My Platform.

My Platform Thank you for reading my platform.
I hope you will also find time to read the platforms of the other candidates. Compare. You will see basic differences in how we propose to represent you. I believe in less government, less spending, less inflation.

In other words, I want you to retain more of your own money, money that represents the worth of your labors, to use as you see fit for the necessities and conveniences of life.
Is bigger government really what you want?

Make no mistake: you cannot have bigger programs and less government. You must choose.

Every dollar spent by the government is a dollar earned by you. The government must always ask: Are your dollars being wisely spent? Can we afford it? Is it not better for the state to leave your dollars in your pocket?

Your elected officials, their appointees, and government workers are expected to perform their public acts with honesty, openness, diligence, and special integrity. At the heart of our system must be the confidence that these people are always working for you. I believe that liberty can be measured by how much freedom you have to make your own decisions—even your own mistakes. Government must protect your constitutional rights. Government must assure equal opportunity. And government must be compassionate in caring for those citizens who are unable to care for themselves. I believe that government action should be taken first by the government that resides as close to you as possible. Governments tend to become less responsive to your needs the farther away they are from you. Thus, I prefer local and state government to national government, and decentralized national government wherever possible.
Your initiative and energy create jobs, our standard of living, and the underlying economic strength of the country. Government must work for the goal of justice and the elimination of unfair practices, but no government has yet designed a more productive economic system or one which benefits as many people. The beauty of our land is our legacy to our children. It must be protected by us so that they can pass it on intact to their children
Our great American Republic was founded on the principle: "one nation under God, with liberty and justice for all. It was our "Declaration" which put the world and posterity on notice "that Men are...endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights" and that those rights must not be taken from those to whom God has given them. Jobs and Inflation

I believe it is of paramount importance that the Louisiana people understand that the number one destroyer of jobs in the state is government over taxation and regulation.
Inflation is the direct responsibility of a spendthrift state government that has been unwilling to discipline itself to live within its means. The temptation to spend and deficit spend for political reasons has simply been too great for most of our elected politicians to resist.
Individuals and families must live within a budget. Why not our state?
If we are to eliminate high unemployment, it is essential to change the state's business atmosphere to be attractive to new businesses. Job creation can only be accomplished in the private sector. Louisiana we must not be fooled into accepting government as the employer of last resort.
The people of Louisiana are beginning to understand that no government can ever add real wealth to an economy by increasing tax rates or by creating credit out of thin air. All government can do is confiscate and redistribute wealth. No state can spend its way into prosperity; it can only spend its way into bankruptcy.

Taxes and Government Spending

I recognize that tax policies and spending policies are inseparable. If government spending is not controlled, taxes will inevitably raise either directly or through inflation. Government spending needs to be tied directly to income, Every American knows he cannot continually live beyond his means. It is time the Government realizes the same thing. I advocate a legislative policy to obtain a balanced state budget and reduced tax rates. While the best tax reform is tax reduction, we recognize the need for structural tax adjustments to help the working men and women of our state. To that end, I recommend tax credits for college tuition, postsecondary technical training, and childcare expenses incurred by working parents. Our tax laws have become a nightmare of complexity and unfair tax preferences, virtually destroying the credibility of the system. Simplification should be a major goal of tax reform.
I support economic and tax policies to ensure the necessary job-producing expansion of our economy. These include hastening capital recovery through new systems of accelerated depreciation, removing the tax burden on equity financing to encourage more capital investment, ending the unfair double taxation of dividends, and supporting proposals to enhance the ability of our working and other citizens to own "a piece of the action" through stock ownership. Health
Every American should have access to quality health care at an affordable price.
The possibility of extended illness in a family is a frightening prospect, but, if it does happen, a person should at least be protected from having it wipe out lifetime savings. Catastrophic expenses incurred from major illnesses and accidents affect only a small percentage of Americans each year, but for those people, the financial burden can be devastating. I support the extension of catastrophic illness protection to all who cannot obtain it. We should utilize our private health insurance system to assure adequate protection for those who do not have it. Such an approach will eliminate the red tape and high bureaucratic costs inevitable in a comprehensive national program. I oppose compulsory national health insurance "Obama Care".
The most effective, efficient, and economical method to improve health care and extend its availability to all is to build on the health delivery and insurance system, which covers nine out of every ten Americans. A coordinated effort should be mounted immediately to contain the rapid increase in health care costs by all available means, such as the development of healthier lifestyles through education, improved preventive care, better distribution of medical manpower, emphasis on out-of-hospital services, and elimination of wasteful duplication of medical services. I oppose excessive intrusions in the delivery of health care. I believe in preserving the privacy that should exist between a patient and a physician, particularly regarding the confidentiality of medical records. State health programs should be consolidated into a single grant to each parish, where possible, thereby allowing much greater flexibility in setting local priorities. Our rural areas, for example, have different healthcare delivery needs than our cities. State laws and regulations should respect these differences and make it possible to respond differently to differing needs. Fraud in Medicare and Medical programs should be exposed and eliminated. We need a comprehensive and equitable approach to the subject of mental health. Such a program should focus on the prevention, treatment, and care of mental illness. It should cover all aspects of the interrelationships between emotional illness and other developmental disabilities that seek to remove us from the dark ages in these areas.

