Vote for the ‘President of Us’

These Central Virginians want to change the country. You get to pick which one you support.

Read their stances on the issues below, and then vote using our online poll. Results will be announced Oct. 14, and the field will be narrowed to two.

Later that week, we'll publish an online debate in which the two answer reader questions. You can submit your question by leaving a comment below or by e-mailing columnist Darrell Laurant at .

Final voting has begun. Cast your vote below! The winner will be announced Oct. 26. In the meantime, you can bookmark this site in your Web browser by pressing CTRL-D or just check back at NewsAdvance.com, keyword PRESIDENT.

THE REVOLUTIONARY

Name: Junior Gallaher

Home: Lynchburg

Occupation: Accountant

THE ECONOMY

What's really wrong with our economy is that we're not producing enough, and what we're producing is second-rate. Our trade deficit is too high, and we are sending money and jobs to other countries. Tariffs on imported products will eliminate the trade deficit and give our country much-needed revenue to rebuild our economy. We will immediately begin the process of what I call Operation Rebuild. Similar to the WPA of the past, all Americans who are physically or mentally fit to work will have a job. OR will mandate military service from about age 22 to 28, those 29 to 75 will work. Payroll taxes will be about 40-50 percent of gross for the average American (those making over $1 million will pay 50-75 percent. All other taxes will be eliminated. The only insurance anyone will need is life insurance. It should be noted that excessive pay for top corporate officials has soured me on corporate entities, and the dissolution of corporations and the stock market as a whole may be on the horizon. Middle income Americans have shouldered the burden of the cost of government long enough.

GOVERNMENT

In addition to the 40-hour week all able Americans will be expected to work until age 75, they will put in an additional eight hours work in community service. Also, everyone will be expected to serve eight hours a week on a Citizen's Committee. These will be the basis for involvement in our government and our country, and they will effectively set the rules and suggest the laws. That will insure government by and for the people.

FOREIGN POLICY

We will immediately disband the United Nations. Our embassies in foreign countries will exist for two purpose: First, to ad-minister tests to anyone who is granted permission to enter the United States to identify the ability to communicate in English and a knowledge of our laws and customs; second, to accept complaints from that country's citizens about misdeeds going on there. In such cases, a call will be made to the offending country's leaders. They would be queried as to what action they plan on taking, and if that action is unsatisfactory or is not taken promptly enough, we will move in military forces to solve the problem. All foreign aid will cease immediately.

ENVIRONMENT

Everyone will be required to recycle and conserve natural resources. Products will be designed and manufactured with recyclable materials. Citizens will plant shade trees, fruit trees and nurture garden spaces. The denuding of private land to put in new real estate developments will end. Research will be done in earnest to reverse the trend of global warming (which IS occurring as we speak).

POLITICS

There will be no political action committees, no special interest groups, no campaign contributions over fifty dollars per per-son per candidate. The Electoral College will be used only for estimating an election as it is unfolding – popular vote will determine the winner. Every citizen who is able will be required to vote in every election.

HEALTH CARE

Since doctors, hospitals, pharmaceutical manufacturers and (especially) insurance companies have already proven that they are incapable of managing costs or providing Americans with reasonably priced health care, the government will see that major changes are made. All Americans will receive health care at no direct cost to them – the 40-50 percent tax on wages will cover this expense. Health care facilities, hospitals and medical research firms wil be non-profit, because we are all in this together. There will be no need for medical malpractice insurance — if a doctor can't do the job, he will have to find another occupation.

EDUCATION

Public education will begin at the age of 4 and continue until 22. The emphasis will be upon returning to the basics and teaching children how to think, although attention will also be paid to creative pursuits and the arts. If someone shows an aptitude for a particular occupation or skill, he or she will be encouraged to pursue an educational track in that direction.

LEGAL

Our entire code of laws will be rewritten in plain English – each statute will be presented in one or two sentences. There will be stated sentences for every crime, and sentences will double if perpetrated on a child (13-18), an animal or a female. Sentence swill triple if perpetrated upon children under 13, the elderly (over 75) or the defenseless. Three misdemeanors equal a felony, other than those in traffic court. A new category of criminal offense will appear, called Crimes Against the National Trust, which will sentence not only the perpetrator, but the company/corporation/mastermind sponsoring the crime.

THE REBEL

Name: Lib Elder

Home: Gladys

Occupation: Artist

RUNNING THE GOVERNMENT

I'd like to see our government a lot smaller and more efficient. I think the same management principles that are applied to large private sector corporations should be applied to government; accountability and efficiency with a hard eye on the bottom line. Individuals in government, whether high up the ladder or down on the lower rungs, who fail to perform up to standards should receive the same sorts of warnings that a poorly performing employee of any other company would receive; failure to improve would result in termination.

The federal government has 1.9 million* employees earning between $17,046 -$124,010. Using an average of those figures ($70,528) seems high, so I'm randomly saying an average salary would be $45,000, resulting in an approximate annual payroll of $85.5 Billion; I'm confident the job could be done by 10% fewer people, at a savings of at least $8.5 Billion although it might be that some departments would grow as others are eliminated altogether.

It seems to me the government has become far more concerned with trying to legislate the risk out of life; not possible for one thing, and more importantly not at all desirable. Government needs to get its focus back where it belongs; creating and sustaining an environment where success is possible. This includes environmental concerns; if we continue to foul our environment it will ultimately hinder us. We need a clean, healthy environment, a healthy citizenry, and an educated citizenry. We do not need to be told what we can't do, we need to be allowed to do what we can!

