Platform

Land Acknowledgement & Reparation Acknowledgement

The Pirate Party of Pennsylvania wishes to acknowledge that this state, and this nation, were founded on stolen land, and built with stolen labor. We realize the consequences of this theft still reverberate though our nation today, and that those consequences are still felt by the descendants of the victims of that theft. We realize that justice and reparation are still necessary for those crimes, and we pledge to achieve that justice and reparation, in the interests of justice, liberty, and peace for all. We respectfully acknowledge that we are occupying the lands of the Lenape Tribe and the Susquehannock Tribe. We respectfully acknowledge that the stolen labor, blood, and lives of african slaves, of women, and of unknown hosts of exploited people are the cornerstone upon which the State of Pennsylvania and the United States of America are founded. 

Preamble & Core Values

“While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free.”

Eugene V Debs

We are the Pirate Party of Pennsylvania. We believe in your sovereignty over your own life, in liberty, and in the pursuit of happiness. We believe in liberty and justice for all, and in no quarter given to the enemies of freedom. We believe in the following eight core values as tools for achieving this. 

  • We stand for open culture. No one should have the power to prevent the free exchange and expression of ideas, tools, or works.
  • We stand for transparency and openness. Government activities should not be hidden from the public.
  • We stand for individual privacy. The amount of oppression in a society is inversely proportional to its privacy protections. Individuals must be free to make personal decisions that do not harm another person.
  • We are anti-monopoly. No monopoly should be able to prevent works, tools, or ideas from: being freely used, expressed, exchanged, recombined, or taught; nor to violate individual privacy or human rights. A creator’s right to be compensated for their work or idea is only acceptable within these limitations.
  • We stand for individuals over institutions. Universal human rights apply only to human beings, and not to corporations, limited liability organizations, or other group entities.
  • We are a post-ideological values-based meritocracy. We place all options on the table. We choose a specific approach because the available evidence shows that it is the best way to promote our values. We do not make decisions based merely on tradition, popularity, authority or political expediency.
  • We are egalitarian. We believe in equality and a level playing field. We accept input from all sources, and we value all people equally.
  • We actively practice these values. We hold ourselves accountable for our own adherence to these principles.

Open Culture & Government Transparency

“The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them.”

Patrick Henry

An open and creative society needs an open culture, where creativity is not burdened by onerous patent and copyright laws. It needs a legal framework where the right of free speech is fiercely protected, along with the right of producers, publishers, and platforms to control the speech they put out. Finally, it needs a government that is transparent, while protecting the privacy of its citizens. To that end, we propose the following:

  • The right of everyone to free use of copyrighted material to make remixes, parodies, and derivative but unique works free from copyright strikes must be protected and strengthened.
  • We call for the limiting of all copyrights to a period of ten years, and the banning of digital rights management (DRM) software. 
  • Whatever marginal positive effects the patent system has had on technology have been overwhelmed by its negative effects. It has been captured by patent trolls, and by large corporations, who pervert the intended purpose of the patent system to protect individual innovators. As such, we call for the abolishment of the patent system. 
  • We support the passing of the Right to Repair bill.
  • We call upon the government to make no law, and to abolish any existing law that interferes with an individual’s free expression of speech. This includes any so-called anti-obscenity laws. 
  • We call upon the government to make no law, and to abolish any existing law that interferes with a producer, publisher, or platform enforcing their terms of service.
  • We call for all government documents, records, regulations, laws, and other such products to be released to the public domain, free from copyright. These should be available upon request, with no charge from receiving them in electronic format. 
  • We call upon the government at all levels to have an “open door” meeting policy, except when doing so would interfere with the privacy of a private individual. Any votes taken or motions made must be done in public, and not in executive session. 
  • We call for the banning of the monitoring of internet traffic of consumers by internet service providers, and banning the keeping of logs with identifying metadata by internet service providers. 
  • We recognize that the right to be secure in one’s persons, houses, papers, and effects is guaranteed by the 4th amendment to the US constitution. Cyberspace and electronic data is not exempt from the provisions of the 4th amendment. It is well beyond time that the government acknowledges this fact. All laws that weaken or violate the 4th Amendment must be abolished. 
  • We call for the expunging of all federal, state, and local criminal records after a period of ten years.

Criminal Justice Reform

“A multitude of laws in a country is like a great number of physicians, a sign of weakness and malady.”

Voltaire

We live in a carceral state, where law enforcement and the courts are a primary threat to the lives and civil liberties of its citizens, instead of their supposed role as its protectors. Increasingly, the very act of living while poor is being criminalized. This is an intolerable state of affairs. We intend to tolerate it no longer, and give this country a system of justice worthy of its ideals. This is how we intend to do it. 

