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Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and all Texans can agree on one thing. We have all been blessed to be a part of the greatest state, Texas. Texas is an icon. If you just say the word Texas in other parts of the country and many parts of the world, it evokes a certain feeling or thought, good or bad.
The spot light is now on Texas even more as the election for Texas Governor approaches. I am supporting Kinky Friedman for many reasons. I'm not here to convince or beg you to vote for Kinky, like some Democrats beg you to vote for Chris Bell at BurntOrangeReport and StopKinky. I am here to challenge you to let Kinky earn your vote. Look at the issues, and then go look them up for yourself. You'll find that on the most part, all the platforms are fairly similar.
The main reason I am voting for Kinky Friedman besides agreeing with many of his ideas, is that he is just what politics needs, an outsider that is really in it for the people. Now you can argue about failures of Ventura and Schwarzenegger all you want, but honestly, I haven't looked into their accomplishments or how they did in office. But Schwarzenegger ran as a Republican, Ventura was not as intelligent as Kinky, and Texas is not California or Minnesota.
Some people that are trying to portray Kinky Friedman's historic run for governor of Texas as a joke, are doing so for a reason. They complain about Kinky's one-liners, but fail to realize that our whole media/political system is built on sound bites. Their candidates are just not as witty, creative, or in touch with reality as Kinky Friedman. Kinky's response is, "Colonel Travis at the Alamo had one line too...He drew it in the sand."
Most of the Anti-Kinky blogs are Democrats that are upset because Kinky draws a lot of support from Democrats that are tired of all the BULLSHIT and FAILURES of all our politicians, federal and state, Republican and Democrat. We are sick and tired of being sick and tired, as Dave Ramsey would say. We've had enough. We were hanging on the coat tails of the Democrats because they were the lesser of two evils, or rather, the evil of two lessers. Now that we have a competant alternative in Kinky Friedman, we are going to take it. Chris Bell just picked the wrong time to be a hero. He should jump on board instead of continuing to divide Texas. Where these die hard Democrats see Kinky stealing votes from Bell, I see Bell lacking the ability to hold on to his base. In a time like this we need good managers like Bell, but what Texas really needs is intellectual leaders and independent thinkers like Kinky Friedman. He will make Texans demand more from our elected leaders. He will make the rest of Americans demand more from our elected leaders. He will show that it is possible to take back our country one politician at a time.
Now for Kinky Friedman on Texas Issues.
RECONNECT WITH THE PEOPLE OF TEXAS
The first thing Kinky will do is install a listed phone number for his office where people can call between certain hours everyday. "This call won't be monitored for quality control," Kinky says in an interview in San Antonio. Texans can call and speak with Kinky himself to vent, talk about local or state issues, and to be inspired. Anyone can just call and talk to the Governor of Texas, no hiding, no avoiding calls, no secrecy, no barriers. Talk to the man himself. He also wants to start a radio call-in talk show to really "reconnect with the people of Texas." Kinky is truely a genious and he will do this.
EDUCATION
"Money can buy you a fine dog, but only love can make it wag its tail," as Kinky would say. Money will help fix Texas schools drastically, but only paying attention to the teachers in the classroom will fix education. Funding and infrastructure make addressing the problems of education easier to deal with. Kinky has a detailed plan for permanently funding education.
Texas is surrounded by gambling states. Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and many other states like Nevada, are sucking out BILLIONS of dollars from Texans who gamble. What the heck is the big deal? If these people in charge really wanted to fix any problems, they would pull their heads out of their butts and get with the program.
Allowing counties to vote on legalizing casino gambling in Texas will have a direct effect on education, jobs, and the reduction of property taxes. By creating NEW revenues through casino gambling, the property tax payer in Texas will be relieved from funding education thus lowering property taxes and also creating thousands of jobs. Education in Texas would then have a permanent stream of $8 billion of NEW revenue. In addition to casino gambling, Kinky has proposed his "Slots for Tots" program which would put video poker terminals in bars. "Texas invented Texas Hold 'Em and we can't even play it." Now all this NEW money can make people get weird, so Kinky will constitutionally declare all the money goes to Texas education.