HEALTHCARE

Prior to the current mortgage crisis, medical bills were the number one cause of bankruptcy in the US. People who have health insurance often are unaware of the implications for people without insurance; imagine that you're sick enough to go to the doctor even knowing it'll set you back a few hundred dollars. Imagine being told you have an especially aggressive form of cancer; and then being told that you will not be given any treatment until you plop down 60% of the anticipated total cost of treatments, cash up front. Imagine being told that total cost is roughly $100,000; you need $60K before they'll even begin to treat, in spite of knowing that your cancer is an aggressive, fast-growing type and that time is critical to successful cure. That is in my estimation quite simply wrong. We're the richest nation on earth, we can do better by our citizens. We must do better.

FOREIGN POLICY

For too long we've had the "cowboy mentality" that says "to heck with what the rest of the world thinks, we're the USA and we can do whatever we want." No, we can't. We are but one of many nations all inhabiting the same earth; like siblings who may not get along, we still have to make the effort. Some of our global "siblings" are hateful bullies and we have every right, in fact obligation, to do all in our power to rein them in; ultimately however it's strong relationships with our more friendly "siblings" that will achieve that goal, as we are not "all that"- global diplomatic pressure will accomplish far more towards the goal of world unity than bowing up and proving ourselves the bigger bully. If we want other nations to emulate us then we need to be much more mindful of how we behave. If we expect other nations to join the "family", we need to make sure that family is one they'd want to be a member of.

IMMIGRATION

Studies indicate approximately 105,000 Mexicans illegally immigrate to the US annually, with a current population of approximately 5 million already here. Let me begin by saying that, regardless of what we might wish or want or think, the reality is that those folks are here and it would be a gross waste of resources to try and round them all up and send them back. I don't advocate amnesty for them, but I recognize that they're here and that we must find a way to deal with that.  When we recognize that the US will be strengthened by strong neighbors, and work to build a strong global economy, when we help other nations to grow their economies and especially Mexico because of their proximity, when living in Mexico does not mean living in poverty, illegally entering the US will lose its appeal. Our immigration issues, like so many problems our nation faces, can be solved through engaging the international community and being responsible members of that community; through working towards the common good on a global scale and abandoning our "loner" stance.

IRAQ

We need to listen to the current Iraqi government; they've told us they want us to produce a timetable for withdrawal. We need to do that, to honor their wishes because it IS their nation, and withdraw in an orderly fashion. Yes, likely there will be a certain amount of chaos; that will be true whether we stay or go, but by staying we again send the message that we don't care what anyone else wants, what anyone else thinks; we're going to do what we want and the heck with everyone else. This is an attitude we abhor in other nations; we must practice what we preach and allow Iraq its sovereignty and its right to work through its problems in its own way.  This is how we need to remove our military forces; but as in my answer to so many other questions, we need to also recognize that there are other ways to be engaged with Iraq and to help lead them to stability and away from hostility. One key way to achieve this is through education of the Iraqi youth; we must ensure that Iraq has the tools to educate its youth. We must also respect that their culture is not our culture, and allow them that difference without hesitation or attempt to change. We seem to have the attitude that we need to turn all nations into little USA's - one USA is enough, every nation brings its own gifts to the party and we must respect those gifts and celebrate them.

THE ECONOMY

It's clear that the deregulation of the past 8 years has come back to bite us; we let the foxes run the hen house, and lo and behold now the hens are all dead. We have to be smarter than that; in situations where the opportunities for abuse are frequent and where greed is pervasive we must be ever diligent to protect the "little guy" from being taken advantage of. While as a general policy I support the idea of deregulation, when it comes to the financial industry the stakes are simply too high; we cannot turn a blind eye and allow the foxes in again, that was madness and it's being paid for by the citizens who lost their investments and by every citizen who is now going to foot the bill for this folly.

THE SUPREME COURT

The next President will quite possibly be called upon to appoint as many as three Supreme Court Justices in their first term of office; we must not allow the gains of the last century to be lost through the appointment of partisan judges to this most sacred position.  Regardless of who the President is, we must require of them that they stop trying to force their political ideology on the nation through the appointment of partisan judges.  This is the single most lasting legacy of any Presidency; Presidents come and go but Supreme Court Justices are for life - they need to be the most fair minded men and women the nation has.

THE PROFESSOR 

Name: Phil Pantana

Home: Lynchburg

Occupation: Self-employed businessman

NOTE: THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS COME FROM THE "96 THESES" LISTED IN PHIL PANTANA'S BOOK, "AMERICA: A PURPOSE-DRIVEN NATION." SPACE DOES NOT PERMIT LISTING ALL OF THEM, BUT WE THINK WE'VE INCLUDED ENOUGH TO GIVE VOTERS A GOOD SENSE OF WHERE MR. PANTANA STANDS.

THE ECONOMY

1. Enact the Fair Tax (H.R. 25/S. 1025) proposal in the U.S. Congress to change tax laws to replace the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and all federal income taxes (including AMT), payroll taxes (including Social Security and Medicare taxes), corporate taxes, capital gains taxes, gift taxes, and estate taxes with a national retail sales tax, to be levied once at the point of purchase on all new goods and services; promote freedom, fairness, and economic opportunity by repealing the 1913 income tax; Repeal the 16th Amendment.

