Back on Track?
He has appeared numerous times in the theatre and Broadway productions such as J.B. and One Foot Forward. At 25, his film career began with minor roles. His first being Woody Allen’s Annie Hall. Not long after, he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in the movie, The Deer Hunter. He later went on to do over one hundred films becoming one of the most well known of Hollywood actors. Now after seeing the condition his country is in, he has decided to take a stand and run for office. Below are some of his platforms.
The War on Iraq
*Our country is now entrenched in a war across the world against an enemy defined as “terror.” Our leaders claim we’re fighting to make the world a safer place (for America). But at what cost? Thousands of our soldiers have been killed; over one hundred and eighty billion tax dollars have been spent. Where is Osama bin Laden, our nation’s biggest threat? Where are the weapons of mass destruction, so dangerous as to provoke the invasion and occupation of a sovereign nation? These are the questions to ask, but our leaders, too consumed by their power to admit to wrongdoing, refuse to answer.
Nobody will argue that Saddam Hussein was not a tyrannical dictator, or that he shouldn’t have been unseated, but to take our nation to war under false pretenses, against the will of the democratic world we claim to defend, is not a decision I support. When our government ignores the decisions of the UN, it discredits our nation and our ideals of peace, liberty, and democracy. And when our politicians lie to their citizens to justify a crusade of their fathers’ vendetta, it’s time for new politicians*
Abortion
*I believe in the American family. I believe that children deserve a loving home with parents who can afford to raise and care for them. Every woman has the right to have a child when she is ready, and I believe her government has no right to force a child upon her when she is not.
The overwhelming media and dogmatic education in this country are creating a society in which are youth are bombarded with images of sex but receive no education on how to responsibly handle it. Safe sex prevents abortion, and it is the duty of this government to educate its citizens on healthy and safe behavior. Nobody wins when our youth are condemned to a life of poverty on a welfare system that cannot support him or her. America needs more families, not single mothers.
Abortion is one of the issues tearing our Union apart. The answer lies not in forcing one side to follow the other, but in solving the underlying problems. If we focus on practical education and teaching responsibility, rather than debate over ethics, we’ll have no more need for abortion*
Education
*Our children are our future, and to abandon them is to give up on this nation. Our public education system is failing and our children are being left without direction or life skills. To fix this problem is not to throw more money at our schools, but to restructure how they support and promote the growth of our young generations.
Private schools have long been the standard for quality education in this country, while public schools have been regarded as prison-like institutions to house children until they reach adulthood and are unleashed into society. I’ve met many private school teachers who earn less that their peers at public schools, but are still able to provide a much better education for their students. And for this reason, more and more parents are turning away from public schools. Without faith in our schools, parents will never take them seriously, and neither will the students. We need to teach our children of the value and importance of a good education, and not threaten them with punishment for failure. And we need a teaching force that cares about the students they are teaching, not just the test scores they receive.
Standardized testing is destroying the quality of education in our schools, especially when it is linked to federal funding. Our teachers are being forced to teach students how to pass tests instead of how to succeed in life. We need to judge schools based on the breadth and depth of their curriculum, and provide them with money to expand their course offerings and reduce class sizes. We cannot continue forcing our students into categories and success-probabilities while funding institutions to police them.
The cost of incarcerating a juvenile in California for one year is over $32,000, while the cost of full tuition, room & board, and other expenses at Harvard University is just over $35,000. We have the money to improve education; we just are spending it in the wrong places. A focus on rehabilitation and education will not only free up our over-crowded penal institutions, but nurture responsible and employable youth to lead America into the next decade and beyond*
On The Military
“I am a huge supporter of the military. I have always thought of them as our guardians, and when our guardians are making less than the poverty line, and children are suffering because their parents decided to join the military, well, I get very upset. Our military institutions are the oldest and most revered in our nation, and to call our soldiers heroes while paying them less than enough to live on is just wrong. We need to show our full support to our men and women and uniform, and that includes paying them what they deserve for putting their lives on the line. Freedom isn’t free, and I feel that instead of sending billions to the Pentagon’s pet projects, it should go to the troops”
On Stem Cell Research
“I’d met Chris Reeve several times before he died, and after having met him it is tough to be against it [stem cell research]. I am for human knowledge and expansion of human life. If stem cells are one way to do that, I need to be a good friend of stem cells.”
These are just some of the platforms on his campaign. The candidate has decided to start his campaign early and “get this country back on the right track.”
Is this too good to be true? According to some, the entire campaign and its promises are an ellaborate hoax by a large organized internet forum. To the true believers though, it is a glimpse of a more hopeful reality. A more successful actor turned-president other than Reagan may just be what this country needs to get us back on our feet and live peacefully in the world. Though if the campaign turns out to be a hoax, it was definately a good one and had the ability to lighten a lot of people and gave them something to look forward to. For more information on Christopher Walken and his campaign, you can visit www.walken2008.com to get the real scoop for yourself.
