Questions I wish the politicos would give us a straight answer to...
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I wish the blowhards running for office would answer these questions with specifics, rather than political platitudes.
im not sure that you are looking for my responses, but since im not running and its hte best i can do (i agree with your concerns) allow me to offer my opinions.
1. What would you do about Iraq? If you would pull out, how would you insure that Iraq does not fall back into anarchy and subject to a Taliban style takeover, and if you'd stay, what specifically would you change about our tactics of putting that house in order?
I would begin to look at how we can stagger an exit strategy over a reasonable timeperiod (id hope in the next 18-24 months as an optimistic date for a by in large exited force). Frankly if we are honest with ourselves, we have to admit that no matter when we live be it 5, 10, 20 years from now, there is going to be a civil war in Iraq. As recent history has shown, you cannot simply liberate a group of people. Abstract notions of freedom need to be earned, both in the battlefield and in the legislative halls. To assume that we could have ever liberated a nation is rather silly looking back at it. Frankly there is a risk that what comes out of that civil war will be bad for us. However, if we assume we will continue to funnel resources into those who are allies of us (though that has a spotty record at best) we will be able to at least in part focus attention on afghanistan if thats where we still are concerned.
Tactics i would use, in short term i think we should continue the surge. Frankly i would like to see the US create a viable starting point for those who will be fighting for our interests. It may not be possible, but that has to be the goal we hope for, at least a head of points that could lead to success. The very nature of insurgency leads to fragmentation of both our enemies as well as ourselves, if we collectively create strength we should force the fight to be brought to that strong center. Admittedly i would need to read another strategies report to elucidate a clear plan.
2. What would you do about taxes? Do you support an across the board tax increase (which is what happens when the current tax code expires in '10), do you support the 'death tax', do you support simplifing the tax code so that everyone pays their fair share, and nobody gets loopholes to weasel out of putting their money in the kitty? I think that most people feel they pay way too much tax for way too ineffective of a government.
Frankly im a big government guy. The united states lives in a bit of a fallicious world, where we think we can have cheap goods, be an international force and engage in many different programs while paying lower taxes. I do support a tax increase however i would make it a progressive tax. If we could tinker with the death tax to prevent it from punishing the families who we make pay for exobant life insurance policies that dont pay out, then i would attempt to do so. I would not argue for the fair tax, i frankly dont believe the tax could possibly be construed to be fair in any sense of the term, though admittedly i havent read some of the newer economists reports, but i have a feeling i would be a bit reticent to follow many of their arguments. Frankly much of the simplifications i would be working for would be to remove many of the tax shelters that favor the wealthy as is, to minimize the eventual increase as much as possible, this in some capacity would cover corporate welfare, though i realize to some degree it can and should exist.
3. What would you do to stop people from crossing our borders without documentation or permission, what would you do about the 10-20 million illegals that are here, and how would you attack poverty in the western hemisphere (not to mention poverty in Africa)? These things are all linked together, not to mention the security risk of allowing anybody from anywhere to cross our borders undetected and undetectable.
I would work towards legalizing as many individuals as possible. I feel like if we are going to hope that individuals spur economic growth through spending, we need to be payign them a wage that allows them to live, which is a problem that occurs in different economic strata, not just immigrants. Immigrants have been the strentgh of this country for decades, why we are turning our backs on them now, i do not understand. Frankly we need to be doing more to create a reasonable poverty line instead of one that does not adequately address the needs of the 30 million near poor, who threaten to be among the poor by the end of this generation. Education must be seen as a pivotal priority both in the creation of different consulting and trade programs (not everyone is on a 4 year college course and shouldnt be treated as such) and teachers are not being given the incentive frankly to work in districts that cannot afford to pay them or properly educate their students. The current standardized testing track teaching we are using right now for funding is a failure in that regard. If we seek to create national security, we will not do it by building fences, we will do it much better by funding the port securites acts that we have failed to pass, amongst better efforts to staff the borders.
4. How would you make our country independent of the energy that comes from third world despot ruled cesspits (with delusions of being a country) so that we don't have to get entangled with these crazy bastards?
Frankly we dont get that large of a percentage from our oil from the middle east. Though its a noticable percentage and an amount we are indebted too, we are lead to believe its far greater than it actually is. We need to promote companies that are actively seeking to research alternative fuels, and the companies that are using some of that technology. From recycling industries to waste management to air power to ethanol (though i have reservations about that specifically) to the hydro power technology we currently have, we need to make an effort to pull together our resources comprehensivly. Would it be great if everyone consumed less...it would be fantastic, but isnt practical. However, theres an incredible amount of money in coming up with these new fuels, and we should be promoting companies which are leading the way and institutions who are doing so as well.
5. What would you do about Hugo Chavez, The Iranian Mullahs, and other obvious enemies of the USA? We looked the other way until Al Qiada bit us in the butt in a big way, have YOU learned your lesson, and what plans do you have to keep us safe from these nutjobs?
If you can explain outside of saberratling why Hugo Chavez is an enemy of the united states, i will start being concerned with him. If he wasnt the leader of the 5th largest oil exporter, no one would know who he was. Yes he uses violent rhetoric against us, but other than trying to operate differently than we do economically, he is not a military threat. Frankly by forgiving some of hte latin american debt, we would begin to turn some of the tide against him. Chavez losing the recent referendum suggests he is not even that big of a player in Venezuela, and he is not the size of the threat some people make him out to be. We are going to be at odds with Iran as long as we are in Israel. Our middle eastern policy is not conducive toward postive relations, as much if not moreso than the dangers of radicalized islam. Though im not saying that policy has to change, its about time we realized why they dont like us. Putting a large sanctions package on iran is probably not in any way the solution to avoiding long term feelings of hatred toward our country.
If the united states matched practice up to our ideals a little more frequently and was a little more responsible about the way our foreign policy was outlined, instead of notions of transformational diplomacy, we would do ourselves a great deal of good in my humble opinion.
These are the most important issues to me (not particuarly in the order presented) and I wish for ONCE we'd get some straight answers and actual positions from the people running for office rather than 'the other guy sucks worse than I do'. My vote this year goes to the candidate that answers the above questions the best, regardless of political party. The more I watch these guys in Washington, the more I'm convinced that most Democrats are the same as most Republicans, and neither of them is interested in working for me, only in getting my vote so they can keep, or get, a job
while i realize we disagree on seemingly every issue, i thought this was the best i could do on short notice. Admittedly its much more reading and information that anyone has to digest, but i think these may be some simple starter points.
