John W. Aiken, Jr.
Party: Republican
Candidate for: Governor
Incumbent? No
Age: 56
Hometown: Medical Lake
Occupation: Public Works Lead Inspector for the City of Spokane
50-word statement: I see abuses of property, parental, and personal rights by our government. There is a lack of financial accountability and mismanagement of government programs without any consequences for failures. Special interest groups own our government and it is time for the people to take back their rights to govern themselves.
Three priorities: 1. Reform Public and Higher Education to cut cost and make it available to everyone at anytime or place for free.
2. Stimulate the economy to provide jobs and enhance revenue through an affordable housing program
3. Get rid of regressive taxes and replace them with fair taxes to provide for our needs.
Web site: www.JWAiken.com
E-mail address: JWAiken1@msn.com
Phone number: (509) 389-2000
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Fast focus: Bad question
Fast focus: Bad question
On a scale from zero to 100, zero being no government involvement at all and 100 being total government control, I think 41.2 is about right. In other words, a silly question deserves a silly answer. In this Confederate community, you will certainly hear from some of our states' rights, separate-but-equal stalwarts whose contempt for "the government" blinds them to any legitimate functions that government performs. It goes without saying that everyone advocates local control at some level, but standardization of some aspects of education at a national level is not only essential to fairness but also to the adequacy of the education that our children receive. Your question is far too broad to elicit much beyond knee-jerk reactions to the word, "government."
-- Martin Bensky, Richland
Controlling the population
Controlling the population
Should the government try to limit our sugar intake? Control of the population is a step by step process which seems to have become more and more a reality in America.
Controlling our diet is just one more step to the complete control that has happened in many societies -- next it will be where we live, forced exercising, when we turn the electricity off during the day to conserve on energy (consider Agenda 21), etc.
If we want to remain a republic with the freedoms given by our forefathers, we still need to be diligent about the controls with which we are forced to live.
Role of the individual
Role of the individual
This responds to the letter, "GOP and aristocracy," on Oct. 16. The author represents the progressive extremism of "take from the producers (call everyone wealthy that you want to take money from) and give to others; society, not the individual, determines a person's outcome." The author believes our governance provides system-level benefits to all, and that Republicans need to be removed from our political system.
Our governance provides system-level opportunity not system- level benefits. Individuals make what they can with this level opportunity provided by the government -- or that is what our founding fathers established. We all want our homeless, hungry and mentally disturbed to be taken care of. Beyond that, individuals should be responsible for their own outcome.
Most individuals and companies (whether supporting either the Democrats or the Republicans) take care to pay no more taxes than is legally required. Both parties have their wealthy corporate handlers -- this is not unique to either political
Illegal immigrants
Illegal immigrants
I'm writing in response to the recent articles about Kennewick City Council candidate Loren Nichols' comments on illegal immigration.
I agree that saying illegal immigrants should be shot at the border may be going too far. But for anyone to say that he's targeting people of color is just false. What he's saying is that this is America, a taxpaying country where citizens contribute to the government in ways illegal immigrants cannot.
I read a letter from a former state Department of Social and Health Services worker here who verified that people don't need legal documentation to receive some benefits. Why would our government give benefits to people who don't contribute like the rest of us? I'm a hard-working American and get hardly any benefits from the government for my child for having a full-time job. I think this man can do some good for our community and help the citizens who make contributions toward the rest of the community. People need to look at the real issues -- our government is going down
Fast Focus: Individual responsibility
Fast Focus: Individual responsibility
The USPS is a dinosaur like the rest of the U.S. government has ended up being. If it can't make it, shut it down along with the rest of the mess that's "running" this country. Stop whining about jobs. You'll find another one when our fine government stops meddling in everyone's affairs. "They" are the reason we're in this morass. The government should be in the "business" of what the Constitution sets forth as their responsibilities and not bailing out every failing prospect in the name of jobs. Get off your butts and make your own job. It can be done, just try it.
-- Larry Wheat, Kennewick
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