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Issues of States’ Rights and Local Concern should be dealt with and enacted by the State and Local authorities, not by Federal authority or mandate.

Illegal immigration - Border Security and Prevention of Illegal Entry:

Illegal is Illegal:  Immigrant workers are an important asset to our communities and our Country; however, they must enter legally. We are a nation of laws, we have laws that govern legal entry into our country, and those laws must be respected and enforced. Additionally it is estimated that 29% of Federal prisoners are illegal immigrants; 25% of California inmates are illegal Mexican nationals. While the majority of aliens are honest and hard-working, this significant entry of the criminal element must be stopped. All other immigrants must be required to enter legally. The border must be secured, with an adequate wall or fence, and it must be aggressively enforced by the border patrol, with military support as necessary. Border Security at both the Mexican and Canadian borders is critical. Detained illegal immigrants, estimated to be as many as 1.2 million per year, must be immediately returned to their countries of origin, and repeat offenders must be transported not just across the border, but to more inconvenient areas of the Mexican interior, deterring re-entry. Illegal immigrants from all countries, including from Southeast Asia, the Middle East , and Central and South America, etc. must be similarly returned to their countries of origin, and not simply identified and released. Illegal immigrants charged criminally must be incarcerated, and either sent to their country of origin for incarceration, or incarcerated here in the United States. Their country of origin would be charged for such incarceration expense, either directly or as a deduction from any U.S. aid. The traffickers of the illegal immigrants, known as ‘coyotes’, as well must be pursued, caught, and punished severely.

Entry with Legal Documentation and Certification:  Temporary and seasonal alien workers must be allowed to enter the United States only with proper documentation, with full background and health clearances. They must then be issued Worker Visas, a classification of visas that already exists (any “Guest Worker” program or Amnesty is inappropriate, unnecessary, and should not be considered). These Worker Visas for entry authorization must be renewed yearly, and their expiration must be properly enforced. Family members would remain in their country of origin where they are more comfortable and their disposable income goes further. 

Benefits, including health services (except for emergency cases), education, and subsistence, made available to such immigrants and their families must be discontinued. Similarly, non-citizens should not pay into Social Security or receive Social Security benefits. 

Immigrants wishing to apply for residency and to seek U.S. citizenship must obtain a Residency Visa, and be required to secure employment and not seek subsistence assistance, as presently required. All such immigrants, while retaining their cultural heritage, must assimilate, and English must be our sole Official Language, used by all. 

The 14^th Amendment clearly indicates that children born of non-citizens lacking a sole allegiance to the U.S. are not citizens. This granted right must be reversed and ceased. 

Employers must be given full support by INS, etc. in their efforts to easily and expediently identify proper documentation of applicants. To prevent abuse, employers must be closely monitored, and those who knowingly hire undocumented workers must be aggressively prosecuted and given severe punishment. 

Prevention of Fraud:  Documents referenced in the application process, the documents used to authorize entry, and the related identification Visa cards, as well as our citizens’ social security cards, must be produced to prevent counterfeiting, just as our U.S. Treasury Dept. presently prints our counterfeit-proof currency. Investigations must ensure freedom from fraud. Field background checks of possible illegal immigrants must be facilitated, and made quick and efficient, just as law enforcement can presently run suspects for criminal warrants and background checks. 

Fair Opportunities for Entry:  The process and opportunity to enter must be streamlined so that those with legitimate application are not delayed or restricted unreasonably. Should an employer of an undocumented alien currently employed wish to retain that employee, the employer would be able to petition the INS, and the alien could be processed and be able to reenter the United States, with proper authorization, without delay.  

