I intend to do a post today or tomorrow on Huckabee with sort of a Catholic Focus.
I always wonder if I should do major posts I invest a lot of time in on the weekend because I am not sure if the hits go down. It is not like I am the The Anchoress over here in popularity ,but if one person can pick it up on Technorati or another search engine and have their mind changed it is worth it.
There is a lot about Huckabee I like. I am a Republican and a conservative but I am no John Bircher. Huckabee has a common sense conservative view that fits well into the reality of governing a Country like the United States.
Governor Huckabee regularly participates in blogger conferences. One Mom blog has a rundown of the conference that happened yesterday.
When one looks at the Democrat field I think an big weakness jumps out at you especially in a debate . Everyone with the exception of Governor Richardson are all Senators or Represenatives. In the GOP debates I think the answers to the questions are much more interesting because there is more than a DC viewpoint. That is one reason ,despite Governor Richardson not so great performances in the debates(Lets threaten to pull out of the Olympics for instance) , he still has some support because a segment of the democrat vote really likes governors. I think that goes across party lines. I also think having a Governor as our nominee pays real benefits in votes. Governors have to make to make sure the trains run on time in a real immediate way. DC folks in Congress often don't. With Governors the buck stops there. In DC the reponsibility is shared.
THe GOP has a much more balanced field. I think Governor Huckabee is a great example of that. I would like to point out to answers that Huckabee gave in his blogger conference.
There has been a lot of talk over at VOX NOVA on the whole State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) debate. I did a post on that and I have since learned that this is alot more complicated than it appears. For instance "children" up to age 25 could qualify as well as families making up to $85,000. Hey I know $85,000 dollars doesn't go as far as it used too but please. Anyway, health care and it costs is a real concern. It is a real pro life concern. If you are worried about euthanasia laws and the aging population you should be concerned too. For all the criticism of the Prescription Drug benefit program my grandparents seem to have become great fans of it. The cost of health care is a real issue that we republicans have to deal with and come up with solutions. On the blogger call Huckabee said this as to a program he developed:
Lee (Georgia). How was “Our Kids” health care financed in AR and what was the general consensus about it’s success.
MH: It has been wildly successful and I say that unabashedly. it put a safety net under parents/families. If they got a job, they lost Medicaid. Our Kids created a coverage that mirrored the benefits that state employees had. It also mirrored the co-pay/deductible (very modest) system so that parents had responsibility for the coverage – there needs to be investment. Parents had piece of mind in this system that gave them pride in their ownership of HC for their kids. More effective than SCHIP in that it partnered with government AND parents. This gave accountability and helped the parents begin to focus on preventive care instead of tertiary. Our goal should be Universal Health, not Universal Health Care. If we had universal health, we could have affordable coverage for everyone. It is a recipe for disaster to just give people all the health coverage they want with no investment from the individuals. We must move from intervention to prevention approach.
How interesting. That sounds like something important. Perhaps if Governor Huckabee in the next debate ,if he is not asked about his views on evolution or what some guy sends in a private email , we can hear more about this. I would like to hear more about this Arkansas program. It seems timely with the debate in Congress we are having. It will not happen unless we press our media to do it.
On No Child Left Behind the Governor states:
Bob Morrison (music for all … I think that was the name): Followup on One Mom’s question. Report came out last week about the narrowing of the curriculum (reading/math) due tono child left behind.
MH:One good thing about No child left behind is that it included art/music in the core, but because there was no way to measure this, many schools removed it from the table which is a violation of NCLB and a violation of common sense. Children drop out or take an expensive nap because they are bored in school. Music and art education must be for every student … it is a critical, vital, necessary part of education … we must stimulate both sides of the brain … there must be creative/imaginative part included in all childrens’ education. In AR every student must have music AND (not “or”) art education from a certified teacher. For a successful education, it must be broadened, not narrowed. Curriculums must be personalized (this is a model from New Hampshire)… not a one size fits all curriculum, but where children are invested in helping design their own curriculum.
This is so much more interesting than if Senator Hillary Clinton showed cleavage. Again I think this shows the benefit of having a man like Governor Huckabee that had to to be the chief executive of a very diverse state. Arts and Music Education!!! I thought Republicans hated all that nonsense :). At least that is the perception that the media gives. Huckabee knows that such things like this are important for a well rounded education. Heck HomeSchoolers know this better than anyone. Just go to my Cajun blogger that is on my links that is a home schooler where she is often talking about the importance of this.
As to Homeschooling Huckabee talks about this also. Go to the One Mom link above to learn more.
These are issues that we need to be talking about. It is a crying shame that we have 14 people running around Iowa and New Hampshire at tons of events everyday and we hear little of what they are saying. The fact is with 3 major 24 hour news channels the unique politcal enviroment of Iowa and NH could be broadcast to the nation and we would be better for it. Stay tuned for a more extensive Huckabee post.
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