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These Central Virginians want to
change the country. You get to pick which one you support.
Read their stances on the issues below, and then vote
using our online poll. Results will be announced Oct.
14, and the field will be narrowed to two.
Later that week, we'll publish an online debate in which
the two answer reader questions. You can submit your question by leaving a comment
below or by e-mailing columnist Darrell Laurant at dlaurant@newsadvance.com.
Final voting has begun. Cast your vote below! The winner will be announced Oct. 26. In the meantime, you can bookmark this site in your Web browser by pressing CTRL-D or just check back at NewsAdvance.com, keyword PRESIDENT.
THE REVOLUTIONARY
Name: Junior Gallaher
Home: Lynchburg
Occupation: Accountant
THE ECONOMY
What's really wrong with our economy is that we're not producing enough, and what we're producing is second-rate. Our trade deficit is too high, and we are sending money and jobs to other countries. Tariffs on imported products will eliminate the trade deficit and give our country much-needed revenue to rebuild our economy.
We will immediately begin the process of what I call Operation Rebuild. Similar to the WPA of the past, all Americans who are physically or mentally fit to work will have a job. OR will mandate military service from about age 22 to 28, those 29 to 75 will work. Payroll taxes will be about 40-50 percent of gross for the average American (those making over $1 million will pay 50-75 percent. All other taxes will be eliminated. The only insurance anyone will need is life insurance. It should be noted that excessive pay for top corporate officials has soured me on corporate entities, and the dissolution of corporations and the stock market as a whole may be on the horizon. Middle income Americans have shouldered the burden of the cost of government long enough.
GOVERNMENT
In addition to the 40-hour week all able Americans will be expected to work until age 75, they will put in an additional eight hours work in community service. Also, everyone will be expected to serve eight hours a week on a Citizen's Committee. These will be the basis for involvement in our government and our country, and they will effectively set the rules and suggest the laws. That will insure government by and for the people.
FOREIGN POLICY
We will immediately disband the United Nations. Our embassies in foreign countries will exist for two purpose: First, to ad-minister tests to anyone who is granted permission to enter the United States to identify the ability to communicate in English and a knowledge of our laws and customs; second, to accept complaints from that country's citizens about misdeeds going on there. In such cases, a call will be made to the offending country's leaders. They would be queried as to what action they plan on taking, and if that action is unsatisfactory or is not taken promptly enough, we will move in military forces to solve the problem. All foreign aid will cease immediately.
ENVIRONMENT
Everyone will be required to recycle and conserve natural resources. Products will be designed and manufactured with recyclable materials. Citizens will plant shade trees, fruit trees and nurture garden spaces. The denuding of private land to put in new real estate developments will end. Research will be done in earnest to reverse the trend of global warming (which IS occurring as we speak).
POLITICS
There will be no political action committees, no special interest groups, no campaign contributions over fifty dollars per per-son per candidate. The Electoral College will be used only for estimating an election as it is unfolding – popular vote will determine the winner. Every citizen who is able will be required to vote in every election.
HEALTH CARE
Since doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers and (especially) insurance companies have already proven that they are incapable of managing costs or providing Americans with reasonably priced health care, the government will see that major changes are made. All Americans will receive health care at no direct cost to them – the 40-50 percent tax on wages will cover this expense. Health care facilities, hospitals and medical research firms wil be non-profit, because we are all in this together. There will be no need for medical malpractice insurance — if a doctor can't do the job, he will have to find another occupation.
EDUCATION
Public education will begin at the age of 4 and continue until 22. The emphasis will be upon returning to the basics and teaching children how to think, although attention will also be paid to creative pursuits and the arts. If someone shows an aptitude for a particular occupation or skill, he or she will be encouraged to pursue an educational track in that direction.
LEGAL
Our entire code of laws will be rewritten in plain English – each statute will be presented in one or two sentences. There will be stated sentences for every crime, and sentences will double if perpetrated on a child (13-18), an animal or a female. Sentence swill triple if perpetrated upon children under 13, the elderly (over 75) or the defenseless. Three misdemeanors equal a felony, other than those in traffic court. A new category of criminal offense will appear, called Crimes Against the National Trust, which will sentence not only the perpetrator, but the company/corporation/mastermind sponsoring the crime.
THE REBEL
Name:
Lib Elder
Home:
Gladys
Occupation:
Artist
RUNNING THE
GOVERNMENT
I'd like to see our government a lot smaller and more
efficient. I think the same management principles that are
applied to large private sector corporations should be applied to
government; accountability and efficiency with a hard eye on the bottom
line. Individuals in government, whether high up the ladder
or down on the lower rungs, who fail to perform up to standards should
receive the same sorts of warnings that a poorly performing employee of
any other company would receive; failure to improve would result in
termination.
The federal government has 1.9 million* employees earning between
$17,046 -$124,010. Using an average of those figures
($70,528) seems high, so I'm randomly saying an average salary would be
$45,000, resulting in an approximate annual payroll of $85.5 Billion;
I'm confident the job could be done by 10% fewer people, at a savings
of at least $8.5 Billion although it might be that some departments
would grow as others are eliminated altogether.
It seems to me the government has become far more concerned with trying
to legislate the risk out of life; not possible for one thing, and more
importantly not at all desirable. Government needs to get its
focus back where it belongs; creating and sustaining an environment
where success is possible. This includes environmental
concerns; if we continue to foul our environment it will ultimately
hinder us. We need a clean, healthy environment, a healthy
citizenry, and an educated citizenry. We do not need to be
told what we can't do, we need to be allowed to do what we can!
