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(11/07/00 3:57am)
Most people in Indiana probably aren't aware they have three choices for governor, including Andy Horning, the Libertarian candidate. Fewer still know I am a fourth choice, like the tire company that calls itself "the other guys."\nWhy Vote for Me? -- A Declaration of Values \n• I am tired of waiting for Democrats and Republicans to cross the line and solve problems using obvious solutions.\n• The reason they do not solve problems is because they are typically bought-out by special interests that have little or no interest in problems other than their own.\n• Alternative candidates need more than single issues (e.g., liberty or corporate domination).\n• There are no spare parts in the world. Everyone counts and is part of the solution.\n• Politics needs holistic thinking that includes spirit, mind, body, behavior and environment.\n• Indiana can be a model of enlightened life, free of crime, illness, suffering and ignorance -- our limits exist only in our minds.\n• We need to reestablish a connection with nature, both inside and outside of ourselves.\n• True democracy is self government.\n• Generally, government should increase choices for citizens.\n• Leadership should be based on love rather than fear.\nOur beautiful and bountiful state deserves government based on the best and newest knowledge. I represent and promote ideas yearning for a voice in a political system too structured in old ways of thinking.\nYou will not hear the other three gubernatorial candidates talking about: \n• preventive health care.\n• sustainable and organic agriculture, free of genetic engineering.\n• renewable fuel sources and energy self-sufficiency.\n• educational innovations that develop consciousness and full potential.\n• campaign finance and other reforms for Indiana politics.\n• crime prevention based on criminal rehabilitation.\nThese and other programs can save money, reduce taxation and shrink "outside-in" government to a fraction of its current size. My 50-point action plan is available at www.paulwilson.org.\nMy candidacy means public policy based on prevention and proven solutions, and at a much deeper level, it means higher individual and collective consciousness. Peoples' needs can never be satisfied through countless man-made laws, most of which are designed to limit human shortcomings that result from an educational system that develops a tiny fraction of potential. The only way to create a true democracy is to provide the tools for people to develop higher consciousness and actualization. \nThe knowledge from the last 2,000 years was enough for us to exist by the skin of our teeth. The next 1,000 years need something different. Even in Indiana, we must dig deeper to maintain balance in our selves, our communities and in our environment. My pledge as a candidate for governor of Indiana is to seek the best available solutions to any problems Indiana faces and to promote inside-out government for all Hoosiers. \nOn this Election Day, ask for a paper ballot. Please write in John Hagelin for president (www.hagelin.org), Nat Goldhaber for vice president, Paul Wilson for governor and Richard A. Crawford for lieutenant governor. \nI will leave with a final word by Hagelin, a man who deserves your vote:\n"Our campaign is about achieving unlimited possibilities for ourselves and for our country -- not perpetuating the status quo, bought and paid for by special interests.\n"There is tremendous potential to improve our health, to improve our education, to achieve greater prosperity for all Americans -- through common sense solutions that are ignored by government for purely political reasons.\n"Don't waste your vote on Al Gore or George W. Bush. A vote for 'the lesser of evils' is worse than a wasted vote; it is a destructive vote. It sends a loud signal to Washington that says, 'Keep up the good work! We are pleased with the lowest educational outcomes in our nation's history, with the highest percentage of our citizens in jail of any country in the world, with the poorest health and highest health costs of any developed nation.'\n"Don't send that destructive message. Tell Washington that we demand foundational reforms -- crucial solutions in education, health, crime, trade, foreign policy and the environment that cannot wait four more years.\n"It's time to take back our stolen democracy. It's time we take our place in history as the voters who broke the two-party death grip. Vote Hagelin-Goldhaber (and Wilson-Crawford) on Nov. 7!"\nContact us at (317) 632-VOTE, www.paulwilson.org and \nwilsonforgovernor@legislator.com.\nIf you would like to join our e-mail list or begin a student Natural Law Party at IU, let us know.
