Michael Arth, an independent gubernatorial candidate in Florida, emphasizes sustainable urban development, drug policy reform, and social justice, advocating for more compassionate treatment of marginalized communities. He highlights failures in the current systems regarding healthcare, education, and civil rights, proposing innovative solutions for issues like homelessness and overpopulation. With a focus on environmental stewardship and intelligent governance, Arth calls for comprehensive reforms that promote equity and improve quality of life for all Floridians.

1. THE HIGHLANDS TEA PARTY Sebring, Florida http://thehighlandsteaparty.com/

2. Michael Arth for Govenor of Florida Party Affiliation NONE http://www.michaelearth.org/org/index.html

3. Michael Arth

4. About Michael Arth The oldest of seven children, Michael E. Arth left home at age 17 to begin a 39–year–long career in the fields of art , architecture, urban design , and policy analysis. Michael has traveled and lived in various places around the world, and spent the greater part of 20 years working as a home/landscape/urban designer and builder in California. In 2001 Michael moved with his wife Maya to DeLand , Florida and bought 32 crumbling homes and businesses in what was then known as “Cracktown.” Today Michael, Maya, and their daughter Sophia live in his newly christened Downtown DeLand's Historic Garden District . Crime dropped precipitously, and the neighborhood is an example of how to rebuild, reuse, and recycle the decaying inner cities, while also maintaining ethnic and economic diversity. Michael's various awards include having both the City of Deland and the County of Volusia name November 12, 2002, “Michael Arth Day

5. About Michael Arth Through his New Pedestrianism movement he also made a practical demonstration in the Garden District of how to both design and build new towns and neighborhoods. He has been a strong advocate for more effective and compassionate treatment of the homeless, the mentally disabled, and those suffering from substance abuse. His Villages for the Homeless organization explains how to end homelessness while also spending less money, improving public safety, and vastly reducing the prison population. Working privately as a public policy analyst and futurist for over 15 years, Michael has been researching and writing a two-volume set of books titled The Labors of Hercules: Modern Solutions to 12 Herculean Problems . Michael put these books on hold in 2010 to write [Democracy and the Common Wealth: Breaking the Stranglehold of the Special Interests.]

6. ABORTION No one likes abortion and we should do what we can to prevent it. We need proactive, publicly funded family planning. I support a woman's right to choose. The government has no right sticking its nose into a woman's womb. Abortion is a red herring that distracts from the very serious problem of overpopulation. Every single day, around 200,000 more people are added to a planet that appears to have already greatly exceeded its human carrying capacity. According to Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, it would take four more Earths to bring everyone up to an American standard of living. Reducing our numbers is possible with existing technology, adding more planets is not. .

7. CIVIL RIGHTS The erosion of civil rights, especially for the poor, is largely attributable to the War on Drugs. Serving as Florida governor will give me the opportunity to bring these and other investors and job creators to make Florida First in employment for the next decade.” I won a battle in my personal war on drugs in “Cracktown” by pushing out the local dealers and cleaning up the neighborhood, but the drug activity just moved elsewhere. The obvious solution to the problem – taxing and regulating drugs just like alcohol and tobacco – is the elephant in the room that no politician wants to discuss.

8. DEATH PENALTY Revenge and retribution have no place in civilized society. Innocent people are sometimes executed. As cruel and unusual punishment, it is unconstitutional. The U.S. is the only western democracy that continues this barbaric practice and it would save Florida $50 million to end it. In Florida, 24 death row prisoners have already had their sentences overturned. This fact suggests that innocent men have and will continue to be executed. We need to end this barbarism, if for no other reason than pure economic self–interest. Abolishing the death penalty will save Florida about $50 million a year in prosecutions and appeals.

9. DEVELOPMENT I have had a long career in home, landscape, and urban design, and I have been both a builder and developer. We should have development that is good for everyone and builds community. Developers should have a streamlined development process that has clearly delineated and sustainable planning and zoning policies.

10. DIRTY POLITICS Gossip shepherds the herd. Politicians know this, so they use it to herd the voters away from their own shortcomings. Knowing the game, I refuse to play it. This is how we fix dirty politics: 1. Direct voting 2. Campaign Finance Reform 3. Instant Runoff Voting 4. Proportional Representation

11. DIRTY POLITICS In this gubernatorial race I am running as a Democrat, but if I see that I cannot win the primary, and switch to run as an independent, Alex Sink would be sunk whether or not I win the election. Why? Because more Democrats would vote for me than Republicans and Sink would not have enough votes to defeat the Republican. Then I would be The Spoiler, reviled by Sink Democrats but cheered on by the Republicans, just as they cheered (and even offered to help) when Ralph Nader was spoiling it for Gore. If elected, I will do everything in my power to make Florida a model for national voting reform so there will never be a spoiler again, voters can vote their conscience without having to strategize their votes, everyone will have better representation, and gerrymanders will become extinct.