HEALTHCARE
Prior to the current mortgage crisis, medical bills were the number one
cause of bankruptcy in the US. People who have health
insurance often are unaware of the implications for people without
insurance; imagine that you're sick enough to go to the doctor even
knowing it'll set you back a few hundred dollars. Imagine
being told you have an especially aggressive form of cancer; and then
being told that you will not be given any treatment until you plop down
60% of the anticipated total cost of treatments, cash up
front. Imagine being told that total cost is roughly
$100,000; you need $60K before they'll even begin to treat, in spite of
knowing that your cancer is an aggressive, fast-growing type and that
time is critical to successful cure. That is in my estimation
quite simply wrong. We're the richest nation on earth, we can
do better by our citizens. We must do better.
FOREIGN POLICY
For too long we've had the "cowboy mentality" that says "to heck with
what the rest of the world thinks, we're the USA and we can do whatever
we want." No, we can't. We are but one of many
nations all inhabiting the same earth; like siblings who may not get
along, we still have to make the effort. Some of our global
"siblings" are hateful bullies and we have every right, in fact
obligation, to do all in our power to rein them in; ultimately however
it's strong relationships with our more friendly "siblings" that will
achieve that goal, as we are not "all that"- global diplomatic pressure
will accomplish far more towards the goal of world unity than bowing up
and proving ourselves the bigger bully. If we want other
nations to emulate us then we need to be much more mindful of how we
behave. If we expect other nations to join the "family", we
need to make sure that family is one they'd want to be a member of.
IMMIGRATION
Studies indicate approximately 105,000 Mexicans illegally immigrate to
the US annually, with a current population of approximately 5 million
already here. Let me begin by saying that, regardless of what
we might wish or want or think, the reality is that those folks are
here and it would be a gross waste of resources to try and round them
all up and send them back. I don't advocate amnesty for them,
but I recognize that they're here and that we must find a way to deal
with that. When we recognize that the US will be strengthened
by strong neighbors, and work to build a strong global economy, when we
help other nations to grow their economies and especially Mexico
because of their proximity, when living in Mexico does not mean living
in poverty, illegally entering the US will lose its appeal.
Our immigration issues, like so many problems our nation faces, can be
solved through engaging the international community and being
responsible members of that community; through working towards the
common good on a global scale and abandoning our "loner" stance.
IRAQ
We need to listen to the current Iraqi government; they've told us they
want us to produce a timetable for withdrawal. We need to do
that, to honor their wishes because it IS their nation, and withdraw in
an orderly fashion. Yes, likely there will be a certain
amount of chaos; that will be true whether we stay or go, but by
staying we again send the message that we don't care what anyone else
wants, what anyone else thinks; we're going to do what we want and the
heck with everyone else. This is an attitude we abhor in
other nations; we must practice what we preach and allow Iraq its
sovereignty and its right to work through its problems in its own
way. This is how we need to remove our military forces; but
as in my answer to so many other questions, we need to also recognize
that there are other ways to be engaged with Iraq and to help lead them
to stability and away from hostility. One key way to achieve
this is through education of the Iraqi youth; we must ensure that Iraq
has the tools to educate its youth. We must also respect that
their culture is not our culture, and allow them that difference
without hesitation or attempt to change. We seem to have the
attitude that we need to turn all nations into little USA's - one USA
is enough, every nation brings its own gifts to the party and we must
respect those gifts and celebrate them.
THE ECONOMY
It's clear that the deregulation of the past 8 years has come back to
bite us; we let the foxes run the hen house, and lo and behold now the
hens are all dead. We have to be smarter than that; in
situations where the opportunities for abuse are frequent and where
greed is pervasive we must be ever diligent to protect the "little guy"
from being taken advantage of. While as a general policy I
support the idea of deregulation, when it comes to the financial
industry the stakes are simply too high; we cannot turn a blind eye and
allow the foxes in again, that was madness and it's being paid for by
the citizens who lost their investments and by every citizen who is now going to foot the bill for this folly.
THE SUPREME COURT
The next President will quite possibly be called upon to appoint as
many as three Supreme Court Justices in their first term of office; we
must not allow the gains of the last century to be lost through the
appointment of partisan judges to this most sacred position.
Regardless of who the President is, we must require of them that they
stop trying to force their political ideology on the nation through the
appointment of partisan judges. This is the single most
lasting legacy of any Presidency; Presidents come and go but Supreme
Court Justices are for life - they need to be the most fair
minded men and women the nation has.
THE
PROFESSOR
Name:
Phil Pantana
Home:
Lynchburg
Occupation:
Self-employed businessman
NOTE: THE FOLLOWING
POSITIONS COME FROM THE "96 THESES" LISTED IN PHIL
PANTANA'S BOOK, "AMERICA: A PURPOSE-DRIVEN NATION." SPACE DOES NOT
PERMIT LISTING ALL OF THEM, BUT WE THINK WE'VE INCLUDED ENOUGH TO GIVE
VOTERS A GOOD SENSE OF WHERE MR. PANTANA STANDS.
THE ECONOMY
1. Enact the Fair Tax (H.R. 25/S. 1025) proposal in the
U.S. Congress
to change tax laws to replace the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and
all federal income taxes (including AMT), payroll taxes (including
Social Security and Medicare taxes), corporate taxes, capital gains
taxes, gift taxes, and estate taxes with a national retail sales tax,
to be levied once at the point of purchase on all new goods and
services; promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by
repealing the 1913 income tax; Repeal the 16th Amendment.