Fair and Level Playing Field for All Employees:  It’s estimated that 5% of all US employment is comprised of illegal immigrants, including 12% of food preparation, 14% of construction trades, 17% of office and house cleaning, and 25% of farm jobs.  The majority are paid cash under the table, with no benefits, no taxes paid, no record of such employment, and many with fraudulent identification and social security records. These salary practices employing illegal immigrants under the table undercut the pay and opportunities of US citizens, displacing many, and forcing them into unemployment. These practices as well are extremely unfair to the alien, being paid a very low wage for very difficult and/or grueling work, with frequently no other benefits. Sending some of their wages home, their subsistence and disposal income provides little comfort. This makes them as much as indentured ‘slaves’ and feeling as though they don’t belong and have no rights. Working conditions and compensation of the alien workers must be investigated, and monitored to ensure fairness and reasonableness, with fair wages, reasonable benefits, and their appropriate payment of taxes. This will recreate an environment in which all such affected trades will then be affected by fair market forces and competition, for legal immigrants and US citizens alike. 

War on Terrorism & War in Iraq, in Support of: 

Support of the War on Terrorism, versus Costs of Surrender:   We must acknowledge and understand that the Fascist Islamic Fanatics / Terrorists / Al Qaeda, not the Moslems of the world as a whole (though 25% of the world population and often preached to or controlled by radical Imams), have long declared War against the United States and the other Democracies of the world. Their many attacks around the world over the last couple of decades (from the Berlin Olympics, Beirut in the 80’s, the World Trade Center in ’93, Lockerbie Scotland, to 9/11, Cechnya, the Train bombings in Spain, Bali, The London Subway bombings, and to the Hezbollah attacks against Israel and resurgences in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, and current conditions in Iran, Syria, and Southeast Asia) evidence this continuing and growing threat. 

Should we “cut and run”, essentially surrendering, from Iraq and the mid-East, we would diminish and hurt our strength and stature in the world. Being the backbone of the coalition against terror, our exit would allow the Islamic fascists to prevail and take control of these areas. It would embolden them and we would soon see the war come to our shores. Should they further prevail here, consider what we could likely lose. They have not assimilated elsewhere and, with very significant migrations to Europe, etc., have called for and forced Sheria Law over Constitutional Law in areas of France and England. In the countries and societies that they have controlled they have eliminated any freedoms of speech, religion or movement, have no democracy, and the women have had no rights, freedom of movement, education, etc. Can we afford to risk ever losing the same? If we simply stand firm and unified, with our superior military strength and purpose, we will not lose, and this threat can be defeated. 

Exit Strategy Support:  I fully support the Bush Administration’s clearly-stated Exit Strategy from Iraq: it is to be determined by the Military Commanders on the ground in Iraq. This determination will be in concert with our diplomatic work with the developing Iraqi Government: based on the assessment of when the Iraqi military and police forces are able to assure their country’s security, and the Iraqi Government is operational and in control. Our Administration, and Country, is committed to the success of the Iraqi people in their realization of freedom and a democratic government, and, with our support, and their development, they will realize that dream. As long as we don’t cut and run before the Iraqi people are capable of fully assuming their potential, that success will be realized. With our help and the wonderful work of our troops, their Democracy and economy are rebuilding, with vibrant growth in business, and education, health, and infrastructure services being dramatically rebuilt and improved. 

Taxation - Need for Permanence of Cuts and Reform:  

Historical Benefits of Tax Cuts:    Historically, as realized with the tax cuts obtained by President Kennedy in the 1960s, President Reagan in 1981, and President Bush during his first term, when tax cuts have been enacted, the Federal Government has realized increased tax revenues, and the nation’s economy has experienced periods of robust economic growth. Presently our economy has had fantastic growth at an extremely high 4 to 5% growth rate for the past 5 years with very low unemployment under 5% and nominal inflation, and our economic machine is humming smoothly, efficiently and healthy. 

Need to make Tax Cuts Permanent, and Tax Reform:   The tax cuts enacted during President Bush’s first term must be made permanent. To allow them to expire would but hurt the average taxpayer, and send our economy downward, at the least hurting its present growth, and possibly even causing a recession.  

The Estate Taxes:      The Estate taxes must be eliminated. Generally, these are assets, already taxed when earned, when taxed again upon being passed on as part of an estate. This is double taxation. Many of these estate assets constitute thriving enterprises. The significant percentage of the estate taxes levied frequently requires the dissolution of these enterprises, both hurting the economy (as well as future tax revenues from the enterprise), but also the inheritors of that industry, removing them from their employment. Additionally, the experience and production of the enterprise that could have continued are often lost. 

