Issues

No Test Left Behind

Public education has transformed greatly over the past 25 years. Long gone are the days of small classrooms and empowered teachers. Today the education of children has an eerie resemblance to production methods in a factory setting. It would seem the United States Department of Education has taken the principles of production—one-size-fits-all homogeneity and mass production—and applied them to public education.

While well-intentioned, the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) approach is highly flawed. It causes school systems to pour significant resources and time into at-risk students who have not made adequate yearly progress (AYP), as defined by the State and measured by a variety of diagnostic criteria and tests.
Our educational system’s emphasis on AYP goals, and the federal funding that is tied to meeting these goals, shifts our schools’ instructional focus to at-risk students—leaving competent and high-achieving students with less instruction and, unfortunately, fewer opportunities to challenge themselves and grow academically.

In reality, NCLB creates underfunded schools in which students are crammed into overfilled classrooms with a teacher who is stuck with a cookie-cutter curriculum. Virginia’s Standards of Learning (SOLs) and NCLB ensure teachers focus on “teaching to the test” rather than developing innovative curricula that meet the needs and interests of individual students and draw on educators’ strengths and abilities.

I fully support ending No Child Left Behind. I will also encourage the Commonwealth of Virginia to restructure the SOL program in favor of a program that is less test-intensive and more focused on age-appropriate and authentic learning experiences.

Students do not learn much by cramming thousands of facts into their minds for regurgitation on a standardized test. Except, perhaps, how to take a standardized test.

We should teach our children how to learn, and we should give our teachers the freedom to educate. After all, it is our classroom teachers, not Washington bureaucrats, who best understand the individual needs and motivations of their students.

"The government of my country snubs honest simplicity, but fondles artistic villainy, and I think I might have developed into a very capable pickpocket if I had remained in the public service a year or two" – Mark Twain

Size of Government

How big is our government?  The United States Government is largest employer in the United States, public or private, with 1.7 million employees. By comparison, Wal-Mart is the largest private employer in the United States with 1.1 million employees.  Factor in the Postal Service with 750,000 employees and the total increases to 2,450,000 million employees.

Include jobs created by Federal grants, mandates to state Government and other industries that exclusively support the Federal government and the total raises to an incredible 17 million. (Paul C. Light, the true size of government)

Government Spending

The United States government is spending money at a rate never before seen in history. The current spending rate has the potential to bankrupt our nation. I fully support a balanced budget amendment to the United States Constitution.

Assistance to Foreign Countries

Thomas Jefferson explained the importance of avoiding foreign entanglements. The sad fact is we have enough to worry about here in the United States, let alone trying to police the world.

I do not object to sending humanitarian aid to other counties. I do object to funding other nation's militaries, rebuilding other counties infrastructure and nation building in general.

The Great 'High Gas Price' Magic Show

During the Presidential race, you witnessed a political smoke-and-mirrors show from both John McCain and Barrack Obama whenever they discussed reducing the United States’ dependence on foreign oil.  When asked about high gas prices and foreign oil dependency, both candidates quickly shifted gears to solar power, wind power and occasionally geothermal as a way to reduce foreign oil prices.

What the candidates failed to make clear is that America’s electric grid, the primary aim of alternative energy sources, uses very little liquefied petroleum. Less than 1% of the total power generated in the U.S. relies on petroleum.

There are far more relevant reasons why gas prices have been so high and volatile during these past few years.

The Real Issue:  Wall Street

The primary cause of high fuel prices in the recent past was speculation on Wall Street.

What you witness, and paid for at the pump, was an artificial spike in price created by Wall Street middlemen.

In June 2006, the United States Senate issued a report detailing market manipulation. An excerpt is given below and the full document can be found here .

Unfortunately, very few mainstream media outlets understood, or cared to investigate price manipulation.  As a result, the average American was convinced to blame minor market factors….. China, India, hurricanes, supply disruptions, overconsumption by large SUV's, etc.  

The bottom line: American families suffered while robber baron Wall Street managers raked-in cash hand over fist.  

(1)    http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/epm_sum.html

"War is an instrument entirely inefficient toward redressing wrong; and multiplies, instead of indemnifying losses." - Thomas Jefferson

Congress Must Address the Needs of Our Soldiers and Sailors, NOW!
-    100% safe, effective healthcare for all Veterans
-    Universal Tri- Care acceptance – Increased pay to healthcare providers
-    0% home loans for Combat Veterans
-    Honor all service contracts

Spirit of the Soldier

To protect America, our soldiers would march barefoot through the gates of hell, pour holy water on the Devil and be home in time for evening chow.
However, if the operation is guided by micro-managing chicken hawks (Executive Branch and most of Congress), the one-day precision military maneuver morphs into a seven-year international coalition police action.

American soldiers and sailors are trained to be fighters and combat operators of the highest order. Their goal is to capture the enemy flag by blazing through all opposition. Our military should only have two levels of engagement, completely off and completely on.  Any other level of response obligates our military to a 'gray area' where the enemy is unclear and so are the military objectives. This grey area is where mission creep occurs; our soldiers become psychologists, door-to-door ambassadors and referees with guns.

The soldiers on the ground NEVER cause any military quagmire. A failed military operation rests solely in the hands of the politicians.

The blood of young American soldiers should never be the price for a politician's mistake. 

(1)    http://icasualties.org/Iraq/index.aspx (August 7, 2009)