  • For too long the response to any questioning of the methods or effectiveness of the police, or any rising or lowering of the crime rate, has been for law enforcement to demand more money. This is throwing good money after bad. We call for a budget and salary freeze on all police departments, local and state, and no hiring of new officers or replacement of fired or resigned officers.
  • We call for an end to funding for law enforcement public relations, investment in police training, and an end to investment in police facility renovations.
  • We call for withholding pensions, firing, and not rehiring police involved in cases of excessive force, and suspending the use of paid administrative leave for cops under investigation.
  • We call for the abolition of asset forfeiture and qualified immunity. 
  • We call for the repeal of the Law Enforcement Bill of Rights.
  • We call for the end of all police contracts with social services, care services and government agencies providing care.
  • We call for the disarming of law enforcement officers, including the police and private security.
  • We call for the end of the militarization of marginalized neighborhoods by ending broken windows policing, “precision policing,” community policing, and all iterations of quality of life policing programs (neighborhood policing, “gang” policing, “repeat-offender” policing, etc).
  • We call for the removal of cops from hospitals, and the prohibition of law enforcement from accessing private patient information. 
  • We acknowledge that surveillance technologies (CCTV, face printing, DNA and biometric databases, acoustic gunshot detection, drones, AI and risk profiling algorithms, and other forms of predictive policing) are weapons in the hands of law enforcement. We call for the end of police contracts with any private companies that provide these services and the prohibition of the experimental design and rollout of in-house systems.
  • We call for the withdrawal of Pennsylvania’s participation in police militarization programs and to refuse federal grants that entangle municipal police entities with the Department of Homeland Security, the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and FBI.
  • We call for the prohibition of training exchanges between State and local law enforcement and global military and policing entities. 
  • We call for the repeal of all laws that hide, excuse, or enable police misconduct.
  • We call for the removal of police, both public and private, from all schools.
  • We call on universities to dissolve relationships with police departments.
  • We call for the prohibition of police departments from using city contracts with universities to do IRB-exempt data analysis, geographic and community profiling, human-computer amelioration studies, and predictive analytics. Instead, divert funds to public service-related studies and community collaborations.
  • We call for removing surveillance technology and metal detectors from all schools, and for prohibiting the surveillance of students by their teachers, counselors, and school officials through programs that criminalize students and exploit relationships of trust with school officials, including Countering Violent Extremism/Targeted Violence and Terrorism Prevention.
  • We call for ending school zero-tolerance policies; ending the use of carceral-lite punishment of students; including suspensions and expulsions, that disproportionately target Black and brown students, especially Black girls; and repealing truancy laws.
  • We call for the freeing of all people not legitimately convicted of an actual crime from involuntary confinement, including but not limited to jails, prisons, immigrant detention centers, psychiatric wards, and nursing homes, starting with those who are aging, disabled, immunocompromised, held on bail, held for parole violations, and survivors.
  • We call for clemency for all criminalized survivors, and for repealing mandatory arrest and failure to protect laws that lead to the criminalization of survivors of gendered violence.
  • We call for the abolishment of “alternatives to incarceration” that are carceral in nature, including problem-solving courts and electronic monitoring and coercive restorative justice programs.
  • We call for reducing jail churn by reducing arrests.
  • We call for a reduction in funding and resources for prosecutor offices until they are on par with public defender offices.
  • We call for the end of pre-trial detention.
  • We call for the End of civil commitment.
  • We call for the Release of all people held pre-trial and on parole violations.
  • We call for all communication to and from prisoners to be free. 
  • We call for the repeal of local, state, and federal ordinances that criminalize people involved in the sex trades, drug trades, and street economies.
  • We call for decriminalizing abortion, without restriction. 
  • We call for repealing local ordinances that criminalize the occupation of public spaces—particularly for people experiencing homelessness—under statutes against loitering, loitering for the purposes of sex work, fare beating, panhandling, soliciting, camping, sleeping, and public urination and defecation. We call for banning the deployment of police when they are contacted in relation to the above.
  • We call for the decriminalization of all misdemeanor offenses, which currently account for 80% of total court dockets.
  • We call for an end to all fines and fees associated with the criminal legal process, including ticketing, cash bail, court costs, and parole and probation fees.
  • We call for the permanent closing of local jails.
  • We call for investing in community-based public safety approaches, including non-carceral violence prevention and intervention programs and skills-based education on bystander intervention, consent and boundaries, and healthy relationships.
  • We call for the removal of all law enforcement from all re-entry and shelter institutions.
  • We call for Pennsylvania to become a sanctuary state for all federal laws against victimless crimes, including but not limited to laws against sex work, the drug trade, and abortion, undocumented immigration, and unrestricted ownership bearing of firearms. 
  • We call for a prohibition of the government on the federal, state, and local level spying on citizens unless there is a warrant that specifies a person AND device to be monitored and searched. This warrant must not be secret and the citizen in question must be notified that they are under surveillance, either electronic or otherwise.
  • We call for independent oversight boards for all law enforcement.
  • We call for the end of overcharging and coercive plea deals for the purposes of obtaining a conviction. We call for the establishment of an independent oversight board for all prosecutors in order to prevent this. 
  • We call for all law enforcement officers to carry personal liability insurance, to cover costs involved with misconduct or with mistreatment of citizens and any violation of their civil rights.
  • We call for the abolishment of any incentive or quota system that would incentivize law enforcement, prosecutors, or the judiciary from pursuing arrests, convictions,  or citations. 

