I think it would be very interesting to hear what many members would do if they were given the position of Commander in Chief.

Please describe, as if this were your Campaign Site's "Issues" section, your view on each of the following topics (without slandering another party nor insulting anyone having to do with the topic):

The War in Iraq
Illegal Immigration
Social Security
Public Education
Gun Control
Marijuana Legalization
Environmental Policy
Minimum Wage
Abortion

I left off Iran and some other things that some may want to add, but you're free to add any other issues you deem important. I would really like to hear what most think on these, though.

Thanks, guys.

__________________
"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."
Isaac Asimov

I guess I ought to put mine out...

I believe in a Strong State Government and as little Federal Intervention in YOUR life as possible. You are intelligent enough to make your own choices. Thomas Jefferson and our founding fathers thought so as well, so I guess I'm in good company. ; )

The War in Iraq - I believe it is time for the United States to leave Iraq. I would be in favor of a vote from the Iraqi people themselves on whether they feel we should leave or not, and in such a case would be for a complete pull-out spread out over the course of a year.

Illegal Immigration - I am for increasing the number of legal immigrants allowed in the country, and would fund law enforcement on employers who hire illegal immigrants. I would like to at least open an honest discussion about the prospect of amending the Citizenship clause in the Constitution. A Guest Worker Program would be up for discussion so long as the workers in question apply outside of the United States (yes, that includes those already here).

Social Security - Voluntary Privitazation of Social Security is an idea the EP Campaign has been throwing around the office ; ). Those who choose to put into it will receive benefits. Those who do not, will be left to plan their own retirement. The people do deserve a choice in the matter of what happens to their money WRT Social Security.

Public Education - I believe this is an area with which the United States must always leave room with adequate funding. However, if children are not raised to value education, there is little that the government can do to curb it. The problems in education lie on the shoulders of society.

Federal "National Language is English" policy - an emphatic and unmistakable - NO. Leave it up to the states to decide their official language.

Gun Control, Marijuana Legalization, Gay Marriage, Abortion - These issues would be left up to the states to decide. There would be no federal intervention.

Universal healthcare - I am not for Government regulated Universal Healthcare. A persons has the right to life, and with such a right comes the responsibility to that life. Just as Pro-Choice advocates call for "the right for a person to control their body", they should hold themselves to the same standard WRT their own personal healthcare and/or medical expenses. That means, if you smoke two packs a day and go binge drinking every weekend, don't ask me to foot the bill for your Chronic Liver Failure and Emphysema.

Environmental Policy - Whether one agrees it is caused by man or not, Global Warming and pollution is a serious problem. Funding must be increased in the areas of alternative fuels.

Minimum Wage - again, this would be left up to states. I would work to repeal the Federal Minimum Wage and leave it entirely up to the States voter decision. A one-size-fits-all Minimum Wage does not work for areas when the price of living is different. Let states decide what will work for them. This is how the government was set up, anyhow.

__________________
"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."
Isaac Asimov

The War in Iraq: Increase troop levels to about 200K and fucking crush skulls for another year . After we get done killing the terrorist/insurgents the IDF takes over and secures the area so their is no backfilling. If they fuck that up then they are screwed for after the year of carnage towards the enemy , a staged withdrawl out without fanfare or timeline for the enemy and they are on their own.

Illegal Immigration: after the year of carnage in iraq ......mobilize the NG and deport all those that are illegal period. THen tighten the border and streamline immigration processes and acceptance but maintain the fact that no one illegal gets in the country anymore and free loads period.

Social Security: No change , IMO this is an issue you can not win on, I myself feel i will get jack shit when im of age (am 39 now) and i think most in my age bracket have that idea in their minds.. Take care of those now and worry about the short fall later (shitty attitude but this one is too much of an issue that would take away from the important shit)

Public Education: fund NO CHild better and push the bootheal to local municipalties to get this shit fixed. THis shouldnt be a federal issue IMO. In the end education is on the parents and if parents dont give a shit about their kids education there really is shit the government is gonna do.