Alcoholism and drug abuse, growing problems in Louisiana today, should receive the utmost attention.

Small Business

I recognize that small and independent business is the backbone of the American competitive system, pledge myself to strengthen this vital institution.
Small business, so vital to our economic system, is free enterprise in its purest sense. It holds forth an opportunity for the individual, regardless of race or sex, to fulfill the American dream. Small businesses are the base of our economy and its main source of strength. Some 9.6 million small firms generate 55 percent of our private employment—or the livelihood of over 100 million Americans. Yet while small businesses have a unique place in our society, they also have unique problems that government must address. Therefore, we recommend that the Small Business Administration (SBA): Assure adequate financing to those creditworthy firms that cannot now obtain funds through conventional channels;
Include the proper mix of loan programs to meet the needs of the many different types of firms that constitute the American small business community;
Serve as an aggressive advocate for small businesses and provide procurement, management, and technological assistance.
For survival, small businesses must have relief from the overwhelming burden placed on them by many regulatory bodies. Paperwork proliferation has grown out of control, and small business is not equipped to deal with this aggravation. The present tax structure does not allow small firms to generate enough capital to grow and create jobs. Estate taxes need liberalization to benefit the family business in the same manner as the family farm. Encouraging investment in small businesses through more equitable tax treatment remains the best and least expensive method of creating productive employment. Bureaucratic Over-regulation
I believe that the extent of state regulation and bureaucratic interference in the lives of the people must be reduced. The programs and activities of the state government should be required to meet strict tests of their usefulness and effectiveness. In particular, I consider an essential analysis of the extensive growth of laws and regulations governing production processes and conditions and standards or consumer products, to determine whether the services and benefits the people of Louisiana receive are worth the price they are paying for these services in higher taxes and consumer prices. I am intensely aware of the need to protect our environment and provide safe working conditions in American industry, while at the same time preventing the loss of jobs and the closing of small businesses through unrealistic or over-rigorous government regulations. I support a balanced approach that considers the requirements of a growing economy and provides jobs for Louisiana workers. The average businessman and employer is being overwhelmed by government-required paperwork. I support legislation to control and reduce the burden of state paperwork.

Government that Works

I believe Louisianans are fed up with and frustrated by a government that makes great promises and fails to deliver. I am!
What we now have is a government organization that doesn't make any sense. It has not been developed by design. It just grew—by whim, bureaucratic fighting, and then caving in to special interest demands. So today we find that nine federal departments and twenty independent agencies are involved in education; seven departments and eight agencies in health; federal recreation areas are administered by six agencies in three departments; and so forth. There must be a functional realignment of government, instead of the current arrangement by subject areas or constituencies.
I want departments to reflect on the major purposes of government, such as natural resources, human resources, community development, and economic affairs. Now we must insist that attention must be paid

. Veterans

As a combat veteran that uses the VA, I understand better than most that:
The nation must never forget its appreciation and obligation to those who have served in the armed forces. Because they bear the heaviest burdens of war, we owe special honor and compensation to disabled veterans and survivors of the war dead. I am firmly committed to improving our Veterans Administration hospital system.
Younger veterans, especially those who served in conflict, deserve education, job, and housing loan benefits. We must continue to provide for our veterans at their death a final resting place for their remains in a national or state cemetery and the costs of transportation thereto.

