Where I Stand On The Issues

This is a new page. I have provided a simple list of current issues and stated my position. I will be adding a link for each position to a fuller exposition of my perspective and plan to implement such as President.


War - I believe that if we are engaged in a war, we should pursue our actions in a methodical, results oriented way. We should realize that war is not nice, clean, neat or tidy. We should not make a war into a public relations event. War requires certain well established actions for success and limitation of civilian and military casualties. I think that the current attempt to engage war is ignorant (or corrupt) and a horrific waste of human life and resources. Since the methods of war are neither new or secret, I must conclude that there are other self-serving factors involved in our current war(s) different from what the public is being told.

I will outline as I have elsewhere, the steps I believe would gain the ends we seek in our current war and do it in a matter of weeks without additional civilian or military casualties. I do believe that there are some regimes that will respond to nothing other than brute force and some that will respond to nothing at all and must be eradicated for the greater good of the world and especially of the citizen/victims of those regimes.

Abortion – I oppose abortion except in cases where the physical and/or mental health of the mother is threatened. I oppose abortion beyond the 1^st trimester.

I favor the teaching of contraceptive birth control, the use of a “morning after pill” and the free distribution of birth control products in the community to persons of any age who are engaging in sexual behavior. To prevent access to birth control because of another person’s belief that it is not correct or a parents desire for their child to not participate in such behaviors does nothing to prevent sexual activity. The safety, emotional health and welfare of the individual and the burden on the community should be considered before the unrealistic personal preferences of others.

Hurricanes & Natural Disaster – It seems that more violent hurricanes and other natural disasters are imminent due to human neglect of the environment. States should provide relief and not rely on the Federal Government at all, as Federal funds are routinely wasted, misdirected and are subject to fraudulent mis-distribution. Federal restoration does not address local or logical issues and is a waste of manpower, materials and funds. The creation of more bureaucracy is not the solution to disaster relief. Local volunteer organizations should be encouraged and trained to offer necessary support and relief. Victims of disaster should be offered rebuilding and community restoration and service jobs before individuals or contractors that are not from the community.

Death Penalty – I am for the death penalty for crimes against individuals where the victim has been subject to terrorism, physical or psychological torture, rape, unwarranted and extreme physical assault, murder or the immanent threat of murder where the conviction is solidly proved. I believe it is an insult to the public to warehouse criminals of this sort. On certain conviction, capital punishment should be swift, sure and economical.

Immigration – I am for immigration control. I believe persons who enter the United States illegally or who remain in the United States illegally should be deported and the country of their origin should be liable for all costs incurred thereby. I believe that our borders should be secured and those who make a living from breaching our security should be detained by their own nation and/or detained and returned by us at cost. Nations who fail to assist in border security should be penalized. I think the United States should first employ its elderly, disabled, less educated and young workers before considering alien workers and I do not believe the claim that Americans refuse the jobs that illegal aliens perform, but rather employers financially benefit from alien workers and prefer them to American workers only because they are cheaper and tolerate abuse.

I think that the United States should energetically assist foreign nations to formulate and activate employment development programs in their own nations to provide the opportunities at home that alien workers seek illegally in the United States. Only when a proven deficit of American workers exists should foreign workers be engaged and that should be done in a manner that provides work conditions according to American standards and returns the workers to their home nation immediately upon completion of the contract.

Intelligent Design - I think education should include an overview of various perspectives and their foundation. If Intelligent Design is to be taught it should be open to intelligent scrutiny by those who are studying it. The formulation of academic texts and teaching criteria should be by educators who will not allow personal bias to interfere with an accurate presentation of the philosophy from which students may judge for themselves.

Economy – States and Communities should encourage individuals to engage in new business by offering training and financial assistance on a local level to persons who will operate local businesses and employ community members. I do not believe established industry should benefit from tax incentives, nor should “big” business be given any special treatment over any other business in a community. It is to the advantage of the community to maintain local control of their economy and not export their income.

Trade with other nations should be predicated on the idea that such trade will not harm the livelihood of American workers, nor should it contribute to local or international abuses or violations of human or civil rights by the nation engaging in trade with America.

Education – Education should be controlled at the local level with State oversight into teaching methods and funding. Educators should be paid an average of the income of the families whose children they teach. Administrators should be paid no more than teachers.

Persons who see education as an avenue to wealth or political influence should be rejected and educators and administrators should live in the communities they serve.

