*1. Are you satisfied with your health insurance plan?*
Yes, I am satisfied with my private insurance.
Yes, I am satisfied with my combination of public and private coverage.
No.
Undecided.
I am not insured.
I am covered by a public insurance plan (like Medicare or Medicaid).

* 2. Do you believe that our nation’s health insurance system needs
reforming? *
Yes.
No.
Undecided.

*3. Have you read any of the healthcare reform legislation currently
being considered in Congress?*
Yes.
No.
Some.

*4. What should be the most important goal in reforming our nation’s
health system?*
Making private insurance more affordable for Americans, including the 47
million uninsured individuals.
Making care more efficient by reducing waste and unnecessary treatments.
Shoring up the finances of Medicare and Medicaid.
Imposing caps on medical malpractice lawsuits.
Other
Increasing the options available to people and letting the Individual person decide what is best for themselves.

*5. If you believe that our nation’s health insurance system needs
reforming, what do you believe is the best way to reduce the number of
uninsured Americans and reduce long-term health care costs?*
Creating a health insurance plan, administered by the federal
government, to compete on a level playing field with private insurers.
Creating nonprofit co-ops, operated by a non-governmental entity, to
provide insurance to members and compete on a level playing field with
private insurance companies.
Creating a single government plan to cover every American.
Expand eligibility for existing public programs like Medicare, Medicaid,
and SCHIP.
Undecided.
No action necessary.
None of the available answers are the proper solution. The solution is to allow the American People, individually, to choose whats best. To enable them to have many, many choices, so that the market may determine what the best course of action is. No one “quick fix” or easily explainable solution will work.

*6. Do you support requiring all Americans to have health insurance? *
Yes.
No.
Undecided.

*7. Do you support prohibiting insurance companies from not offering
insurance to people with preexisting conditions? *
Yes, all people should have guaranteed access to health insurance.
No, insurance companies should be able to limit coverage to people with
preexisting conditions.
Undecided.
This is also a loaded question. Insurance companies should be allowed to operate their business freely. With a great deal of consumer choice, they will bend to do what the consumers want, else they’ll go out of business. If covering preexisting conditions is important enough, people will flock to insurance companies that will cover them. Forcing one way or the other will not work.

*8. Do you support creating a public health insurance plan, administered
by the federal government, that would compete on a level playing field
with private insurers, as long as people could keep their current
insurance if they are happy with it?*
Yes.
No.No. Its not in the specifically enumerated powers, therefore it cannot be done.
Undecided.

*9. If a government-run, public health insurance option is created, do
you support making the public option widely available to all Americans,
or do you support implementing a “trigger” so it is only available in
areas where choice is limited because one or two private insurers
maintain a monopoly.*
Widely available.
Trigger.
Undecided.
A better “Trigger” would be to allow the market to create more insurance companies in that area.

*10. Instead of creating a public health insurance option to compete
with private insurers, do you support creating a nonprofit co-op system
(as described in question 5b) that would offer insurance for members and
compete with private insurers?*
Yes.
No.
Undecided.

*11. Do you support requiring employers with a payroll over $250,000 to
contribute to their employees’ health benefits?*
Yes.
No.
Undecided.

*12. Do you support passing health care reform even if it will add to
our nation’s federal deficit, or do you only support passing health
reform if it is revenue neutral and does not add to the deficit?*
Yes, implement health reform even if it adds to the deficit.
No, only implement health reform if it is revenue neutral and does not
add to the deficit.
Undecided.
I do not support any health care reform, regardless of the cost.
This implies that the Federal Government must be involved in healthcare reform. The Federal Government is the problem that is preventing real reform from happening. No one group of people can know what system will work best for all individuals. The only way is to let the market decide by reducing regulation and enabling individual people to make the best choice for their own healthcare.

*13. Roughly 164 million of Americans receive their health insurance
from their employers. Do you support taxing employer provided benefits
to help finance healthcare reform?*
Yes.
No.
Undecided.
This also assumes that the Federal Government must be involved to solve the problem.

*14. Do you support imposing a surcharge on families making over $1
million, rather than taxing employer provided benefits, to help pay for
healthcare reform?*
Yes.
No.
Undecided.

And there you have it.

Why have I done this? Why did I choose a relatively unknown person to support for leading our state?

