Paq

hi there

most of you know i'm fairly liberal with some conservative slants, depends on the issues.

i was talkig wtih my very conservative boss today and we realized we actually agree on many issues

actually, i've been talking to quite a few people, both liberal and conservative and amazingly..we share quite a bit in common.

Soo, i talked it over with my boss and with other people and we decided we really need a 'boston tea party' of sorts. A serious political revolution.
The two party system just isn't cutting it.

sooo, in regards to that, i am going to start a micro-campaign and see where it takes us. My party will be nicknamed the "common sense" party. Not sure of a real name. basically, we want as little gov't involvement in personal lives and as much accountability from gov't as possible. Everythig else is up in the air.

So, that's where this lovely board comes into play.

Basically, i want to know what concerns you most about politicians and the party with which you ascribe. I would like to try to avoid "towing the party line" and would like you to voice what you would really want in a party. This info will be used in a questionairre that will be given to many local businessmen, professors, politicians, even door to door.

I just wnat to know what issues you are concerned with, whatyou would like to see a politician do, what you believe firmly, and what you would like to see politicians doing less of.

Thanks for any help at all.

As for me. My main concerns wiht politicians, etc, can be summed up pretty easily. I would like to keep gov't out of my personal life. I don't want people telling me what i can and cannot do wthi my body or wiht another consenting adult. I'm not gay, i don't do any drugs other than caffeine, and i am really sickened by the amount of say the gov't has in what i can conceivably do. It is annoying to think someone could be jailed for any number of reasons that do not affect anyone other than that person or that person and another consenting adult. It just doesn't make sense.

I don't like politicians to refuse to show where tax money is really going. I hate trying to find out how much money is collected vs how much actually goes to whatever programs. This is 'our' money, so we should know, and have input, on where it goes, no?

I would like to see some actual honesty in politicians. I don't care if what you say is PC, if it's the truth, spit it out. We currently give quite a bit of money and concessions to the local indian tribe that opened a bingo parlor. It is housed in what used to be the local mall and it nets more than $500,000 profit per MONTH (50,000 people in this town with an average family of 4 income of $32,000, $500K per month is quite a bit, almost half of what the local walmart does in sales) Anyway, some politicians are roasted for thinking that this group should pay some form of rent or taxes for the land they use, etc when any other group would be paying out the ying for this property. it's not even open for debate anymore, they are tax exempt, but they are one of the highest grossing businesses around. No one will say anything and yet, our tax money helps fund this. to me, that's discriminatory. If they were under nonprofit organization, maybe, but as it is, they are run just as an unregulated business. The only thing they are explicitly not allowed to do is sell alcohol on sunday bc it's against the blue laws.
At any rate, i have seen at least 4 local politicians get lambasted by media, etc, bc they speak out abuot the discriminatory policy.

I am also for politicians to actually represent the actual people. Many MAAANNNYYY politicians here have their own agendas. Half of the city council are related, the former mayor was pres of hte debutante club in 1957 and has ties throughout hte whole city and everyone of them seems to be after the most money, one way or another. They will...randomly enforce some areas, push money over to certain areas, do whatever to help out the family member of the day. It's pretty sickening. I would like to see an actual elected official actually pay attention to the constituents. Far too often in politics, the actual people are forgotten.


These are my pretty short answers, sorry for going on a tirade, but it's just an illustration.

Anyway, my main question is: What would you look for in an ideal candidate. Leave party affiliation out. Any specific traits, etc.


thanks

__________________
Live.

Chris