I am a professor, a teacher.  An educated populace is what makes our country secure and strong.  Thus, I want to support a private and public education system that works.  That may mean a more competitive system supported by public dollars, a more hybrid approach.  But I am not for performance based pay for teachers.  I have worked in both the corporate world and academic world.  Teachers  should not compete against each other but instead continue to appreciate the collegial nature of academia.  And until we have a clear understanding of who would actually evaluate the teacher’s performance, I will not support it.  The Gates Foundation is testing some reform ideas with the input of teachers and it will be interesting to see if any of these pay for performance combined with tenure produce good results.  Teachers need the freedom to support each other and develop the curriculum that encourages students to think.  That is not easy.

And academia is more liberal for a reason.  It is the one environment in our society that is supposed to have more liberal or open thought.  It is not reality…it is practice….that is why it is called academic. 

We have put more troops in Afghanistan.  I agree with the objective surrounding the dangers in Pakistan.  We can only pray that this overall strategy will be effective.  Today we need a better understanding of Fourth Generation Warfare. The more technology we have, the more effective our military can be and the less our cost should be for defense which is about 30% of our budget and over 40% of the world's military budget.  We must pay as we go for this effort.  We have to share the burden with our military and their families and balance the budget.  And again, I believe that an educated and healthy and clean and prosperous world will be a safer world.   Ronald Reagan was right when he worked with our allies, and developed new ones, to move towards this type of world.  

I know how important it is to have our great military ready and I am beginning to understand the need for standing armies in key parts of the world.  We have almost 2 million active duty military personnel and we could have 20% of them deployed around the world, including in Afghanistan and Iraq on a permanent basis.  This combined with State Department Education Programs may help us to actually become peacekeepers.  My philosophy is that we should hunt down criminals with intelligence and with law enforcement, and with our allies.  We should use war as the last option, always and only for defense.  

Going forward, we should transform our economy, to one that is no longer based on a the military and dependent on the consumption or demand for weapons and war and death.   Our economy needs to be based on innovation and technology industries that depend on the consumption of green energy, and health, and education.  In the long run, this will bring us more peace and prosperity and security.    

Privacy  

Republicans have abandoned the concept of fiscal discipline.  The Republican Congress of the Bush years failed us and should not be returned to power.  We must ultimately balance the budget.   I have identified about $900 billion in cuts to the annual budget which still leaves about $500 billion left we need in revenues to balance it.   And trying to control the current congress with spending is like trying to turn the Titanic.  We have to work the problem at both ends. 

Capitalism thrives with a healthy and big middle class.  Thus my small business tax plan discussed below is the first step in boosting the economy to provide more revenues. But we must have more revenues in order to balance the budget.  The top 1% earners currently have over 30% of the wealth of this country.  After much debate, I have realized that we don't need to increase the tax rate on this group, we need to make sure these earners have followed the rules to get to where they are.  The top .1%  often believes that the rules don't apply to them.  So we end up with Madoffs and Enrons and Ebbers and CEOs making 1000 times the average worker.  This is the system that needs to be corrected.   If the top percent is getting there by actually adding to the economy, then fantastic.  The taxes they pay will reflect it.

One inherent flaw in modern conservatism is the idea that you just keep cutting taxes and that we will spend our economy out of a recession and out of debt all the while having complete and irresponsible disregard for the resulting deficit.  We have decades of data now that proves this does not work. 

For additional revenue I believe in providing  corporate tax rates that give companies incentive to lower their tax rates if they keep jobs here, produce and export green products, and contribute to the R & D for the future.  The joblessness of the economic recovery must be dealt with, and we should use a corporate tax in order to employ a “carrot and stick” method to keep jobs here in Montana and to ensure that future industries produce and export green products, and contribute to the R & D for the future. 

Republicans should get behind a stimulus package to grow the economy to help reduce the debt but I am disappointed in Obama’s because it so far has included misguided democratic jobless waste.   I believe in a sophisticated public infrastructure for this country that supports commerce and education.  We need this in order to compete in the world.  Obama’s stimulus package has not gone far enough to actually stimulate the economy with investment in sustainable market forces that will grow our GDP.  We should only go in to long term debt for long term investment that sustains growth.  Only then can we pay off the debt.

 

The Democratic Party is inept in its ability to govern and the extreme right lacks discipline in its fiscal economic understanding.  We need new representation as the economy finally recovers in order to get us out of years of deficit spending.  Both party extremes have failed and it is time for a strong centrist to stand for neither the left nor the right but push this economy up.  We can no longer appease the leadership in either party but must present the alternative by electing the alternative. The ideals of Real Republicanism as represented by Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln and many other Republicans of the past must come back.  

Do not come on my property without notice as I’m a good shot and my guns are loaded.  The same is true when I’m on horse back on the trail.  I support the second amendment.  I have these weapons to protect everyone I love, four and two legged.  In my over fifty years of life, the only thing I have killed is a poisonous snake. 

As a professor at Montana State University in Billings, I have been privileged to be the adviser for the American Indian Business leaders.  We should always blend the best of our native culture and traditions with the best of business practices and learn from each other.  We spent a lot of time in the 80s understanding Japanese management, but we have not spent nearly enough time learning the culture of our own Americans, in order to do business with them.

Having lost both my parents, and with a brother in the senior living industry, this issue is near to me.   The biggest issue is the cost of medication.  The amount that is destroyed each month because of regulations is excessive.  We may need to loosen the guidelines or work with how to utilize left over medication after doctors change out prescriptions. And we should open the cost of medication to a world wide free market system to lower prices.  

Our fellow Republicans have been acting badly.  Our talk show and cable TV stars are appalling.  We cater to a very angry and negative base in order to get their numbers and votes. We should not play to the numbers.  I know that many of Republicans disagree with me on my stand on the issues.  We should gather the Republicans and Independents and cross-over Democrats that will be thoughtful and positive for the future.   Our positions should be strong enough that we can be open and honest and win without campaigning on the basis of fear.

