Would you vote for this candidate? (you pick the office)

Would you vote for a person who made minor mistakes, But had great ideas for the future of this country!

Please be honest. Heres the future candidates background.

Basic information: Candidate is a conservative Republican, 35 years of age. Running for elected office.

Work history: U.S. Army 6 Yrs. (2 tours in Iraq.)
U.S. Navy 6 Yrs. (2 Sea Deployments.)

Education:
G.E.D.
Has some college.

Criminal background:
8 motor vehicles violations (traffic citations)

Juvenile charges:
1 minor trespassing charges (charged as juvenile)
2 minor theft charges (never returned game rental & hanging out with friends who were stealing from a store. (charged as juvenile)

All these charges happened as an adult at the age of 25 yrs.
These charges are one incedent. (same day)
1 simple tresspassing (charged as adult)
1 disturbing the peace charge (charged as adult)
1 public intox charge (charged as adult)

This candidate has learned alot through his mistakes through trial and error.He is responsible and a current leader in the military. He looks forward to possibly serving you in public office.

This candidate's political stance and beliefs are as follows:

Preserving the Constitution & Bill of Rights. .

Pro-Life.

Believes in your right to bear arms.

Small goverment and no or low taxes.

A well balanced budget with a surplus for tax cuts.

A well trained and well maintained military.

Believes in research and developement of alternative energy.

Quality, affordable healthcare for everyone.

Believes our schools and students need higher funding.

Believes our veterans need better care and treatment.

Is a christian, with a family.
(believes strongly in family values)

Believes in the war against terrorism, not ithe war in Iraq.

Believes Americans should maintain their sovereignty.

Is willing and able to reach across the aisle to get things done.


Please inform me of your opinion, Thank you for your time.

PS Constructive critisism is always welcomed!

Here is the thing, Joe. The candidate's criminal history demonstrates a propensity for disregarding the law...Eight motor vehicle citations, even over a 10-12 year period represents a pattern of behavior. That pattern is reinforced by the adult criminal history. The candidate claims a total of 12 years military service, indicating he joined the military at about age 18-22. The break in service and the two seperate services suggests to me a less than exemplary career progression and quite possibly a pattern of misconduct while in the services. The adult criminal history and the traffic history tends to reinforce that suggestion. Incidently, active duty service members are not permitted to seek public office...

Preserving the Constitution & Bill of Rights. .
Doing so requires a certain amount of respect for our laws, something the candidate has demonstrated he lacks.

Pro-Life.
Really? Not a litmus test issue for me in any event but...I wonder how much respect the candidate really has for life. Numerous traffic violations suggests a certain reckless disregard for the safety and lives of others.

Believes in your right to bear arms.
So do I...Of course, I think that with the right to bear arms comes the obligation to act responsibly. Tresspassing and public intoxication and distrubing the peace are not exactly examples of responsible behavior. More to the point, they may well indicate a pattern of drunkeness, something that frequently disqualifies a citizen from seeking a concealed carry permit.

Small goverment and no or low taxes.
I support smaller government and less taxes. Of course, as much as I dislike taxes, which I see as governmental theft, I recognize that a certain amount of taxation is a necessary evil. A platform of "no taxes" is financially irresponsible and reflects a profound lack of understanding. Both issues would make me reluctant to support such a candidate.

A well balanced budget with a surplus for tax cuts.
A great idea?

A well trained and well maintained military.
Another great idea but one I wonder who the candidate would support without any tax revenue...

Believes in research and developement of alternative energy.
Another great idea...Who is funding it? The government that scrapped or radically reduced taxes?

Quality, affordable healthcare for everyone.
I am beginning to think the candidate is a snake oil salesman. Who is providing this quality and affordable health care? More pointedly, who is paying for it? Is the government going to dictate to healthcare providers that they do it? That smacks of communist-socialist ideology and a fundamental disregard for private property rights...something the candidate has previously demonstrated with his theft charges and his tresspassing charge.

