Fast Running Blog US Presidential Elections Poll

[Joe Furse]

yup to all- sounds great!

Agreed. 

And I second Steve's comment.  The sensational-sounding position without the reasoning behind it is only half the story, and when taken at face value doesn't necessarily paint a good picture of what his philosophy really is.  The same is probably true for most candidates to one degree or another, regardless of their position on the political spectrum.  He makes some compelling arguments for those positions, most of which I agree with.  This is why it is important to take a minute to get educated about the candidates outside of the sound bites you get on the nightly news, no matter who you end up voting for.  It's an eye opening experience to actually talk to a candidate or public servant in person, if possible, before making a concrete decision.

One thing I respect about Ron Paul is that there is no double-talk about him, and that's a rare thing for a Congressman of any party.  He votes as one would predict him to, and does so based on principle rather than what he stands to gain or lose politically.  I happen to agree with the lion's share of his principles, so between that and his consistency he's got my vote by a mile over anyone else so far. 

[Rob Murphy]

I get what you guys are saying. These are very uncertain times and the world is more and more complicated all the time. People like Ron Paul who provide a clear, consistent, simple message can be very appealing.

If you look back over American history you can find lots of people like Ron Paul that emerge during crisis times. They attract a small group of fervent supporters and they are great at bringing attention to important questions - but they never attract majorities or get elected president.

And, yes, Ron Paul does always vote on principle. Unfortunately, many of those principles are flawed in my opinion. He speaks a lot about the Constitution and constitutional principles, but I think he has many basic misunderstandings about that document.

[Sasha Pachev]

I would still have voted for Chuck Baldwin because there was nobody else to vote for with clean record. McCain had adultery on his, Obama supported abortion. This time around the Republican field looks better. It is very likely that I will vote Republican rather than independent. If Democracts got rid of promoting immorality and indolence, I would be happy voting for a Democrat. I do firmly believe in helping the poor, but I also believe in teaching the poor to help themselves with some common sense involved.

I do think that we would do well if we got rid of the Department of Education in its current form, and instead took measures to encourage and enable parents to teach their children. Schooling affects where the child will end up maybe 10%. The rest comes from the home. The two drivers of success in a career are aptitude and work ethic. Both are learned best at home by working together with mom and dad.

[Colby]

I would be interested to see a new comment for this next election, although the field isn't exactly set in stone yet. What are people's opinions? Especially those who may have voted for Pres. Obama. Has been been what you expected? Any ideas heading forward with another year to go?

[Rob Murphy]

Sasha, those are all interesting points. But what about the majority of American children who grow up in single parent households with a mom who works a full time job? What about the tens of millions of children who have educationally deficient parents who aren't even close to being capable of providing anything beyond the most basic education?

I'm pretty sure we are going to need a public education for those kids. Unless you are willing to claim that society has no responsibility towards them and no vested interest in educating them.

[Dave Holt]

Sasha, those are all interesting points. But what about the majority of American children who grow up in single parent households with a mom who works a full time job? What about the tens of millions of children who have educationally deficient parents who aren't even close to being capable of providing anything beyond the most basic education?

I'm pretty sure we are going to need a public education for those kids. Unless you are willing to claim that society has no responsibility towards them and no vested interest in educating them.

And I would add - social skills.  One of the most important elements of a well-rounded education that prepares the majority (there are some careers where these skills are needed less or not at all) for a successful life and career.

[Jon Allen]

Some more food for thought in a few great articles:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/anthony-anderson/i-voted-for-obama-now-im-_b_944097.html

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robin-koerner/ron-paul-can-win_b_939993.html

[Sasha Pachev]

Rob:

This reminds me of an experience I had consulting for one business when I worked at Percona. One of our consultants suggested a very reasonable change in the server server setting which was implemented. They came back with complaint that a query that used to take 40 minutes now took 6 hours. I looked at the query and it was obvious that with a couple of trivial changes it would run much faster. The changes were implemented and it ran in 10 seconds.

The server setting change was like the Department of Education. Getting rid of it made things worse, you could argue, but in the end it took the performance to a different plane because it made what was inherently broken intolerable and we addressed it.

Something like this is actually a common experience. We have low expectations and depend on things that are fundamentally broken. This is  because we lack the faith to move forward and get it done right.

I believe public education is necessary in some form, but not in the form it exists today. It is, in essence, tax-payer funded babysitting. It is a soft cushion that temporarily mitigates the hard hit from the deeper problems - broken families, and unwillingness and/or inability of the parents to be in charge of teaching their children.

It should be a tool for the parents to enable them to teach the children instead. There is a way to make it work. It will require a paradigm shift coupled with some ingenuity. For example, we currently "help" struggling families by giving them free handouts. What if we did something creative? If the parents do not know enough teach the children, teach the parents along with the children. If the parents know how to teach, but do not have the time, set up a system of incentives so that employers will give the parents the time to teach the children.
Be creative, think out of the box, and you get much better results.

[Rob Rohde]

I usually stay as far away from politics and sociology as possible, but since my wife is currently going back to school for her teaching degree I felt the urge to jump in here.

I think it is a bit shallow minded and arrogant to think that a child can have a full well rounded education only from the parents, such a system only limits the child to the knowledge and experiences of the individual parent.   I agree that it is the parents responsibility to teach a child fundamentals and core values, if the parent happens to have a particular talent that they are able to extend to the child all the better. 

The last time I checked, my tax dollars go to a lot more than baby sitting services. The facilities, the library system, the huge collaborate of technologies, and pool of knowledge from our educators is priceless.

I am having a hard time understanding why someone with such strong ties to the church would feel this way about public education.  I respect the church and every month in-trust them to make the most of 10% of my income, with this commitment I realize that I receive facilities to congregate and teach my children, provide manuals that standardize on the teachings, and all of the other blessings, and benefits of being a member of the church. 
My wife is the primary president of arguably one of the largest primaries in the entire church (200 children)  I have had the opportunity to teach my fair share of primary lessons and I tell you, that doesn’t even qualify as “glorified” baby sitting.  My only point is that, sure there are flaws in every system, sure it is probably mostly due to the inadequacies of the people, if we could write a script that could force every person to think and act in accordance with the best practice of our society everything would work much better, but I’m sure no one, even within the church where the teachings are documented to absolute specifics would say this is possible.  There is always room for interpretation and human error.

And just for clarification for anyone outside of Utah, when I say “the church” it’s not Catholic.

Oh!  I don’t know who I’d vote for yet