Issue 4 Survey Questions

Update on Role of Government

My group and I feel that the most important role of government is to protect the people. Government should be for the people not against it. The government should be trying to help the people that it represents. Right now citizens feel that this is currently not the case. This bothers me and i hope to change these negative feelings for the better.

Role of Government (Issue4)

“My Administration is committed to creating an unprecedented level of openness in Government. We will work together to ensure the public trust and establish a system of transparency, public participation, and collaboration.Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.( www.whitehouse.gov.com, 2012). Governments’ role in American’s life is to protect our life, liberty and our property as individuals. This is all very important to the Dino-Mights, and is our first priority as the third party candidate. Government should ensure that all citizens have as high of quality life as possible. To help with this government should provide different forms of healthcare. This means providing healthcare to people who can't afford it and financial help to the poor. The Dino-Mights feel that by helping the lower income individuals, it will result in a stronger America for today. Along with that, Government should provide a police force, army, hospitals, education, and maintain roads and public places. All of these things are what government should provide to us as Americans. (www.narutoforums.com/, 2012) Our government of the people needs to help with all it can but not be too intrusive on the people's space. One of the things that the government should give us is freedom to our people. We want our government to be a constitutional republic and stop leaning towards something like communism. The people need to be free so they are happy. Like John Locke said "Government exists for the people, people don't exist for the government". We need to help the people and provide them with what they need like a government is suppose to do. The people need to understand though at the same time that we need to have taxes on the people so that way we can provide these various kinds of support. Without the people we would not have the type of government that we do. Government has many regulations on businesses. “In a 2011 survey of about 1,200 small business owners, more than 80 percent cited economic factors and lack of demand as the primary obstacles facing their business. This should not be what worries businesses every day. Small businesses should have no worries or be scared about if their business will succeed. The government needs to get more involved with the small businesses as we already mentioned in our previous issues that small businesses are the backbone to our economy. Even Republican economic analysts admit that regulation does not notably affect employment”( www.thefreemanonline.org, 2011). The Dino-Mights believe it does though. The government needs to step up its involvement in areas that are important and stop worrying about some things that are not so important. The government should have little to no regulation on what happens with the banks. Banks are there own thing that has nothing to do with what happens with the government. There are many different types of banks that come up because of private owner making new banks. The government in the constitution has nothing to do with banks. The government should also have no regulation with what happens down on wall street. Problems that people have with so much regulation is that big corporations could be able to undermine regulatory ideas. (www.nytimes.com, 2012)Like the Dino-Mights believe about banks we believe that wall street is it’s own thing also and that it needs to be left alone from the government. Those who think think that regulatory ideas work to benefit all the industries involved in Wall Street are wrong. People need to realize that the government isn’t always important in everything that the people do. Arrowood, E. (2012). Government Regulations Do Not Have A Meaningful Impact On Unemployment. Retrieved on November 1, 2012. From http://mediamatters.org Machan, T. (2012).Government Regulation of Business. Retrieved on November 1, 2012. From http://www.thefreemanonline.org Things Government Should Provide for the People,(2012).Retrieved on October 26,2012. From http://www.narutoforums.com/showthread.php?t=529532 Regulation reform,(2011). Retrieved on November 5, 2012. From www.whitehouse.gov Wall Street Is Too Big to Regulate, (2012). Retrieved on November 5, 2012. From http://www.nytimes.com/2012/07/23/opinion/banks-that-are-too-big-to-regulate-should-be -nationalized.html?_r=0

Issue 3 Survey Questions

Update on Campaign Finance

This last issue has been a hard one for us deciding on what to do with campaign finance. Government transparency is a tough one. We believe that all the people should know what is going on in the government. This next week we will be talking about the role of government and how important it is in people's lives.

Campaign Finance (Issue 3)