2. Require a balanced Federal Budget before approval. There is a need for pay-as you-go discipline (PAYGO) in Congress to help prevent the surging national debt, topping $9.1 trillion, from becoming larger. Axiom: "to govern is to choose." Creating the federal budget is an exercise in making choices.

3. Require the United States to eliminate the nation debt within a reasonable time period and to stay out of debt.

FOREIGN POLICY

1.  Establish guidelines restricting Congress and the Supreme Court from the use of foreign law and/or case law as a basis for legislation in the Congress and for rulings in the Supreme Court.

2. Withdraw membership of the United States of America from the United Nations Organization (UNO); withdraw all American finan-cial support to the UN; withdraw all obligations to the United Nations charter, regulations, resolutions, treaties, and pledges to meet UN goals.

3. Enact a new multi-lateral international world freedom organization to replace the current United Nations Organization (UNO). The official name of this new world freedom organization shall be "Goodwill Nations Organization" or GNO. The GNO headquarters shall be in New York City.

4. Establish a clear rationale as to why the United States of America will never sign on to the Kyoto Protocol, or the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty (ABM Treaty or ABMT); repeal the 1990 Clean Air Act.

5. Enact a national security policy to halt all U.S. aid to any nation that is a sponsor of terrorism and/or is a terrorist sympathizer; halt U.S. aid to all foreign governments that refuse to cooperate and support principles of freedom, human values and rights, block free and fair trade, sponsor terrorist organizations in any way, and have plans to carry out acts of terrorism anywhere in the world.

SOCIAL ISSUES

1. Enact a Life at Conception Act [H.R. 618] following the Supreme Court's instructions to define when life begins and end abortion by using the Constitution instead of amending it.

2. Establish a national day of "repentance, fasting, and prayer" for the crime of abortion. America's national sin is abortion. The national day of "repentance, fasting and prayer" shall be the first Thursday of the month following the month Roe v. Wade is repealed by Congress.

3. Reaffirm the importance of the Defense of Marriage Act, which Congress passed, and President Bill Clinton signed into law on September 21, 1996, defining marriage for purposes of federal law as the legal union between one man and one woman as husband and wife.

GOVERNMENT

1. Return to the original method of Senatorial election as spelled out by the Constitution of the United States in which Senators are chosen by the Legislature of their respective States. Proposed Resolution for the U.S. Congress: Enact term limits for members of the U.S. Congress - both House Representatives and Senators.

2. Repeal the multimillion-dollar agriculture subsidies program for farmers to get paid for not farming their land. Principle: if you don't work, you don't eat.

3. Replace the Social Security Act signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935 with privatized Security Savings accounts like the employees of Galveston County, Texas.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

1. The United States has not incited warfare against the people of Islam. The people of Islam have declared war on the United States. The United States is at war with all the organizations that signed "The Declaration of Jihad Against Jews and Christians" on February 28, 1998, including Osama bin Laden. These organizations together constitute the World Islamic Front. The refusal of the United States to identify the enemy represents a great error in solving the terrorist problem. The great error has resulted in the refusal of our law enforcement and government officials to engage in ethnic and religious profiling.

2. Establish a volunteer "Goodwill Ambassador Program" (GAP) for willing and able bodied Americans to help people in need in other nations around the world. GAP will be funded by large and small foundations, businesses, businessmen and businesswomen, churches, and free-will gifts from individuals. Money does not create ideas but it can make good ideas become a reality. The GAP will "stand in the gap" to lend a helping hand to people who have been deceived, disadvantaged, and disappointed, and are now groping in the darkness.

ENVIRONMENT

1. Abolish the current Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. The EPA shall be renamed the Environmental Production Agency [production is positive, protection is negative] with a comprehensive "energy and environment" policy that will meet the challenge of bringing to bear science and technology, entrepreneurship, and the principles of effective markets.

THE PREACHER

Name: Marvin "Buddy" Crews Jr.

Home: Brookneal

Occupation: Minister

HEALTH CARE

We are supposed to be the wealthiest nation in the world, but when it comes to our own people, it seems we are the poorest. Government must step in and put a cap on insurance premiums and prescription drugs. What a sad state of affairs when we have people who must make a tough choice between food, heat or medication!

There has been some talk about importing cheaper drugs from other countries, but I don't see that as a solution. That would just send more of our money and our jobs overseas.

One particular medication costs seven times more at one of the drugstores in Brookneal as it does at Wal-Mart. Why should that be?

I also think that government, from the top down to the localities, needs to be more flexible and look at each person individually. It doesn't matter if your income is above the limit if you have to spend half of it on prescription drugs.

IRAQ

The war in Iraq was started to take out a dictator who was destroying a country. We succeeded in taking him out, but it will now take quite some time to bring the troops home. We need to realize that we had to re-educate an entire country that has only known conflict. That will take years of work after the troops leave.

THE ECONOMY

I feel that government- from the bottom up - has lost touch with the basic needs of working people. When a company shuts down and jobs are taken out of an area, it is a larger issue than just numbers. The representatives we elect are supposed to look out for our interests, not operate at the whim of lobbyists.

We need a policy change, not just a quick fix. That ‘stimulus' payment I received paid my drug bill for one month, with a little left over for groceries.

PRISON REFORM

Another issue that's important to me is prison reform, because of what I do. It's too easy just to lock people up, especially when a lot of them are there because of their circumstances. We need to look at alternative kinds of sentencing, especially for non-violent crimes like drug offenses. As a society, we also need to find ways to reach these people when they're young. Some of the guys I work with have told me that they've never in their life had someone else tell them that they cared about them.