Its simple: We need change. Not the false hope and change that was delivered by our President. We need real change. Less government, more individual freedom. Of course, with that freedom comes responsibility. I’d like to think that the American People still have some ability to be responsible for their actions, but I have less and less faith in that each day. Perhaps with some leadership that espouses, and lives by, personal responsibility, people will begin to live that way.

It is sad to watch the laws that are being passed. For example: “No cell phones in a school zone.” I understand the intent behind this law: Get people to pay attention whilst driving in a school zone to cut down on kids being hit. Of course, I don’t know of any information that links cell phone use directly to kids being hit. Using a cell phone is no worse than fiddling with the radio, or putting on makeup, or shaving, or glancing down at the speedometer too long. The root of the problem isn’t cell phones, it’s irresponsibility. The only way for those kids to be safer is to have the drivers pay more attention. Outlawing a symptom of irresponsibility is not going to solve the problem.

This is the kind of change we need. It starts with individuals, but it doesn’t help if it’s perpetuated by the leadership.

The only way to start that change is to make the political parties running our state and our nation realize that we really do want something different than the crap they’re offering. I’ve been turned away from Republican meetings, because they don’t like the new people coming in rocking their boat. These new people want the same things they want, but aren’t satisfied with the lip-service being paid by the party and the leadership. Look at our Texas’ “Conservative” Senators; both voted in favor of the TARP bailouts and the Patriot Act. Real Conservative candidates don’t compromise their Conservative principles just to get something done. Those horrible pieces of legislation are the worst thing to happen to this country in a long time and they both came from Republican control. Its no wonder the Republican party is doing so horrible. They compromise their principles and people don’t like being lied to. With the Democrats, at least they come out and tell you they’re in favor of more government.

This turned into more a rambling thing than anything else. Sorry for that. But I’ll go ahead and post it on my blag anyway.

The problem here is not that this was all done in a panic. The problem is not that there are evil people. There will always be evil people. The problem is not that it doesn’t have enough oversight.

The problem is that it was done at all. This money is going to be poorly managed compared to someone’s hard earned dollars. There’s no cost to these polititcians spending this money. They don’t care how the money is spent, only that it results in their being reelected next time.

The thing is, no one even considered the consequences of this stimulus. Well, no one in the federal government.

We THE PEOPLE should be very angry. We should be making this anger known to the Federal Government. They need to know that we don’t like what they’re doing. And if you do like what they’re doing, keep in mind that there’s no such thing as a free lunch. What seems good for you right now comes at what cost to others? When does that cost come around to you?

“If you think the problems we create are bad, wait until you see our solutions.”

A truly free market will appropriately set salaries for people. The shareholders and the board of directors will pay the people what they belive they’re worth. The people working for these companies will believe they’re getting paid well for the work they do. Failures such as the one that has occured recently are a wake up call for the industry. They realize that they’ve been paying people too much, and agreeing to contract terms that result in CEOs leaving with a huge bonus regardless of failure, or success, of the company.  That will be remedied, but not by artificially setting limits on compensation. Artificially set limits will only drive people away from the industry, or encourage them to find “creative” ways to make enough money. Some of those “creative” ways may have questionable legality.

This is another example of the government meddling in things they shouldn’t touch at all. They should only deal with enforcing private contracts. They should be ensuring that the contract that the company and the CEO is held up. Even if that means the company hurts badly, potentially failing. It will serve as an example to not form contracts this way anymore. It will cause pain to the shareholders that have agreed to the terms of the contract.

It will force the appropriate people to be responsible for their actions. Something that is severly lacking in the United States of America these days…

Suffice it to say that she is the best candidate for Governor here in Texas. We need someone with true conservative values. Someone who hasn’t been corrupted by “Big Party” politics. She is all about limited government. In this day and age when everything seems to be turned over to the government (because they can do a better job than we can?) we need to start locally and retain control of our lives.

Debra Medina for Governor!

I’m not one of the most tactful people, but this really doesn’t seem to be very nice.

Lets bring responsibility back to Texas. Lets keep freedom alive in Texas. Lets put Debra Medina into office.

Ouch.

So much for the land of the free. We’re drowning in a mire of big government. The solution: knowledge, vigilance, and a desire for real change.