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Politics : Bush Administration's Media Manipulation--MediaGate? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Proud_Infidel who wrote (4490)	8/1/2005 9:46:54 AM
From: Rock_nj	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 9838

I agree, local streets are the responsibility of states and localities. The problem arises when the federal government is off rebuilding other countries and neglecting their own responsibilities in this country, then states and localities sometimes have to cover federal responsibilities and can't afford to do their own public works. It puts a squeeze on localities and states. Besides, I'm in favor of an expanded federal role. If our federal taxdollars are good enough to rebuild Iraqi schools and hospitals, why can't we do the same here in our own country? We can, it's just a matter of priorities. The new energy bill does have some tax incentives for more efficient appliances, but a lot more could be done. We're basically living with appliance that are about two decades out of date as far as efficiency goes. Japanese appliance blow our appliances away on the efficiency front. They just reauthorized the PATRIOT Act permantly, only revisiting two controversal aspects in ten years time. That is hardly a program of vigillence against government abuse of power. If there's one thing you can count on, it's that the government will abuse its power over time. We need far more checks and balances on the PATRIOT Act, as it essentially nullifies important parts of our Constitution like the 4th Ammmendment and changes the basic civil liberties that have governed our society since our founding. School vouchers. There was a time when I had a problem with the idea. But I do think economics are strong incentive to make things work, so perhaps we should run our schools more like a business and give people a choice. I'd be in favor of expanded school vouchers. I would note though that some private and charter schools have proven to be less reliable than public schools in my state. Utlimately, vouchers are good as they will put pressure on the system to improve over time. This is a platform the Democrats could run on and win. New ideas, sensible ideas for the 21st Century. School vouchers would be a hard sell with their teacher constinuecies though.