Some of this, in my mind, comes from racism. Racism is alive and well in America. I see it where I live. When you think about it, every kind of blood has been shed to keep America free - black, white, yellow, red, everything. Knowing that, how can we then discriminate against anybody?

What a President can do, I think, is show people an example. We can get past this. The churches could make a big difference in peoples' lives. I've always said that my perfect church would have no doors, and everyone who came in would get a blindfold. That way, you could get to know someone without worrying about the color of their skin.

IMMIGRATION

We have illegal aliens flooding this country, more than ever. I have nothing against people wanting a bet-ter life for themselves or their families. All I ask is that when they come to this country, they pay taxes, pay their dues and work their way to the top. Some government agencies roll out the red carpet for illegal immi-grants, while blue collar families who are already citizens receive no help at all.

We need to get back to what has always made us great as a nation - faith, hard work, communication, and a passion not to accept defeat.

 

THE SAGE

Name: Charles A. Tanner III

Home: Madison Heights

Occupation: Retired business executive, Federal employee.

THE ECONOMY

We spent our way out of the 1930s depression rather than working through it. This created a deficit for our Federal Government. Also, because of Europe's early neglect of Germany's Hitler, this country was forced by Europe to be generous with our industries, money, and armed forces defending democracy in World War II. More debt.

During the Reagan Administration, we made a critical fiscal mistake, cutting personal taxes before we had a definite plan of cutting Federal spending. The result was high annual deficits. The Bush administrations have made the same mistake.

For the past 60 years, this nation has achieved its national goals and led the world in defeating two world tyrants. But we are in danger of losing control of our fiscal health, thus falling behind in the New World Order we helped create - economic, competitive democracy.

To compete, we need modern, non-polluting manufacturing plants so as to manufacture more of our products in this country and export more products to balance our international trade. Though tax incentives, we could immediately begin building world-class factories to produce products competitive with the world markets. Newt Gingrich recently suggested that we grant industry a 100% tax credit write-off for the first year for new equipment installed in manufacturing plants.

We as a nation cannot maintain a strong military and afford social and health care programs if we cannot manage our economy and debt. Why should our country be involved in foreign wars if we have to issue debt bonds to pay for these wars — bonds being bought by foreign countries? Have we lost our senses???

Manufacturing is the key leg in building prosperity in any nation. And it is the responsibility of elected officials to support programs, research, and incentives that encourage a healthy manufacturing industry in the nation. Also, an Appalachian Super Highway should be built from Maine to Pensacola to eliminate East Coast shipping and traffic problems.

ENERGY

Meanwhile, the oil crisis is here to stay, with the world demand growing by 7 billion barrels a year.

Oil production peaked in the USA in mid 1970's. World oil production is predicted to peak between now and 2010, and it is more difficult and expensive to get the remaining oil out of the fields after peak production has passed. Naturally, big oil companies will get the maximum financial return on their existing oil fields if we stay in an energy crisis.

In the short term, we need to go to plug-in hybrid engine automobiles.

Toyota is working to develop a hybrid that will get 100-150 miles per gallon (We drive a Prius). This will be done by adding another row of rechargeable batteries or and improved batteries to their existing hybrids. You will plug in at night to re-charge the battery and run most of the next day on the charged battery and still have the gasoline, natural gas or hydrogen hybrid for longer trips. 

Overall, we need to develop clean alternative energy sources to replace oil — atomic, wind, solar, thermal, tides, hydrogen from "gasified" coal, etc. It would be economically and politically wise for the USA to lead the world in developing clean alternative energy sources since the rest of the world will be running out of oil.

We are creating instability in world politics by importing so much foreign oil (conversely exporting so much of our wealth), creating great wealth in Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Iran, Venezuela and other nations who do not share our values.                

Another solution that we can immediately embrace is the Pickens Plan — build more wind turbines to produce 20% of our electricity, thus freeing the natural gas now used to produce electricity, to fuel our trucks and cars.

Finally, efforts should be put into improving our national electrical grid system so that electricity can be transported with minimal transmission loss from areas with excess capacity to those areas needing more.

ELECTION REFORM

We no longer have a Jeffersonian democracy in this county. True, we can vote. However, the costs of election campaigns, the power of lobbyists in Washington, campaign contributions by wealthy individuals and corporations has turned our democ-racy into one influenced more by financial power than voting power.

To remove the influence of big money corporations and individuals from controlling elections, federal elections should be funded by the federal government and we should get most of the lobbyist out of Washington. The Internet is revolutionizing the world. It may be that internet fund raising will negate any need for federal funds to be involved in federal elections.

Corporations operate under federal laws and under state incorporation laws. They are not individuals and when they lobby government it is in the primary interest of stockholders, not necessarily in the interest of the overall population.

FOREIGN POLICY

A superior military and fiscally strong United States is necessary to preserve world order. However, if we had invested 1/1000th of the armaments budget in Peace Institutes and peace research our country would be far safer.

However, we now need to keep a strong military presence in the Middle East to prevent extremist governments from starting World War III.

IMMIGRATION

We are a nation governed by laws and legal immigration. A date should be set for every illegal immigrant to register for a temporary visa — or, if caught without a temporary visa, face immediate deportation. Those registered then would be processed for deportation if criminals or unemployed or be put on a program of applied citizenship.

