Blogs
Vertical Day is coming this Wednesday.
We expect a dozen of the Huck PAC endorsed candidates to participate. Each of them has been asked to send us their thoughts on the issues that matter most to them. We will add these posts to the our special homepage at www.huckpac.com from 12PM-12AM ET.
I am also hoping to add 8 special guests. Today I am asking for your ideas America on the following issues:
-How would you control spending in Washington?
-How would you make America energy independent?
-What would you do to improve our education system?
-What would you do to improve our health care system?
-What sort of tax reform do you think America needs to boost our economy?
-What steps would you take to promote conservation and good stewardship of the environment?
If you have an idea or a solution to one of these issues, please submit them here. Please keep your blog posts to no longer than 6-8 paragraphs if possible. Please provide your name and where you are from with your submission. We will choose 8 responses from the ideas submitted and include them on our special Vertical Day page alongside our participating candidates.
Your ideas are important. The way forward on many of these issues will also need to come from outside Washington and our state governments. They will come from individuals making a difference on a local level in their hometown, school system or in their own home and with their family.
So if you have an answer to one of the questions above and want to participate in the process please submit your answer here.
Thanks for all you do and please remember Vertical Day is Wednesday.
Comments 51-53 of 53
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Nissen, Tim
07/21/2008 02:28 PM
I chose to pick the two topics of education and energy. Note, however, that potentially large spending cuts are implied by my proposals on education and therefore it can be said that I address, albeit tangentially, the spending issue. I have tried as much as possible to frame my ideas in such a way that they are in keeping with the spirit of vertical politics.
Concerning Education:
Since it would not be feasible to entirely eliminate public education, and even it it were there seems to be reason to think that this would harm the nation as far as its ability to compete in the practical affairs of life, I propose an overhaul in what is taught in the schools. The root principle of the overhaul would be that, due to the lack of religious and ethnic uniformity of our nation, the State, being essentially an institution of and for this world, ought to teach only those things for which there is a consensus that they are useful and promote practical success in this world. I have in mind here things like, math, reading, writing, language(s), experimental science (and here there must be an effort to strip the education of all philosophical assumptions which are atheistic or materialistic and thus secularist), physical education and useful trades and technology. Other subjects like history, art, religion and historical science (i.e. evolution, uniformitarian geology, etc) while potentially useful to know about, generally cannot be taught without a religious and moral point of view and thus we ought to leave them to the free and private communities from which the children are reared. The goal of this system is to as much as possible simplify and sterilize public education so people’s tax dollars are not being used to support ideologies which they think are false and/or dangerous. That is to create a system in which the vast majority of Americans can feel at least ok about their children’s participation. These ideas can be seen as a grandiose compromise by both sides in the culture war---a willingness to lay down arms and agree that all of this energy which is currently being expended to use the sword power of the state to either promote one’s own agenda and moral vision and/or thrawt the opposing side’s same attempt is not as constructive as using the same energy to accomplish one’s vision within private and free communities through persuasion. In other words it requires a shift in how we would accomplish our various and competing agendas to change the world. As conservatives we know how powerfully the public schools have been used to either destroy or bias against Christian faith and therefore it would seem to me that a system like this could only benefit our agenda. Moreover, it would grant us an edge, at least in the beginning, since we are already heavily invested in the education of our children outside the public system.
Concerning Energy:It was through the grace of God that man discovered fossil fuels, was given the power to mine them, and the ingenuity to convert them to useful energy which has propelled a rise in the standard of living which no culture since the beginning of recorded creation has enjoyed. And because of our great use of these fuels many industries, jobs, and communities depend on either the production or consumption of these fuels. But now it comes about that after years of profitably using these substances we are feeling increasing pressure to draw away from them for three important reasons. First, these substances are limited, and as far as we know the quantities which are known to be yet in the earth will not last very many more generations. Second, the use of these substances are polluting, and as some believe in such a manner which might bring about worldwide cataclysm through humanly caused global warming in the very near future. And thirdly, our national need for vast quantities of these substances requires us to engage is so many foreign intrigues and now even wars which cause us manifold problems. So we have a bit of a tension. On the one hand we have the divine approbation, practical benefit and the entrenchment of our economy in the use of these fuels but on the other we are faced with the practical realities of the present and near future. Therefore, we must seek an energy policy which strikes an appropriate balance. But how shall this be done? Well, the first thing to do, before creating a detailed policy is to lay out the principles around which the details must be organized. I propose the following:
(1) There is nothing intrinsically evil about fossil fuels, rather they are intrinsically good since every creature of God is good and can and should be received with thanksgiving to the Creator thereof.
(2) Man does have a call to be wise stewards of the gifts of his Creator.
(3) It is evil for any generation to waste and destroy the earth so that future generations are left to live in worse conditions then the previous.
(4) Because of the finite amounts of fossil fuels, the conflict which these fuels cause among competing nations and the growing energy needs of humanity there must be a commitment by all to conservation and a shift away from deriving energy from these fuels.
(5) Because there are entrenched fossil fuel industries upon which many nations, livelihoods, and communities depend and also because of (1) we should not too rapidly abandon the use of fossil fuels.
(6) To ease tensions with other countries we should make full use of our national resources in such a manner which comports with (2) and (3).
(7) There should be an acknowledgment that every created source of energy is itself good and can be used profitably and without sin by man, though there are some methods which serve better then others for a given circumstance or application. -
Merkel, Scott
07/21/2008 01:39 PM
I thought about writing "FAIRTAX" for 6-8
paragraphs !!! This really seems to be one of
the top issues requested when Huck asks
for opinion poll subjects...I'm sure many of
the HucPac regulars need no educating on
The FairTax, but since Mike was the only GOP
candidate to endorse H.R.25, it seems only
fitting that he would be the likely choice to
further its merits to America by doing any
media venue with FairTax folks like Thomas
Wright and Ken Hoagland. I wish that Mike
could snag a C-SPAN Washington Journal
A.M. spot for an hour...He also needs to
take these "celebrity conservatives" like
Hannity & Ingraham to task on his upcoming FOX appearances as well...Thanks -
Keeter, Lane
07/21/2008 11:57 AM
For those of you who would like to see Huck on the ticket as VP, take a moment to email Gary Bauer at garybauer@cwfpac.com. He is taking a poll of the supporters of the Campaign for Working Families and has asked for this feedback. Gary has the ear of Sen. McCain, so this could be influential. Specifically, he wants to know which VP candidate is a "dealmaker" for your support of McCain and also who would be a "dealbreaker". Let him hear from you all.