it great.

As the president of the Poor Peoples Campaign, I have joined people of faith all across this country in taking up the banner of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to say that we must not let dreams of a better world remain dreams. We must fight to make those dreams a reality. We must always pray with our hearts, but we must also pray with our hands for a tomorrow where equality, opportunity, peace and justice are not just nice words at campaign time but the lived experience of every generation.

And what kind of prayer will that be? It will be a prayer to reform a criminal justice system that continues to measure color of skin towards verdict. It will be a prayer where all people are treated with the dignity they deserve with access to health care. It will be prayer that seeks to squash poverty, where we fight for better schools and education and where we protect affirmative action. It is a prayer to preserve this creation that God has so blessed us with and to restore cities, suburbs and country. It a prayer where we end senseless wars abroad and at home.
My dear citizens, it will always be dangerous to raise our voice as the citizens of old once did. We will always be at risk for attempting to right wrongs, but I must ask: if not now, then when? If not us, then who? The time has come for a new voice, one that places peace and justice at the very heart of its ideology. The time has come to admit that the party we have supported for so long has taken us for granted. It is time now for the Independent Party.

I ask you today for your support, your encouragement and your wisdom. I ask for the kind of support that calls people to action in November 2008 and, humbly, for the paper kind that makes it possible to run elections! I ask for your support as an African American man, seeking to authentically represent the needs of the people in New Jersey and their neighbors of every creed and ethnicity.

EDUCATION

America’s strategic and economic dominance over the last fifty years has been driven in large part by our preeminence in the fields of science and engineering. Discovery and invention have fueled business and helped create entirely new industries, from gene therapy to semiconductors, which in turn have created high paying jobs. But we cannot continue to be competitive as a nation if our citizens are not educated in the skills and the trades that matter in the global marketplace. On this front, our schools are failing our young people. Average New Jerseyans understand this, which is why a woman in Mercer County who had been recently laid off told me that she was not worried about herself. Instead, she was most concerned about her 8th grade granddaughter because the local schools were not teaching her the things she would need to know to find a job.

China and India are rapidly closing the gap between us and them. China now graduates four times the number of engineers as the U.S., and India graduates a million more students from college than we do. Yet we in America are wedded to an outdated and obsolete education system. Simply put, we are not doing the things necessary to make sure that little girl in Mercer County will have the tools to succeed.

If we are to remain competitive – let alone retain our position of dominance – these trends must be reversed. To do this, we will need to break free of the same tired arguments we have been hearing for decades. We need to radically reform our education system so every child in New Jersey and America has access to the best education in the world
The future is now for American children!!!

Early Education. First, we must make pre-kindergarten education the norm in this country so that all children, from the age of 3, attend quality schools. The data is irrefutable: the best long-term predictor of student achievement is the quality of education a child receives from birth to age five. The brain develops in remarkable ways during that period. As a first step towards this national program, we have introduced the P-KOPS bill, which places qualified pre-kindergarten teachers into high need areas so that all children – no matter their families’ economic situation – have access to quality pre-K schooling.


Character Education. Second, we need to ensure that our kids learn more than just how to be good students; we also need to teach them how to be good people. The 3 R’s are no longer enough. Now, we need to teach our children the 4 R’s – reading, writing, arithmetic and how to do what’s right. This is why Brooks will support the PRIDE Act to promote citizenship and character education in our public and private schools.


10,000 New Teachers to Teach 1,000,000 Kids. Third, we need to recruit 10,000 new teachers, which will help 1 million students. Brooks supports the 21st Century Innovation Act, which creates competitive 4-year scholarships for students to obtain college degrees in science, engineering and math in exchange for a commitment to teach in public K-12 schools for at least 5 years. Our schools are crying out for qualified teachers, and it is time to place the full resources of the federal government behind this effort.

Strengthen Skills of Existing Teachers. Fourth, we should help existing teachers sharpen their skills through ongoing education and summer training seminars. Our 21st Century Innovation Act will help 250,000 current K-12 teachers by funding summer institutes and part-time master’s degree programs.


Expanding Access to College Education. Fifth, we need to help every young person in America who wants to attend college achieve their dream. The only qualification for getting a college education should be whether or not a young person is smart enough – cost should no longer be a barrier. Our Service for School Act will pay up to four years of tuition for any student in America in exchange for that student’s commitment to fore go Social Security benefits until they reach the age of 70 and an agreement to participate in a national service program, such as active military, the National Guard and Reserves, Peace Corps, or AmeriCorps. By harnessing our young people’s civic pride and volunteerism, we can give them the tools they need to take on the challenges of tomorrow. A significant challenge confronts us, but we can and we will overcome it. Time and again, Americans have shown the strength and ability to meet any challenge. I have full confidence that we will build on our success of the last century and continue to innovate and lead in this one.