Believes our schools and students need higher funding.
Where is this funding going to come from without taxes?

Believes our veterans need better care and treatment.
I agree...who is paying for it?

Is a christian, with a family.
(believes strongly in family values)
I will just say that professed belief without physical action is hypocracy...

Believes in the war against terrorism, not the war in Iraq.
A lovely sound bite...Is the candidate aware of how our system actually works?
Believes Americans should maintain their sovereignty.

Is willing and able to reach across the aisle to get things done.
I would have to see specific examples of what the candidate has actually accomplished in life before I took such a claim seriously.

For what its worth, Joe, there is my contribution to the constructive criticism you asked for.

Hi Lawmage,

First of all, Let me thank you for your input! Secondly, You are a very well informed and smart person. Third of all. that candidate will be me in 2012. I like your style of thinking, it challenges me to become more proficient and smarter at what i do and how i do it.

I can agree with you on how question my character, honesty, and loyalty, etc....
But as I have gotten older, wiser, and better educated. I have taken on a sense of responsibility.......that I never encountered before.
I feel I owe my country something more then just military service.
I am still learning alot, and I will continue too everyday.
But I feel I have alot to offer this great nation. It will take time and experience.......which i will obtain. But with people like you challenging me........it will only make me a more smarter and well informed citizen, and hopefully one day.....a public servant.

Thank you.

Welcome to the Town Meeting, Joe! It's great to add another member to maladaptive mob of malevolence. We hope to see more contributions from you in the future. So enjoy yourself. Refreshments can be found on the back table.

What do I mean by low or no taxes?
-Well, I believe certain things shouldnt be taxed.
What should be taxed, would be taxed at a low percentage.

What do i mean by small goverment?
-I believe goverment should be small.
Do away with programs, employees, and property, etc,...
that you do not need or are wasteful spending.

We have to get rid of pork barell spending, use what money the goverment collects in taxes a little wiser, and increase our budget by getting rid of wasteful spending.

By downsizing the goverment, you can therefore downsize taxes.....and still maintain social spending on programs
at a reasonable level.

Certain programs like healthcare and alternative energy can be funded by the private sector, with much needed work.

Our military will maintain a certain readiness and training level. It will be well maintained and trained.

Our education system would have a drastic over-haul. We need to offer it additional funding through educational bonds. ( A new program that would be created....kind of like a war bond.)

Infastructure would be another drastic over haul. Paid by taxes and Bonds.

Veterans already get great college benefits through the new GI Bill. We just need to offer them better healthcare service and benefits.

but in order to achieve some of this, we are going to have to work on this together.....Democrat and Republican....Liberal and Conservative alike.

It is hard to add to add to Lawmage's main point about being able to pay for some of the things you want to do. I agree with him. It seems to be one of the biggest problems in government that they fail to see that you can't have it all.

I am less concerned with the criminal history. I can imagine how some of that could have happened. A kid hanging out with his friends as they get into some minor criminal activity is just being a kid. Maybe the adult charges could have come from one night of drinking and showing up at the ex's house and causing a scene, and possibly mooning her new lover. No big deal in the grand scheme of things. I wouldn't let all my criminal history out during an introduction since it is of a minor nature.

Hi Joe. I have some honest answers for you.

I'd need to know more about your military service and whether you left with an honorable dischare from both the Army and Navy.

I would prefer to vote for a candidate who has at least an undergraduate degree. Holding office requires understanding some complicated issues and although a college degree doesn't automatically mean you can handle such things, holding only a G.E.D. isn't really enough educational background to make me feel comfortable with your ability to grasp complicated economic issues and foreign policy issues.

I need more information about your motor vehicle violations. I could never, ever vote for someone with a DUI. Someone nearly killed me while driving drunk, and I have suffered physical disabilities and chronic pain through my entire youth and adult life because of that drunk who walk ed away uninjured from that crash that changed my life forever. I don't care much about the Juvenile charges unless they can show a pattern of criminality.

