The Liberated Centrist

Observing Rick Perry unfold as a candidate this primary season has been painful at some points, funny at others and his latest move further solidifies this primary-watcher's opinion that he is completely bust. So I am prepared to make a prediction: this strategy, spear-headed by his new "Strong" TV ad, will not deliver him the nomination, or anything higher than third in any of the 4 early primary states: Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada. Take a look at his new ad which is running on cable in New Hampshire today: Hoping to grab the "War-on-Christmas" voters, Perry denounces "gays serving openly in the military" and the public school prayer ban. I thought that maybe he would only run it in the early states whose GOP electorate leans more socially-conservative, like Iowa and South Carolina, but I saw it run on cable in New Hampshire! This is a complete waste of money and a sure-fire sign that the Perry 2012 campaign is delirious. Inte...

Within the past 50 years, we have made sure to never forget our education system in terms of funding. Per pupil spending on elementary and secondary education in America has doubled from 1970, yet test scores have remained stagnant. Figures published yearly by the United Nations reveal that the United States spends more on education as a percentage of its gross national product than do most of the countries whose students outperform U.S. students on standardized tests including Japan, South Korea and Spain. How did this happen? Why are we continually getting less for our educational buck? Are we adequately preparing our youth to participate in a globalizing, ever-changing economy? The public school system-one that I have experienced-has become bloated, inefficient and fraught with misguided measurements and priorities. No Child Left Behind, the federal program that ties grants for schools to nationally standardized test scores...

When Former Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson entered this year's GOP primary contest, he felt like he would receive a seat at the debate table when it came time to debate. He was a relatively unknown figure on a national level, with his only foray into the national scene was when he endorsed the legalization of marijuana as a sitting governor; he is still the highest-level public official to support it. He has since  reassessed his Presidential campaign amid rumors he may seek a 3rd Party bid for the run instead. Gary Johnson made a name for himself in New Mexico where he vetoed over 750 bills with hundreds of other line-item vetoes and subsequently saved taxpayers billions, all in a state who's citizens and state legislature are largely Democrat (about a 2-to-1 margin). He made his term about questioning the intentions of other-wise de facto government programs based on cost-benefit analyses and instead focused on providing the best service of government at t...