What about you? What issues are most important to you in the coming election? What specific policies do you see as critical? What particular candidates support your policies? I want to hear from you. Please post your comments or drop me a line.

Thank you for the opportunity to respond.

Several points come to mind:

1. Campaign finance reform is an absolute must. Without it, we cannot have executives and legislators who make responsible decisions on behalf of Americans, completely independent of the special interests. This is the most important issue facing politics and the key to true reform.

2. Reduce and eventually eliminate our dependence on foreign oil. We must have independence to preserve our autonomy, our national security, and our economic stability. Americans should have the same right to drill for oil and other fossil fuels in the Gulf of Mexico and in Alaska that foreign companies currently enjoy. Simultaneously, we must develop alternative energy to ween ourselves off fossil fuels. American innovation in this area have been impressive, not to mention the advances innovated by scientists and engineers in foreign countries. We must engage and foster such innovation to secure our advancement in environmental stewardship,

3. Get the federal government out of public education. The biggest obstacles to teachers being able to teach children must be removed, or our children will not be competitive, independent citizens. Among these obstacles is No Child Left Behind, which ties teachers’ hands in the classroom. Education is supposed to be in the hands of the state government, and administered by each school district. Standards are fine, but not when they come from the federal level, and not when they force teachers to “teach to the test” rather than provide true instruction to our students.

4. China is not our friend, it is our adversary. Our trade imbalance with China exceeds $500 billion each year. That’s half a trillion dollars in goods we buy from China, which they do not buy from us. Interesting that we continue to feed the dragon, while China persists in its human rights atrocities, its oppression of Tibet, its rejection of intellectual property laws, which tacitly endorses software piracy and trademark violations throughout its 1 billion-plus population. Meanwhile, China owns a sizable portion of our national debt. We must lead an international effort to hold China accountable to a free-market economy, including a valuation of the Yen currency that is tied to market forces. To continue to let China decide the value of the Yen is whatever Beijing says it’s worth is contrary to international banking and capital markets. It has to stop if we’re to compete with China on a level playing field.

5. Unbundle health care from employment. I am not suggesting a national health care insurance program. The government shouldn’t be in that business. I am advocating a guarantee of coverage to every American citizen (not illegal aliens). I say, let the individual pay for their own insurance premium, but do not allow insurers to pick and choose their insured clients by excluding pre-existing conditions and other factors. We already do this within employer group policies; let’s do it nationally. A great example of this is the Illinois Comprehensive Insurance Program, which you and I already know as residents of Illinois.

6. Cut pork from legislation coming from Congress. Whether this means a line-item veto from the President or a moratorium on such the practice of loading up pet projects on unrelated bills. Pork projects cost the taxpayers billions of dollars every year.

7. Balance the budget by cutting spending first. This includes better accountability by bureaucrats, but it also means holding Congress to finding the money to fund their legislation. Unchecked, Congress has no mandate to balance income and expenses. The budget deficit is out of control. We have to operate on a balanced budget to run a sustainable government, a more responsible budget.