|
Subject: Questions from the students at Provo High
Issues: Abortion, Social Security, Education, and other questions
Date: April 17, 2004
Author: Ken Larsen
********************
Dear Sir or Madam Governor:
As the editor in chief of Provo High School's paper I have felt the
responsibility to inform the student body of events that will affect them,
and feel this quite a substantial event. I also feel that my generation
should be better informed about politics, something many know very little
about.
In order to do this I am enclosing a list of questions for each candidate.
These questions will allow me to better inform my fellow students. Thank you
so much for taking the time to fill this out and good luck in your pursuit.
Sincerely,
Raquel Gabbitas
Editor-in-Chief
Provonian
1. What is your stand on abortion?
2. What is your stand on social security?
3. How do you plan on improving education?
4. Do agree with the bill (cutting electives-school)?
5. Will education be a top priority?
6. If you become governor what will your main emphasis be?
7. What would be your advice for future '_voters_' (the students,
specifically high school students)?
********************
After considerable difficulty with your attachment on my Mac, I extracted
the above seven questions. If there were more, or if you want clarification
on any of my answers, please send me your questions within the text of an
email.
7. Advice.
First, I would like to congratulate you on your interest in politics. One is
never too young to enter the struggle for righteous government. Taking your
last question first, there is a great deal one can do to improve society,
even before being old enough to vote. I recommend you begin by learning all
you can about America and the philosophy of our Founders. They stated that
we are all equal and that each of us has equal rights as a personal
birthright, and that the only just purpose of government is to preserve and
defend those rights. They also stated that when a government steps outside
of those bounds it is the right and the duty of the people to fix things.
The most powerful and peaceful way I know to fix our government is through
the political process. Study all you can, including the Declaration of
Independence, the Constitution, the Federalist Papers, the writings of
Thomas Jefferson, Tomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin and those other visionary
men who saw how things ought to be.
Then, search your personal ideals and decide how you think government should
be run today. Learn all you can about the candidates and find one or two you
feel good about. Contact them and become part of the political process. You
can work the phones, sit in booths, take literature door to door, and maybe
even donate a serious piece of cash to the effort. There is much you can do
and there is much that needs to be done. My generation has handed your
generation a terrible mess. You are stuck with an astronomical debt. You are
stuck with all the government violations of your personal rights. You might
as well roll up your sleeves and get started. It might take all your life to
put America back on track. If you can't find a candidate worthy of your
support, then start planning your own career as a part-time candidate to
communicate your own personal solutions.
I couldn't find a party or a candidate to support, so I got a few friends
together and we organized a new party, the Personal Choice Party. You can
learn more about this party at http://www.personalchoice.org . The idea of
the PCP is that each individual is free to decide what "Personal Choice"
means to them. If there is some way in which the government is deciding your
life and you think it should be your right to decide for yourself, then that
is what Personal Choice means to you. The Party does not make group
decisions on issues. We tolerate where we disagree so we can cooperate where
we agree. In fact, sometimes we might even agree to help each other win both
our personal choices, even though we disagree on each other's ideas. It's
more than a new political philosophy. It's a new political strategy. So, if
you want to write your own platform, and there is a freedom issue you feel
strongly about, maybe the PCP is for you.
6. Main Emphasis.
The main emphasis of my Governorship will be to return government to its
constitutional box. There is a great deal of unconstitutional government
activity at all levels. The separation between what we say we believe (the
Constitution) and what we do (laws and programs) is so great, we are
becoming schizophrenic as a society. In fact, I think we are becoming
paranoid, delusional and down-right dangerous to ourselves and others. We
have compartmentalized the parts of our group mind that asks for more
hand-outs and more social control from the parts of our group mind that
pretends we believe in freedom and personal rights. I want to set up
commissions to examine every law and program that I believe is
unconstitutional. Then we, as a society, need to decide whether to change
our Constitution to match our behavior, or to change our behavior to match
our Constitution. Perhaps we can do a little of both. As it now stands,
requiring government officials to promise to follow the Constitution pretty
well guarantees a government of liars and hypocrites. Let's just get honest.
If our Constitution says freedom of religion, then we stop using government
to impose one group's beliefs on another. Freedom of religion doesn't mean
freedom for the majority. It means that if one student is an atheist or a
Buddhist, then the rest of society has no right to use government schools to
preach "Under God" to that atheist or Buddhist student. It means if a small
minority wants to practice polygamy or same sex marriage, the majority must
respect their beliefs. If we want to be like the Taliban and enforce the
religion of the majority, then let's be honest and repeal the First
Amendment. I think we should do unto the minority as we would have them do
unto us if they were the majority. Someone once said our national
Constitution was inspired. I think the inspired part is the machinery that
guarantees free agency to everyone, including sinners who do no harm to
others.
5. Education.
I have written a statement on education that will soon be posted on my
candidate page on the PCP website. In summary, I think education is far too
important to trust to government. Brigham Young said he would never allow
his children to be educated by someone who did not share his beliefs and
values. You cannot have a classroom setting without the teaching of values.
I will work gradually and peacefully to transform our state education system
into a private system. There are intermediate steps, such as tuition tax
credits, that can take some of the pressure off the public system while
encouraging private competition in education. I think competition will
stimulate new ideas in education and bring our educational techniques out of
the horse and buggy days. Our children deserve the very best, not
one-size-fits-all in education. There are many creative ways to provide
education to those who cannot afford it, including productive work by the
students and contracts to work for a sponsoring company or to pay a
percentage of earnings back to the school. Much more, not even imagined yet,
will come forth as we gradually turn education over to private enterprise.