Campaign finance is a huge deal for any candidate that is running for election for president. Campaign finance refers to the fundraising and spending that political parties do in election campaigns. The Dino-Mights feel that finance towards certain parties is very beneficial, and we support campaign finance.”President Obama, GOP nominee Mitt Romney, and the super PACs that support their campaigns have raised hundreds of millions of dollars and are on track to spend more than $2 billion by Election Day”( www.washingtonpost.com,2012). We feel that this is an outrageous amount of money. However, in order to gain in this election you have to be willing to risk some big money. All money that is spent on our party will mainly be put towards advertising which is our big focus for the 2012 political race. “ Most everyone has heard of “super” Political Action Committees or Super PAC’s that act as vehicles for Americans to unite with other Americans on common political beliefs. The rise of Super PAC’s has led to a slew of advertisements, mostly negative from 2010 to 2012”( www.redstate.com, 2012). A Super PAC is a type of committee which may raise unlimited sums of money from corporations, unions, and individuals but may not contribute directly with party candidates. Although some people may complain about the over spending that these contributors are doing, they are benefitting the parties they support. An earmark is a legislative provision that directs approved funds to be spent on specific projects, or that directs specific exemptions from taxes or mandated fees. The Dino-Mights believe that earmarks are not a good thing in our society. The fact that money can be set aside for events or say new highways and bridges under another bill is not right in our eyes. Our party believes that government should be transparent in their actions. This goes hand and hand with earmarks. Since the Dino-Mights completely disagree on earmarks we encourage government transparency. “The administration of Barack Obama's plans to usher in a "new era of transparency" by privatizing Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA)”( www.businessinsider.com,2012). We agree with President Barack Obama when his party says this statement. By allowing the public eye to view further information into the government, it would answer a lot of unsolved questions that American citizens have. There is a lot of information that we don’t find out because government is covering it up. For example The Watergate Scandal is a perfect example of how government transparency would not only make Americans happier and give them more insight. “ The prowlers that were arrested inside the DCN were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign, and they had been caught while attempting to wiretap phones and steal secret documents. While historians are not sure whether Nixon knew about the Watergate espionage operation before it happened, he took steps to cover it up afterwards, raising “hush money” for the burglars, trying to stop the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from investigating the crime, destroying evidence and firing uncooperative staff members”( www.history.com, 2012). Another example is the “ Bridge to Nowhere”. “Congress had previously approved for a bridge in Ketchikan, Alaska, to fund reconstruction of a hurricane-damaged bridge in Louisiana. Dubbed the "Bridge to Nowhere," the bridge in Alaska would connect the town of Ketchikan (population 8,900) with its airport on the Island of Gravina (population 50) at a cost to federal taxpayers of $320 million, by way of three separate earmarks in the recent highway bill”(heritage.org,2012). This goes to show how earmarks are not a good thing and that government transparency would be a benefit, to allow citizens to see the truth behind our government. Things such as the Bridge to Nowhere wouldn’t be randomly thrown into a highway bill to get it through. Campaign finance and Super PACs have been a good thing for all candidates. All money that we gain will be put towards mainly advertising, we want to put our supporters money to good use. The Dino-Mights want to take America in the right direction, and to do this we feel getting rid of earmarks and making government transparent in their actions is the answer. We want to prevent problems such as the Watergate Scandal and the latest “ Bridge to Nowhere”. Our party is proud to say that we want to be upfront and let the U.S citizens know what is happening in our government.

Update on Tax Issue

Our group, the Dino-Mights have been debating the issue of taxes. We feel as though your input is important as citizens, and should be listened to so that they may have an effect on future decisions that can and will affect the tax policies. The ideas of citizens should be listened to. This country is based on the citizens within it. Wiithout you government would be worthless. As president I will listen to your ideas and thoughts and make decisions that go along with them. Democrats and republicans have many different views on how this issue should be handled. We hope to find a point of equilibrium (agreement) between both so both are happy.

Taxes (Issue 2)

President Obama is wanting lawmakers to extend the tax cuts for the middle class that are going to expire in 2012. This is so that 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses won’t pay higher taxes then usual. Close to everyone in Washington agrees with this proposal and the extension has already been passed by the senate, but the Republicans want to extend the tax cuts only if the 2 percent richest Americans tax cuts are also extended to make it fair (Laura Meckler and Damian Paletta, 2012). Our party does not agree with the Republicans views on this. We believe that the wealthier people need to have more money taken out of there income each year. We also feel that the taxes being taken out of every Americans paycheck is not being used on the right things to help the economy. On Wednesday September 3rd there was a presidential debate and taxes was one of the issues talked about in the debate. In this debate we support Obama as throughout the whole debate Mitt Romney kept talking about what he was going to do but not is plan on how to do it. Taxes will be used to help the people and what they want. One important thing that we will be using your tax money for is to create more jobs and put it back into the small businesses. The current situation being run by President Obama has turned into a disaster. The Dino-Mights fully support progressive taxation. This is where people on higher incomes pay more of their income to tax. We need to let lower income Amercian’s pay less of there income because they are already struggling in this economy as is. We then need to tax the wealthy more. The current situation is not following through as it should. To go along with this we also need to change the Tax Credit System. The main features of this system are to give credits to people based on certain needs, start income tax out at lower rate, and if the tax is more then the credits, then the individual must pay the state. (Tax Credit System, 2012) Mandi Pyke as President will enforce and make sure that those who make more will pay more. She will also enforce the tax credit system and make it more effective to the American people. Romney wants to get rid of all tax deductions and exemptions in the tax code,  This makes no sense because many people need those for a variety of things that go on in their life from supporting children in school from a college students tuition. Romney says he wants to lower taxes for all Americans. This is one major thing the Dino-Mights disagree with when he says, “for all Americans”. The rich do not need anymore tax cuts, instead they need to be raised. Where does Romney think he is going to get all this money? During the presidential debate all he  talked about  was his plans to do stuff , but not how he is going to do it or where he is going to get the money for it. “Regardless of the twists and turns, Governor Romney has never been able to explain how he will pay for his $5 trillion tax plan without raising middle-class taxes,” (Kevin Liptak, 2012). All he is trying to do is make himself look better. He has never been a President and does not understand how to run the country. Romney wants to give tax cuts to all Americans and then make us go into debt even further then we already are. Romney believes it’s not fair that wealthy people have to get higher taxes. Is it fair that middle-class families have to struggle to keep food on the table for their families? (Associated Press, 2012). This tax cut program can pay for itself if we are smart about it. People are waiting for the money to trickle down from the rich like it has been promised, but has never happened. The Dino-Mights are going to make that happen! We are going to cut taxes for the middle class and the lost revenue is going to come from higher taxes on the rich people. The wealthy make tons of money and somehow they seem to think that they still don’t have enough. They seem to think that what they have is not enough to live off when actually what the middle class is making is not enough to live off. So for the amount of taxes that are cut from the middle class will be the amount that increase the taxes for the rich. Taxes is a very touchy subject for every American and is important to them because it involves every single American who has or has never had a paying job. We are going to make things simpler for the 98 percent of Americans that need it. The middle-class and the wealthy need to start meeting somewhere in the middle. Our economy will not work with a huge income difference and a divided social status. The 98 percent we need to start focusing on more and less of the 2 percent.

