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Hi,

Nick F. doesn't know how to spell Republican.

Jack, you said:

"If term limits get extended in the next election and Rick stays in office I will drop out because I won't run against a fellow republican."

The other people running on your poll are Republicans. Or did you mean a Chico Republican?
I guess they are a certain breed?

I agree with you on what you said about money in elections, but I am a life long voting Democrat and I still would like to see health care for all, a decent education for all kids, jobs and affordable housing for the middle class, fixing up this country (levys, roads, and bridges), you know all that good stuff that Americans still believe and hope for, and I don't see the Republican point of view as ever achieving that.

Hi L.A., the others are republicans and they will fold up their tents and go home too, if term limits passes. The difference between us is their campaigns are raising huge amounts of money and I've been reluctant because it could all be for nothing and I would hate to see other peoples money be wasted on me if I couldn't run. It's a real screwy election!

I have some ideas on building infrastructure, improving education and fixing some of our health care issues too. But, it's late and I will have to save that for another time. I will get back to you though...you raised good points!

L.A.,
You sound like a nice person but perhaps in the wrong party. I have not seen anything in the current democratic party that promises solutions for health care or the building of levees and roads.
We currently have health care for all, but the way we pay for it is screwed up and overcomplicated by excessive government intrusion. The single-payer idea favored within democratic ranks will give us a british-styled disaster leaving more Americans to die while waiting months for crucial treatment.
If democrats wanted to help our school system they would give private schools (yes vouchers) a fair chance and quit letting the teachers unions control their votes. Education should be about educating kids, not providing an employment program for organized labor.
The democrats have also done nothing to help build roads and levees in this state. Once long ago they were the party of Pat Brown and they believed in infrastructure. Now they hold up real progress in courts to keep the enviro-whacko wing of their party placated.

I realize that after the Bush administration, changing parties from democrat to republican might be too much for you to swallow. But you will never get the America you dream of with today's democratic party. I guess where to go from there is your real dilemma.

Dane

Both LA and Dane are debating or making arguments that pertain to ones party affiliation primarily and it's my option this is a problem without solution. It is sad to say but most everyone of any party has more of a tenancy to vote based on SoundBits verse understanding of the candidate, take some time to understand who your voting for and what they stand for, review their voting record (if incumbent) or try and verify their long held opinions and views if running for the first time. So often we complain about how things are mishandled in Government, but end up putting the same incompetents back in office, and why? Is it laziness on our part or just stupidity. With Jack Lee you have a chance to review his past and see how he can improve your future through honest unbiased representation. Following the herd has gotten us nowhere, take the time to seek out a new path, regardless of what party they affiliate with. Please look beyond your party registration this time, if we allow ourselves to be blinded by any parties declared doctrine, than we are doing nothing but voting blind as well.

I still would like to see health care for all, a decent education for all kids, jobs and affordable housing for the middle class, fixing up this country (levys, roads, and bridges), you know all that good stuff that Americans still believe and hope for, and I don't see the Republican point of view as ever achieving that.

L.A. I would really appreciate it if you could expand this thought a bit. I'm always perplexed by the "image" most people have of republicans, in fact to hear the real anti-republicans tell it we are all monsters who don't care about anyone or anything. Maybe someone who has been an observer would perhaps have insight into this strange phenomenon.

From my perspective all of the things you want would not only be achieved by Republicans but they would be achieved with greater success, less waste, and lower tax burdens for all. A bonus effect would be that more people would experience personal satisfaction and success. We would once again see greater achievement. The numbers of poor and needy would diminish.

I hope you will share your thoughts. This is a discussion that has the potential to unite rather than divide the American people.

L.A., if you would like to see a microcosm of the Democrats Ability in the area of Health Care, Housing, education and "Taking Care" of people, I would suggest you visit South Los Angeles. Los Angeles, with the exception of the Riordan years, and he was a moderate at best, has been in the clutches of the Democrats for years. Visit Martin Luther King Hospital in the Watts section, dubbed, "Killer King" by the residents of the area, due to the mortality rate in the ER. And quite frankly, for years, Daniel Freeman and USC County General has handled more trauma cases with far better success rates than King.

Go to Central Los Angeles, visit one of the many, once famous hotels, turned into flop houses, with dailey and hourly rates. See teenagers selling food stamps in the lobby for about 25 % of there face value, so they have cash for drugs and alchohol.

The Republican plan has to do with personal responsibility, and not having the government try to provide services that are adequately available in the private sector. The private sector competes and keeps standards up, and when allowed, costs down.

Government in the medical field becomes complacent and ineffective, because it doesn't have to be.

