Mission 2020: Clean Up Politics!
Mission Statement (Platform Policy Issues):
Clean Up Politics: Remove “C”--orruption from Arizona Capitol
A
B
C
2 - Education: Go from worst to first (turn it upside down) ☹ 😊
How do we get out of last place for educational performance?
L—Local Control: Curriculum and unfunded state mandates must be addressed
A—Accountability: Charter school transparency & neighborhood school excellence
S—Safe Environment: Infrastructure, public school specialist teams, & training
T—Teacher Respect: increase pay for all staff involved in public education
Education: L A S T (acronym)
I don’t want our students, teachers, or public schools to be in “last” place, but how much you spend on education indicates the value you place on this issue: It also shows your basic respect or priority for education policy (and more importantly the people it affects most—children).
Currently, Arizona ranks in the bottom 10% in the nation for public education across everything from average student academic performance to educator pay, teacher retention, physical building maintenance, new classroom technology, and funding levels.
Public schools always have a “lasting” effect on everyone involved; including the students, educators, and wider community. If we continue to do nothing about our education crisis in Arizona—that effect will spiral down the drain in a “vicious circle” ending up with more people in prison and more money spent on the prison system. The bottom line is this: We can pay now, or we can pay later, but we aren’t going to get around paying for public education. Or, as a famous TV public announcement used summarize it: A mind is a terrible thing to waste!
However, we can just as easily make a “virtuous cycle” out of public education in Arizona by investing that same money now. In business terms it is a “sunk cost” that we cannot avoid paying. So why spend more money on prisons when we can invest it in better schools instead?
The moral of the story is that if we want Arizona schools to “last” over time, fix funding first!
Healthcare: This should be a right, so the only question left is how to pay for it.
A—universal coverage for everyone solves the problem of access to healthcare
—what is the baseline of catastrophic care guaranteed to everyone?
—pre-existing conditions should never exclude a person
—drug coverage must be included
—mental healthcare coverage must be included
—women’s healthcare issues must be included
B—point of insurance is to prevent family bankruptcy from a medical emergency
—must include accidents, chronic conditions, and “unplanned emergencies”
—spread the cost over everyone and a lifetime of care each individual
—can include behavioral incentives
—preventive care and checkups
—risk factors such as drinking, smoking & diet
—benefit factors such as exercise, diet, & donating blood
—everyone must contribute (pay something) because all will be treated
C—Must maintain excellent medical care (best in the world)
—allow people to buy extra coverage above Medicaid/Medicare level
—incentivize research and drug development (medical doctor/nurse training)
—allow patients and doctors to handle the care elements of treatment
Differently Abled: “e pluribus unum” (one out of many—strength through diversity)
Economy: Rising tide lifts all boats (so everyone needs to benefit from growth)
Good paying jobs (requires a living wage and a “vocation”)
Modernize business industries (5 old C’s + 4 new C’s)
Mission Statement (Platform Policy Issues):
- Clean Up Politics: Get rid of our “6th C” at the AZ Capitol: Corruption & $$$.
- Education: Help all children learn by fixing school funding first.
- Healthcare: Medical emergencies shouldn’t bankrupt families.
- Differently Abled: Embrace the strength of our diverse abilities together.
- Economy: Business needs to work for everyone in the community.
Clean Up Politics: Remove “C”--orruption from Arizona Capitol
A
- Ideally representatives serve the public interest; not their private/special interest
- Representatives are accountable for their record (votes, etc.)
- Reps listen to voters (respond, communicate & meet with constituents)
B
- Good government best practices
- Reps step aside when they have a private conflict of interest
- Create a neutral 3rd party to be ombudsman and evaluate policy programs
C
- Need to eliminate or diminish the role of money in politics
- Clean elections campaigning makes candidate accountable to public
- Traditional campaign funding makes politicians accountable to special interests
- Disclose dark money funding sources (make campaign donors transparent)
2 - Education: Go from worst to first (turn it upside down) ☹ 😊
How do we get out of last place for educational performance?
L—Local Control: Curriculum and unfunded state mandates must be addressed
A—Accountability: Charter school transparency & neighborhood school excellence
S—Safe Environment: Infrastructure, public school specialist teams, & training
T—Teacher Respect: increase pay for all staff involved in public education
Education: L A S T (acronym)
I don’t want our students, teachers, or public schools to be in “last” place, but how much you spend on education indicates the value you place on this issue: It also shows your basic respect or priority for education policy (and more importantly the people it affects most—children).
Currently, Arizona ranks in the bottom 10% in the nation for public education across everything from average student academic performance to educator pay, teacher retention, physical building maintenance, new classroom technology, and funding levels.
Public schools always have a “lasting” effect on everyone involved; including the students, educators, and wider community. If we continue to do nothing about our education crisis in Arizona—that effect will spiral down the drain in a “vicious circle” ending up with more people in prison and more money spent on the prison system. The bottom line is this: We can pay now, or we can pay later, but we aren’t going to get around paying for public education. Or, as a famous TV public announcement used summarize it: A mind is a terrible thing to waste!
However, we can just as easily make a “virtuous cycle” out of public education in Arizona by investing that same money now. In business terms it is a “sunk cost” that we cannot avoid paying. So why spend more money on prisons when we can invest it in better schools instead?
The moral of the story is that if we want Arizona schools to “last” over time, fix funding first!
Healthcare: This should be a right, so the only question left is how to pay for it.
A—universal coverage for everyone solves the problem of access to healthcare
—what is the baseline of catastrophic care guaranteed to everyone?
—pre-existing conditions should never exclude a person
—drug coverage must be included
—mental healthcare coverage must be included
—women’s healthcare issues must be included
B—point of insurance is to prevent family bankruptcy from a medical emergency
—must include accidents, chronic conditions, and “unplanned emergencies”
—spread the cost over everyone and a lifetime of care each individual
—can include behavioral incentives
—preventive care and checkups
—risk factors such as drinking, smoking & diet
—benefit factors such as exercise, diet, & donating blood
—everyone must contribute (pay something) because all will be treated
C—Must maintain excellent medical care (best in the world)
—allow people to buy extra coverage above Medicaid/Medicare level
—incentivize research and drug development (medical doctor/nurse training)
—allow patients and doctors to handle the care elements of treatment
Differently Abled: “e pluribus unum” (one out of many—strength through diversity)
- Stop treating “dis-abilities” or differences as handicaps or negative barriers
- Recognize the diversity of natural human gifts/talents in our community
- Recognize the arbitrary nature of valuing certain human gift/talents
- Stephen Hawking example of brilliant physicist crippled by disease
- Simple example of eyeglasses or hearing aids taken for granted
- Respect differences as “complimentary benefit” of working together as a team
- Everyone deserves respect and dignity as a member of humanity
- Every individual, by right, gets equal treatment under the rule of law
- Every person does not need to play the same role/function in society
- Team approach respects differences and utilizes them for everyone’s benefit
- Military example of specialist utility duties, but one mission uniting the team
Economy: Rising tide lifts all boats (so everyone needs to benefit from growth)
Good paying jobs (requires a living wage and a “vocation”)
- Raise the minimum wage to $15/20
- Must be able to maintain family with regular work hours
Modernize business industries (5 old C’s + 4 new C’s)
- Old industries: Cattle, Copper, Cotton, Citrus, & Climate
- New industries: Computers, Conservation, Construction & Consumers)