Corporate Law Reform

“It’s ridiculous to talk about freedom in a society dominated by huge corporations. What kind of freedom is there inside a corporation? They’re totalitarian institutions – you take orders from above and maybe give them to people below you. There’s about as much freedom as under Stalinism.”

Noam Chomsky

Corporations are creations of the State. They exist to give privileges granted by governments to a select few. Through influence peddling and corruption, corporations get laws passed and regulatory bodies captured to promote their interests. The Pirate Party of Pennsylvania supports and promotes free enterprises, and a free market. For the market to be free, corporations must not be. This is what we intend to do about it.

  • We call for the repeal of any law or regulation that gives the power of a cartel or monopoly to any corporation, group of corporations, or any other commercial entity, over any industry or geographical territory. 
  • We call for the repeal of all so-called “Right to Work” laws.
  • We call for the decriminalization of “wildcat” strikes, and other such necessary actions by workers.  
  • We call for the repeal of all laws and regulations that prevent cooperatives from receiving the same financial and legal resources available to other businesses. 
  • We support the abolition of all commercial and occupational licenses.
  • We call for an end to all industry subsidies, including agricultural subsidies.
  • We call for an end to all import duties, quotas, and tariffs.
  • We call for the seizure of all corporate entities convicted of specific offenses, and their reorganization as worker-owned cooperative firms. These offenses should include, but not be limited to:
    • Significant environmental damage. 
    • Violating the civil rights of employees, customers, or other individuals.
    • Wage theft.
    • Significant reckless endangerment of employees, customers, or other individuals.

Electoral Reform

“Democracy is based upon the conviction that there are extraordinary possibilities in ordinary people.”

Harry Emerson Fosdick, American Pastor

The electoral system of the state of Pennsylvania and the United States of America is in serious disrepair. Through a combination of voter suppression, gerrymandering, and a winner-take-all voting system that seems designed to promote stagnation, the popular will of the people continually fails to be expressed. Indeed, almost half of the population is so alienated from the electoral system that they do not participate in it. This is how we propose to combat this. 

  • We call for a prohibition of State and City candidates for office from accepting contributions from police unions and union funds.
  • We plan on enacting automatic voter registration across every state and territory, and on a national level. 
  • We call on out-of-state voter registration to be automatically valid when someone moves to Pennsylvania, and call upon other states to do the same when people move there.
  • We call for restoring voting rights to all former and current prisoners.
  • We call for the increase of resources to election boards to ensure there are a sufficient number open for a sufficient amount of time to accommodate all Pennsylvania voters, and ensure a lack of long lines, and to ensure all polling places are fully accessible. 
  • We call for prioritizing the security and integrity of all voting technology used. 
  • We call for election day to be proclaimed a state and federal holiday.
  • We call for enacting reforms to the campaign finance enforcement system that close disclosure loopholes, create a new enforcement and oversight agency or fix the FEC, and reduce opportunities for corruption or the appearance of corruption;
  • We call for Pennsylvania and all other states to establish independent redistricting commissions to avoid partisan gerrymandering
  • We call for increased funding and resources to states and municipalities for election security, administration, and information sharing.
  • We call for increased funding to replace decaying election systems and to replace or incorporate Voter Verified Paper Audit Trails.
  • We call for judicial redress to be available in situations where there is political interference in regulatory or enforcement actions against media organizations.
  • We call for the prohibition of federal officials coercing private employers to stifle the political speech of their employees, and private employers from coercing employee speech to curry favor with government actors.
  • We call for the repeal of all ballot access laws that prohibit minor parties or independent candidates free access to the General Election ballot.  All individuals who wish to run should be represented on the ballot.
  • We support the passing of the Fair Representation Act, which would allow voters to elect representatives with proportional ranked choice voting in larger multi-winner districts.
  • We call for promoting neighborhood councils as representative bodies within municipal decision making.

Education

“There’s no such thing as neutral education. Education either functions as an instrument to bring about conformity or freedom.”