Marriage Penalty and Extended Child Credits:      The Marriage Penalty must be eliminated, as well as the Child Credits extended. These reforms are simply a matter of fairness, and in support of our values of the Family.

Earned Income Tax Credit & Alternative Minimum Tax:     The Earned Income Tax Credit and the Alternative Minimum Tax need to be eliminated, or at least significantly reformed. Presently, the lower 50% of taxpayers only pay less than 5% of all taxes. For workers who pay no taxes to additionally receive a Credit, through the Earned Income Tax Credit, and potentially money paid them from the IRS, is simply unfair to all those who do pay taxes.

While the Alternative Minimum Tax may have been created to assure the taxation of those with excessive deduction loopholes, it has now become excessively unfair and burdensome to a much larger percentage of the middle income taxpayers. Many of these taxpayers make the many investments that keep our economy and employment growing.  This should be eliminated to prevent so many in the middle from being unfairly penalized. 

Simplified Taxation - National Sales Tax or Flat Rate Tax:       The whole taxation process has become excessively unfair and burdensome, and it must be simplified. Thorough investigation is suggested, with possible adoption, of the Fair Tax / a National Sales Tax, or Consumption Tax, to replace all other forms of taxation, or at least consideration of a Flat Rate Tax. 

Entitlements Must be, Not Eliminated, but Reined In:  

Personal Responsibility and Self-help, with Government Support:   To preface, I strongly endorse Compassionate Conservatism, and, as a Boy Scout, I live the Ideal that a ‘Scout is Helpful’. However, just as the parable states, ‘if you give a man fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime’. Often it can be more helpful to not help directly, but to guide and encourage others to help themselves. Personal responsibility, while more challenging, is tantamount to self-respect and self-help, and developing personal success. 

Entitlements Out of Control:    As discussed in a USA Today analysis (while not verifiable, but at least providing a perspective), enrollment in governmental entitlement programs increased by an average 17% between 2000 and 2005, while the U. S. population only increased by 5%. This amounted to an inflation-adjusted increase of 22% in entitlements spending in our federal budget since 2000, to a total of approximately $1.3 trillion in 2005.  

Medicaid added 18 million beneficiaries – a 50% increase since 2000, at an added $198 billion last year – to a total enrollment of 53.4 million, now including the working poor. It has become the nation’s largest entitlement program. Total costs have soared from $159 billion in 1997, to $295 billion in 2004, with spending projected to reach $329 billion in 2006. As the USA Today analysis points out, the extension of the tax-payer funded Medicaid program to the working poor has been the single largest expansion in government entitlements since the Great Society program was initiated in the 1960s. The soaring Medicaid costs are largely due to legislation that extended the program to many Americans who have low-paying jobs. With this free health-care offering, many low-income workers have chosen Medicaid over employer-provided insurance, because it is free or nearly-free, and often provides more benefits. Even a family of four, with earnings up to $40,000 a year in most states, can get this government-provided health insurance for their children. This has resulted in the federal government becoming the health insurer of about 100 million Americans – roughly one out of every three U. S. citizens. The legislation sought to make sure that newly employed workers, with millions moving off of welfare and into low-paying jobs, wouldn’t lose free health benefits. But a great number of workers, who were never on welfare, who could also sign on for the free health care, were also added. New rules also provided for Medicaid eligibility to illegal aliens, at a cost of $2.5 billion annually. Funding of $1 billion, for the next two years, has been proposed, to advertise to encourage eligible families to sign up for Medicaid. 

Americans receiving Food Stamps rose 49.6% in the past five years, and now stands at about 25.7 million beneficiaries.  