He also mentions how in Georgia, any highschool student with a "B" average can go to college for free due to the Georgia State Lottery. This would be another goal in a Kinky Friedman administration. In addition to casinos and video poker terminals, Kinky would put a 1% tax on all oil produced in Texas for a Trust for Texas Heroes which would raise the salaries of teachers, firefighters, and police. Now all you oil producers don't get all upset. If you produce 100 barrels a day, that's only 60 bucks. Texas legislators proposed taxing water, cigarettes, and strip clubs. I would feel honored to give $60 to help out our real heroes of Texas.
Yet another creative way to help relieve deficiencies of the education system is to allow our talented athletes of Texas to get the equipment and facilities they deserve without having to dip into the NEW money we just created. By allowing local businesses, retailers, and private industry to sponsor high school sports, we can free up 10% of our education budget which currently goes to sports funding. Not only that, Nike and Adidas would love to provide our Texas athletes with top of the line equipment, facilities, and sports training which we Texans have grown to love.
Now that we can "buy a fine dog," let's make him "wag his tail." Let's now love the people responsible for our children's well being and education. Let's respect the people who devote their lives to our children. Let's put people in charge who know the real problems because they have experienced them personally. Then let's get out of their way and let them do their job. Let's give them the pay and resources they deserve and then demand results. Let's stop teaching to the TAKS test which prepares our kids for, well, taking the TAKS test. Let's teach our children about life and our civic responsibilities and fight against apathy. Kinky will appoint qualified leaders and then step aside. Can you imagine a Republican Governor appointing Democrats or a Democratic Governor appointing Republicans to important positions. Kinky will not play that game.
Take a look at all the appointments the Governor of Texas is responsible for regarding education. That is scary to see all red or all blue. We need purple. Both the good Democrats and the good Republicans genuinely want to fix Texas. Let's put the smart people in charge without checking the color of their underwear first. Kinky Friedman will put the best person in charge. "My plan is to find the very best people I can find, simply for the reason that they are the very best people I can find, simply so I can get out of their way and let them" work, Friedman said.
Kinky also wants to allow the Texas Peace Corps to volunteer to educate students in certain areas.
One of Kinky's most important goals is to raise the spirits of Texans. He believes in optional non-denominational prayer in school. "What's wrong with a kid believing in something, even if it's a rock or a tree." My whole life in school was accompanied by prayer in school. What the heck? We first said the pledge of allegiance every day before class with "under god." All the kids after school on wednesdays would run across the street to church to get our communion. Before all our sport events, we would kneel in a circle and pray for everyone to be safe and do our best. Even over the intercom at sport facilities, we would pray. What's the big deal? If you disagree with this and are going to let this one issue dissuade you from voting for Kinky, you have personal issues of your own.
ALTERNATIVE ENERGY
"Texas can lead the country," Friedman said. "We won't be slaves to the Middle East."
“Clean Energy, Clean Government”
Kinky Friedman has been an advocate of alternative energy from the beginning. It is only now that he is becoming a force to be noticed, that the other candidates quickly adopt his policies in an attempt to drown out Kinky. Kinky has a plan for 20% of the energy in Texas to be produced by renewable resources by 2020, "20% by 2020." This is compared to the .7% that is currently being produced. This would include wind and solar power, and making Texas the leading exporter of renewable fuels, such as biodiesel. Kinky would put state automobiles and school buses on biodiesel lowering demand for gasoline which would lower gas prices. The wind farms, solar farms, and biodiesel plants would create great jobs for Texans. This would also be without corporate tax breaks. The farmers of Texas would have new alternative crops to grow to produce biodiesel.
Just with gambling and renewable energy, a Kinky Friedman administration would create thousands of high paying jobs and also relieve problems associated with high property taxes, high energy bills, and high gas prices.
According to the Texas Renewable Energy Industries Association, which advocates the "20% by 2020" plan, Texans could save as much as $5.5 billion in total electric bills while realizing nearly $10 billion in new capital investments through the expansion of renewable energy initiatives. In addition, 40,000 new jobs could be created bringing about $900 million in new income to Texas families.