2. Require a balanced Federal Budget before
approval. There is a need for pay-as you-go discipline (PAYGO) in Congress to help
prevent the surging national debt, topping $9.1 trillion, from becoming
larger. Axiom: "to govern is to choose." Creating the federal
budget is an exercise in making choices.
3. Require the United States to eliminate the
nation debt within a reasonable time period and to stay out of debt.
FOREIGN POLICY
1. Establish guidelines restricting Congress
and the Supreme Court from the use of foreign law and/or case law as a basis for
legislation in the Congress and for rulings in the Supreme Court.
2. Withdraw membership of the United States of
America from
the United Nations Organization (UNO); withdraw all American finan-cial
support to the UN; withdraw all obligations to the United Nations
charter, regulations, resolutions, treaties, and pledges to meet UN
goals.
3. Enact a new multi-lateral international world freedom
organization
to replace the current United Nations Organization (UNO). The official
name of this new world freedom organization shall be "Goodwill Nations
Organization" or GNO. The GNO headquarters shall be in New York City.
4. Establish a clear rationale as to why the United
States of America
will never sign on to the Kyoto Protocol, or the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty (ABM Treaty or ABMT); repeal the 1990 Clean Air Act.
5. Enact a national security policy to halt all U.S. aid
to any nation
that is a sponsor of terrorism and/or is a terrorist sympathizer; halt
U.S. aid to all foreign governments that refuse to cooperate and
support principles of freedom, human values and rights, block free and
fair trade, sponsor terrorist organizations in any way, and have plans
to carry out acts of terrorism anywhere in the world.
SOCIAL ISSUES
1. Enact a Life at Conception Act [H.R. 618] following
the Supreme
Court's instructions to define when life begins and end abortion by
using the Constitution instead of amending it.
2. Establish a national day of "repentance, fasting, and
prayer" for
the crime of abortion. America's national sin is abortion. The national
day of "repentance, fasting and prayer" shall be the first Thursday of
the month following the month Roe v. Wade is repealed by Congress.
3. Reaffirm the importance of the Defense of Marriage
Act, which
Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed into law on
September 21, 1996, defining marriage for purposes of federal law as
the legal union between one man and one woman as husband and
wife.
GOVERNMENT
1. Return to the original method of Senatorial election
as spelled out
by the Constitution of the United States in which Senators are chosen
by the Legislature of their respective States. Proposed
Resolution for the U.S. Congress: Enact term limits for
members of the U.S. Congress - both House Representatives and Senators.
2. Repeal the multimillion-dollar agriculture subsidies
program for
farmers to get paid for not farming their land. Principle: if you don't
work, you don't eat.
3. Replace the Social Security Act signed by President
Franklin
Roosevelt in 1935 with privatized Security Savings accounts like the
employees of Galveston County, Texas.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
1. The United States has not incited warfare against the
people of
Islam. The people of Islam have declared war on the United States. The
United States is at war with all the organizations that signed "The
Declaration of Jihad Against Jews and Christians" on February 28, 1998,
including Osama bin Laden. These organizations together constitute the
World Islamic Front. The refusal of the United States to identify the
enemy represents a great error in solving the terrorist problem. The
great error has resulted in the refusal of our law enforcement and
government officials to engage in ethnic and religious profiling.
2. Establish a volunteer "Goodwill Ambassador Program"
(GAP) for
willing and able bodied Americans to help people in need in other
nations around the world. GAP will be funded by large and small
foundations, businesses, businessmen and businesswomen, churches, and
free-will gifts from individuals. Money does not create ideas but it
can make good ideas become a reality. The GAP will "stand in the gap"
to lend a helping hand to people who have been deceived, disadvantaged,
and disappointed, and are now groping in the darkness.
ENVIRONMENT
1. Abolish the current Environmental Protection Agency
or EPA. The EPA
shall be renamed the Environmental Production Agency [production is
positive, protection is negative] with a comprehensive "energy and
environment" policy that will meet the challenge of bringing to bear
science and technology, entrepreneurship, and the principles of
effective markets.
THE
PREACHER
Name:
Marvin "Buddy" Crews Jr.
Home:
Brookneal
Occupation:
Minister
HEALTH CARE
We are supposed to be the wealthiest nation in the
world, but when it comes to our own people, it seems we are the
poorest. Government must step in and put a cap on insurance premiums
and prescription drugs. What a sad state of affairs when we have people
who must make a tough choice between food, heat or medication!
There has been some talk about importing cheaper
drugs from other countries, but I don't see that as
a solution. That would just send more of our money and our jobs
overseas.
One particular medication costs seven times more at one
of the drugstores in Brookneal as it does at Wal-Mart. Why should that
be?
I also think that government, from the top down to the
localities, needs to be more flexible and look at each person
individually. It doesn't matter if your
income is above the limit if you have to spend half of it on
prescription drugs.
IRAQ
The war in Iraq was started to take out a dictator who
was destroying a country. We succeeded in taking him out, but it will
now take quite some time to bring the troops home. We need to realize
that we had to re-educate an entire country that has only known
conflict. That will take years of work after the troops leave.
THE ECONOMY
I feel that government- from the bottom up -
has lost touch with the basic needs of working people. When a company
shuts down and jobs are taken out of an area, it is a larger issue than
just numbers. The representatives we elect are supposed to look out
for our interests, not operate at the whim of lobbyists.
We need a policy change, not just a quick fix.
That ‘stimulus' payment I received paid my drug bill for one month,
with a little left over for groceries.
PRISON REFORM
Another issue that's important to me is prison reform,
because of what I do. It's too easy just to lock people up, especially
when a lot of them are there because of their circumstances. We need to
look at alternative kinds of sentencing, especially for non-violent
crimes like drug offenses. As a society, we also need to find ways to
reach these people when they're young. Some of the guys I work with
have told me that they've never in their life had someone else tell
them that they cared about them.