Need for Close Reevaluation, and Reining in:    Those who need the assistance and deserve the compassion need to be provided for, however many others are not being helped by these excessive entitlements. This not only hurts them, but also hurts the health of our economy. While challenging, personal responsibility needs to be encouraged, and reliance on these entitlements discouraged. Many of the Health Insurance carriers are providing very affordable and transferable insurance plans. These opportunities must be considered, and deference to other discretionary spending discouraged. Our medical care providers will never turn away anyone in need of emergency care, providing the best in the World, but they should not be providing emergency care for common aches and pains, and billing everyone else’s insurance for the costs of uncollectible medical services. Taxpayers need not be paying for those unwilling to provide for their own. Medicaid, etc. needs to be reevaluated, and legislation is needed to reform these bloated entitlements.  

Energy - Resource Development to Reduce Foreign Dependence:

Eliminate Dependence on Foreign Oil:      Oil and natural gas production must be allowed and supported in the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge, as well as in our coastal waters, and in the shale oil reserves in Colorado, etc. Only a few hundred acres of the hundreds of square miles of Alaska would be affected. The area is tundra, with little else in its ecosystem. Past experience with similar operations has actually found the enhancement of the wildlife, such as the caribou seeking out the warmth of the pipelines for their population reproduction. Slant-drilling technical developments in the coastal oil fields have reduced their risks tremendously. The shale oil mining has become extremely efficient, and can tap reserves in the area of Colorado that dwarf those reserves found in the Middle East. Counter to the safe and effective technologies now available that can be employed, Cuba and China are both exploring, with far more primitive methods, in areas just outside our waters. Why? 

Increase Refining, Reduce Additive Standards, and Control Taxes:     The nation needs more refineries built to handle increased demands, and the additive standards must be rethought. The fuel additives have had questionable benefits, and the resultant restriction of available fuel supplies to the market due to lack of their refining capacities has only frustrated the energy demands of the country. The gasoline taxes must be reevaluated, and controlled. Much of the collected revenues have been improperly diverted from the intended support of transportation needs, and they only add to the exorbitant fuel costs. 

Alternative Energy:      Continuing research and development should be pursued, but our existing energy needs must be addressed now.

Education - Left to Local Control, with Limited Standards Development to Ensure Quality/Competitiveness:

Education is a Local Issue, with Basic Standards Maintenance:       The Federal Government must defer education issues to the local authorities. Support funding should be provided to those depressed areas incapable of full support of their schools. Basic standards and testing should be retained to ensure quality education and competitiveness for all students. Teachers should be hired, retained, and promoted based on merit. Political correctness and bias, as would be in violation of an Academic Bill of Rights, must be eliminated, so that students can matriculate with a solid education of English, Math, the Sciences, and a full understanding of our Country and the responsibilities of Citizenship. Vouchers and Charter Schools must be permitted and supported. Home Schooling must be provided support and encouraged, and responsible standards for materials encouraged. 

Academic Freedom:       All States, and their Colleges and Universities, as well as School Districts at the Secondary Education level, must adopt laws and policies that provide for an Academic Bills of Rights, to ensure academic diversity, and the balanced and fair presentation and discussion of current events, history, issues and opinions. This would include the hiring and promotion of Staff and Faculty, treatment and support of Students, availability of budgets and facilities, and presentation and evaluation of educational materials and discourse. Standards of unbiased material for texts should be encouraged. 

Social Security Must be Saved:

Social Security must be saved, eliminating undeserved, unpaid-for benefits, such as to addicts, indigents, and illegal immigrants, and protecting the fund from spending on other government programs. The eligibility age should not be increased, benefits should not be reduced, and cost of living increases should be unchanged. Employees should be able to invest a portion of their contributions in private accounts, and the fund should be responsibly invested for its greater growth and solvency. 

Frivolous Lawsuits Controlled:

Frivolous lawsuits must be controlled, and potential awards must be limited. The uncontrolled extent and costs of these lawsuits have very adversely hurt our country’s business communities, hospitals, and insurance industries. Workman’s compensation and medical insurance costs have skyrocketed, putting such insurance out of the reach of many in need of such insurance, and many hospitals have simply closed because of the costs. These trends, because of the frivolous lawsuits, must be reversed, while protecting the rights of those who have been wronged, and are in need of rightful retribution. 