Our borders should be made secure by the most effective means to protect our national security, reduce importation of illegal drugs, and protect our citizens and their jobs.

HEALTH CARE

We need to develop a healthcare system that covers every child and adult in the nation and replace our welfare system with a system giving benefits and income to the able-bodied for work performed- while caring for those unable to work. There is plenty of work to be done in public service, healthcare, and our agricultural industries and in rebuilding our inner cities. Workfare will build the dignity of the workers while giving them basic skills.

What we need now are leaders who can clearly see our problems, lay out solutions, and have the conviction, self confidence, and will to execute long term change.

THE POPULIST

Name: Belinda Bush

Lives: Lynchburg

Occupation: Administrator for a cemetery company

IMMIGRATION

That's really my main issue. We have people coming in illegally who are taking jobs away from people here, doing banking, and getting drivers' licenses- but they're not paying taxes, and a lot of them wind up committing crimes here. If you're caught in this country illegally, you should be not be allowed to come back for 10 years, even if you want to be a citizen. I also think it should be mandated that you learn English before getting citizenship. I don't mean to sound heartless, but we have to get a handle on this.

ENERGY

It's fine to talk about alternative sources of energy, but we really need more fuel now. I'm all for drilling for more oil, wherever, and I'm all for building new nuclear power plants.

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

We will only be your friend if you don't support terrorism, period. And on the economic side, we have to stop importing goods from countries that don't pay their workers anything so they can produce things a lot cheaper. I've got a whole list of stuff I will not buy, and there are countries I believe we should not trade with.

TAXES

I think we should look more closely at a flat rate tax, and I don't believe that people paying minimum wage should have to pay taxes at all. I know we can't do away with taxes completely, but we have to make the system more fair.

THE ELDERLY

I totally believe in taking care of the elderly people first. Why shouldn't you be able to have a job if you're on Social Security? Isn't that supposed to be your money? In my job, I've had Medicare people call me telling me that someone's pre-paid burial plot is an asset and had to be added to their income. I remember once when a woman had a spot above her husband, with her name already inscribed. The Medicare person asked me, "What would you say the value of that is today?" and I said: "Zero. Who would buy someone else's grave marker?"

THE ECONOMY

The government has shown that it is unable to run the country financially. As for the bailout, who are these people we're bailing out? Remember Enron? How many of those people ever did any jail time?

 

THE PRAGMATIST

Name: Jim Batton

Home: Lynchburg

Occupation: Retired

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

My Presidential platform would start with a comprehensive and careful look at our involvement around the globe. Our attempt to continue trying to solve every problem on the planet would stop.

This is a carryover from WWII, but the world has dramatically changed. Other developed countries such as Japan, Great Britain and France should take a more responsible role in world affairs.

There are many U.S. military bases around the world that could be closed at a tremendous savings to the American tax payers. Meanwhile, our involvement in the former Soviet satellite countries, such as Georgia, is a potential time bomb. If we continue to add small countries to NATO that are in the Russian sphere of influence we run the risk of having to go to war with a major power over what could be an irresponsible act of a small country.

There is evidence that the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili, was emboldened by being an ally of the U.S. and invaded South Ossetia, which brought on a Russian invasion. If, at that time, Georgia had been a member of NATO, we would have been obligated to go to war with Russia. I am convinced that with economic prosperity and development, democracy will eventually spread by a more natural process, not by U.S. force. It is not the responsibility of our soldiers to fight for someone else's democracy.

HEALTH CARE

I believe that reforming our health care system will give us an economic boost.  There are scores of people working dead-end jobs who have a lot more to offer society but remain trapped because of the fear of losing what health insurance they may have. My healthcare plan would intitially be a joint operation between the government and private industry: Private insurers would insure the first $50,000.00 in health-care cost with a stop loss of $50,000.00. The government would be responsible for catastrophic medical bills for illnesses such as cancer and heart problems. Insurers now are on the hook for generally 2 million dollars for the typical policy. It stands to reason that if the insurance companies reduce their potential losses from 2 million to fifty thousand, the premiums should drop dramatically. An assigned risk system would have to be set up to prevent any one insurance company from getting stuck with too many sick people.

How would our government pay for the catastrophic part of this plan? The typical health insurance premium for a family of four is around $800.00 to $1,000.00 per month.  Let us say that there are 126 million households in the U.S. If the government collected an average of $200.00 per month from each household it would collect somewhere around 300 billion per year to cover these cost. Wealthy people would pay more and I could see a sliding scale for the poor. However, everybody pays and everybody is covered. The part of the plan covered by private insurers should reduce the premiums dramatically. Even if the rich paid more, they would be paying less than they ado now. 

Safeguards also need to be built into the system to prevent fraud and other abuses. Our health care cost should drop substantially with this kind of plan because many serious illnesses could be headed off and caught early when treatment is  so costly.

Many people will argue that they don't want "socialized medicine," but what do they think Medicare and Medicaid are? I know of a case recently where a wealthy man underwent very costly surgery to save his life when in the same area a 27 year old mother of two died from an infected tooth because she couldn't afford to get a prescription filled. 

We have a system in place to spend hundred of thousands to keep older people alive but we can't spend $50.00 on an antibiotic to save the life of a 27 year old woman? Let me add that I am 66 years old and on Medicare and I also have United Health care so I personally have very good health care. Many of my fellow citizens, unfortunately, do not.