Some of this, in my mind, comes from racism. Racism is
alive and well in America. I see it where I live. When you think about
it, every kind of blood has been shed to keep America free - black,
white, yellow, red, everything. Knowing that, how can we then
discriminate against anybody?
What a President can do, I think, is show people an
example. We can get past this. The churches could make a big difference
in peoples' lives. I've always said that my perfect church would have
no doors, and everyone who came in would get a blindfold. That way, you
could get to know someone without worrying about the color of their
skin.
IMMIGRATION
We have illegal aliens flooding this country, more than
ever. I have nothing against people wanting a bet-ter life for
themselves or their families. All I ask is that when they come to this
country, they pay taxes, pay their dues and work their way to the top.
Some government agencies roll out the red carpet for illegal
immi-grants, while blue collar families who are already citizens
receive no help at all.
We need to get back to what has always made us great as
a nation - faith, hard work, communication, and a passion not
to accept defeat.
THE SAGE
Name:
Charles A. Tanner III
Home:
Madison Heights
Occupation:
Retired business executive, Federal employee.
THE ECONOMY
We spent our way out of the 1930s depression rather than
working through it. This created a deficit for our Federal Government.
Also, because of Europe's early neglect of Germany's Hitler, this
country was forced by Europe to be generous with our industries, money,
and armed forces defending democracy in World War II. More debt.
During the Reagan Administration, we made a critical
fiscal mistake, cutting personal taxes before we had a definite plan of
cutting Federal spending. The result was high annual deficits. The Bush
administrations have made the same mistake.
For the past 60 years, this nation has achieved its
national goals and led the world in defeating two world tyrants. But we
are in danger of losing control of our fiscal health, thus falling
behind in the New World Order we helped create - economic, competitive
democracy.
To compete, we need modern, non-polluting manufacturing
plants so as to manufacture more of our products in this country and
export more products to balance our international trade. Though tax
incentives, we could immediately begin building world-class factories
to produce products competitive with the world markets. Newt Gingrich
recently suggested that we grant industry a 100% tax credit write-off
for the first year for new equipment installed in manufacturing plants.
We as a nation cannot maintain a strong military and
afford social and health care programs if we cannot manage our economy
and debt. Why should our country be involved in foreign wars if we have
to issue debt bonds to pay for these wars — bonds being bought by
foreign countries? Have we lost our senses???
Manufacturing is the key leg in building prosperity in
any nation. And it is the responsibility of elected officials to
support programs, research, and incentives that encourage a healthy
manufacturing industry in the nation. Also, an Appalachian Super
Highway should be built from Maine to Pensacola to eliminate East Coast
shipping and traffic problems.
ENERGY
Meanwhile, the oil crisis is here to stay, with the
world demand growing by 7 billion barrels a year.
Oil production peaked in the USA in mid 1970's. World
oil production is predicted to peak between now and 2010, and it is
more difficult and expensive to get the remaining oil out of the fields
after peak production has passed. Naturally, big oil companies will get
the maximum financial return on their existing oil fields if we stay in
an energy crisis.
In the short term, we need to go to plug-in hybrid
engine automobiles.
Toyota is working to develop a hybrid that will get
100-150 miles per gallon (We drive a Prius). This will be done by
adding another row of rechargeable batteries or and improved batteries
to their existing hybrids. You will plug in at night to re-charge the
battery and run most of the next day on the charged battery and still
have the gasoline, natural gas or hydrogen hybrid for longer
trips.
Overall, we need to develop clean alternative energy
sources to replace oil — atomic, wind, solar, thermal, tides, hydrogen
from "gasified" coal, etc. It would be economically and politically
wise for the USA to lead the world in developing clean alternative
energy sources since the rest of the world will be running out of oil.
We are creating instability in world politics by
importing so much foreign oil (conversely exporting so much of our
wealth), creating great wealth in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran,
Venezuela and other nations who do not share our
values.
Another solution that we can immediately embrace is the
Pickens Plan — build more wind turbines to produce 20% of our
electricity, thus freeing the natural gas now used to produce
electricity, to fuel our trucks and cars.
Finally, efforts should be put into improving our
national electrical grid system so that electricity can be transported
with minimal transmission loss from areas with excess capacity to those
areas needing more.
ELECTION REFORM
We no longer have a Jeffersonian democracy in this
county. True, we can vote. However, the costs of election campaigns,
the power of lobbyists in Washington, campaign contributions by wealthy
individuals and corporations has turned our democ-racy into one
influenced more by financial power than voting power.
To remove the influence of big money corporations and
individuals from controlling elections, federal elections should be
funded by the federal government and we should get most of the lobbyist
out of Washington. The Internet is revolutionizing the world. It may be
that internet fund raising will negate any need for federal funds to be
involved in federal elections.
Corporations operate under federal laws and under state
incorporation laws. They are not individuals and when they lobby
government it is in the primary interest of stockholders, not
necessarily in the interest of the overall population.
FOREIGN POLICY
A superior military and fiscally strong United States is
necessary to preserve world order. However, if we had invested 1/1000th
of the armaments budget in Peace Institutes and peace research our
country would be far safer.
However, we now need to keep a strong military presence
in the Middle East to prevent extremist governments from starting World
War III.
IMMIGRATION
We are a nation governed by laws and legal immigration.
A date should be set for every illegal immigrant to register for a
temporary visa — or, if caught without a temporary visa, face immediate
deportation. Those registered then would be processed for deportation
if criminals or unemployed or be put on a program of applied
citizenship.