Cultural development and the Arts should be restored and programs to encourage character and community service and development should be instituted. Schools should engage local business to assist in training and employing students and graduates. Focus should be returned to honest work and the idea that every student requires higher education should be relinquished. Admission and financial policies which discriminate in any direction should be eliminated. Qualified applicants should be given opportunities to earn the funds to pay for their education through matching funding at a local level. The cost of education should be brought down to make it affordable to those who seek it and qualify to utilize the resources of the institution.

Retirement Issues - Communities should develop plans to assist retirees in their communities according to standards of living developed at a state level. Employment and/or public service opportunities should be provided for those who are capable of making a contribution. As health care is one of the main causes of insolvency for retirees, communities should mandate free health care for retired persons.

Energy and Environment – The Federal Government should get out of the energy business except to promote and assist in the development of alternative energy sources that are eco-friendly. Communities should organize to maintain the environment and produce energy on smaller, local levels.

Polluting industries should cease activity until their polluting issues are resolved.

Intensive efforts to increase green spaces and purify groundwater should be engaged.

Stem Cell Research has developed to the point that it should be allowed.

Federal Budget – the Budget should be balanced. Special interests and pork barrel spending should be entirely eliminated and legislators who would willingly subvert the guidelines for federal spending should be tossed out of office and replaced by individuals who consider the common good before special interest. We should look at more pro-active methods of assisting at home and abroad rather than spending money that we do not have.

Taxes - I favor a flat tax with no exceptions for persons above an established “low income” level. Industry should pay the same flat tax with no exceptions.

Foreign Policy – We should continue to engage other nations to assist in eliminating terrorists and reforming governments that sustain or harbor them. We should mandate that all nations subscribe to human and civil rights and work to reform or replace governments and elements in governments who fail in this regard. We should make an extreme effort to clean up the after effects of war, such as land mines and work to reduce hunger and reforest denuded areas while teaching agricultural methods that preserve the integrity of the environment and the soil. We should not engage in trade with any nation that violates the natural human rights of its citizens with the money they derive from trade with the United States and we should strongly encourage allied nations to do likewise.

The Draft – I believe in mandatory national service in one of several areas including military, health services, agricultural development, building, teaching and social reform both at home and abroad according to interest and need. I believe that military intervention should be quick and decisive, avoiding a prolonged combat with unnecessary civilian and military casualties.

Gay Marriage – I believe the Constitution guarantees each person the right to engage in any kind of relationship between two or more consenting adults and that a committed union is the basis for marriage and not the particular gender attraction of the individual or number of individuals in the committed relationship. I believe that the establishment of Marriage Amendments constitutes nothing less than the institution of State Religion which is expressly prohibited by the Constitution of the United States and that we may not discriminate against any member of our society nor may we establish class rule. We cannot ascribe rights to ourselves while denying them to others which is what opponents of so called Gay Marriage are trying to do.

Health Care – I think hospitals should be true non-profit organizations owned and run by the communities they serve. Health care providers should be salaried according to the average income of the community they serve and should be subject to community review boards and exempt from suit except in cases of flagrant neglect or malpractice.

I favor a National Health Care standard, but feel health care should be a function of the State and community and be provided at no cost to the community. Meanwhile, education and other community services to improve the overall health and reduce the incidence of medical service should be vigorously instituted while dietary standards should be established and promoted in schools and in the media as public service.

Producers should be held liable for untrue or misleading statements and claims in advertising and products proved to be injurious to health should be outlawed. Food product should be labeled in a manner that indicates true nutritional values and content.

War on Drugs – Countries that profit from trafficking in narcotics should be penalized and quarantined. Major drug traffickers should be considered terrorists and treated accordingly. Non-narcotic recreational or therapeutic drugs serve a real purpose and should be decriminalized and the end user, often more a victim than criminal should be offered education and rehabilitative opportunities rather than prosecution. Prohibition is more to blame for the interest of youth in drugs than anything else. Recreational use of pharmaceuticals is a bigger problem in this nation than street drugs and should be given some priority. The advertising of drugs in the common media is a direct trafficking promoting pharmaceutical abuse. The attack of America on the victim rather than the trafficker is offensive and does not represent a war on drugs, but rather a method of producing numbers of arrests that will create impressive arrest records and further tax the community through fines and jailing non-criminal community members while allowing the real criminals to go unchecked. Drugs are a part of every culture and have been from time immemorial. Rather than make a vain attempt to eliminate all drugs, a concerted effort to eliminate the criminal traffic in drugs should be the focus. The drug war has been a class war where the drugs of the ruling class are exempt even when they are found to be far more damaging than the drugs of choice for the non-ruling classes. Education and opportunity are the keys to reducing drug use at the end user level.