12. DRUG PROHIBITION “ Prohibition...goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it attempts to control a man's appetite by legislation and makes a crime out of things that are not crimes...a prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon which our government was founded.” I agree with Abraham Lincoln. We must end the expensive and self–destructive war on drugs and treat drug abuse as the health issue it is. We must develop sound practices to house and treat the mentally ill. Mandatory sentencing requirements do not work, and this policy must be repealed.

13. ECONOMICS We should run our state like any prudent investor – put money into reserve in fat years and use those reserves in the lean years. That way, we can still follow Keynesian economics without going into debt. As a fiscal conservative I believe we should manage our state budget like any responsible person should manage her own personal expenses. In a typical year a small percentage of the budget should be put into reserve. When there are compelling reasons for a budget shortfall, the reserve can be drawn down without incurring a deficit.

14. EDUCATION: Our primary and secondary schools generally assume that children in each grade are to be taught the same. One size does not fit all. If we handed all fourth–graders size 6 shoes, almost no one would have a good fit. In the past, it was not practical to have a different approach with every child. This problem will be solved with personalized, interactive, online teaching. This should be combined with small neighborhood schools in order to build socializing skills and help solidify communities Education is a basic human right, and civilized society depends on providing the best elementary, secondary, and higher education we can. The future of our democracy depends on having educated citizens who care about others. Individuals should be allowed to develop their full potential.

15. ENERGY The Sunshine State should pursue energy sources in line with its motto. It is a national security imperative to move toward energy independence, and it is an environmental and economic imperative that we do not attempt to do this with fossil fuels. “Clean coal” is an oxymoron, and continuing to prop up terrorist–supporting petro–dictatorships with our oil dollars is just plain moronic. The “Sunshine State” should up live to its motto and move toward a solar economy, the energy of the future. We should not drill for oil off the coast. New battery technologies will soon make gasoline–powered vehicles obsolete, and shared use, self–driving electric cars will make private automobiles unnecessary. Florida should be the clean energy leader and not the (increasing polluted) backwater it is now.

16. ENVIRONMENT The Golden Rule of Sustainability: “Do unto current and future generations as you would have them do unto you.” There are up to a trillion plastic bags given away each year in the world. They cost 125 times more to recycle than to make new ones, which is why they make up 10% of the debris that washes up on our coastlines. Charging a 25–cent environmental tax on each bag that is stamped with a message to “Bring your own bag next time” will put a stop to this practice. We should also do the same thing with plastic bottles to help prevent oil–based, plastic toxins from being released into the environment. The largest landfill in the world is now The Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a double gyre of floating toxic plastic that stretches from California to Japan. The plastic gets ground down into tiny toxic petro–polymers that enter the food chain and is eventually served back to us in the seafood we eat. Directly east of the Gulf Stream lies the Sargasso Sea, where another immense garbage patch is growing.

17. FAMILY PLANNING Less is more, in this case. Adding 200,000 more people every day to the planet is unsustainable. Every single day, around 200,000 more people are added to a planet that appears to have already greatly exceeded its human carrying capacity. According to Harvard biologist Edward O. Wilson, it would take four more Earths to bring everyone up to an American standard of living. Reducing our numbers is possible with existing technology, adding more planets is not.

18. FCAT The Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test is a standardized test used in primary and secondary schools. Funding depends on a school's overall score on the FCAT. This takes funding away from the schools that need it the most, and it puts tremendous pressure on teachers to teach students how to pass the test. Testing serves a purpose in order to assess how well children are learning, but funding should not be connected with it.

19. FLORIDA HOMETOWN DEMOCRACY I support citizen's efforts to approve changes in the comprehensive plan for their town or county. All comprehensive plans should make New Pedestrianism – the smartest kind of “Smart Growth” – the preferred type of development. Sprawl and automobile–oriented growth should give way to higher density, pedestrian and nature-oriented communities that allow separate–but–equal transportation networks for people and cars. .