Our borders should be made secure by the most effective
means to protect our national security, reduce importation of illegal
drugs, and protect our citizens and their jobs.
HEALTH CARE
We need to develop a healthcare system that covers every
child and adult in the nation and replace our welfare system with a
system giving benefits and income to the able-bodied for work
performed- while caring for those unable to work. There is plenty of
work to be done in public service, healthcare, and our agricultural
industries and in rebuilding our inner cities. Workfare will build the
dignity of the workers while giving them basic skills.
What we need now are leaders who can clearly see our
problems, lay out solutions, and have the conviction, self confidence,
and will to execute long term change.
THE
POPULIST
Name:
Belinda Bush
Lives:
Lynchburg
Occupation:
Administrator for a cemetery company
IMMIGRATION
That's really my main issue. We have people coming in
illegally who are taking jobs away from people here, doing banking, and
getting drivers' licenses- but they're not paying taxes, and
a lot of them wind up committing crimes here. If you're caught in this
country illegally, you should be not be allowed to come back for 10
years, even if you want to be a citizen. I also think it
should be mandated that you learn English before getting citizenship. I
don't mean to sound heartless, but we have to get a handle on this.
ENERGY
It's fine to talk about alternative sources of energy,
but we really need more fuel now. I'm all for drilling for more oil,
wherever, and I'm all for building new nuclear power plants.
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
We will only be your friend if you don't support
terrorism, period. And on the economic side, we have to stop importing
goods from countries that don't pay their workers anything so they can
produce things a lot cheaper. I've got a whole list of stuff I will not
buy, and there are countries I believe we should not trade with.
TAXES
I think we should look more closely at a flat rate tax,
and I don't believe that people paying minimum wage should have to pay
taxes at all. I know we can't do away with taxes completely, but we
have to make the system more fair.
THE ELDERLY
I totally believe in taking care of the elderly people
first. Why shouldn't you be able to have a job if you're on Social
Security? Isn't that supposed to be your money? In my job, I've had
Medicare people call me telling me that someone's pre-paid burial plot
is an asset and had to be added to their income. I remember once when a
woman had a spot above her husband, with her name already inscribed.
The Medicare person asked me, "What would you say the value of that is
today?" and I said: "Zero. Who would buy someone else's grave marker?"
THE ECONOMY
The government has shown that it is unable to run the
country financially. As for the bailout, who are these people we're
bailing out? Remember Enron? How many of those people ever did any jail
time?
THE
PRAGMATIST
Name:
Jim Batton
Home:
Lynchburg
Occupation:
Retired
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
My Presidential platform would start with a
comprehensive and careful look at our involvement around the
globe. Our attempt to continue trying to solve every problem
on the planet would stop.
This is a carryover from WWII, but the world has
dramatically changed. Other developed countries such as
Japan, Great Britain and France should take a more responsible role in
world affairs.
There are many U.S. military bases around the world that
could be closed at a tremendous savings to the American tax payers.
Meanwhile, our involvement in the former Soviet satellite countries,
such as Georgia, is a potential time bomb. If we continue to add small
countries to NATO that are in the Russian sphere of influence we run
the risk of having to go to war with a major power over what could be
an irresponsible act of a small country.
There is evidence that the President of Georgia, Mikheil
Saakashvili, was emboldened by being an ally of the U.S. and invaded
South Ossetia, which brought on a Russian invasion. If, at
that time, Georgia had been a member of NATO, we would have been
obligated to go to war with Russia. I am convinced that with
economic prosperity and development, democracy will eventually spread
by a more natural process, not by U.S. force. It is not the
responsibility of our soldiers to fight for someone else's democracy.
HEALTH CARE
I believe that reforming our health care
system will give us an economic boost. There are scores of
people working dead-end jobs who have a lot more to offer society but
remain trapped because of the fear of losing what health insurance they
may have. My healthcare plan would intitially be a joint
operation between the government and private industry: Private
insurers would insure the first $50,000.00 in health-care cost with a
stop loss of $50,000.00. The government would be responsible
for catastrophic medical bills for illnesses such as cancer and heart
problems. Insurers now are on the hook for generally 2
million dollars for the typical policy. It stands to reason that if the
insurance companies reduce their potential losses from 2 million to
fifty thousand, the premiums should drop dramatically. An
assigned risk system would have to be set up to prevent any one
insurance company from getting stuck with too many sick people.
How would our government pay for the catastrophic part
of this plan? The typical health insurance premium for a family of four
is around $800.00 to $1,000.00 per month. Let us say that
there are 126 million households in the U.S. If the
government collected an average of $200.00 per month from each
household it would collect somewhere around 300 billion per year to
cover these cost. Wealthy people would pay more and I could see a
sliding scale for the poor. However, everybody pays and
everybody is covered. The part of the plan covered
by private insurers should reduce the premiums dramatically. Even if
the rich paid more, they would be paying less than they ado
now.
Safeguards also need to be built into the system to
prevent fraud and other abuses. Our health care cost should drop
substantially with this kind of plan because many serious illnesses
could be headed off and caught early when treatment is so
costly.
Many people will argue that they don't want "socialized
medicine," but what do they think Medicare and Medicaid are?
I know of a case recently where a wealthy man underwent very costly
surgery to save his life when in the same area a 27 year old mother of
two died from an infected tooth because she couldn't afford to get a
prescription filled.
We have a system in place to spend hundred of thousands
to keep older people alive but we can't spend $50.00 on an antibiotic
to save the life of a 27 year old woman? Let me add that I am 66 years
old and on Medicare and I also have United Health care so I personally
have very good health care. Many of my fellow citizens, unfortunately,
do not.