Encouraging the use of renewable power is possible through utilization of existing funds, such as the Texas Enterprise Fund and the Emerging Technology Fund, as well as by prioritizing government expenditures in renewable energy and providing economic incentives for the development and expansion of renewable energy programs.
Kinky will work to promote renewable fuels by discouraging construction of antiquated facilities such as coal-fired plants, encouraging construction of cleaner natural gas facilities, and offering tax breaks for companies that either reduce current pollution levels or retrofit their facilities with gasification technology.
"Under previous governors, it paid to break environmental laws. They viewed fines and penalties as a routine cost of doing business," Friedman said. "Under my administration, polluters will pay dearly when they violate the law."
Friedman also vowed to push for additional funding and personnel for the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and to encourage and pass legislation that would ensure higher efficiency standards for electricity-using devices.
Friedman would also explore the creation of a Texas Department of Energy to centralize the state's energy policy and regulation.
For more information here is the complete article on Kinky Friedman's Alternative Energy Plan which you can find at KinkyFriedman.com.
Kinky's "Clean Energy, Clean Government" plan would have a dramatic effect on reducing CO2 emission which is what our global environment needs, new, clean, reproducible energy.
POLITICAL REFORM
Fair Ballot Access: Texas is one of the two most difficult states for a statewide independent candidate or new party to get on the ballot. Petition requirements are outdated and impractical. A Friedman administration would abolish the time (and paper) consuming process of petitioning and replace it with a system which would place independent candidates on the primary ballots of each major party, allowing voters to participate in the party nomination process while also supporting an independent candidate's attempt to be placed on the general election ballot. This would increase voter turnout and encourage participation in the democratic process.
Fair & Open Debates: Under a Friedman administration, a non-partisan entity would be established to develop fair and clear criteria for inclusion of all qualified candidates into debates.
Initiative and Referendum: Texas does not currently allow citizens the right to petition and place initiatives and referenda on the statewide ballot. Women's suffrage, labor rights, social security and many more reforms were won through the citizens' initiative process in our country. Real political reforms occur when citizens are able to place their own initiatives on the ballot.
Same Day Voter Registration: Same Day Voter Registration will permit citizens to register and vote on Election Day. States with SDVR enjoy 5%to 25% higher voter turnout rates. SDVR has proven to increase youth participation. It can be a boost to independent candidates who tend to attract younger and newer voters. It will also encourage many voters who do not become interested in campaigns until just weeks before an election, after registration rolls are closed.
Publicly funded campaigns: Special interest money is the lifeblood of most candidates. When those candidates are elected, they use political appointments and legislation that favors those special interests as pay back. Privately financed campaigns have disenfranchised too many Texans for too long, and incumbents spend more time fundraising for re-election than they do working for the citizens who elected them. Publicly financed campaigns, funded through surcharges and registration fees on lobbyists, would eliminate the influence of special interests and would level the playing field for all political candidates. Increased registration fees for lobbyists and 10% surcharges on lobbying expenditures and other independent expenditures would provide more than $30 million in funding for Texas legislative and statewide races. Texas should also join the six other states - Arizona, Maine, Massachusetts, New Mexico, North Carolina, and Vermont - that have adopted Clean Money Campaign Reform laws. The system offers full public financing for candidates who agree to spending limits and reject private contributions.
Lobbying reform: Stop the revolving door between state service and lobbying. Place a ban on any Texas elected official or Texas state employee from becoming a lobbyist in Texas for two years from the time they leave or retire from their state position.
Redistricting reform: The practice of allowing elected officials to draw their own election districts must stop. This type of political extremism lets the party in power take unfair advantage and results in less competition in our elections. We propose using the Iowa model of a non-partisan redistricting commission. In light of the myriad political scandals that have dominated the headlines for the past year, it has become increasingly clear that Texas must end its anything-goes system and restore honesty and integrity to Texas politics.
"Politics is the only field where the more experience you have, the worse you get," Kinky says. "It's time to clean house. How much worse does it have to get?"
HEALTH CARE
Texas ranks rock-bottom in providing for the basic needs of its youngest and poorest residents. More than one fifth of Texas children have no health insurance at all.