20. FUTURE We should be very concerned about the future, because we are going to spend the rest of our lives there Our state policies are grounded in the old way of doing business, which will become increasingly uncompetitive and inefficient. Our economy is far too dependent on new construction and tourism. Continued population growth is unsustainable for Florida and a world that sees 200,000 more people added every day. The cities are sprawled out, inefficiently planned, and ugly. Parking lots, pavement, overhead utility lines, strip malls, and roads fills with noisy, gas–guzzling, and dangerous cars have made a toxic crudscape. Zoning and planning can direct new development and redevelopment in such a way that it benefits everyone and reduces future expenditures.

21. GAY RIGHTS I support equal rights, including marriage, for gays. I reject intolerance based on gender or sexual orientation Our gender and our sexual orientation comes to us courtesy of nature, lightly seasoned with our nurturing. Discriminating on the basis of these differences, or insisting that certain consenting adults cannot marry appears to be some combination of discriminatory, uninformed, intolerant, cruel, and unethical .

22. GUNS Instead of giving in to this blackmail we should confront the three major factors that perpetuate the problem: 1. The gun lobby and our corrupt campaign finance system. 2. The War on Drugs, which draws large numbers of young, underemployed young males into drug gangs. 3. The number of guns and dealers, including the easy availability of guns and the lack of effective regulation or enforcement. If someone insists on owning a gun, he should really own it. That is, the gun should be unable to function in the hands of anyone but the registered owner. Within ten years, inexpensive bio–metric devices could render any firearm useless in the hands of anyone but its owner.

23. GUNS When I first went into Cracktown to face drug dealers and begin rebuilding the neighborhood, I had a meeting with the local police. One cop told me I should get a gun. I took his advice and got myself three guns – a nail gun, a brad nail gun, and a staple gun. The staple gun fit nicely in my belt. I had no intention of carrying a real gun and challenging a potentially armed gangbanger who was young, dumb, possibly intoxicated, and had little to lose. Gun ownership in the U.S. is a leftover from the days when most people lived in rural areas and men had to hunt to feed their families. They defended themselves against wild animals, Native Americans, foreign invaders, and each other. Today, almost all of these reasons for owning guns have disappeared. Instead of giving in to this blackmail we should confront the three major factors that perpetuate the problem: 1. The gun lobby and our corrupt campaign finance system. 2. The War on Drugs, which draws large numbers of young, underemployed young males into drug gangs. 3. The number of guns and dealers, including the easy availability of guns and the lack of effective regulation or enforcement.

24. HEALTH CARE Floridians spend $7,500 per person per year on health care. Europeans spend half that, cover everyone, get better care, and live longer. Our private health care system is broken and tinkering will not fix it We need to allocate health care and do what is the most efficient for the whole population. We should leave off the extraordinary end of life care and the other things that cost a lot but do not improve our quality of life. If someone wants this extraordinary treatment, they can buy a private supplemental insurance, as is done in Europe. .

25. HOMELESSNESS Americans seem to think that those with mental illness and substance abuse issues should either be living on the street or be thrown into prison. There is an effective, compassionate, lower–cost middle way between these two extremes. The primary root causes of adult homelessness are: 1. Deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill that began in 1955. 2. The War on Drugs and the lack of proper treatment for substance abuse. 3. Temporary circumstances that can happen to nearly anyone. 4. Economic conditions that aggravate all the other causes. We should build Villages for the Homeless, this is a humane, more efficient, and less costly approach that will also help clean up the inner cities. We must have a viable alternative for dealing with adult homelessness that does not involve living on the streets or being locked up in prison.

26. LAW & ORDER The U.S. does a poor job of managing civil society. It has the highest rate of violent crime, the highest rate of incarceration, and the highest rate of expenditure in trying to keep the peace. Compounding this, there is widespread, popular contempt for the law – especially among the poor – because of the proactive enforcement of victimless crimes. Of all the states, Florida is among the worst in all these categories. There are well–researched, simple, and effective steps to changing this situation. Unfortunately our leaders have ignored effective solutions while making the problems worse through cynical or naïve policy–making.

27. NATIONALISM Nationalism cripples the ability to do the things necessary to have a country worth caring about. As such, it is a threat to our liberty and should be guarded against. Patriotism, or love of one's country, should not turn into “my country right or wrong.” Another barrier to progress has been the phenomenon of blind patriotism. When I was 17, I wrote a newspaper editorial titled “ America Love it or Leave it?” It was about the bumper stickers that you can still see today – usually on the bumper of a gas–guzzler, tellingly enough. Nationalism disturbed me then – almost 40 years ago – and it still bothers me today. Personally, I love America and Florida enough to do everything I can to help make them be the best and most beautiful places they can be. It is an effort that requires cooperation and each person doing their part.