IMMIGRATION
I would issue fool-proof work permits, because we do
need workers from Mexico and other places who are willing to do the
work that most Americans are not willing to do. If employers
are caught hiring anyone without the proper documents, there would be
severe penalties, and this temporary worker status would not be linked
to American citizenship. They would have to return to their
homeland on an established schedule, and undergo a routine medical
physical to prevent sick people from coming to our country for free
medical treatment. I would also change the law that allows the children
of illegal immigrants being granted American citizenship if
their mothers makes it across the border to deliver the baby.
THE ECONOMY
I do believe that this situation that we find our
country in is probably the most serious situation in my
life-time.I have been predicting this for the last few
months. Even without the sub-prime mortgage problem I am
convinced that we are headed for serious economic problems.
That is why I feel so strongly about changing our role in foreign
affairs. I do not advocate returning to an isolationist policy, but I
do advocate a serious review of "free trade" with no strings
attached. In certain areas it is impossible for a developed
country to compete with an undeveloped country that has no workman's
compensation, no benefits, no wage controls, no environmental
protection etc. I do not believe that we can tolerate a lop
sided balance of trade forever.
No one likes to pay taxes but somehow, this huge deficit
is going to have to be paid for. We may push the
pain farther down the calender, but there will be a day of
reckoning. Unfortunately, the day of reckon-ing may be here
now.
If I were president I would assemble the greatest
economic minds on the planet to find a workable plan to get us back on
track. Any of the profit made by the CEO's of bailed-out companies
would have to return the money or it would be confiscated. This
economic situation we find ourselves in is very complicated. Any action
has to be carefully thought out or we could wind up worse
off.; There is the very real possibility that the standard of
living for scores of Americans will get worse before it gets
better. I know that even for a man running for President that
is "make believe", giving out bad news is not good and would cost a
real candidate votes but I have a reputation for telling it like I see
it and what I see today is frightening.
IRAQ
It goes without saying that being there was a terrible
mistake. I am for a time table so the Iraqi people know that
they have to take advantage of this incredible opportunity to
improve their lives and their human rights. It might be
possible to ask for help from Iran if we change our attitude toward
that country.
THE BUSINESSMAN
NAME: Joe Turk
Home: Bedford County
Occupation: Research & Development for a food processing company
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
We need a man who will look out for Americans first: Period. Nation-building overseas? We need to think about Nation-building here in the good old USA. Here are some ideas about Bush's war and the price of oil:
1) Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan now! Quit wasting trillions of our dollars fighting meaningless wars for oil or otherwise.
2) This "war" is in Europe's "backyard" and they can fight it if they want to.
3) Pull out of South Korea and all other countries we prop up with our military. Why are we bankrupting our country to defend countries that are perfectly capable of doing it themselves?
Also, tell Israel to quiet down about bombing Iran - this isn't helping oil prices. We need to cut our ties with Israel and quit sending them money. They have enough money, nuclear weapons, and can defend themselves. If they can't, sorry, we can't save the world.
Why was it our problem when Russia went into Georgia?
ENERGY
We need to bite the bullet and find alternative energy sources. Instead of finding new ways to drill offshore, why not come up with an alternative energy think tank, using the best minds from the public and private sector. I'm not an environmental whacko, but it seems pretty obvious that we have to do something.
IMMIGRATION
Use our military to round up the 12 million illegals in our country and secure our southern borders. I can't break one law without the Feds looking for me, so why do 12 million people get away with it?
HEALTH CARE
If the USA isn't going to have national health care, then at least give dollar-for-dollar tax credits for the cost of our medical premiums. This will reward people who pay their own way and help stimulate the economy by putting money back in their hands
TAXATION
Give tax deductions for people who pay child support. Why should they pay after-tax dollars for their children who they can't deduct and get no tax "credit" for these payments?
Give the smokers and drinkers a break by cutting the taxes on these items by 90%. Where does all that tax money go?
Allow people to deduct interest paid to credit card companies. Give major tax credits for the purchase of vehi-cles made in America that get 30+ MPG -- the higher the MPG, the greater the tax credit. This saves gas and can help our American automakers sell vehicles. Again, we are talking about America First.
GOVERNMENT
We need to stand up for our privacy rights. I don't know how much Verizon , AT+T and other phone companies paid our Congressmen to grant them retroactive immunity for turning over our private records to George Bush's Government, but it probably didn't take much.
THE ECONOMY
The question is how to deal with what just happened on Wall Street and with the banking industry. You want to punish the people who deserve to be punished, but you don't want to hurt the regular people who have invested in those companies that went under.
(Secretary of the Treasury) Paulson is linked too closely to Goldman-Sachs, in my opinion. How can he be objective?
Also, we need to put laws in place to keep Wall Street from speculating in energy. That's part of the problem.
THE TEACHER
Name:
Jason Watson
Home:
Campbell County
Occupation:
Director, Patrick Henry Boys' Plantation
IRAQ
Regardless of how one may feel about the United States'
involvement in Iraq, we are there and we are involved. Furthermore, the
troop surge that President bush authorized is, by all accounts,
working. The worst possible thing that we could do would be to pull out
of Iraq immediately. Rather, the United States should stay until the
Iraq government is established and functioning.
FOREIGN POLICY
The United States should strive to maintain respectful
and cooperative relationships with all of the major players on the
world stage. It should make every effort to appoint diplomats who speak
the language of the country in which they will serve and are familiar
with the cultures and customs. Respecting a country, however, does not
necessarily mean agreeing with it. At the same time, the U.S. should
not get militarily involved in every country with which it does not
agree. As President, I would work with my cabinet to develop a foreign
policy doctrine that made very clear ... in which instances the United
States would be compelled to become involved in the affairs of other
nations.
