Tom Gleinser News Page

There are only a few legitimate functions of government: The reasonable protection of our environment, a criminal justice system, fire protection, helping the helpless, National defense, educating our young, and providing for public roads where necessary.

Government has become a racket controlled by two constantly warring gangs, the Democrats and the Republicans. At stake in their turf war is the control of our property and our lives. Warren Buffet once said "Don't ever trust a barber when he says that you need a haircut. I say "Don't ever, ever trust a politician when he tells you that you need more government."

We have an army of bureaucrats laboring feverishly to convince us of the importance of government. There are few who work to convince us otherwise. The bureaucrats are paid for their work. No one is paid to point out the waste, graft, and corruption that is government.

Our national debt and unfunded government obligations now stand at about $256,000 per person according to Alan Greenspan, the former chairman of the FED. Some figure the debt even higher. <Click here>. This includes lavish retirement programs for government employees. Just the local debt in Texas is over 110 billion dollars not counting unfunded commitments (mostly to bureaucrat retirement funds). Politicians are buying votes with our grandchildren's money. How unfair is that? If we don't get control over government right now, it will be too late, if not already. Our economic future is dismal. Something like that of the former Soviet Union. We are bankrupt. The government will be able to borrow and print money to stave off an economic collapse for a while, but the outcome is inevitable.

<Click Here> to find out how long we have left.

Education:

Our system of "free" public schools is a failure, in terms of both costs and results. School and student rating systems have been dumbed down to the point that they make the unacceptable look acceptable. Government mismanagement ensures that the least qualified teachers teach.

The facts* are:

25% of Texas 8th graders exhibit proficiency on the math NAEP, and 23% in science - versus nation al averages of 36% and 42%, respectively.

Texas students scored 5th lowest in the nation on the math section of the SAT; over the past 10 years, the average SAT score in Texas has dropped one point, while the nation's average has increased by 18 points.

While 82 percent of Texas 4th graders exhibited proficiency on the math sectio of the TAKS in 2005, only 40% exhibited proficiency on the math NAEP.

For a public school in Texas to be accredited, only 35 percent of students must pass the math TAKS, and only 25% must pass the science TAKS.

Nationally we do much more poorly that many other countries even though they typically spend less than the U.S.

Private schools can and do give children a real education at far less costs than government schools. We now spend about $10,000 per pupil per year. Teacher's Unions say that isn't enough. With just a little more money, they will do their job. Rubbish!!! A better private school education can be has for as little as $3500 per student per year.

I have four primary proposals for solving this long standing problem.

1. A voucher system whereby the state will pay the school of your choice for your child's education.

2. A tax credit for those wishing to home-school their children. If parents are saving the school districts thousands of dollars each year by educating their own children, they should receive financial aid in the form of tax breaks.

3. A state supported system of virtual education whereby students can access instructors online and use software specially formulated for their needs. A classroom style of education was OK in the 16th century. We can now use the internet for individualized instruction. In a classroom environment, the smarter kids are held back, and the slower kids are overwhelmed. What about learning social skills? Do you mean like how to get beat up for your lunch money. Or how to be constantly ridiculed and embarrassed? No thank you. We don't need it.

4. Improve our public schools by changing endemic government mismanagement by:

a. paying teachers based on performance as opposed to giving them all the same raise every year. How many private companies would exist if all employees were to receive the same raise? This management technique encourages bad teachers to stay because they are overpaid and good teachers to leave the profession because they are underpaid. Teachers aren't underpaid. . .good teachers are underpaid;

b. giving administrators more leniency in firing bad teachers;

c. going to a year round school year.

Teachers are not leaving the profession because they are underpaid. 60% say they quit because of classroom disciplinary problems and 54% say working conditions contributed to their leaving. Only 19% of those quitting thought they were underpaid. Let the private sector succeed where government has failed.

*Facts source Texas Public Policy Foundation

School funding:

Education should be funded equally on a statewide basis through a sales tax. The recently passed school funding legislation is nothing less than a huge tax increase waiting to happen since it only limits property appraisal increases to 10% per year. It should limit them to no more than 2% per year. A local school board need only stand by and let increasing appraised values provide ever higher tax revenues. Government schools are grossly wasteful, administrative-heavy institutions that need to be put on an immediate fiscal diet. A better level of education can be attained at far less costs (see Education).

Higher Education:

1/3 of students attending the University of Texas and 1/2 of those attending U.T.S.A. do not pay any tuition. They don't because their parents are below a certain income level. This means that parents above that arbitrary income level have to not only pay for their own offspring to attend, but also the offspring of poor parents. I couldn't afford to send my kids to college because I was above that base line of income, but I wasn't wealthy enough to pay for the education of others too. This is grossly unfair. Tuition rates for the paying students are skyrocketing. You will soon hear politicans beating the drums to pay for everyone to go to government colleges in order to make us all equal. This will work like it did in the Soviet Union. We all will be equally poor. When I went to college, my total tuition was $67 per semester. Higher education should go back to free market forces. Everyone will be able to afford it and it will be a better education.

Property rights:

"The right to life is the source of all rights - and the right to property is their only implementation. Without property rights, no other rights are possible."

Ayn Rand

Above all else, I, like Ayn Rand, consider a citizen's property rights sacrosanct. Our government treats our property and incomes as if they belonged to them. No matter what purported good the government proposes to do with our property it cannot exceed the bad done by taking our property by force. Our income should be confiscated by the government only under the most dire of needs, not, as is the case now, on the slightest of whims.

Property taxes:

My Dad bought a used home for my family in San Antonio in 1963. He never took vacations with us. He was quick to say that he would take a vacation when his house was paid off. When he made that final payment in 1988, his property taxes were double what his house payment had been.

