Ford for President Townhall Thread

[The Duke]

This is my National Townhall Forum, so ask away!

[Everett]

No offence, but why have you created three separate threads for your campaign?

[The Duke]

No offence, but why have you created three separate threads for your campaign?

Because I have vigor.

The threads are for three different things.  I think its better not to mix those thee things, besides its more efficient than most campaigns which start a hyperventilating new thread for every little press release.

[jokerman]

What is your plan to improve the quality of our education system?

[Filuwaúrdjan]

What are your plans for the economy?

[The Duke]

What is your plan to improve the quality of our education system?

Ultimately it is the Region's that bear most of the responsibility for fixing education.  They control the majority of the money, the have greater authority to set curriculums, and the school employees are direct employees of the Regional governments.

That said, there are things the Federal government can do to moderately improve education.

One thing I'd like to do is try an experimental voucher system in DC.  Vouchers are an innovative idea.  We don't know if they will work to improve education, but I think we owe it a try.  We could take the DC School system, the worst system in the country and the one that is most directly controlled by congress, and take a limited number of public school students and give them a private school voucher.  If the program is successful, then the Region's could take this idea and implement broader voucher programs.  If the program is not able to improve test scores, then we would simply abandon it without having done much harm.

Second, I'd like to get rid of No Child Left Behind.  The program has not, in my view, improved education.  Teachers and students hate the program because it makes teaching and learning harder.  It also costs a tremendous amount of money to implement the program.  A better use for those dollars would be increases in student grants for college kids and block grants to Region's for the improvement of primary and secondary schools.

[The Duke]

What are your plans for the economy?

The economy is finally showing signs of life, thanks to the stability we've had in the country recently.  This is good news, and will make everyone's job in nyman easier over the next six months.  Given that the economy is growing, the first priority is not to undo the policies that have allowed growth in the first place.

It would be shortsighted to raise taxes or to continue the assault of government programs that are beneficial to the poor.

Next, I must make sure there is someone at the Treasury Department who understands economics and could run an effective monetary policy.  Not too loose, not too lean.

Finally, the cost of living needs to be brought down.  This means measures t make health insurance and energy cheaper and more accessible.

In all honesty, I'm not terribly worried about the direction of the economy as long as there are no major unforseen disasters.

[Colin]

You put forward in one of your speeches that you want to be a major backer of voting reform if you are elected. What types of reforms would you support? Are you for secret voting? Are you against the current preferential voting system?

[The Duke]

You put forward in one of your speeches that you want to be a major backer of voting reform if you are elected. What types of reforms would you support? Are you for secret voting? Are you against the current preferential voting system?

I voted yes on the secret ballot, and was disappointed that it failed.  I understand the arguments against it, but I think that there were enough checks in place to prevent abuse.  I hope that the issue can be revisited at a later date, though for practical reasons that won't happen too soon.

I am strongly in favor of a first past the post w/ runoff system.  The current system is easily manipulated by strategic voting.   FPTP system w/ subsequent runoff along the lines Gabu has proposed would make voting simpler and more straightforward, and by extension make the game more fun.

[PBrunsel]

How much sway should a President have over the Senate and vice versa?

[The Duke]

How much sway should a President have over the Senate and vice versa?

The President has to be able to manuever within the Senate to get his agenda enacted, so he needs to hold enough sway over it to get that much done.  There is a certain art to crafting a legislative majority especially in the absence of a strong 2 party system, its hard to describe what it takes but its a certain something.  Sometimes its the art of the deal that makes the diffference, sometimes its a personal connection, sometimes its a coincidence of your needs and the Senator's.  A President has to demonstrate this kind of skill to craft legislative majorities.  Instead of somehow railroading the Senate, he has to mold it.

As Secretary of Defense, I got a lot of legislation through Congress as it related to my Department's budget.  A big part of that was building personal relationships with Senators and by proving that you could be trusted to do things the right way.

See, a lot of the Senators who oppose a particular bill do so out of caution.  They know that they have no say in how a bill will be implemented, but they will get blamed if the policy they're enacting goes wrong.  They have to have complete trust that the executive branch, which is responsible for the execution of these policies, will execute these policies effectively.

[Bdub]

What is your plan for keeping registered voters in Atlasia active.

[George W. Hobbes]

What's your stand on the national sales tax?

[MasterJedi]

What are your plans for Atlasia's environment?

[The Duke]

What is your plan for keeping registered voters in Atlasia active.

By resolving the problems with Forum Affairs law and voting laws, we'll solve the activity problem.  People aren't going to want to be part of something that doesn't work, and right now the system doesn't work for many people.  Fix those laws, and you fix activity.

