abc27 Vote 2008 - Dan Frank

ON THE ISSUES:

ECONOMY: I have been concerned about the economy for years, this government is sending our jobs off-shore (in the name of so-called free trade), they are spending the U.S. into bankruptcy, inflating the money supply, and sponsors corporate welfare. I believe in true free markets, not manipulated markets via the World Trade Organization, NAFTA, CAFTA, Export- Import Bank of America. These global organizations with unelected foreign bureaucrats are destroying our way of life, our economy, and the American middle class and must be stopped.

EDUCATION: There is no Constitutional basis for the Federal Government to be involved in education, this a state issue. In fact President Ronald Reagan promised during the 1980 presidential election to eliminate the Department of Education, but failed to do so with a Democratic House of Representatives. However, Republicans controlled all branches of government during 2000-2004 and what we got was the United Nation's No Child Left Behind Act, the most sweeping reform of federal education policy in a generation. When George Bush was running for President, there was a lot of applause from his audiences when he stated, and these are his exact words, "I believe in local control of schools and I will work with Congress to pass power out of Washington DC," unquote. But, President Bush's re-election Web page brags about the fact that his Administration has increased Federal funding of education to the highest level in American history. In other words, the president was spewing platitudes; Mr. Bush has done the complete opposite of what he promised. He has increased the power of Washington DC over education! And all of this is blatantly unConstitutional! Again, there is nothing in our Constitution that even remotely authorizes any involvement by the Federal Government in education --- nothing! This issue belongs to the state.

HEALTH INSURANCE: There is no Constitutional basis for the Federal Government to be involved in healthcare. This should be in the private markets and to an extent state and local.

IMMIGRATION: We must secure our borders immediately. It is absolutely mind-boggling to think seven years after 9/11 this is even an issue. The utter lack of action and responsibility by this administration and previous administrations to enforce our borders is an absolute travesty. In fact it is apparent both the Democrats and Republicans promote open borders by constantly chanting the mantra of immigration reform. It is as if there are no immigration laws. America has borders and immigration laws, there only needs to be the will to enforce them.

IRAQ: I feel it is time to start bringing our troops home. After a lot of reading, research and speaking to many (some military) I am not convinced this war was necessary. This administration, seven years after 9/11 refuse to secure our very own borders, while sending troops to Iraq for our security. This defies all logic. We were also told Iraq's oil would pay for this war, this was another misleading statement. This nation is $9.5 trillion in debt and climbing fast. Our military is stretched thin; we can not afford to police the world, even as noble as the cause might be. We must use our military for our safety and security. We can not afford nation building, in fact Bush George W. Bush at one time agreed with me, he stated during a debate with then-Vice President Al Gore on Oct. 11, 2000, in Winston-Salem, N.C. -- regarding the U.S. humanitarian mission in Somalia -- begun by his father, had "changed into a nation-building mission, and that's where the mission went wrong." Moreover, he continues: "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building ... I think what we need to do is convince people who live in the lands they live in to build the nations. Maybe I'm missing something here. I mean, we're going to have a kind of nation-building corps from America? Absolutely not." It's time to secure our country and bring our troops home as quickly and safely as possible.

Source: abc27 questionnaire