Gun Control: ENFORCE THE LAWS WE HAVE NOW and prosecute violators to the utmost. My personnal opinion is that we have way too many gun deaths in this country and way too many people who shouldnt have guns (due to prior crimes ) in their posession do and get them too easy....I once again submit you dont hunt shit but squirrels with a hand gun(primary weapon) hand guns are for man killing and when i take a piss in a public restroom i shouldnt see people with guns on their hips as they take a piss cause they have concealed permits...........(happened 5 times in my life) BTW to the people who are gonna kill me on this paragraph...career soldiers dont have any weapons

Marijuana Legalization: totally for it....tax the shit out of it and increas revenue , put it into social issues and make those who are so concerned about them happy..........People are gonna use this drug and its not a starter drug IMO i was a pot head as a teenager........dont do it now nor did i do any stronger drugs due to my pot use.

Environmental Policy: increase incentives for alternate energy sources, enforce EPA standards on COal Burning plants (make them get the scrubbers) INcrease and Enforce MPG standards for all vehicles ,

Now the capper that kind of goes in here.....PUMP the shit out of Denali National FOrrest for Oil to help us stop being dependant on foreign oil so we can start and get the above done

Minimum Wage: sign into law the current raise

Abortion: NO Change.....AM pro Choice even though i think Abortion is murder a copout and fucking aborant....its not my business Roe VS Wade stays in effect


and one if I may add:

GAY Marriage/Civil Unions:

Sign a bill into law for Civil Unions nation wide for alternative marriages. Marriage is sacred to 60% + of the USA thus the majority doenst want gay marriage.......BUT....everyone deserves the right to have the benifits and after death benifits of a relationship period . Its a comprimise one i doubt the Gay/Lesbian community would accept for its more of an acceptance thing for them than a legal thing. Civil Unions gives them what they need and makes this issue which is so trivial go the fuck away

__________________
"Let Valor Not Fail"

The War in Iraq[/b]: Prepare a planned withdrawl of troops over course of several months. Part of this plan would involve insuring that Iraq has a well armed and trained police force, military, and medical emergency services before we finish leaving. Even after we leave though I'd still send Iraq material support and ask the U. N. to aid Iraq with any assistance they may need in rebuilding infrastracture. I don't think American companies and contracters belong over there.

Illegal Immigration: This is really 2 issues. 1 for the people already here, and secondly for the people wanting to cross the border.

Issue 1: is the problem of job competition. I would make it a requirement that all employes, legal or not, must be paid the same wage. I want to basically remove the concept of hiring illegals for cheap labor and sort of make it more fair for all workers applying for any job. Also I'd do this because I see paying illegals low wages is a kind of exploitation.

As for status they would be able to get seperate civilian licenses that include their Non-Citizen status on them. I would not give them voting rights though.

Issue 2: tighten border security and provide scouting helicopters to border patrol if they don't already have them or if they need more as well as Night/Thermal vision equipment.

Social Security: As part of my requirement of illegals getting paid a fair wage the same as everyone else then hopefully that would mean more FICA tax being paid. Probably not enough to solve the SS shortage but it help to prop it up a little bit.

Public Education: Let States determine the direction of the public education. I would still have a Federal Department of Education but it would be there as a resource that states could go to for help, not to interfere with or boss around the State's public school systems. It would do this with money grants or negotiating prices and purchases with school text book publishers for districts with low budgets and also research what does and does not work in the classroom and distribute those findings to Superindendents and School Boards.

Gun Control: Enough laws and regulations are already in place, but need to be reviewed for flaws and corrected. The standards of what can appear in your history and bar you from a purchase after a background check should be more strict.

Marijuana Legalization: State's issue. They can make it legal or illegal, regulate it, or tax it.

Environmental Policy: A packaging waste reduction policy of working with companies to arrive at a standard of product packaging material that makes recycling easier and reduces packaging waste including everything from Electronics stores to the Supermarket. This would also deal with Junk Mail in regards to discouraging mailing of AOL CDs or similiar things that are harder to recycle then paper waste. The ideal result would be that most of what gets picked up on the curbside is being recycled instead of going into landfills.

Explore alternative ways of generating power such as Tidal/Hydro. Also see if Hydroelectric or Tidal power plants could have a potential to use some of their electrical output to create hydrogen gas from the surrounding water efficiently enough to be both profitable and environmentally friendly. This could be usefull in rejuvinating the economy in the Great Lakes region by creating a Hydrogen gas fuel export.

Minimum Wage: Let the states determine minimum wage

Abortion: Compromise. I would support a policy allowing early term abortions but discouraging late term abortions. Abortions of any kind bother the Lifers but I think the late term ones upset them the most.