(10/31/00 4:10am)
Let us continue last week's discussion of my platform for governor by considering Indiana's environment.\nI agree with other candidates who realize the environment and the economy are not enemies. We must protect the environment and care for it in a sustainable way, or it will mean the eventual ruin of the economy, and perhaps our health.\nGreat Rivers\nIn 1815, explorer Caleb Lownes called the Wabash, " ... a beautiful and valuable stream -- the water generally clear and transparent -- exhibiting a clean gravelly bottom. It abounds with fish of various kinds."\nAlgae is the dominant life-form in the river now, choking out oxygen and hindering sport fish that feed by sight. \nThe watershed of the Wabash drains 66 percent of Indiana. About two-thirds of that land is agricultural cropland under constant cultivation.\nAbout 15 percent of the banks are treeless in the middle of the Wabash, in some places lined with "rip-rap," junk such as abandoned cars used to lessen topsoil erosion.\nWe need to reduce the nutrient flow into the river (including fertilizers, leaky septic tanks, combined sewer overflow and livestock operation runoff), increase the vegetation and find better rip-rap.\nThe USDA Wetland Reserve Program and its Conservation Reserve Program support farmers who want to establish government-owned easements to the river. Participants are encouraged to plant water-loving trees (which also cool the water, slowing algae growth), bushes and grassy buffer zones. In exchange, the farmers might harvest some timber and can lease the land for hunting, fishing and trapping.\nNo-till farming lessens soil erosion into the river. About 50 percent of the state's soybean crop and about 25 percent of the corn crop are now no-till planted. We need to encourage farmers to increase these percentages.\nWhite River has 151 wastewater treatment plants or individual companies permitted to discharge treated sewage directly into upper White River basin streams and rivers. Very few permits contain effective limits on their discharge.\nFifteen cities in the upper basin have combined sewage treatment plants that can dump untreated sewage into the river following a heavy rain, especially following dry weather. Particularly troublesome is ammonia waste, which depletes oxygen. Similar to the Wabash, White River has lost trees and wetlands that filtered run-off. \nThe environment is the economy. We have more choices than industries regulated to death or a state polluted to death.\nMerchant Peaking Power Plants \nAs governor, I'd work with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission to make sure peaking plants, if needed, are reasonably placed in consultation with homeowners. My primary allegiance would be to alternative sources of power and prudent conservation.\nRenewable wind, solar, geothermal and bio-mass sources can help Indiana move closer to energy self-sufficiency and a pollution-free environment. Our critical electricity peaks occur during sunny summer days, precisely the time when the sun yields its greatest energy. We need to phase in technologies that capture this energy so our homes and businesses don't run short of electricity or overburden the grid. \nFurther, our citizens and businesses need education about the latest ways they can maintain high standards of living while using less energy. Nature always conserves energy; we need to do so, as well.\nIndiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM)\nThe IDEM needs more qualified investigators and fewer political insiders so it will prosecute water polluters properly. Present laws need to be communicated, enforced and applied. Only twice in the 1990s were maximum fines imposed; when fines are imposed, political bosses reduce them in short order. Additionally, IDEM lacks proper planning and coordination to respond to environmental disasters. \nIDEM needs the restructuring that can only happen through campaign finance reform, reducing the influence of the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Indiana Manufacturers Association and corporate giants such as Eli Lilly. IDEM needs leadership from someone with top environmental credentials. He or she needs authority to make whatever changes are necessary to make the department accountable to the citizens of Indiana.\nLand Use\nLess than 65 percent of Indiana remains farmland. Sprawl policies need to strike a balance between economic and environmental concerns, preventing growth that outpaces population. The most important change will be intelligent, conscientious zoning and use plans, followed even in the face of well-heeled developers. Urban areas need renewal, and our cities and towns need abundant green space. \nIndianapolis and other large cities have growing traffic gridlock. To prevent this from becoming even worse, I favor light rail trains, express buses and park-and-ride options, combined with mixed-use development to reduce transit times. We should encourage bicycle paths, as well.\nFor more information, call (317) 632-VOTE, visit www.paulwilson.org or e-mail wilsonforgovernor@legislator.com. If you would like to join our e-mail list or begin a student Natural Law Party at IU, please let us know.
(10/24/00 4:20am)
The Natural Law Party and its independent coalition are fielding four candidates in Indiana -- John Hagelin and Nat Goldhaber at the presidential and vice presidential levels, and myself and Richard A. Crawford for governor and lieutenant governor. You can vote for all four by requesting a paper ballot at your polling site. \nBecause "all politics is local," this installment is written from a local perspective. Hagelin's platform reflects these same principles at the national level, particularly proven solutions and prevention-oriented government.\nIndiana government is full of flat tires, especially with schools and the environment. Seventeen percent of our high school seniors cannot pass basic ninth grade math and English tests after repeated attempts. More than 80 tons of fish rot in a landfill as a result of ammonia poisoning in the White River. I could be like every other well-intentioned candidate and tell you I will fix each. But our problems, be they environmental, educational, criminal, health-related, social and so on, are all human problems. Most of us use a tiny fraction of our God-given potential, as a result of education that has failed to develop the whole brain. It is like playing the piano with one finger. \nAs our society has grown, so has our government. Both locally and nationally, the government can barely keep up with the problems caused by shortcomings in human behavior. We get the government we deserve. Any government that fails to elevate human behavior beyond life lived in constant mistakes does not deserve to be called a government. It is a reciprocal responsibility.\nThe other candidates advocate conventional outside-in solutions, many of which are so obviously right that they generally share them. I do too. What I seek to add to the discussion is inside-out approaches that develop human consciousness so we become more self-governing. This focus-on-root cause can reduce the size and cost of Indiana government responsibly and can make it more effective.\nAs a sample of my entire platform, available by request, let us look at education.