IMMIGRATION

I would issue fool-proof work permits, because we do need workers from Mexico and other places who are willing to do the work that most Americans are not willing to do. If employers are caught hiring anyone without the proper documents, there would be severe penalties, and this temporary worker status would not be linked to American citizenship. They would have to return to their homeland on an established schedule, and undergo a routine medical physical to prevent sick people from coming to our country for free medical treatment. I would also change the law that allows the children of illegal immigrants  being granted American citizenship if their mothers makes it across the border to deliver the baby.

THE ECONOMY

I do believe that this situation that we find our country in is probably the most serious situation in my life-time.I have been predicting this for the last few months. Even without the sub-prime mortgage problem I am convinced that we are headed for serious economic problems.  That is why I feel so strongly about changing our role in foreign affairs. I do not advocate returning to an isolationist policy, but I do advocate a serious review of "free trade" with no strings attached. In certain areas it is impossible for a developed country to compete with an undeveloped country that has no workman's compensation, no benefits, no wage controls, no environmental protection etc. I do not believe that we can tolerate a lop sided balance of trade forever.

No one likes to pay taxes but somehow, this huge deficit is going to have to be paid for.   We may push the pain farther down the calender, but there will be a day of reckoning. Unfortunately, the day of reckon-ing may be here now.

If I were president I would assemble the greatest economic minds on the planet to find a workable plan to get us back on track. Any of the profit made by the CEO's of bailed-out companies would have to return the money or it would be confiscated. This economic situation we find ourselves in is very complicated. Any action has to be carefully thought out or we could wind up worse off.; There is the very real possibility that the standard of living for scores of Americans will get worse before it gets better. I know that even for a man running for President that is "make believe", giving out bad news is not good and would cost a real candidate votes but I have a reputation for telling it like I see it and what I see today is frightening.

IRAQ

It goes without saying that being there was a terrible mistake. I am for a time table so the Iraqi people know that they have to take advantage of  this incredible opportunity to improve their lives and their human rights. It might be possible to ask for help from Iran if we change our attitude toward that country.

THE BUSINESSMAN

NAME: Joe Turk

Home: Bedford County

Occupation: Research & Development for a food processing company

FOREIGN AFFAIRS

We need a man who will look out for Americans first: Period. Nation-building overseas? We need to think about Nation-building here in the good old USA. Here are some ideas about Bush's war and the price of oil:

1) Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan now! Quit wasting trillions of our dollars fighting meaningless wars for oil or otherwise.

2) This "war" is in Europe's "backyard" and they can fight it if they want to.

3) Pull out of South Korea and all other countries we prop up with our military. Why are we bankrupting our country to defend countries that are perfectly capable of doing it themselves?

Also, tell Israel to quiet down about bombing Iran - this isn't helping oil prices. We need to cut our ties with Israel and quit sending them money. They have enough money, nuclear weapons, and can defend themselves. If they can't, sorry, we can't save the world.

Why was it our problem when Russia went into Georgia?

ENERGY

We need to bite the bullet and find alternative energy sources. Instead of finding new ways to drill offshore, why not come up with an alternative energy think tank, using the best minds from the public and private sector. I'm not an environmental whacko, but it seems pretty obvious that we have to do something.

IMMIGRATION

Use our military to round up the 12 million illegals in our country and secure our southern borders. I can't break one law without the Feds looking for me, so why do 12 million people get away with it?

HEALTH CARE

If the USA isn't going to have national health care, then at least give dollar-for-dollar tax credits for the cost of our medical premiums. This will reward people who pay their own way and help stimulate the economy by putting money back in their hands

TAXATION

Give tax deductions for people who pay child support. Why should they pay after-tax dollars for their children who they can't deduct and get no tax "credit" for these payments?

Give the smokers and drinkers a break by cutting the taxes on these items by 90%. Where does all that tax money go?

Allow people to deduct interest paid to credit card companies. Give major tax credits for the purchase of vehi-cles made in America that get 30+ MPG -- the higher the MPG, the greater the tax credit. This saves gas and can help our American automakers sell vehicles. Again, we are talking about America First.

GOVERNMENT

We need to stand up for our privacy rights. I don't know how much Verizon , AT+T and other phone companies paid our Congressmen to grant them retroactive immunity for turning over our private records to George Bush's Government, but it probably didn't take much.

THE ECONOMY

The question is how to deal with what just happened on Wall Street and with the banking industry. You want to punish the people who deserve to be punished, but you don't want to hurt the regular people who have invested in those companies that went under.

(Secretary of the Treasury) Paulson is linked too closely to Goldman-Sachs, in my opinion. How can he be objective?

Also, we need to put laws in place to keep Wall Street from speculating in energy. That's part of the problem.

THE TEACHER

Name: Jason Watson

Home: Campbell County

Occupation:  Director, Patrick Henry Boys' Plantation

IRAQ

Regardless of how one may feel about the United States' involvement in Iraq, we are there and we are involved. Furthermore, the troop surge that President bush authorized is, by all accounts, working. The worst possible thing that we could do would be to pull out of Iraq immediately. Rather, the United States should stay until the Iraq government is established and functioning.

FOREIGN POLICY

The United States should strive to maintain respectful and cooperative relationships with all of the major players on the world stage. It should make every effort to appoint diplomats who speak the language of the country in which they will serve and are familiar with the cultures and customs. Respecting a country, however, does not necessarily mean agreeing with it. At the same time, the U.S. should not get militarily involved in every country with which it does not agree. As President, I would work with my cabinet to develop a foreign policy doctrine that made very clear ... in which instances the United States would be compelled to become involved in the affairs of other nations.