Dane may have stated the answer to your dilemma. You sound like you actually want to do something, The democrats have been talking for 50 years,ever increasing taxes while delivering little to their constituents, especially the ones who need them most, the ones they have kept in poverty.

Entitlements, which do nothing to encourage getting back to work, or even the stabilty of a family, have been a huge failure, creating generational dependency, and creating a culture of cheats who go on unchecked.

I also like what Harold Ey had to say. And I think the reason you are seeing some of the ambiguity for some of the republican candidates is that people are looking more at who you are, not just what you say. I am a conservative and that is what I want to see in my candidate’s pedigree, that he has supported conservative values.

And Harold nailed it when it came to Jack!

Oh, and I made a typo in my prior post, it should have read

Government in the medical field becomes complacent and ineffective, because it doesn't have to perform.

Sorry about the typo, I know on some blogs that can be a pretty hefty offense.

Thanks for all the comments, sorry it took me so long to respond, but just too busy.

I am always willing to pay taxes if I see improvements in the lives of Americans, I agree there is tremendous waste in tax monies, pork barrel projects, bloated salaries of elected officials, overcharging, etc. That is wrong!

Medicare is a government run health program, it seems to have run fairly well all these years, it could be expanded to cover more people.

As a working middle class person, I have investigated personal health savings accounts, but frankly with the current cost of living; heating bills, gas prices, mortgage, car payments and insurance payments, there is no way I can save money to put in such an account. It is not realistic.

I support public education, not private vouchers, because I feel every child deserves a chance for a decent education, not the privileged. Yes, there are poor teachers, but most of them I believe are good people and are trying to do their best with what they have to work with. There have so much to deal with educating today's students, with today's culture and some of the personal problems kids carry to school with them due to family strife on a daily basis.

Unfortunately life hold many complexities these days, but we can't give up on the teachers or the education of our young people.

LA, I am 100% for education too!

The problem is we have a failing system in many areas of this state. Too many schools are not delivering the quality education our children need to make it in the real world.

We need more latitude at the local level to tailor schools to the special needs of principals and teachers and to the school boards that support them.

One size really does not fit all, and it never will. We need to think more liberally, (no pun intended) in terms of charter schools for some, vouchers for others and empowering of local leadership for many.

We are currently teaching to the test and at the same time, teaching to the lowest common denominator. This is robbing some of our best and brightest children of a good education. These are kids who could become our future leaders of the opportunity then desperately need and deserve.

If we don't invest wisely in education our future is that much dimmer. To throw money at the problem and to keep doing the same old things over and over despite dismal results is getting us nowhere.

This is a very complex issue and I can't do it justice in this short space. But, let me sum it up by saying we have to change what we are doing because the results have placed us at the bottom of our peer states. California should be at the top! We've been better, we can be better and we will be better, but we have to make some drastic chances and that will take courage, commitment and inspired thinking. I doubt our current democratically controlled state legislature is up it; after all they are the ones that have caused education to be failing in the first place!

Too much influence from teacher unions, idiodic tenure that keeps bad teachers, too much bureaucracy and too little discipline have all taken their toll. And we could go on and on about the new bilingual sub-culture, it's poverty, crime and child abuse and what that is doing to us as a culture...oh, we need to do a lot of fixing LA, a lot!

L.A. I too am a big supporter of education. Jack made some great points about what is wrong with it. You are correct; the majority of teachers are good and definitely went into the profession, overall, with the best intentions.

But the only way you are going to see an improvement, is if they are held to the same standards. One way to do that is to open the ability for working folks to choose where their children go to school and where there portion of their tax dollars for education goes.

When public schools have to compete, the administrators give the teachers the resources they need. Right now, if I want to send my children, I have 7 school aged, to private school, I have to pay tuition, and my tax money still goes to the public school, they would not be using. Why not give me a voucher for that money, and let me choose where my children go. Believe me, I would send them to the school where they would get the best education. Why is letting me, use my money (and I mean the taxes I pay), to educate my children such an odd concept?

The teachers union has become a very powerful political tool. Unfortunately, you look at what his being given to school districts, on a per child basis, and then look at the wages of administrators’, compared to teachers. And then go to a school supply store and see teachers spending their own money for supplies that should have or begging for donations from the parents of their pupils.

This is not right. The education system is mismanaged. It keeps the few teachers, who probably shouldn't be there, safe in their jobs, regardless of job performance, and penalizes the teachers, who should be there, by putting a burden on their own pocket books.

But the only suggestion the democrats seem to have is to tax us more and throw more money at a failing system. That doesn't help anyone, except them in their ability to control more of our money!