North Carolina Young Democrats Education Cacus Meeting

Hello everyone! Let me apologize top those of you who have looked at the blog and found it with no new postings. My job as a teacher has kept me busy. I have not had enough time to think of what to put on here. I am going to try and post new items four times a week.

This posting is to invite y'all to the Young Democrats Education Caucus meeting this Saturday, October 29, 2005. Below you will find the address and place for the meeting.

10:00 a.mCafe Carolina401 Daniels StreetCameron VillageRaleigh, NC

The Education Caucus will dive into issues facing Education in the State of North Carolina. We hope to apply pressure on issues that directly affect young people in the state. If you have any ideas, I would love to hear from you!

North Carolina Teacher shortage and Governor Easley's Failure to Lead!!

This past legislative session, the North Carolina General Assembly approved House Bill 706 by large margins. This bill would allow teachers from other states who were deemed "highly qualified" to obtain North Carolina licensure without additional burdens. School districts across North Carolina, administratrive associations, and policy makers from both political parties pushed hard for the Governor's approval of House Bill 706. However, Governor Michael Easley decided to veto the bill because he was concerned it would lower teacher standards.

By failing to sign House Bill 706 into law, Governor Easley sent a powerful message to school districts across the state: "long-term substitutes are better qualified teaching our students than college educated teachers from other parts of the country."

North Carolina faces severe teacher shortages each year. At a time when our state is in need of highly qualifed teachers to train the next generation of Tar Heels citizens, Easley has chosen to gamble the needs of our children by forcing school districts to hire uncredentialed individuals and long-term substitutes. Many of these people have no teaching experience, and many only have a high school diploma.

For a governor who champions education issues, the refusal to accept House Bill 706 because of fears it will lower teacher standards, while unlicensed individuals staff Tar Heel classrooms each day, is simply BUSH LEAGUE! A graduate of a teacher preparation program in another state should be the alternative to local school districts in meeting their teacher short fall.

Easley is quick to say we need the best education sytem in North Carolina because it helps attract industry. If we cannot place a highly qualified teacher in every classroom of every school, how can we meet the demands of the very business and industry we are trying to recruit to North Carolina?

As a Democrat who voted for Governor Easley, I am concerned at this lack of leadership on an issue of grave importance to our state. The stakes are too high to allow unqualified teachers in our classrooms. We must continue to pressure through legislative and grass roots means so that regulation will be lifted making it easier for qualified teachers to make their way into Tar Heel classrooms.

I applaud the bi-partisan leadership displayed by the General Assembly. Pass a similar law again. Our state needs it!

Chapel Hill Confessions

On a recent visit to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, it was evident to me one of the major issues facing the Democratic Party. On this bright and beautiful fall day, I listened to liberals talk about their disgust with President George W. Bush, the War in Iraq, and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Each person spoke with such anger toward our President and the Republican Party. No one offered a positive alternative to our countries woes.

If President Clinton taught Democrats anything, it was to stay positive. Even during the most depressing times of the Clinton Presidency, President Clinton was always upbeat. He focused on the American people, and made people feel comfortable with him as their President.

Democrats need to "get over" the fact that President Bush has been elected and re-elected President. It is time to offer the American people an agenda that promotes opportunity and responsibility. We can do this by being positive about the future of our country.

"Don't Stop thinking about Tomorrow!"

Embracing the New Economy

Embrace the Information Age Economy
Today, more people are creating wealth for themselves through on-line investing accounts, internet trade, and human ingenuity that are the product of the information age economy. Americans no longer need a centralized bureaucracy in Washington to oversee economic growth. Democrats fail to either recognize this, or feel threatened that losing the power over federal appropriations will lead to loss of votes amongst chosen constituencies.
Democrats should not fight the emerging economy; rather they should embrace it by offering new proposals to spur investment in the private sector by small investors. It was small investors who fueled the economic boom of the 1990’s and by creating incentives for people willing to risk their own time and money to invest in a business, idea, or invention is a way for Democrats to regain the political footing established by President Clinton with Middle Class America.

My Dilemma; Confessions of a Conservative Democrat

It was not supposed to end this way. The anticipation after months of following and participating in the campaign was exhilarating. Waking up in my new found home of North Carolina on Tuesday November 2, 2004, I confidently road to my polling place to cast my ballot for John Kerry and John Edwards, two men I felt would be elected the next President and Vice President at the end of the day.
Voting that day allowed me to reflect on the past four years. Four years that began because of an activist Supreme Court who decided to invoke federal supremacy in a state matter (The Florida Recount). Four years that brought bitter divisiveness to our country, reduced our prestige in the world, and ruined our credibility with many of our allies. Four years that brought large deficits and little economic growth. How could anyone vote for the incumbent President saddled with these negatives?
As a conservative Democrat, I am very disappointed at the campaign waged by John Kerry, and the direction the Democratic Party appears to be taking in the aftermath of the November debacle. The party offers no vision for millions of Americans who work long hours to make ends meet, attend church, raise their families honestly, and don’t rely on a penny of government assistance. The party failed to speak to these Americans living across our country.
The party’s message reflects the influence of the secular-left, Hollywood elites, and liberal special interest groups. If the current platform continues, the Democratic Party will find itself as ineffective a voice in national politics as the Whig Party of the 1840’s. However, with some soul searching, Democrats can become a respected Party again.