Abortion Limited:

Abortions Must Remain Available, but Limited:      Abortions must remain available to those who choose, with counseling about the effects of abortion encouraged, and safe procedures ensured. Abortion must be available for cases in which the life of the mother is in danger. There should be no public funding of abortion, except in the case of a medical emergency to protect the life of the mother, and personal funding is not possible. Partial-birth abortion must be eliminated, and late-term abortion should be restricted. Abortion for an un-emancipated minor must require Parental Notification, with the provision that an emergency waiver can be legally and expeditiously obtained in the event of a medical emergency, or in consideration of abuse or a threatening reaction by the parent. 

Smart Harvesting of the Forests:     

Improved Technology and Practices:    With today’s technology, and the present foresting practices of the Logging Industry, all environmental concerns can be properly addressed with the Smart Harvesting of our Forests. Having put in many hundreds of miles backpacking in our nations’ wilderness areas, I have a deep respect and appreciation for the environmental interests of our forests, both flora and fauna. Clear-cut logging is a practice of the past, and our logging industries have a deep vested interest in the continued growth and health of the forests. Smart harvesting can easily be accomplished with little impact on the environment, including minimal impact of logging roads, etc., with tremendous benefits. Such harvesting can thin the forest, and remove both dead and diseased trees, in addition to thinning the impacted areas of growth, providing for new growth.  

Improved Forest Health, and Re-Vitalized Logging and Lumber Industries:     The thinned forest provides, with more air circulation and opening to sunlight, much healthier new growth. New trees, as well as the plant undergrowth, can take seed and grow, replacing the removed trees. The thinned forest provides a far healthier environment for wildlife, in health, numbers, and diversity – a much improved ecosystem. The potential for the spread of disease among the trees, as well as fire hazard, is greatly reduced. The thinned, healthier forests can also potentially improve the watershed in the forests, providing better river flow to the benefit of the fisheries, and water storage to the benefit of agricultural interests. And significantly, for the North Coast, the Logging and Lumber Industries can be revitalized, giving a significant boost to the areas’ economies.

Traffic and Transportation Issues:                 

Constitutional Mandate to Provide for Infrastructure:  The Constitution’s mandate states that the Government shall “promote the general Welfare” of the country, and “collect Taxes … to provide for the … general Welfare” (Article 1, Section 8). Originally defined as means for ‘internal improvements - building roads …’, i.e. providing for the country’s infrastructure, including roadways, it was then defined that such ‘authorized spending’ must be ‘restricted “to purposes of … general, national, not local, or state, benefit”’. Much of California’s freeway system is in fact part of the U.S. / Interstate Freeway system, and the country’s Interstate Commerce.  

Balance of Federal Tax Revenues from California Vs. Federal Expenditure in Calif.:   California both represents a large percentage of the country’s commerce, and provides a large percentage of the country’s tax revenues. However, California receives a much smaller percentage of the country’s expenditures in return. Congress should follow the Constitution’s mandate, and refocus its expenditures on needed national infrastructure needs, and particularly California’s freeways. It should provide a far greater percentage of funding dedicated to California.

Need for Federal Commitment to California’s Transportation Needs:  Interstate 80 between Davis and West Sacramento is only three lanes in each direction and, as a result, experiences dramatic slow-downs and gridlock daily. The worst congestion is found on west-bound I-80 at the causeway. W/B I-80 across North Sacramento approaches the causeway with three lanes, and W/B I-80 from West Sacramento approaches with four lanes. These must merge into three lanes at the causeway, with the traffic daily slowing to a crawl, or stopping. The causeway, and west to Davis, in both directions, must be widened, to four, or possibly five, lanes. 