I built my home in 2001. I put a lot of sweat and time into its construction. I now just lease my home from the state. My lease payments are in the form of property taxes. If I someday can't make my lease payments, politicians will come and seize my property just as they will yours. That is an abomination. My property belongs to me and my family. The state should never have the power to take it from us.

Politicians have the unmitigated gall to say that they need the steady income that property taxes provide during economic downturns. Well, what about us? We have to cut back. So should the State. I would, at least, like to see property taxes frozen at a fixed rate at the time one purchases one's property. I would rather see an increase in the sales tax and eliminate property taxes altogether. Even better, if government only spent our money on essential services, we could do away with the property tax altogether without a replacement tax.

Immigration:

When the population of a country exceeds the land's capability of sustaining that population, everyone's health and well being suffers. We have a limited amount of natural resources. Our state has exceeded a population level that we are capable of sustaining while maintaining an acceptable quality of life for everyone. I will work to limit the population of the state by advocating enforcement of current immigration laws. I will lobby our U.S. Congress persons to limit legal immigration as well. Since our government has allowed unfettered illegal immigration in the past, I would like to see one last amnesty (with many conditions) for any illegal immigrant that can prove they have lived and worked in the U.S. for longer than 10 years. This should be done only after we secure our borders with whatever it takes. Neither the environment nor our wallets can handle more immigrants. We can stop illegal immigration by making employers verify that new employees are eligible for employment in the U.S. Now, all an illegal needs is a fake green card or Social Security card and the employer has no responsibility to verify it.

Guns:

I consider the Constitution in general and specifically the 2nd amendment inviolate. I will introduce legislation to make concealed carry permits more easily obtainable. It breaks my heart every time I hear of a young woman brutally murdered when it could have been so easily prevented had she been allowed to exercise her constitutional rights to bear arms without jumping through a bunch of government hoops. Dads, please encourage your daughters to get armed. Not only can it someday save their lives, but, if she is a good enough shot, also the lives of other young women who might be attacked by the same predators.

Tort reform:

Our government courts should only be used for criminal prosecutions and enforcement of judgments rendered by private civil courts. All civil trials should go before a panel of three judges paid for by the litigants. Juries have become too easily malleable and it is costing us all billions of dollars a year. Only the trial lawyers are profiting.

Trans-Texas Corridor:

This whole deal reeks. A private company using the State's power of eminent domain to seize farmer's land to pave over Texas and charge tolls. We have plenty of roads in Texas now if we would just make some effort to limit our population. When will it end? When all of Texas looks like Houston? Since this is a private consortium (not counting all of the politicians in on the gravy train), then let them acquire the land they need like any other private operation. Let them buy it from willing sellers at the price the sellers want to charge. No eminent domain.

Taxes:

Our tax burden is higher than at any point in history. Politicians must be stopped before they ruin us economically. The Republicans and Democrats have repeatedly proven they will do nothing to control run away government. <more>

Toll Roads:

Toll roads are an absurd and grossly inconvenient manner with which to collect taxes. Although it is highly questionable that more taxes are needed to construct roads, a gas tax increase would be a much more sensible manner in which to collect those taxes. Now we have to support a whole new class of bureaucrat, the toll taker, and support them in their old age. Of course, we're also going to need to have a support building with rest rooms and break rooms at each set of toll booths. In Florida, those support buildings cost upward of $500,000 each.

Animal Registration (H.B. 1361):

Animal registration to prevent the spread of disease should be left up to private farm and ranch organizations. It would take a major outbreak for me to accept some kind of government intervention.

Welfare:

I oppose all corporate and most social welfare. Only the helpless should receive government assistance. Giving money to the able bodied does them no good. It makes them lazy and dependent.

Spending:

If it's spent, it must be taxed. The next time a politician says that he must reduce spending on public parks, ask him why he can't reduce the gazillion dollars that he spends on other lame-brained projects instead. If you will recall, every time that spending must be reduced, politicians first hit you where it hurts most. . . like public parks. Why? So that you will say "Fine, go ahead and raise taxes if you must". Click <here> for a few Texas State budget items that should be cut first.

Children's Health Insurance Program:

Another wasteful, vote-buying, government program gone wild. Learn the facts courtesy of Americans for Prosperity:

CHIPs

Campaign finance reform

One facet of campaign election laws is 180 degrees from where it should be. Currently, a candidate for office must keep a precise list of donors and what they contributed. I guess so they will know who bribed them to do what. I would suggest the opposite. Make all contributions required to be anonymous.

Contributions are given for two reasons; 1. To bribe the candidate 2. To help get someone elected that agrees with your points of view. The second is free speech and should be protected. If the contribution is given for the second reason, there is no need for the candidate to know who gave it or how much. Contributions can be funneled through the Ethics Commission. Viola! All official bribery ends.

Ground Water rights

Whether we that depend on ground water are running out and why is a hotly debated topic. The popular notion is that there are too many people using ground water and we should limit development to stop that. I am on a well and I use very little water especially in contrast to what our Cedars use. All but a small amount of the water that I pump is returned to the aquifer through drainage from my septic system. Most of the water that flows out of my house eventually flows back into the ground water supply. A medium size Cedar uses about 35 gallons of ground water a day. If you want to control ground water usage, cut down a cedar. Limiting development in the area is a flagrant abuse of property rights. Right now a person can use whatever he can pump. That's not right because some of that water may flow from his neighbor's property. A person should be entitled to the amount of water that falls on his or her property or is contained under it. If a neighbor can prove someone is pumping off site more than that, the courts should stop him.

I invite you to visit the web sites of my opponent in order to see the few issues upon which they take a variable stand. They've been told that is the way to win elections. I think it is dishonest.

Pat Rose:

http://www.patrickmrose.com/index.shtml

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