Older Americans

Older Americans constitute one of our most valuable resources.
Families should be supported in trying to take care of their elderly. Too often government laws and policies contribute to the deterioration of family life. Our tax laws, for example, permit a deduction to the taxpayer who gives a contribution to a charitable institution that might care for an elderly parent but offer little or no incentive to provide care in the home. If an elderly parent relinquishes certain assets and enters a nursing home, the parent may qualify for full Medicaid coverage, but if parents live with their children, and Supplemental Security income benefit for which they are eligible may be reduced. Incentives must be written into law to encourage families to care for their older members. Along with loneliness and ill health, older Americans are deeply threatened by inflation. The costs of the basic necessities of life—food, shelter, clothing, health care— have risen so drastically as to reduce the ability of many older persons to subsist with any measure of dignity. In addition to our program for protecting against excessive costs of long-term illness, nothing will be as beneficial to the elderly as the effect of this Platform's proposals on curbing inflation. The Social Security benefits are of inestimable importance to the well-being and financial peace of mind of older Americans. We cannot let the Social Security system fail. I will work to make the Social Security system sound. The Social Security program must not be turned into a welfare system, based on need rather than contributions. The cost to employers for Social Security contributions must not be raised to the point where they will be unable to afford contributions to employees' private pension programs. I will work for an increase in the earned income ceiling or its elimination so that, as people live longer, there will not be the present penalty for work. The Medicare program must be improved to help control inflation in healthcare costs triggered by present regulations. Other areas of concern to the elderly that need increased attention are home and outpatient care, adequate transportation, nutrition, daycare, and homemaker care as an alternative to costly institutional treatment. A nation should be judged by its ability to help make all the years of life as productive and gainful as possible. This nation still has a job to do.

Welfare Reform

The work of all Americans contributes to the strength of our nation, and all who are able to contribute should be encouraged to do so. In every society, there will be some who cannot work, often through no fault of their own. The measure of a country's compassion is how it treats the least fortunate. I appreciate the magnificent variety of private charitable institutions that have developed in the United States. Congress has produced a jumble of degrading, dehumanizing, wasteful, overlapping, and inefficient programs failing to assist the needy poor. A systematic and complete overhaul of the welfare system should be initiated immediately. The following goals should govern the reform of the welfare system: (1) Provide adequate living standards for the truly needy; (2) End welfare fraud and prevent it in the future with an emphasis on removing ineligible recipients from the welfare rolls, tightening food stamp eligibility requirements, and ending aid to illegal aliens and the voluntarily unemployed; (3) Strengthen work requirements, particularly directed at the productive involvement of able-bodied persons in useful community work projects; (4) Provide educational and vocational incentives to allow recipients to become self-supporting; (5) Better coordinate federal efforts with local and state social welfare agencies and strengthen local and state administrative functions. I oppose federalizing the welfare system; local levels of government are most aware of the needs of their communities. Consideration should be given to a range of options in financing the programs to assure that state and local responsibilities are met. Those features of the present law, particularly the food stamp program, that draws into assistance programs people who are capable of paying for their own needs should be corrected. The humanitarian purpose of such programs must not be corrupted by eligibility loopholes. Food stamp program reforms need to accomplish the twin goals of directing resources to those most in need and streamlining administration. We must never forget that unemployment compensation is insurance, not a welfare program. It should be redesigned to assure that working is always more beneficial than collecting unemployment benefits. The benefits should help most of the hard-core unemployed. Major efforts must be encouraged through the private sector to speed up the process of finding jobs for those temporarily out of work