Santa Rosa, a community with an estimated population of 196,000, experiences daily gridlock along US 101 through its heart. From here, US-101 is the sole, major artery to the north, for all of the communities up to Eureka, with a population estimated at 28,000, and Crescent City. Communities in between, including Sonoma, Napa, Ukiah, Willits, etc., are dependent upon this same artery, and its inefficiency (at a number of points reduced to just a two-lane road) can’t help but frustrate the economic interests and potential for growth of these areas. With better development of US 101, the California Department of Transportation should also focus on improving the roadways of the other secondary, major arteries of the area. These specifically include SR-12, between Cordelia and Napa, and up to Santa Rosa, SR-29, from Napa to Clear Lake, SR-20, from Williams to Ukiah and on to Ft. Bragg and the coast, and SR-299, from Redding to Arcata. Each should be increased to four-lane roadways, or at least add many more slow traffic lanes, to allow for passing. U.S. 101 to Crescent City and U.S. 199 from I-5 to Crescent City are 2-lane roadways that are slow to negotiate and undependable and traffic has been restricted to any trucking over 64’ in length, essentially eliminating all 18-wheelers from passage – a real detriment and increased transportation expense to Crescent City’s business community and economy. These roadways, as well as all lengths of U.S. 101 that are still 2-lane, must be improved. 

Economic and Environmental Benefit:  A commitment to improving the size and efficiency of the federal highway systems would dramatically enhance and improve California’s transportation flow, and its interstate commerce. This would help the people of the state, as well as the state’s and the country’s economies. Improvements would provide significant savings on transportation time and energy (reducing gas consumption) for the people of California, and the country.

Flood Protection in Need of Reevaluation: 

Improvement to Levees may only be a Temporary Flood Protection:   Improvements to the Sacramento Valley’s levees and Folsom Dam might enhance flood protection, but such efforts might only be temporary. The construction of the Auburn Dam for flood control purposes should also be supported, but this as well is not an end-all solution.

More Permanent Flood Prevention Must be Investigated:     Research and technical professionals, such as at the area’s Universities and the Army Corps of Engineers, should be consulted. The viability and benefit of dredging the valleys’ rivers (including such rivers as the Sacramento, Napa, Russian, and Eel) should be investigated. Some statements have been made that some of Sacramento Valley’s river beds are higher than the valley ground level outside the levees, by up to 10 feet or more; this logically is due to the build up of sediments over time. Increasing the depth of the rivers would increase the carrying capacity and flow of the rivers. The bulk of the weight and pressure of the river flow would be lower within the river channels, reducing the amount of stress and impact on the upper portions of the levees, and reducing the potential for flooding. The increased depth could also affect a lower water temperature of the flow at the bottom of the rivers, which is ideal for the spawning populations of fishes moving up the rivers, such as the Chinook Salmon, which have been adversely affected by poor river flows. Additionally the two lakes at the upper sources of the Klammath River have become considerably more shallow from sediment buildup over the years. Because of this and being in the upper central valley with high summer temperatures the stored water is warm and has resultant significant algae growth. The algae depletes the oxygen in the water and other bacteria also grows, both very detrimental to the spawning Salmon. These reservoirs need to have this sedimentation removed and the dams need to be modified or rebuilt so they can release from the bottom. Like the dam at Trinity Lake, the water would then be able to flow more vigorously and colder, much healthier and sustaining for the Salmon, while still providing the storage for agriculture, etc. (Removing perennially recurring sediments should not have any significant adverse effect on their spawning environment.) Sediments removed from the river bottoms could be used to help rebuild the river levees. While only speculation, this is worth investigating. It might provide longer-term benefit, with possibly less maintenance demand and expense in the future. While dredging could require future maintenance, the present maintenance of the levees is very expensive, and rebuilding the levees will likely reach a point of impracticality, where no more can be done.

Drug Interdiction and Enforcement:       

Illegal trafficking and addiction of Cocaine, Methamphetamine, and Mescaline have a very significant, negative impact on the communities, and their youth, socially and economically. Illegal Cartel marijuana plantations in the restricted-access areas of the forests have become a problem for the Forest Service and Law Enforcement, with related criminal activity problems. The Federal Government, because of the negative Interstate commerce and economic implications, should provide significant assistance to the local Law Enforcement. It could provide added federal drug enforcement personnel and coordination with other agencies, and supplement local training and equipment. In the past, local agencies were able to petition for grants for such training and equipment, and such assistance programs need to be redeveloped.