THE ECONOMY
I would like the starting point here to be a discussion
about reforming the tax code of the United States.
The standard deduction for every person or family paying
taxes should be the equivalent of the poverty level. Based on 2006
figures, an individual filing taxes would receive and
automatic deduction of $11,500. For each additional person, I would
round up $4,000. These deductions would replace the existing standard
deductions and exemption, except for education credits and deductions
for charitable giving.
I would also replace Social Security with a system in
which the employee and the employer would both contribute 5 percent of
the employee's income to a retirement plan that would be administered
privately. Meanwhile, the U.S. government must repay the roughly $1.85
trillion it has borrowed from the Social Security trust fund.
HEALTH CARE
The government should require that everyone have health
care, but the government should not provide that health care. What the
government should do is require that the playing field for health
insurance providers be opened up to allow any company providing health
insurance to sell it to anyone in any state. It should also be required
that each individual have health insurance, much as auto insurance is
handled. With that, of course, would be a stipulation that no company
can refuse insurance to anyone.
IMMIGRATION
Illegal immigration must be curtailed, and stiffer
penalties put in place for individuals and businesses that knowingly
employ illegal immigrants. For individuals, the penalty should be a
fine of $100,000 per illegal immigrant employed. For businesses, the
fine would be $500,000 for each illegal immigrant employed. Public
services must not be made available to illegal immigrants, but each
illegal immigrant should be given a one-time opportunmity to come
forward and register with the U.S. government.
SOCIAL ISSUES
If we can justify denying choice about smoking and
seatbelts, how can we possibly justify granting it in the case of
abortion? It is illegal in every state to use your body to cause harm
to another person. Why, then, would it be any different to make a law
that restricted a woman's right to terminate a life that is temporarily
living inside her body?
Too many Americans no longer trust the government or
believe that the government is capable of doing its job --
specifically, the job for which the Constitution states the government
was created: "To form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure
Domestic Tranquility. provide for the common defense, provide for the
general Welfare and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and
our posterity."
THE RUNNER
Name: Jim McFarland
Home: Lynchburg
Occupation: Massage therapist
IMMIGRATION
Lots of factors outside the Fed's influence are important to the economy. For example: labor supply. You won't get inexpensive products unless you have either cheap labor or efficient technology. During the so-called dot com boom, many people were working over-overtime in order to meet the economy's demand for products. What most people don't realize is that this level of effort was unsustainable. And what most people don't recognize is that we outsourced to other countries because there was a general recognition of this, and that eventually, wages were going to have to come up as a result of supply and demand. There was a bigger demand than there was a supply.
Now don't let either party fool you: they all were party to the influx of the undocumented, illegal workforce. This was yet another way to keep from having to outsource. And it worked -- for a time. But now we're seeing the costs of what could be called "in-sourcing," and they are profound. Still, what would be more costly would be to send everyone home at once. Just try it!
My estimate is that 15% (a raw hunch, really) of our businesses would have to close or significantly reduce their output: labor AND materials would be less available. That's because an economy is an organism, and there are lots of moving parts to an organism.
Food supply is one part - a vital one - to any economy, to any society. And smaller farmers depend upon migrant labor more than large networks like ADM and Tyson foods, industrial agriculture that are closer, in my opinion, to meeting the definition of monopolies - or rather, cartels.
And now we're seeing the housing boom turn into a bust, it's attributable to the fact that we're using foreign labor, but that labor isn't reinvesting in our economy. It's going somewhere else. Labor is more than a commodity in a capi-talistic society: it's an engine for reinvestment. And much of our newer labor force is not reinvesting in our own econ-omy: they're saving it and sending it back to Mexico and Honduras and elsewhere - (and they'll be mightily upset when the dollar is even worth less than it was when they worked for it.)
THE ECONOMY
We depend upon inexpensive energy. The current slowdown can also be directly linked to rising energy prices, particularly oil. We will either have to be more economical in our use of energy, or live with the consequences. Remember "supply and demand." It applies to food, fuel and labor.
As a result of all this, there is less free capital, less intrinsic, homegrown investing and a much greater interest in international investment. The dollar - and U.S. investment concerns - are about to be shown the door, internationally speaking. That should concern all Americans.
The other area of concern, nationally and internationally, is personal and national debt. The recent housing crash could be linked directly to uneven lending policies. The so-called subprime mortgages are largely owned by foreign investors, and that's why foreign markets are so wary of lending us more money - (for most who aren't aware: China owns a large part of our national debt.) Sub-primes "stiffed" the investors with the check, and recapturing the money (otherwise known as foreclosure) isn't quite as easy as it seems: Chapter 7 liquidation often exempts personal property, and the lending agreements often are made poorly so that the lender can't easily re-acquire property.
But the story behind the subprime debacle is the restrictive bankruptcy laws that have been passed by Congress and our President: it is harder to file for bankruptcy, particularly for credit card debt. Instead of letting the markets work, the laws made it easier for consumers to consolidate or fold their credit card debts into their personal property loans.
So it can be said: credit card companies were spared the consequences of their own excesses, and it's taken a toll on other areas of the economy. Credit card companies should have been left to fail on their own, and the sub-prime mess would have been partially avoided.