The War in Iraq

Stay the course. I think the key to winning in Iraq is actually not political deals. A relatively small handful of insurgents are going around committing terrorism and we do not have the troops or the political support to hunt them down. The key to winning the war (IMO) is to train an Iraqi military, police department and intelligence unit that most countries have to deal with the insurgents. I don't know what is taking so long, but I assume that the generals and the Bush administration are not stupid. They obviously want the training to succeed, especially under all this pressure. You may think the Bush admin are liars and neo-cons, but they want Iraq to succeed, so they are not just allowing the training program to fail. They must have reviewed it and there must be serious problems with it. Our forces continued help in Iraq will help to make it better. Obviously, leaving will not.

Illegal Immigration

Need a compromise. A centrist solution has to be found. Some groups (Latino, liberals, businesses, etc) want the illegals to stay and have some kind of earned citizenship for those who have been here for some time. Other groups do not want them to stay. A reasonable compromise needs to be found. We need to have an actual debate on this, in the country. We need to really talk about the economic benefits of allowing more unskilled labor into this country, if there is any.

Social Security

Your current taxes pay for someone who is retiring now. I don't see any way to get out of that. I think it would be wrong to leave people who are going to be retiring in the near future in the lurch with no one to pay for it, and their Social Security funds having been spent SOMEWHERE by the government when it shouldn't have been. People must be fully re-imbursed by the government, before any talk can be considered of moving everyone off of govrnment SSI. I think we could talk about reducing the amount of SSI taxes and allowing people to decide more what to do with their own money.


Public Education

There is no excuse for a high student/teacher ratio. Say what you will about public education. Levy every possible attack and criticism against it. After all that is said and done, there is still no excuse for a high student/teacher ratio. That is not the fault of the teacher, or the student that the ratio is high, yet the ratio is vital for educational performance. The ratio must be lowered where it is high.

Gun Control

Not a pressing issue for me. This is politically divisive, yet accomplishes little. I would leave it alone.

Marijuana Legalization

Opposed. Firmly.

Environmental Policy

Very green. Very. More research to green technology. Have heard that current funding levels are a joke. Would try to find ways to make it cheaper to use home solar panels.

Minimum Wage

The real debate is not so much minimum wage per se, but the WORKING FAMILIES who rely on it. The key is to target funding to go to working families struggling to make ends meet, and not to increase MW for teenagers who don't need a wage hike. MW increases to keep up with the level of inflation. EIC programs for working families.

Abortion

Opposed to abortion in general, yet this is a very politically divisive issue and I would not waste my political capital on too extreme a measure. Would attempt to ban abortions after the first trimester.

Iran

I believe they are on the road to the bomb. We cannot strike them now since Iraq is unstable and we cannot afford another front on that war. Isolate Iran like we are doing to North Korea. Attempt to offer some kind of re-conciliation about our cultural/historical and politically symbolic differences while remaining firm about our opposition to their WMD program. Try to beat the mollahs "Hitler strategy" of appealing to Iranian nationalism to justify their totalitarianism and poor economic performance of the economy.


WEB

I would run with a focus on getting rid of the IRS and implimenting the Fair Tax.
Americans For Fair Taxation: FairTax.org

Iraq:

Do what ever has to be done to get out of there as quickly as possible without leaving it in shambles. Basically, I would let the generals handle the operational aspect, but I would make my stance that of not leaving untill they can run the show for themselves.

Illegal Immigration:

No amnesty. A compromise should be worked out where we can a) close our border off, and b) make sure we know who is in our country and where they are. Make a definative avenue for potential employees to come and work with the possibility for citizenship if they play by the rules long enough.

Social Security:

I haven't read up too much on the subject, but from what little I've heard I think that it would be best to give everyone their own private account, or the option to handle it themselves.

Public Education:

More competition. (school vouchers?)

Gun Control:

Keep it the same. Maybe up the punishment for crimes commited with guns.

Marijuanna:

Legalize it. Tax it. Treat it.

Environment:

Clean it up and keep it clean. I don't know if I agree with the federal government handing out money to fund alternative fuels, but I would like to see the government help out somehow.

Minimum wage:

Abolish the minimum wage. Let the employers and employees work it out for themselves.

