Introduction:I would first like to take some of my time to thank Mr. MODU for hosting this debate and to the other candidates for running an excellent and spirited campaign for the Republican Party nomination.
For decades now the political atmosphere in America has become increasingly hostile and less based on fact-based solutions and more on partisan politics. Moderation and good governance has given way to infighting and intrigue. In my 10 years in the Senate I have always made myself to be a bulwark against that sort of intense partisanship and implemented policies based in reality, not in partisan ideology. What America needs in this time of immense crisis is a President who can see past the innane bickerings of those intrenched in power; one who can actually lead this nation and unite it against the enemies who wish to destroy us and the economic problems that cripple us. I feel that I am that candidate and as the Republican nominee for President I swear that I will stand by my convictions and my belief in the ideal that the President should be above the partisan politics of Washington.
Mr. MODU, I do not support spending limits on political campaigns nor do I support public funding for candidates. I believe that any more limits set on the funding of campaigns beyond the McCain-Feingold Bill would not be healthy for American democracy, I actually believe that it would be nearly unconstitutional. People or groups should have the right to donate however much they want into the coffers of politicians. Do not get me wrong, I loath the way money is used to control politics in Washington today, I loath the use of loopholes like 527s to get around the limits set in the McCain-Feingold law, but further restriction upon this would constitute a limiting of peoples rights to political expression and their right to appeal to their representatives. While the ouright bribery and graft that has been shown to have infected the Republican Party should be prosecuted to the fullest degree as should all other forms of corruption we should not try to limit the political rights of citizens in order to do it.
I fully believe that so-called "taxation without representation" is wrong. As citizens of the District of Columbia are now taxed as residents of a normal state in the union without being allowed representation is a horrible violation of the principal of American democracy. What I would support would be a semi-statehood where the District's one representative is impowered with voting rights and is treated as a normal member of the House but that it is not given any Senatorial representation since the District of Columbia should not be a state. I believe this would solve the grievances over representation without drastically redifining the District of Columbia's legal status.
Well I would first like to appauld Burundian leaders for agreeing to peace terms after many years of wars. I would first, along with like minded sectors of the international community especially the African Union, support continued democracy in Burundi and for more open and responsible government. I would also continue with aid and call on greater help from domestic and international charities in both America and Burundi. I would also be open to such options as debt relief and interest free loans if the government of President Nkurunziza shows itself to be a free, fair and committed to democracy.
On healthcare the government should try and empower the Medicaid program by allowing more lower income Americans to apply for medical help from the government. However in order to ensure that we aren't diverting funds that we do not have into programs like Medicaid I strongly believe that we need to make the Medicare system needs based as well. Many elderly people need help to pay for rising costs of health care and medicine however there are a large number that would be able to pay for these services without the help of the government. An ex-CEO should not get free medical care from the government while a grandmother in the inner-city living off Social Security can barely pay for her bills. What we need to do is have the Medicare system be needs based not just age-related.
On the costs of perscription pills I believe that the American government should promote the use of cheaper generic drugs by reducing the time that a generic drug is kept off the market by the drug companies. If we can get perscription drugs into either over the counter or generic forms quicker and incent doctors to perscribe these drugs this will significantly lower drug costs for all Americans. What the government must also control, with in the Medicaid and Medicare systems, is the perscribing of unnecessary drugs to patients by doctors. America is one of the most medicated countries in the world yet we really have no health problems that are that vastly different from other first-world nations. The government should put an end to overmedication in government health care programs and incent private providers to do the same.
I believe that the heightened border patrols that President Bush put in place are a step in the right direction but these border patrol should not be arresting every Mexican who comes across the border, many just to try and find better lives in the United States, they must hunt down and arrest those crossing the border who they believe to be criminals, drug dealers, and terrorists. We must detain those who are suspicious or who we can tell have criminal records. We must hunt down those who wish to harm America not those who are seeking to come to this nation for a better life and new opportunities for them and their families.
We must also not forget about our border to the North. After the recent capture of a terrorist cell in Toronto we must not neglect our Northern border. We must step up border security and be vigilant in keeping terrorists and enemies of this nation from coming here and doing the American people harm.
Well the answer that is most apparent to me is the Medicare Drug Benefit. This massive government program is the greatest extension of the American welfare state since Lyndon Johnson and it has greatly increased our budget deficit. The ten-year projected cost of this bureaucratic behemoth is $534 billion. That is $534 billion dollars towards reducing our deficit, strengthening our military and ending the consolidation of America's debt in foreign hands. As well as being horribly expensive it has increased the bureaucratic nature of the Medicare system so much that most seniors cannot even figure out how to aquire the benefits given to them by the government. Not only has this new drug benefit burdened America with an even higher deficit and the economic problems that come from that it has shown that the current administration, in terms of economics, has strayed away from the grand ideal of small government and fiscal responsibility that this party was founded on. Reducing wasteful spending and getting rid of the Medicare Drug Benefit might not completely rid America of its financial woes but it will put us on the path back towards fiscal responsibility and a balanced budget.
Question from Gov. Justin Coleman: Yet to be asked.
Question to Mr. Ernest Calhoun: Do you believe that your lack of experience in the political arena will hurt you as President? Do you believe that your lack of experience in Washington will make it harder for you to either deal with the Congress or to move your agenda through the vast confines of the political process?