Update On Jobs Issue

"This week the Dino-Mights have been discussing the issues of jobs and the economy. We feel that the economy isn't doing so well under the current conditions/plans to help made by past candidates. We don't agree with some of these situations and wish to change and make these plans effective in a way that will actually help and not make the economic situation worse."

Mandi pyke
Candidate representative for the Dino-Mights
“we have the might to get you there”
(somewhere better)

Jobs (Issue 1)

  "Without a doubt, the most urgent challenge that we face right now is getting our economy to grow faster and to create more jobs…. we can’t wait for an increasingly dysfunctional Congress to do its job. Where they won’t act, I will."( www.whitehouse.gov, 2012) Although the Dino- Mights agree with this statement,  President Obama is not taking the steps needed to get our economy going again. We have pride in saying that we will create jobs by first starting with strengthening our small businesses.The economy has lost 760,000 jobs this year, this is a staggering number that needs to be addressed now (www.Economy/change.gov, 2012). By creating a demand for businesses, the jobs will follow! We then can use government spending to increase the amount the people can spend on extra stuff every month which then increases consumer activity so businesses can make more money.
 
  Once a business owner realizes that their profits are going up they will see that they are busier and need more workers for the increased business. They will already have the money to pay for the labor because of the increased profits, and therefore will create more jobs. By having a job that gives people more money to spend on the things they need and want. In order to make money we need to spend money! That idea has been around for a long time and we want to see that it is happening. The Dino- Mights is a party of action and we want to show you that this is true, we will take charge and get the job that is at at hand!
 
  In order to make anything we must invest first and that is what we plan on doing. We must begin by investing in the people so they have the jobs to work. Without open jobs for people to work then there will be no money for people to spend on these small businesses that are so important. The economy works the same way that people invest in stock. If they want to make money then they need to put money out there into the stock market. The more money they put into it decides what they will get out of it. We must put a lot of money into this even though the economy is such a risky market to be dealing with. Investing in the people will be a good thing because it is there future in our hands (answers.yahoo.com,2012). The Government support that we would give is to give money to small businesses, for they are the backbone of our economy.
 
  The small businesses are critical to job growth in our economy. Most small businesses are entrepreneurs which we need to invest in instead of investing in the big companies. We believe that we must out do the rest of the world in this economy, by out doing all countries in every aspect of life. The Dino-Mights have looked to other countries to see how their economy compares to the United States and what they do that could make our country and economy grow better and stronger!  We agree with President Obama when he says that we need to increase more foreign capital in the United States (www.whitehouse.gov, 2012). Back in 2008 under President Obama’s watch a stimulus bill was passed. In this new stimulus bill it raised the amount that the government can invest in small businesses to 250,000 dollars. Although that is a good start, small businesses are the focus for our party and we want government to increase that number to at least 500,000 dollars.
 
  “ Since his first day in office, President Obama has focused on an economy built to last.”(www.whitehouse.gov, 2012) If this statement is true, then why is there still some many people without a paying job? The household survey shows that the unemployment rate ticked up to 8.3% in July ( or, more precisely, the rate rose from 8.217% in June to 8.254% in July) acting BLS commissioner, John Galvin noted in his statement that the unemployment rate was essentially “unchanged” from June to July (www.whitehouse.gov, 2012). This statistic goes to show that President Obama has not taken this country in the direction it needs to be going. The Dino- Mights want to take one giant dinosaur jump in the RIGHT direction for our country!