Paulo Freire
  • We call for investing in youth programs that promote learning, safety, and community care.
  • We call for mutualizing all public schools into worker-owned cooperatives, with direct control and ownership resolving to the teachers and workers of the school, transforming them into private firms.
  • We call for repealing the charters of all charter schools.
  • We call for replacing the funding of education through local property taxes with a universal school voucher for all Pennsylvanian children, funded through a state-wide land value tax. 

Environment

“There is no energy crisis, food crisis, or environmental crisis. There is only a crisis of ignorance.”

R. Buckminster Fuller
  • We call for all government departments and agencies to become carbon neutral.
  • We call for an end of all direct and indirect subsidies to the fossil fuels industry, including favorable tax policies, military intervention, and any regulation or protection of fossil fuel consumer prices.
  • We call for an end to laws and regulations that hamper the development of a safe, clean, sustainable, abundant energy industry in our nation. This includes onerous laws and regulations that interfere with the development of nuclear power, especially molten salt and thorium reactors.

Healthcare

“America’s healthcare system is neither healthy, caring, nor a system.”

Walter Cronkite

Healthcare is a major concern to the residents 9f Pennsylvania and the citizens of the United States of America. It is certainly too important to leave in the hands of the government, or the government-created cartels in the pharmaceutical and insurance industries. This is how we will fix healthcare.

  • Allocate city funding towards healthcare infrastructure (including non-coercive mental healthcare), wellness resources, neighborhood based trauma centers, non-coercive drug and alcohol treatment programming, peer support networks, and training for healthcare professionals. Make these services available for free to low-income residents. Adopt a care not cops model.
  • We call for the repeal of all laws and regulations interfering with abortion.
  • We call for the abolishment of government accreditation and licensing for hospitals and medical professionals.
  • We call for the repeal of regulations that prevent the sale of insurance across state lines and prevent the operation of what amounts to insurance schemes by health professionals.
  • We call for altering the tax code to de-link employment and insurance. 
  • We call for replacing the FDA approval process with alternative, voluntary private certification firms.
  • We call for an expansion of the Medicaid system that will cover all uninsured or underinsured individuals and families so that medical debt shall no longer be the primary cause of bankruptcy. 

Immigration

If research energy were proportional to the inefficiency of the status quo, virtually every economist would study immigration. And if outrage were proportional to harm, virtually every protest on earth would be in favor of open borders. 

Bryan Caplan

America is often called a nation of immigrants. Every day we betray that legacy, with an immigration policy that makes us poorer, crueler, and less free as a people. An open immigration policy would be an economic, cultural, and civil right boon for the US, and we intend to deliver that.

  • We call for an end to immigration detention, end family separation, and to let our undocumented community members come home.
  • We call for the abolition of ICE. 
  • We call for providing unequivocal support and resources to refugee and asylum seeking communities.
  • We call for investing in multilingual resources for immigrant and asylum-seeking communities.
  • We call for a repeal of limits of the number of immigrants the US can accept for visas, residency and citizenship, and a repeal of basing access to visas, residency, and citizenship on country of origin, except in the case of refugees and asylum seekers. 
  • We call for the requirements for visas, residency, and citizenship to be made much less stringent, and that undocumented migrants be fast-tracked for approval.

Housing and Land Policy

“As no man made the land, so no man can claim a right of ownership in the land.”

Henry George
  • As the primary method for achieving affordable housing for all is to build enough housing for all, we call for the elimination or at the very least reduction of all zoning, and restrictive building and development regulations that prevent people from developing their land for housing and commercial interests. 
  • We call for investing in land stewardship councils to oversee return of land to Indigenous communities.
  • We call for repurposing empty buildings, houses, apartments, and hotels to house people experiencing homelessness.
  • We call for the prohibition of evictions.
  • We call for Community Benefits Agreements to be a community governed means of urban planning, and for making public housing accessible to everyone, repealing discriminatory laws barring people from accessing resources based on income, race, gender, sexuality, immigration status, or history of incarceration.
  • We support and promote the existence of community land trusts for Black and historically displaced communities. 
  • We call to ensure that survivors of gendered violence have access to alternative housing options in the event that their primary housing becomes unsafe.
  • We call for providing non-coercive housing options for young people experiencing abuse or family rejection of their queer or trans identities.
  • We call for installing safe and sanitary gender-inclusive public restrooms.
  • We call for investment in community-based food banks, grocery cooperatives, gardens, and farms.
  • We call for free, and more extensive, public transport, especially servicing marginalized and lower-income communities.
  • We call for assessing community needs and invest in community-based resources, including groups from tenant unions to local shop-owners and street vendors, prioritizing those from marginalized groups.
  • We call for a state land value tax to be the sole means of revenue generation for the State of Pennsylvania, with funds being allocated to counties and municipalities based on population and local land value, and the elimination of all state and local property, sales, income, and other such taxes.
  • We call for an end to traditional welfare and assistance programs to be replaced by a Universal Basic Income program.