THE ECONOMY

I would like the starting point here to be a discussion about reforming the tax code of the United States.

The standard deduction for every person or family paying taxes should be the equivalent of the poverty level. Based on 2006 figures, an individual filing taxes would receive and automatic deduction of $11,500. For each additional person, I would round up $4,000. These deductions would replace the existing standard deductions and exemption, except for education credits and deductions for charitable giving.

I would also replace Social Security with a system in which the employee and the employer would both contribute 5 percent of the employee's income to a retirement plan that would be administered privately. Meanwhile, the U.S. government must repay the roughly $1.85 trillion it has borrowed from the Social Security trust fund.

HEALTH CARE

The government should require that everyone have health care, but the government should not provide that health care. What the government should do is require that the playing field for health insurance providers be opened up to allow any company providing health insurance to sell it to anyone in any state. It should also be required that each individual have health insurance, much as auto insurance is handled. With that, of course, would be a stipulation that no company can refuse insurance to anyone.

IMMIGRATION

Illegal immigration must be curtailed, and stiffer penalties put in place for individuals and businesses that knowingly employ illegal immigrants. For individuals, the penalty should be a fine of $100,000 per illegal immigrant employed. For businesses, the fine would be $500,000 for each illegal immigrant employed. Public services must not be made available to illegal immigrants, but each illegal immigrant should be given a one-time opportunmity to come forward and register with the U.S. government.

SOCIAL ISSUES

If we can justify denying choice about smoking and seatbelts, how can we possibly justify granting it in the case of abortion? It is illegal in every state to use your body to cause harm to another person. Why, then, would it be any different to make a law that restricted a woman's right to terminate a life that is temporarily living inside her body?

Too many Americans no longer trust the government or believe that the government is capable of doing its job -- specifically, the job for which the Constitution states the government was created: "To form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure Domestic Tranquility. provide for the common defense, provide for the general Welfare and secure the blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our posterity."

 

THE RUNNER

Name: Jim McFarland

Home: Lynchburg

Occupation: Massage therapist

IMMIGRATION

Lots of factors outside the Fed's influence are important to the economy. For example: labor supply. You won't get inexpensive products unless you have either cheap labor or efficient technology. During the so-called dot com boom, many people were working over-overtime in order to meet the economy's demand for products. What most people don't realize is that this level of effort was unsustainable. And what most people don't recognize is that we outsourced to other countries because there was a general recognition of this, and that eventually, wages were going to have to come up as a result of supply and demand. There was a bigger demand than there was a supply.

Now don't let either party fool you: they all were party to the influx of the undocumented, illegal workforce. This was yet another way to keep from having to outsource. And it worked -- for a time. But now we're seeing the costs of what could be called "in-sourcing," and they are profound. Still, what would be more costly would be to send everyone home at once. Just try it!

My estimate is that 15% (a raw hunch, really) of our businesses would have to close or significantly reduce their output: labor AND materials would be less available. That's because an economy is an organism, and there are lots of moving parts to an organism.

Food supply is one part - a vital one - to any economy, to any society. And smaller farmers depend upon migrant labor more than large networks like ADM and Tyson foods, industrial agriculture that are closer, in my opinion, to meeting the definition of monopolies - or rather, cartels.

And now we're seeing the housing boom turn into a bust, it's attributable to the fact that we're using foreign labor, but that labor isn't reinvesting in our economy. It's going somewhere else. Labor is more than a commodity in a capi-talistic society: it's an engine for reinvestment. And much of our newer labor force is not reinvesting in our own econ-omy: they're saving it and sending it back to Mexico and Honduras and elsewhere - (and they'll be mightily upset when the dollar is even worth less than it was when they worked for it.)

THE ECONOMY

We depend upon inexpensive energy. The current slowdown can also be directly linked to rising energy prices, particularly oil. We will either have to be more economical in our use of energy, or live with the consequences. Remember "supply and demand." It applies to food, fuel and labor.

As a result of all this, there is less free capital, less intrinsic, homegrown investing and a much greater interest in international investment. The dollar - and U.S. investment concerns - are about to be shown the door, internationally speaking. That should concern all Americans.

The other area of concern, nationally and internationally, is personal and national debt. The recent housing crash could be linked directly to uneven lending policies. The so-called subprime mortgages are largely owned by foreign investors, and that's why foreign markets are so wary of lending us more money - (for most who aren't aware: China owns a large part of our national debt.) Sub-primes "stiffed" the investors with the check, and recapturing the money (otherwise known as foreclosure) isn't quite as easy as it seems: Chapter 7 liquidation often exempts personal property, and the lending agreements often are made poorly so that the lender can't easily re-acquire property.

But the story behind the subprime debacle is the restrictive bankruptcy laws that have been passed by Congress and our President: it is harder to file for bankruptcy, particularly for credit card debt. Instead of letting the markets work, the laws made it easier for consumers to consolidate or fold their credit card debts into their personal property loans.

So it can be said: credit card companies were spared the consequences of their own excesses, and it's taken a toll on other areas of the economy. Credit card companies should have been left to fail on their own, and the sub-prime mess would have been partially avoided.

The economy is also being dragged down by excessive medical expenditures, many of which could be eliminated if there was less linkage between prescription medication and physician profit, and between real research and cherry-picked research of medications that not only do not help, but harm. The corrupted, ineffective, inefficient FDA has only recently begun to warn the public about dangerous OTC medications, and doctors are doing little-to-nothing to educate themselves to the problem.