In 2003, Texas legislators slashed the Children's Health Insurance Program, pulling the rug out from under 170,000 kids. Not only did this put more of our children at risk, it ended up costing the state tens of thousands of health care jobs and $16 billion in lost productivity. Kinky believes this is reckless and short-sighted—no way to invest in the future of Texas.
We're a state that prides itself on friendliness and responsibility, but the message we're sending our kids is that if you're going to be born poor, you'd better not be born in Texas.
Kinky favors both state and federal funding of stem cell research and will appoint the right people to lead medical reform in a direction that's healthy for all Texans. Look at all the appointments the Texas Governor will make that deal with health care and medicine. It would not be best for Texans to see all red or all blue appointments. Our leaders should appoint the best people qualified for the job, and then let them do that job.
THE BORDER and IMMIGRATION
You can watch for yourself what Kinky wants to do on the border.
As with many of his ideas, Kinky Friedman's ideas for immigration reform are not of the norm. In a plan endorsed by Senator John McCain, Kinky offers incentives to Mexican authorities for assistance with border control. As Kinky calls it, The Five Mexican Generals Plan would divide the Mexican border into five regions each headed by a Mexican General. A fund for each general would be set up with a certain amount of money, he says $1-2 million. For each illegal immigrant the U.S. Border Patrol sees, we would deduct $5000 or however much we decide. Essentially the money is the generals' to keep. Ten million dollars in respect to current border spending budgets is a reasonable expense to encourage Mexico to help out with ITS problem of immigration. This is not going to solve the problem, but it is a creative idea to atleast debate, plus it does address a fundamental issue in controlling immigration problems, get Mexico involved. The plan also will require our existing to actually count the number of illegals streaming across the border.
The immigration problem will never go away. The U.S. is the only first world country to border a third world country besides Israel. The mere proximity and wage differentials will always exist, which means the U.S must consider a better Guest Worker program, or the U.S. must support Mexican economic growth to give Mexicans a reason to stay in their country. I support people trying to better themselves legally, I wish the Mexican government supported these hard workers more than the U.S. supports them.
While this plan is not perfect and probably not going to happen, it does open up for debate a way to get Mexico involved. Kinky also supports the McCain-Kennedy bill with a pathway to citizenship as long as these illegal immigrants pay up for back taxes.
TOLL ROADS and the TRANS-TEXAS CORRIDOR
Kinky is opposed the Trans-Texas Corridor since it relies on toll road construction. He feels that the TTC is a land grab of the ugliest kind, with land being taken from hard-working ranchers and farmers in little towns and villages all over Texas. The people who will ultimately own that land are the same people who own the governor. He says Texas roads should be owned by Texans not outside foreign companies that have money invested in Rick Perry.
Peppering his comments with the humorous one-liners that have characterized his campaign, country-western musician and mystery novelist Kinky Friedman also expressed reservations about the tollway, including its operation by a Spanish firm.
"Folks, this is a bad idea," he said. "It's like having Dubai run the ports of America. I have an idea. Instead of the Trans-Texas Corridor, take four highways across Texas, name them after Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Bob Wills and Buddy Holly, none of them toll roads."
Kinky says we Texans should pay for the network of roads we benefit from. I completely agree and this now becomes an issue of reappropriating funds and budget planning and proper future transportation planning. Once again, Kinky will appoint the right qualified leaders for the job. Take another look at all the appointments the Texas Governor will make regarding transportation in Texas.
STATE PARKS
Texas ranks 49th among the 50 states in per capita spending on parks. "The people here are connected with land," Friedman said, adding that state parks also are good for tourism and the economy, "I would make the parks a very major priority."
Texas State parks incorporate more than 600,000 acres that 10 million people visit every year. The State Parks Advisory Committee says that "state parks generate about $1.25 billion in sales and local income and support about 12,000 jobs."
Use of the enterprise fund was proposed by the Texas Progress Council, which advocates tapping $25 to $50 million from the cache intended to lure businesses to Texas. The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, strapped for cash, has been cutting park hours and staff and limiting maintenance for years — creating a backlog of repairs and forcing some parks to eliminate services or close facilities.