28. PROSTITUTION The government should stay out of the bedroom of consenting adults, but sex workers should have health and business–related regulations, and pay taxes, like the rest of us The police have no business peeking in people's windows or prying into the private sex lives of adults. Like drug prohibition, enforcement of the consensual adult sex trade is a waste of police resources. It is also dangerous, crimogenic, corrupting, and ultimately unenforceable. Drugs and sex are bought and sold even inside prison, and I have the filmed interviews from former inmates who told me about it in detail. What is now called the illicit sex trade should be taxed and regulated for a variety of social, economic, and health reasons. Our goal should be harm reduction and there is clearly a lot of harm going on under the current policy. Sex workers should be regulated and taxed to protect them from exploitation by pimps, organized crime, and their customers. Mandatory health checkups should also be required, as in the parts of Nevada where brothels are allowed.

29. PRISONS One of Florida's biggest industries is prison building. Florida's incarceration rate is 8 times that of Canada, but our violent crime rate is higher. Florida's leaders think more prisons are the answer. As a community organizer in Volusia County, I have been actively working to divert the non–violent mentally ill and substance abusers to supervised housing and treatment that would cost society a fraction as much. About half of all prisoners would qualify.

30. SOCIALISM FOR DEMOCRATS Education, Social Security, health–care, minimum wage, Smart Growth, the Environmental Protection Agency, and subsidies to alternative energy.

31. SOCIALISM FOR REPUBLICANS The Military Industrial Complex, the Prison Industrial Complex, The War on Drugs, sprawl, and subsidies to the fossil fuel industries.

32. TRANSPORTATION Florida's current automobile–oriented transportation network produces 230,000 casualties a year, including 3,257 deaths. This is the equivalent of a 9/11 disaster happening in our state every single year. We think this is normal. We could end the demolition derby within 10–15 years, and Florida could be a leader in the technology that could accomplish it . According to the DMV, in 2005 there were 253,000 traffic accidents involving 376,000 drivers in Florida. This resulted in 3,257 deaths (about the same as 9/11) and 227,000 injuries. Today there about 15.5 million passenger cars and trucks in Florida. Strange as it sounds, with certain policies in place over the next decade, it will be technically feasible to drop these numbers by 80% by the mid–2020s, and end the highway carnage, and save people at least 80% of the cost of transportation. How can that be possible ?

33. UNIONS I am pro–union . It is the basic right of employees to organize and collectively bargain in order to protect job security, working conditions, and salaries. In the mid–1980s, I was a member of the Animation Guild (Local 839 I.A.T.S.E. AFL–CIO) in Los Angeles until my job was outsourced to Asia. Because of outsourcing and technological innovation, employees and unions will face increasingly greater challenges. As a futurist and policy analyst, I look for ways to meet these challenges that will also result in an increasingly better quality of life for everyone. Benefits resulting from the increased efficiency of automation and the use of robots should accrue to all of us – and not only to management and the elites.

34. URBAN PLANNING The War on Drugs, deinstitutionalization of the mentally ill, automobile–oriented urban design, and other policies have made an unsustainable mess of both our built and natural environment. We can begin to change this by addressing the causes and making PV Pedestrian Village zoning the default zoning In 1999, I founded a more ecology and pedestrian–oriented branch of New Urbanism called New Pedestrianism that addresses all the major urban planning issues. Following New Pedestrianism zoning for all new developments and redevelopments would slowly begin to make our cities worth living in

35. WATER ISSUES I favor using conservation measures, recycling, storm-water retention, environmental protection, and growth limits to maintain sustainable water management practices for the health and welfare of all. Raising consumption levels beyond the existing allocations will cause an exponential increase in water prices for consumers. This is unacceptable.

36. WHY I AM A DEMOCRAT Will Rogers once said, “Democrats never agree on anything, that's why they're Democrats. If they agreed with each other, they would be Republicans.” Because Democrats (as well as Greens, Independents, and even some Republicans) see the world in nuanced tones, rather than in black and white, they tend to go to the next level . http://www.michaelearth.org/org/issues-1.html

37. NO SPIN DISCLAIMER There has been no “SPIN” put on this information by the creator or any member of the Tea Party. All information is obtained from the web site “ON THE ISSUES” at issues2000.org and from the Candidates own web sites.