What's your stand on the national sales tax?

I'm against a national sales tax.  I think it will make the tax burden on the poor and middle class too high, and reduce their well being.  I think an income tax is far preferable, and it will produce greater returns in terms of economic growth.  If you look at the Pacific, we have no sales tax just a progressive income tax, and our economic growth is the highest of any Region.

What are your plans for Atlasia's environment?

Job one is to reduce the use of fossil fuel in the economy.  I've long favored hydrogen fuel cells as a way to reduce pollution, and I think if we move towards nuclear energy instead of coal or natural gas for our power plants, we'll reduce pollution.  I'm going to try to enocurage hydrogen and nuclear power if elected.

We should also emphasize heavy rail lines.  Rail is the most efficient way to move heavy goods, and it pollutes less than a semi-truck.  If we could move freight off the highways and onto rail lines, we'd reduce traffic and by extension, pollution because cars wouldn't just sit on jammed freeways with their engines running.

[Frodo]

What is your plan to improve or reform Atlasia's healthcare system, and how do you intend to deal with its rising costs? 

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Will you use your "bully pulpit" to advocate a minimum wage for hard working Atlasians?

[MasterJedi]

Will you use your "bully pulpit" to advocate a minimum wage for hard working Atlasians?

Regions can still set a minimum wage, get it passed in the Southeast and then it wouldn't be a problem. Just an FYI.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

Will you use your "bully pulpit" to advocate a minimum wage for hard working Atlasians?

Regions can still set a minimum wage, get it passed in the Southeast and then it wouldn't be a problem. Just an FYI.

A regional minimum wage would be a-okay as long as there is a national requirement to ensure that each region sets an appropriate one.

[Emsworth]

A regional minimum wage would be a-okay as long as there is a national requirement to ensure that each region sets an appropriate one.

How is this different from having a national minimum wage? Sure, the regions might be able to set the level, but the federal government gets to tell them what level is "appropriate."

[bullmoose88]

What are your thoughts on price ceilings and price floors and their possible positive and/or negative effects on the national economy?

[The Duke]

What is your plan to improve or reform Atlasia's healthcare system, and how do you intend to deal with its rising costs? 

One thing we can do is allow the reimportation fo prescription drugs from Canada and Europe.  Rx drugs are a more and more important part of health care, and the cost to Americans keeps rising.  Re-importation would reduce the cost of drugs to Americans.

Another thing we can do is allow small businesses and independent contractors to buy insurance together.  A large business can buy its employees insurance pretty easily, because risk is spread among so many employees.  A business with 10 or so employees can't because the risk is too great.  Allowing say, every restaurant or every hair salon within a county to band together to buy insurance will reduce the cost of buying insurance for employers, and increase the number of Americans who have health care.

We should try and reduce costs by taking advantage of technology.  We could digitize health care, replacing paper records with digital records.  This use of technology to reduce cost of overhead in the health idnustry, and would reduce cost by up to 20% just on its own.  Technology can also allow us to create databases, where for example we couldstor info on every prescirption a patient recieves.  If doctors have instant access to this kind of info, and they currently don't have access because there is no central location to retrieve the information, they would practically eliminate instances of harmful drug interaction.  Sometimes medicines interact badly and harm patients, we could prevent that and reduce emergency rooms patients.  In some states, 25% of emergency room patients are there because of harmful drug interaction.  Preventing this kind of hospitalization is going to improve quality of care while reducing cost.

We should also end the current Federal Drug Benefit.  Seniors hate it, and aren't signing up for it, yet it costs taxpayers an extraodinary amount of money.  Our HSA program should also be ended, as it creates perverse incentives in the insurance market.

Will you use your "bully pulpit" to advocate a minimum wage for hard working Atlasians?

I support a national minimum wage, but I'm afraid I expect to be quite busy with other issues, and my bully pulpit will be occupied for quite some time.

What are your thoughts on price ceilings and price floors and their possible positive and/or negative effects on the national economy?

Easy question.  Price controls=bad.

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

I support a national minimum wage,

Thank you for having the courage to be progressive.  That is a rare trait around here.

but I'm afraid I expect to be quite busy with other issues, and my bully pulpit will be occupied for quite some time.

I hope you will realize that Atlasian families are suffering and require your attention.  You should clear your table until less-fortunate Atlasian families are able to put food on theirs.

[jokerman]

Excellent answers so far, Ford.  My support for you is solidified.  You have my full endorsement.

[bullmoose88]

What are your thoughts on price ceilings and price floors and their possible positive and/or negative effects on the national economy?

Easy question.  Price controls=bad.

If you oppose price controls, why, then, do you support a price floor on labor?