The economy is also being dragged down by excessive medical expenditures, many of which could be eliminated if there was less linkage between prescription medication and physician profit, and between real research and cherry-picked research of medications that not only do not help, but harm. The corrupted, ineffective, inefficient FDA has only recently begun to warn the public about dangerous OTC medications, and doctors are doing little-to-nothing to educate themselves to the problem.
Keep considering: an economy is based upon supply and demand. The less money there is to invest, the higher the cost of money. Things like fuel and medicine (and even education) that become overpriced are a drain on the whole organism.
We have a Federal Reserve who thinks it can tame the markets, when monetary supply is so interdigitated with material and labor and fuel that the Fed appears to be nearly delusional in what it thinks it can and cannot control. Tinkering might work on a Harley Davidson motorcycle (and might be a necessity) but it won't fix the bigger issues of an economy.
People need to be told the truth about the economy, and how their personal habits influence it; they need to be encouraged to be adult-like, and to take responsibility for their health and their wealth and their lives.
HEALTH CARE
We have great healthcare in this country; at least parts of the system are great: If you were to compare health-care to a cart, you'd have what my headline suggested: two fully intact, well-rounded, fully operational wheels, and the other two wheels...? Well, one of them is missing, and the other has missing spokes.
Why do physicians continue to prescribe medications that are dangerous?
Why does the public continue to kill itself with cheap elixirs?
The answer to the first question is: the FDA is underfunded, needs revamping and needs
to separate itself from the visibly corrupted commercial (read: "pharmaceutical") interests.
Recently, it was reported that the most prescribed (or profitable) drugs in the world,
statin drugs, don't really do anything, except lower cholesterol, and that's more like
cutting off the oil light in your car when it keeps flashing: elevated cholesterol is primarily a sign,
not a condition.
A recent study overseas showed that the elderly, when given strength training exercises,
gained muscle mass. That is, the control group, the ones not using statins. It has long
been noted that statins damage muscle, but this was the first study that showed that
statins interfered with the building of tissues.
That portion of the medical system that allows older people to become MORE senile, MORE
fragile, with LESS coordination and balance is not only a sham, but it is criminal.
Libertarian types will tell you that the market will correct everything, and that nothing
ought to be regulated; liberals will tell you that you need to take these medicines,
and that someone else ought to pay for them. Ronald Reagan would say:
"Trust, but verify!"
Well, the verification process is broken, rusted, corrupted, the entire wheel is missing.
Let's turn from the negatives - (mostly involving COMMONLY PRESCRIBED
medications, not valuable, lifesaving meds for things like MS) - and look at the positives.
The medical industry is always complaining about the lawyers who troll for malpractice
cases - (and they have my sympathy) - but that isn't why medical costs are rising:
we have a Cadillac system. Or a Lexus. You choose the luxury car of your choice.
Diagnostics and emergency medicine in this country are high-priced tickets.
And they should be. They cost a lot of money to research, develop, obtain, implement,
staff and maintain. They should NEVER be cheap!
They're too good.
Americans are the most suicidal group in the world: where else would you
try to kill yourself, recklessly racing your way to the fast-food restaurant, hoping
to make your appointment with the doctor so he can give you drugs for the high blood
pressure and (systemic) inflammation that result from what you just ate.
Now you know why you don't want me as President: you won't get my sympathy
(or federal money) for being stupid.
The person most responsible for your health is staring back at you in the mirror; illnesses
you cannot prevent (and that haven't been given to you by the system itself) should be treated.
FOREIGN POLICY
In my administration, foreign policy would take the track of many other Presidents' footsteps. Not a neo-isolationism, nor a neo-colonialism, but a view of the world with historical, social and even tribal historical occurrences and historical memories being taken into account.
For example, North Korea has been "encouraged" to dismantle their nuke program by interested parties in Beijing. How did that happen? Someone reminded them that Japan could also use the precedent of a nuclearized Korean peninsula as an excuse to become a nuclear power. We have to understand the history of a region before we attempt to deal with it
or engage it.
There is a need unlike any other time for more sophisticated, probing, thoughtful human intelligence. We need to stop the war within our own services, our own agencies - a measure that the Homeland Security umbrella was designed to remedy. The trouble is, we have wars within our own security agencies, as evidenced by the yellowcake debacle, as CIA operatives attempted to design foreign policy on their own. (We have seen that before, in a place
some might remember: Nicaragua.)
We do need to take stock of our bases around the world. They are expensive, and in some cases, unneccesary. However, our own military has a long memory, too, and remembers being pulled into two enormous, deadly, horrendous World Wars: it may be reluctant to close down some bases in Germany, just as the Russians may be reluctant to acquiesce on the notion of U.S. military bases in Poland and in other former "eastern bloc" countries.
We need to use better diplomacy than the usual State Department stuff: they only know how to apologize and to capitulate, and they mistakenly use cowardice in place of good manners. It is far too genteel, to ingratiating, too self-denigrating, too apologetic.
If our new President has no appreciation for history, for intelligence, for strategy, he or she might just as well cut off the lights and lock the door. This is a dangerous world, and we can neither run from it nor control it. We must seek to realistically live with others, defending ourselves (and our allies when neccessary) and we must also expect
more from other nations.
There is lots of handwringing in New York at the U.N. over Sudan and over much of Africa,
but little is done.
The United States of America can not and will not stand alone any longer: every time
a reporter sends back pictures of starving children, mutilated bodies and raped survivors,
we will beam those pictures to every embassy that is aiding and abetting the rapists,
the murderers, the juntas, the dehumanizers. And we will be sure that every citizen
the world over knows that their country does nothing to alleviate the suffering, while we
trod the deserts, alone or with few allies.
For our foreign policy, we shall adopt the motto: "Clean up your own mess."
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