ECONOMY

Economy A stronger economy leads to improved health care, better education, higher-paying jobs, and a superior quality of life for almost everyone. However, having a very strong economy does not mean that we have to go through life worrying about environmental problems and longing to buy more and more material things to accumulate. We have an economy so that we can eat, drink, be healthy and happy; so it makes sense that we would also want to focus on whether or not our economy is keeping us satisfied, and whether or not our economy is supporting a sturdy and enduring society for our grandchildren.


If we want to maintain our quality of life and still remain satisfied even during the challenging times that may come in the future, then we need to create true depth in our economy by requiring more local control, interdependence and the sustainable use of resources. By moving beyond simple financial growth as the only ideal, we can find prosperity locally with a return to the days when we grew and consumed more of our food locally, and even generated and used most of our energy locally. By paying slightly more up-front for more durable U.S.-made products we will bolster the economy because things will last longer and we therefore will save resources; environmental costs will be lower by eliminating worldwide shipping and ensuring non-polluting industries; and U.S. workers will have more jobs and better wages because we will buy the goods that our factories make here.


The easiest way to continue building foundations for a strong economy that is also sustainable is to use the power of business, industry and the capital economy to drive improvements in ecosystem and worker productivity, quality and market share – all of which yield better wages and longer-lasting jobs. For years I have worked in the business world solving core problems that drive cost savings and returns on investments that allow companies to grow their business and hire more employees. I have contributed to solutions to complex, long-term problems at many of the world’s largest companies, and I have learned how to listen to the needs and requirements of workers from the factory floor to the boardroom. By applying my business experience in the U.S. Senate I can work for solutions that have proven successes in the real world and can be measured with returns that properly account for all of the costs and reward all participants in the economy.


We are crippling ourselves with an interest payment of almost $1 billion per day on our National debt. With an extra $30 billion every month we can rebuild a lot of the bridges, roads, water and electrical systems that are old and failing. With an extra $90 billion every quarter we could really help to modernize and update schools systems and that pump matching educational money into state coffers as incentives for meeting educational goals. With an extra $350+billion a year we can really begin reparations to the social security program, as well as health care.


The National debt has grown from roughly $5.5 trillion in 2000 to almost $9 trillion in just over 2000 days.This increase of more than 60% in six years is unacceptable even if the Iraq war had been funded completely from debt – its total costs are still under$700 billion – the most expensive war in history.There is another $2.5 - $3 trillion in debt that has been added to our burden. This is due to fiscal irresponsibility, tax breaks for the ultra rich and subsidies for the most profitable industries. I will speak up in the U.S. Senate to keep a constant focus on fiscal responsibility in our Federal budget.


• I will fight to make sure that New Jersey gets there sources we need – including investments in renewable energy and other innovative technology, technology to grow our businesses and create new, higher-paying jobs. In order to attract new investments and new jobs I will work hard in the U.S. Senate to get funding to make sure that New Jersey communities are desirable places to do business by getting Federal support to maintain and update our infrastructure –including highways, bridges and water mains -- to bring new opportunities for economic development.


• New Jersey businesses deserve to have fair access to all international markets and we must have a level playing field for our farmers, workers and labor unions. Free trade does not equal fair trade, and as a U.S. Senator, I will insist that integrated labor,environmental and socioeconomic minimum standards be apart of the trade agreements we negotiate with other countries.

HEALTH CARE

Health Care
There have been periods in my life when I did not have health insurance because of the expense. I can remember just praying that nothing would happen to me until I could find a way to get coverage again. I thought about the care that I might receive as anindigent in a public hospital if I were to be injured or become gravely ill and couldn’t pay for the services. It was a frightening thought, especially when I knew how some folks were being taken care of in private hospitals with the best doctors and newest health care technology. This fear should never be in the mind of a human being in a country as great as the United States, especially when we are spending twice as much on health care per person as the average developed country.


Almost one in five Americans, and more than nine million children, don't have health insurance. For those of us who do have insurance, we often find out that our claims will be rejected when we need a certain medication that has no generic, or a special new treatment, or specialist care that may be out o four area. Health care premiums have more than doubled in the last seven years and are growing five times faster than wages, while our insurance companies have become incredibly wealthy. We must reduce errors,improve patient care and lower our health care costs by using the government’s buying power to negotiate lower prescription drug prices and begin modernizing our nation's health care infrastructure.


As a U.S. Senator, I will go to bat for the citizens of our great state every day, to ensure that we are moving forward on our path towards fully accessible health insurance and medical care for all who desire it. Prescription drugs must be made cheaper, and we must have answers for why there has been price gouging. Health care awareness and delivery to minorities and other under served groups is completely lacking and must be addressed for the United States to make any headway towards increasing quality of life for the population as a whole. My goal as a U.S.Senator is nothing less than for every American to have quality, affordable health care.