Keep considering: an economy is based upon supply and demand. The less money there is to invest, the higher the cost of money. Things like fuel and medicine (and even education) that become overpriced are a drain on the whole organism.

We have a Federal Reserve who thinks it can tame the markets, when monetary supply is so interdigitated with material and labor and fuel that the Fed appears to be nearly delusional in what it thinks it can and cannot control. Tinkering might work on a Harley Davidson motorcycle (and might be a necessity) but it won't fix the bigger issues of an economy.

People need to be told the truth about the economy, and how their personal habits influence it; they need to be encouraged to be adult-like, and to take responsibility for their health and their wealth and their lives.

HEALTH CARE

We have great healthcare in this country; at least parts of the system are great: If you were to compare health-care to a cart, you'd have what my headline suggested: two fully intact, well-rounded, fully operational wheels, and the other two wheels...? Well, one of them is missing, and the other has missing spokes.

Why do physicians continue to prescribe medications that are dangerous?

Why does the public continue to kill itself with cheap elixirs?

The answer to the first question is: the FDA is underfunded, needs revamping and needs to separate itself from the visibly corrupted commercial (read: "pharmaceutical") interests. Recently, it was reported that the most prescribed (or profitable) drugs in the world, statin drugs, don't really do anything, except lower cholesterol, and that's more like cutting off the oil light in your car when it keeps flashing: elevated cholesterol is primarily a sign, not a condition.

A recent study overseas showed that the elderly, when given strength training exercises, gained muscle mass. That is, the control group, the ones not using statins. It has long been noted that statins damage muscle, but this was the first study that showed that statins interfered with the building of tissues.

That portion of the medical system that allows older people to become MORE senile, MORE fragile, with LESS coordination and balance is not only a sham, but it is criminal.

Libertarian types will tell you that the market will correct everything, and that nothing ought to be regulated; liberals will tell you that you need to take these medicines, and that someone else ought to pay for them. Ronald Reagan would say:

"Trust, but verify!"

Well, the verification process is broken, rusted, corrupted, the entire wheel is missing.

Let's turn from the negatives - (mostly involving COMMONLY PRESCRIBED medications, not valuable, lifesaving meds for things like MS) - and look at the positives.

The medical industry is always complaining about the lawyers who troll for malpractice cases - (and they have my sympathy) - but that isn't why medical costs are rising: we have a Cadillac system. Or a Lexus. You choose the luxury car of your choice. Diagnostics and emergency medicine in this country are high-priced tickets. And they should be. They cost a lot of money to research, develop, obtain, implement, staff and maintain. They should NEVER be cheap!

They're too good.

Americans are the most suicidal group in the world: where else would you try to kill yourself, recklessly racing your way to the fast-food restaurant, hoping to make your appointment with the doctor so he can give you drugs for the high blood pressure and (systemic) inflammation that result from what you just ate.

Now you know why you don't want me as President: you won't get my sympathy (or federal money) for being stupid.

The person most responsible for your health is staring back at you in the mirror; illnesses you cannot prevent (and that haven't been given to you by the system itself) should be treated.

FOREIGN POLICY

In my administration, foreign policy would take the track of many other Presidents' footsteps. Not a neo-isolationism, nor a neo-colonialism, but a view of the world with historical, social and even tribal historical occurrences and historical memories being taken into account.

For example, North Korea has been "encouraged" to dismantle their nuke program by interested parties in Beijing. How did that happen? Someone reminded them that Japan could also use the precedent of a nuclearized Korean peninsula as an excuse to become a nuclear power. We have to understand the history of a region before we attempt to deal with it or engage it.

There is a need unlike any other time for more sophisticated, probing, thoughtful human intelligence. We need to stop the war within our own services, our own agencies - a measure that the Homeland Security umbrella was designed to remedy. The trouble is, we have wars within our own security agencies, as evidenced by the yellowcake debacle, as CIA operatives attempted to design foreign policy on their own. (We have seen that before, in a place some might remember: Nicaragua.)

We do need to take stock of our bases around the world. They are expensive, and in some cases, unneccesary. However, our own military has a long memory, too, and remembers being pulled into two enormous, deadly, horrendous World Wars: it may be reluctant to close down some bases in Germany, just as the Russians may be reluctant to acquiesce on the notion of U.S. military bases in Poland and in other former "eastern bloc" countries.

We need to use better diplomacy than the usual State Department stuff: they only know how to apologize and to capitulate, and they mistakenly use cowardice in place of good manners. It is far too genteel, to ingratiating, too self-denigrating, too apologetic.

If our new President has no appreciation for history, for intelligence, for strategy, he or she might just as well cut off the lights and lock the door. This is a dangerous world, and we can neither run from it nor control it. We must seek to realistically live with others, defending ourselves (and our allies when neccessary) and we must also expect more from other nations.

There is lots of handwringing in New York at the U.N. over Sudan and over much of Africa, but little is done.

The United States of America can not and will not stand alone any longer: every time a reporter sends back pictures of starving children, mutilated bodies and raped survivors, we will beam those pictures to every embassy that is aiding and abetting the rapists, the murderers, the juntas, the dehumanizers. And we will be sure that every citizen the world over knows that their country does nothing to alleviate the suffering, while we trod the deserts, alone or with few allies.

For our foreign policy, we shall adopt the motto: "Clean up your own mess."