Vote for me!

A friend and I were talking last night about how powerless we feel when it comes to election time. It seems that no matter what the people that we have to chose from for president aren't worth voting for. None of them. at all. We have to pick the best from the worst. Make sense? She said she had read that after the caucus' in Iowa, or New Hampshire 47% of the people leaving wished there had been someone better to pick from. Yeah, me too. Everyone is touting Mitt Romney and his values, and Jon Huntsman and his values, but I hate to say it, both of them are nothing more than wishy washy politicians! ALL the people we have to pick from are nothing more than wishy washy politicians. You can't trust a thing that any of them say. at all. nothing. sad, ain't it, that this is what our nation has come to. I just want a person that will be honest! and have some values. I'm not even going to say Christian values, I just want someone values period! They can be atheist, Jewish, whatever, I just want someone that doesn't have an agenda and has the best intentions for this nation. So I got to thinking, what if I were to run for President? hmmmm, what would my platform be? I honestly think we need a woman in the oval office, they take a lot less crap from everyone and are more likely to stick to their guns. But that is besides my point. So, my platform:
I'll go through the non-environmental stuff first, cause I know I'll be going on forever about that.

Education: get rid of "No Child Left Behind." What a waste of money. Outlaw standardized testing. Create a committee for education improvement that is made up of nothing but teachers. Real teachers, ones that are teaching right now, maybe 1 or 2 administrators to get their input, but we really need to know what the teachers are dealing with, and how to fix the real issues. Find a way to pay them more. Teachers are our kids future and they get the shaft! They need more money to deal with what they do.

Military: Keep them home, if at all possible. Pay them more, create a better support group.

Foreign Policy: Can't we all just get along? I think it's about mutual respect. For this I would need a strong VP who dealt with foreign policy. I really have no experience with that, but I know there has got to be a better way to do things than the way we are doing them right now.

Taxes: First order of business would be a massive audit! How the heck is the money being spent that we already have? Find out where we are hemorrhaging money and clamp it shut. Stop paying contractors that are gouging the government. I'm not going to say no new taxes, since we have a huge deficit and programs that need funded. If it can be done, then great, no new taxes, but if not, the money has to come from somewhere. Hopefully it could be done by cutting funding for worthless endeavors.

Welfare: No more money for any more kids. Make the system work so that people can get off welfare. Sliding scale type of thing. They find a better job, they get less welfare, don't completely pull the rug out from under them. I think part of the problem is that we have an inaccurate accounting of what it takes to live in the US. We need a reassessment of the cost of living and help people with those guidelines in mind. As for kids, they have more kids, they don't get anymore money! Limit the income to 2 kids, that's it, no more. If they have more kids, they need to find a way to pay for them, the government will refuse to.

Abortion: Personal feelings aside ( I think it's morally wrong), this is not a decision I can make for someone else. It's not for me to decide or to judge. I think everyone is entitled to the best medical care possible, and if that means an abortion, then, well, they should have that care. Do we really want women to return to back alleys for this type of care? As I said, I don't agree with it, there are thousands of families in the US that are waiting for a child through adoption for one reason or another and if there were less abortions I think those people would have those kids. But, as I said, that's not my decision to make. That decision is between that woman, her doctor, and her god.

Now onto the Environment!! Grrr! Climate change is occurring, we need to do more to stop it. Gasoline engines need to be more efficient. I'm not sure how Ford can sell cars in Europe that get WAAYYYY better gas mileage than the same cars they sell here, but they need to bring that technology home. So does VW, Jaguar, Toyota, and any of the others. All these companies have cars they sell in the EU, that get better gas mileage. Wonder why that is? Taxes on gas, or get rid of some of the subsidies. Maybe then people would stop using their gas hog SUV's and go for something that isn't as polluting. Work with the EPA. I really don't care what people think, the EPA doesn't have enough power! What they do have, is sometimes misused, and needs to be checked, but that happens in any organization, especially governmental. I'm not saying they should have more, but when they make regulations for air emissions, Congress shouldn't be able to squash them with a rider on an appropriations bill. There needs to be  more work on restoration of wetlands, and other natural areas. We need to stop the sedimentation that is destroying all our coastal wetlands. We need to work with farmers to improve their conservation plans and activities. I'd stop granting new oil drilling permits in the gulf, and in Alaska off the coast. (That alone would guarantee I would never be pres.) I'd push research for new alternative fuels. NOT ETHANOL! We won't even get into how bad ethanol is for the environment on an ecology stand point. It's wonderful on an emissions front, but the growing and production of it is soooo bad for conservation. Push for water conservation, there are way better ways to do things in relation to water than what we are dong now. Someone needs to listen to the scientists!! They have been telling us a lot for a long time and we continue on like we are deaf. Business as usual isn't going to cut it.

One more thing: I would refuse to sign into law any bill that would be submitted that had a rider on it. If that meant government shut down, so be it. The Congress has got to stop looking out for their own interests and start looking to the interests of the people. Quit with their own pay raises, and anything else that is to their advantage. They are there to do a job, and at the moment they are sucking at it. oh, yeah, and I'd get rid of lobbyists.

So, would you vote for me? lol, I thought so.