4. Cutting electives.
For me, Personal Choice in education means parental and student choice in
education. This is a perfect example of an idea that should be decided by
the student and the parents, not the Legislature. As a student, with proper
information and future plans, you probably know, better than anyone else,
which classes you should be taking. If college is in your plans, then you
need to take the courses that will best prepare and qualify you for college.
If you plan to enter a less-technical vocation, perhaps other classes will
serve you better. I think it's really stupid to have someone up in the State
Legislature making these life-long decisions for you. I can't imagine why a
future rock star would need to learn calculus or geometry. You will be
living your life. You should be deciding how to prepare for it, especially
by the time you reach High School.
3. Improving Education.
I think the best way to improve education in Utah is to get the government
out of the way. Let private educators, through trial and error, discover new
and better ways. That's how we got the automobile and personal computer.
Education, on the other hand, hasn't improved much since the government took
it over in the late 1800's. We still have classrooms segregated on the basis
of age, rather than ability. Those at the top are bored and those at the
bottom are frustrated. They should be in separate classes with others of
similar ability levels, so that most of the students will be challenged and
still experience success. That's just one simple change that would
immediately eliminate most of the discipline problems caused by the bored
and frustrated students. The worst lesson you are taught in the American
public schools is that someone else should be forced to pay your way. That's
socialism, as pure as the Communists ever envisioned it. This is a terrible
assault on Americanism and the philosophy of the Founders. There are so many
ways for you to get an education and feel it is yours because you are paying
for it. You could spend an hour or two a day working for the school. You
could clean the building, tutor younger students, or even spend some of your
day working part time for the manufacturing company that is helping sponsor
your studies. Anything to keep you from learning that the world owes you
something. Next thing you know, you'll consider it normal for government to
provide housing, food, transportation and even recreational parks. Poof!
There goes the American dream.
2. Social Security.
Whatever anyone says, if you are in High School, do not, I repeat, DO NOT
expect Social Security to be there for you when you retire. If, somehow, our
economy survives, the chance that Social Security will survive is virtually
zero, in my opinion. Decide right now to invest about 10% of your take-home
earnings in some investment plan you cannot touch until retirement. If that
money is invested reasonably, there is no reason why you should take a cut
in pay when you retire. Of course, that's based on the premise that America
will still be here. Your political activity will help assure that. You have
time to take care of your own retirement. You have been warned.
Now, Social Security is a national issue and the Governor of Utah will have
no say on it, but my personal feeling is that Social Security is a pyramid
scam and any private company trying it would go to jail. In fact, it's much
more evil than a pyramid scam because people are not free to be smart enough
to choose out. If I had the power, I would find a peaceful way to wean our
society off the SS. I would honor the commitment to those receiving and
depending on benefits. I would close the door to newcomers. To those now
paying into the system, I would offer a reasonable pay-off they could accept
and opt out, or not accept and stay in. I would support the system through
other sources of revenue until all the recipients died off. Then, I would
reduce taxes and watch America soar into the prosperity a truly free society
is capable of experiencing.
1. Abortion.
When the Roe v Wade decision was handed down by the Supreme Court, I was a
graduate student at BYU. I wrote a petition on which I and my friends were
able to gather over 20,000 signatures. The petition simply asked Congress to
use its constitutional power to restrict the Federal Courts from considering
any case based on abortion. We wanted the abortion question to be kept at
the state level, where it clearly and constitutionally belongs. The
constitutional provision for judiciary powers clearly says, "with such
exceptions, and under such regulations as the Congress shall make." They had
the power to make abortion an exception. Our congressman refused to believe
the Congress had any power to balance and check the Judiciary.
Of course, an elective abortion kills a living human being. Nobody gets
aborted before they have their own unique brain activity and a beating
heart. The heart starts beating on about the 23rd day, before skipping the
first period. I am somewhat an expert on this issue because I taught
embryology laboratory classes in the Department of Zoology at BYU before
getting my Ph.D. I think every abortion is a serious tragedy. I doubt a
woman can undergo an abortion without emotional and spiritual consequences.
Somewhere in her mind, I'm sure she knows she has murdered her own
offspring.
Having said that, I do not support anti-abortion legislation. I believe
human skin is an international boundary. Each human has the personal right
to their own life. That means they are sovereign within their own body. If
another person is living in your body, how you treat them is outside the
jurisdiction of society. It's as if America suddenly decided to investigate
and prosecute murders in Mexico or England. That's their responsibility and
sovereignty. As strongly as I will preach against the personal sin of
abortion, I will not use government to impose my will within your area of
authority. Your body is yours. There was once a very wise man who preached
very strongly against adultery. Then, when an adulterous woman was brought
to him for judgment, he refused to use force to make others obey his
counsel. I think Jesus would also refuse to stone the abortionist, though
I'm quite sure he would call it a sin and admonish them to go and "sin no
more."
Thank you for your interesting questions. Please let me know if you have any
more.
Ken Larsen, Class of 1960,
Provo High School
********************
Date: April 19, 2004
Subject: Thank You
Dear Dr. Ken Larsen,
Thank you so much for responding. Thus far, you have been the only
candidate to take the time to write back and to me that speaks volumes.
Thank you.
Keep the peace,
Raquel
|