The public intoxication charge is not something that looks good on a politician's resume. Not only does that raise MY eyebrows, but I think you'd need to show the whole electorate what drove you to that error in judgment and why you would never ever do that again and that we could trust you not to be a binge drinker in office.

I am Pro-Choice. Your Pro-Life stance would turn me off.

Balancing the budget and maintaining the military are part of the job, it's sad that these things even need to be included in a platform.

Where will you get the money to pay for all your stuff and still make tax cuts? Are you going to have a lot of bake sales and spaghetti suppers and pancake breakfasts? Bingo nights? I don't think you've thought this out very well. You can't pay for all the nice things you want without taxing the people to get the money to pay for the nice things. TANSTAAFL. (There ain't no such thing as a free lunch.)

I don't mind paying what I think is a fair share of taxes as long as those taxes go for somehting I think is good, worthwhile, decent, prograssive. My ideas of those things have usually been at odds with the government's ideas.

Development of alternative energy should be a priority on every candidate's list.

Ditto for looking for a way to provide healthcare to the population. I don't believe it's moral to let any one of our citizens die for lack of money to pay medical fees.

Schools and students need better funding -- obvious. You forgot more teachers held to higher standards.

Veterans need better care and treatment -- obvious.

Christian? I'm not, so don't give a rat's patootie about that. You have a family? Welcome to the rest of the world, congrats on having become a breeder.

You believe in the War on Terrorism, that's a nice platitude, what does it mean?

You believe Americans should maintain their sovereignty? When was that ever at risk?

You'll reach across the aisle? Heard that one before. Have you ever held any type of office or done any sort of public service that SHOWS you can reach across the aisle and work with the other party?

All in all, from what you've offered up, you don't get my vote at this point, Sorry Joe. Keep trying.

I agree with jokul that the past criminal history is not much of a concern any longer. People mature at different ages, and a clean record for the past several years is enough, in my mind, to mitigate the minor charges, even the repetitive ones.

I agree with most of Lawmage's points as well, and would certainly want to see a strong military and as small a government as possible.

However I am pro-choice, and the candidate's self-description as a Conservative Republican would almost, I stress almost, certainly not make him my first choice candidate, as I am on the liberal side of Democratic.

Welcome to town meeting Joe, we hope you'll continue to post here and enjoy the back and forth of these forums.

I don't care what happened as a juvie, I do care about the traffic citations and the public intoxication charge. I'd like to know more about the traffic citations--i.e., were they speeding, lane-hopping or weaving, or were they failure to come to a complete stop at a stop sign? The whys are more important to me than simply saying they exist.

I'd also like to know more about your military service--not just that you did two tours in Iraq. I assume you volunteered at an early age. How old were you when you dropped out of high school? Did you get your GED before or after you volunteered? What rank did you achieve and what were your duties? Why did you leave the Army and join the Navy? What rank did you achieve and what were your duties while in the Navy? Were you ever reprimanded while in the service and, if so, for what?

You have some college noted in your resume. Was that training you received while in the military? I suggest you utilize the benefits you've earned and go to college--not so much to major in a specific subject that you may or may not be good at (but that you think might be helpful to your career,) but to learn how to think critically. To me, critical thinking is a most important factor for a successful life.

As for your political stance and beliefs, it sounds pretty normal, whether you're a Republican or a Democrat. A lot of it may be 'pie in the sky,' but we all have to have goals and ideals to work toward.

I suggest you rethink your ideas on taxes. Sarah Palin reduced taxes while mayor of her home town in Alaska and left it $20M in debt. As Helice said, there's no such thing as a free lunch.

We currently have a medium-sized city city councilman at FM. He has a chat on Friday nights that you might want to join--check the announcements. His show isn't necessarily about politics except in a general sense, but you might find it helpful.

In the meantime, welcome. Please stay with us.

But liz...we already have a President who falls right into the traffic citation--public intoxication category, and he's done a fine job.

So I find your concern to be a non-issue.