Abortion:

Keep Roe v. Wade. I don't like the idea of abortion, but I don't see why I should come in and try to change anything. I would only focus on late term abortions and try to get both sides to compromise on a reasonable "window of opportunity" for abortions.

Gay Marriage:

Let the states decide. Maybe suggest to them to let gays have civil unions and all legal "perks" to being in a marriage. Let straights keep the word marriage. Sounds like a decent compromise to me.

Iran/ North Korea:

Keep a close eye on all of their weapons facilities. Get the UN to inspect them. If they are not allowed to inspect then we bomb their facilities. If they rebuild, we bomb again.

Africa:

I think we should seriously start talking with the UN or NATO and see if something can't be done to help those folks out. There is no reason there should be ethnic cleansing and/or land/ water feuds. They have got to stop killing each other. I'm still not sure about all of this, but it is a sad state of affairs over there. I would rather have the UN handle it more than us though, or be "in charge." I wouldn't want it to look like the US is trying to steal their shit or set up a colony, or whatever it is us evil Americans do.

__________________
Neither am I the means to any end others may wish to accomplish. I am not a tool for their use. I am not a servant of their needs. I am not a bandage for their wounds. I am not a sacrifice on their altars. ... I owe nothing to my brothers, nor do I gather debts from them. I ask no one to live for me, nor do I live for others. I covet no mans soul, nor is my soul theirs to covet.

Ayn Rand, Anthem.

This is truly one of the great problems of today. I agree with letting the UN handle most of it, as that would make the most sense as well. We do not have the resources (at this time, anyway) to make it happen effeciently, as big of a project as it would be.

WRT killing each other, I'm terribly uneducated on modern African culture and civilization and do not know where the lines are drawn from one civil war to the next. Understanding that, above all else, is the key to finding a solution.

__________________
"The saddest aspect of life right now is that science gathers knowledge faster than society gathers wisdom."
Isaac Asimov

Has to be resolved in a way that doesn't look like we are giving up, otherwise Islamic terror will destroy us. 9/11 was caused by our withdrawal from Lebanon and Mogadishu.

Open the border to all that have a sponsor and are able to work. Eliminate quotas, but only allow work visas to be obtained in the home country.

Fair Tax
Get the federal government out of it. It's rightfully a state/local issue.
Keep the current NICS, require states to report mental health data to it, require CCW permits to be U.S. wide--if you have one in one state, it should be valid all over, just like a driver's license.

Leave alone.
Use common sense (which neither side currently does).
Eliminate as a federal issue.
Eliminate as a federal issue.

Handguns (namely .44 magnums) have been used to kill every game animal in the world. Handguns are the ultimate self-defense weapon. Even though I own rifles and shotguns, I choose a handgun as my house gun--why? It's easier to maneuver through doors, etc., and it won't overpenetrate walls nearly as much as the long guns. Concealed permit holders are involved in less crime than are police officers. (a study in Florida of the first 8 yrs of liberalized concealed carry proved this).

The War in Iraq-- Begin troop withdrawals in one year. Test out the new Iraqi Army and Government. Have to cut the umbilical cord sometime, and get the hell out of the Middle East in 4 years.

Illegal Immigration- I have no problem with these illegal immigrants. They are more American then the majority of America is right now. They work hard for the American Dream and their children will not be confined to any poor ghettos, but will be on par in the next generation. Would you let a wall stop you from fulfilling a dream. I say give any here right now amnesty and then use the troops that should be withdrawn from around the world.(Cut it all in half.) To enforce the border.
Social Security- You know why it is becoming a problem? The government "borrows" money from it to pay for miscellaneous things and becomes indebted to it. LEAVE IT ALONE, AND IT WILL WORK!
Public Education- Instead of financing wars, and getting in debt to trillions of dollars. Lets improve standards and encourage the states to overhaul the entire system.
Gun Control- I would say leave it, but why does the NRA flip out when they can't have that bayonet lug on their AK-47 anymore?
Marijuana Legalization- $$$$Legalize and undercut the original illegal dealers.$$$$ big money right here.
Environmental Policy-I am all for renewable energy, but hybrid cars are worse for the environment than standard power, so lets just work to make ethanol to get some money into the midwest.
Minimum Wage- Lower it. I am 16, and I am currently applying for a job, but its just standard trickle down economics.
Abortion- Let the states decide. Nowhere in the US Constitution is it mentioned specifically and let state gov'ts interpret it.