Kinky Friedman will make Texas' state parks a priority and allocate resources to keep our land, parks, rivers, and lakes enjoyable for future generations.
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT and DECRIMINALIZATION
Like Kinky has always maintained, "I am not anti-death penalty, but I'm damn sure anti-the-wrong-guy-getting executed." You can watch for yourself what Kinky thinks about the death penalty. Kinky believes, “The system is not perfect,” he said. “Until it’s perfect, let’s do away with the death penalty.” Until we can be sure we are not executing innocent people, we shouldn't continue to believe we're right most of the time.
Texas prisons are full of drug addicts who are sick, not criminals. Let's get them into treatment and out of prison, so there's enough room to lock up sexual predators for the rest of their lives.
HIGHER EDUCATION
Friedman would end the traditional gubernatorial practice of appointing major campaign contributors to boards of regents and install bright young people instead. Once again have a look at all the appointments the Governor of Texas is responsible for regarding higher education. Rather than appoint campaign contributors, Kinky will appoint the brightest young people who are eager to fix education problems.
In a Friedman administration, the top 10 percent law would be history. "I think it's exclusionary," he said. Friedman would would replace the program with an overhaul of financial aid, perhaps adopting something akin to Georgia's Hope scholarship, which pays tuition, fees and some book expenses for students who maintain a "B" average in high school. He'd also spread the wealth a bit by cutting the budgets for UT and A&M and boosting appropriations for other schools.
"I want to see fundamental change, big-time change," Friedman said. "Whatever they're doing now is not working. The institutions are rich as hell, and the kids are broke."
SPECIAL INTEREST GROUPS
Kinky Friedman's only special interest group is the people of Texas. Without a political party to appease or lobbyists to pay back, Kinky will answer only to the people of Texas. He will reconnect with the people of Texas as a number one priority.
"I don't care much about big corporations, frankly," Friedman told the Dallas Business Journal. "Most politicians never met a special-interest group they didn't like.
"For instance, I'm not going to meet any lobbyists when I'm governor, following Jesse Ventura's lead" in Minnesota, Friedman said. "Because every time a bell rings, another lobbyist gets his wings. And I'm going to stop that."
IN CONCLUSION
Don't believe anything you hear or read without checking the sources in context. Read or watch the entire article and interviews, and then question who wrote it and why would they write it. Again I'm not here to convince or beg you to vote for Kinky. I am here to challenge you to let Kinky earn your vote.
Remember, Kinky Friedman is not even running against Rick Perry, Chris Bell, Carole Keeton Strayhorn, or James Werner. HE IS RUNNING AGAINST VOTER APATHY, lack of emotion. That's a winnable race.
If Texas experiences a high voter turnout, that will mainly benefit Kinky. If Texas experiences a high voter turnout and Kinky for some reason does not win, he still wins. He got people who never or rarely vote to show up and participate in their civic duties. This is his goal.
Watch all these videos for yourself, and then form your own opinion. Not only that, spread this article with whoever you want.
KINKY FRIEDMAN VIDEOS
Kinky Friedman on CBS's Sunday Morning Show.
Kinky Friedman interview with WOAI's Randy Beamer.
Kinky Friedman interview with FOX's Bill O'Reilly.
Kinky Friedman interview with San Antonio Living.
Kinky Friedman's speech to the Blackland Coalition.
Kinky Friedman press conference for Independent Texans.
Kinky Friedman's Interview #1 with Texas Monthly's Evan Smith.
Kinky Friedman's Interview #2 with Texas Monthly's Evan Smith.
Kinky Friedman audio from NPR. There are two audio files on this page, click "listen" at the top, and then under that, click "Web Extra" for a 1988 interview. If you scroll down a bit too, you can find a link to Kinky Friedman's hit song, "Sold American."
Information on Biodiesel from NPR. Audio from Kinky Friedman, Carl Cornelius, and Willie Nelson. Click on "listen" at the top of the page. The other audio file on this page is found under "Speaking of Biodiesel." Click the third one down, "Kinky Friedman on Biodiesel, Alternative Fuels, and Willie Nelson."
More Audio and Video will be posted soon.
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