Economy

The business community always talks about free markets, but we know that no such thing exists except in text books. Just as laws are needed for people because bad behavior will drive out good behavior, we need to have regulations to keep out the bad behavior of companies and corporations. The recent mortgage crisis and its resulting impact on our economy is a perfect example of unethical corporate practice. While I strongly believe in and value personal responsibility, individual Americans need to be protected by their government to ensure they are on a level playing field and get a fair shake when it comes to doing business with American corporations. Tied tightly with this is the amount of money we are borrowing from the world to fund the occupation of Iraq. Not only is this immoral, it’s fiscally irresponsible. The responsible action for our government to take would be to spend that money on programs that would help put our economy back on the right track.

Education

Our education system is in shambles. The Bush Administration's program to deal with failing schools, No Child Left Behind (NCLB), is not a solution, but rather a flawed policy that ignores the real problems. Social promotion, private schools that strip the cream of the crop from our public schools and teachers who are only punished for failing students while never being rewarded for passing others have lead to the slow near-death of so many schools. Education is an infrastructure item in our society. Arguably there is nothing more important to the protection of our form of government than an educational system that is inclusive and complete.

I received a top notch public education when I was growing up, which was during a time when private schools were not the solution to a good education. Private schools were an equal alternative, but not a replacement. I fail to see how making education a profit center is the solution to what ails our current education system. We need to take the profit out of educating our citizens. It is time to consider education a part of our infrastructure.

The business community should have an interest in an educated work force. The business community's stake in our education system should be implicit. The trouble is, however, that they do not see how improving the public education system directly improves their bottom line. We need to make it clear that just as well-maintained roads and bridges facilitate transportation for American businesses, and well-maintained police and fire departments provide the safety and security to do business, well-maintained public education and an educated workforce supplies business with the manpower they need. Again, it comes down to investing in Americans themselves as we invest in any other element of our infrastructure.

Healthcare

Quality healthcare is a right not a privilege. My profession has allowed me to travel all over the world. I have lived in Great Britain, France and Australia and have seen, first hand, the benefits of a universal healthcare system. A universal system would guarantee that all Americans receive the quality healthcare they deserve while controlling sky rocketing healthcare costs. Currently, the United States' Medicare and V.A. healthcare delivery systems are two of the most cost-efficient models around, with only 2% of their budgets going to administrative costs. Many, if not most, private insurers have administrative costs of 30% or more, which ironically can be attributed to costs associated with denying claims to those they insure. Our private healthcare system is ineffecient and virtually ineffective. On top of that, we need to keep in mind that we do not have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to solving the healthcare crisis in this country. We have scores of systems in place in other countries to model our system after. We can take the best components of existing systems and avoid the worst ones to create an efficient and effective solution that works best for America and for all Americans.

Iraq

It is long past the time when we can make any good out of our continued occupation of Iraq. Discussions and conversations about whether it was the right thing to do at the start or whether it was right to stay have become academic. People are dying every day and we can no longer afford to be there. We are spending $225,000 a minute, and our economy is losing millions everyday in the process. It is time to put our resources into saving our economy. Bush went fishing for a prize sail fish and snagged a whale with a storm about to hit the boat. I support a responsible plan to leave Iraq, which includes drastically reducing our troop levels while increasing our Diplomatic efforts and appealing to our International allies to help establish and maintain peace and stability in the region.

America's Infrastructure

If Hurricane Katrina, the bridge collapse in Minnesota and the fact that our public schools are in desperate need of repair exemplify anything, it is that we need to reinvest in the infrastructure of our country. Why spend millions of dollars a day rebuilding Iraq, when that money could be used here at home? We need a real stimulus package, not an extra $300 bucks. We need a comprehensive policy addressing the domestic needs of our country. We need to invest in our work force by expanding public education and job training programs, providing access to quality healthcare and providing tax cuts to those of us that will truly benefit from them. We need to create quality high paying jobs here at home by expanding research, development and production in areas like alternative energy and technology, which will in turn create millions of jobs, lessen our dependence on foreign oil and help clean up our environment while relying on one of our greatest national strengths – our American ingenuity.

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