First, health reform should reduce incentives on anything made with a lot of high fructose corn syrup and saturated fats.  We should support investment, incentives, and innovation in healthy lifestyles for individuals and communities.

Second, a big health care cost is fraud.  If we can attack this we may be able to lower the costs by as much as $1 trillion o the amount we need to then provide for care for everyone.  Technology and transparency may be a way to get at this.

Third, the current bill does not lower costs.  We must have reform as the biggest budget culprit is health and human services.  But so far we have only attacked health insurance.  The issue is lowering costs in health care and this can only be done with a free market.  Republicans do have good ideas for this with higher deductibles, higher flex care plans and anything that has patients seeing the actual price of services so that they shop around.   Then insurance is only for catastrophic care, something society should be willing to cover.  Basic care costs should go down.  

Environment  

I have been endorsed by the National Republicans for Environmental Protection.  Denny has one of the worst records on the environment in Congress.   We have got to work with the entire world.  If the citizens of China and India consume as much as we do, they will burn up the world.   We are the ones who must practice and set the standard, so they can learn from us.  Our businesses should export, but with the care of products that are green and healthy for the world.   This means we should set higher base corporate taxes with tax incentives for green production and exports.  There should also be incentives for domestic production and jobs.  When multi-national corporations are a more efficient way of doing business, we should give incentives for fair labor practices around the world. 

I want to use the best technology to harness our treasures. We must partner with the environment to harvest our resources so that we protect our land and wilderness.  Right now we have a glut of energy resources on the market.  We should not be harvesting resources when prices our low.  We should harvest them at higher values and when technology is more advanced so that we can protect our land.

Small Business 

My brother in-law is a successful small business man.  I owned my own small business for six years.  I have a good understanding of small business. About 90% of our economy is made up of small businesses.  Most of the people that serve me are small business owners and I am a repeat customer.  I will fight

for a small business owner the same way I will fight for the middle class. I have just launched a plan for a retained earnings tax reform where small businesses keep their retained earnings. 

The details have been published in the Billings Gazette and have been well received by small business owners and the financial community as well.

We have a system of justice, not a system of morality.  My litmus test is the constitution along with precedents. The constitution does guarantee the right to privacy and that precedent should not be rescinded.  We are a nation of laws.  And no man is above the law. 

The constitution is for the protection of individuals, not for the protection of institutions, such as marriage.  Society evolves.  As cultures mix and natural environment changes and technology becomes more innovative, the human race learns to adapt for the future.  Much like we build up resistance to disease, we should build tolerance in order to better inter-relate for our survival.         

We need a process for illegal immigrants to have a path towards a green card, not a path towards legal citizenship.  We need all levels of costs of labor in a free market economy.  But when they do become legal workers, they need a clean and well supported infrastructure supported by their employer which includes good housing, food, and health care. 

Veterans  

Army is in my blood as at least four generations have been shot at, mine being the only one that hasn't been.  My grandfather was nominated for the Congressional Medal of Honor, serving in the Spanish American War, and was later the Commander and Chief of the Veterans of Foreign Wars in 1932, a critical year.  He also was the Republican candidate for Senator and Governor for Oklahoma.   My dad was in WWII and Korea.  My nephew served two tours in Iraq.  I have an uncle with a few general’s stars on his shoulder, and uncle Theobald was responsible for sending Douglas Macarthur to West Point.  The name Otjen is not unheard of, especially for the army or for Republicans.  I love veterans and will fight for them as hard as my grandfather did. He was there in Washington D.C. helping to lead the Bonus March for veteran’s benefits in 1932.  Much of the 1944 GI BIll is a result of his efforts.  I hope to live up to my heritage.   

Go to Forveteransonly.com to discuss veterans issues that can be resolved in Congress.

Our natural resources are the greatest in the nation.  They must be protected or harvested with a reinvestment plan for the future.  We should fight for control of  federal dollars to invest in rehabilitation and better ongoing management as well as ongoing research.  In 2002, we ranked 48th out of 50 in receiving R&D Federal Financing Support even though we specialize in USDA, Ecosystem, and Appropriate Technology in our Montana University System. We must be the best in the world at harvesting our treasures.  This is the last best place and we are going to get it right.

Our transportation infrastructure is essential to our tourism, energy, and farm and ranch industries. The current estimate of repairs and projects needed is $461 million. We should control federal dollars that are invested in our transportation infrastructure. It looks like about $200 million of the stimulus bill is coming to Montana specifically right now.  But we need $420 million to address our water infrastructure alone.  I am fortunate to have a well on my property.  My neighbors do not.  I understand the value of water and the cost to move it.

In terms of our transportation, the engineering prospects are unimaginable for our environment going forward working with nature to preserve soil and water. We also have the opportunity for extending bike paths to take advantage of our great scenic areas as we expand our roads and neighborhoods. Better roads would reduce traffic congestion, reduce vehicle wear and tear which costs Montanans $120 million each year. 

Montana is worth the investment by our nation as we provide important resources throughout the country.   We are expected to receive somewhere between a total of $600 and $800 million from the stimulus bill.  That is twice as much as South Dakota, and Wyoming is getting about $400 million.  Alaska gets almost $1 billion when they have less population than Wyoming.  We have a population of 900,000, showing a ratio of people to resource harvesting and protection that is unsustainable by state taxes alone.  The combination of private and public harvesting needs an innovative future partnership.

We are soon to get $30 million in matching funds from the federal government for SCHIP each year for the next five years to cover 2/3 of our almost 40,000 uninsured children in Montana.  That brings in increased jobs and business activity and revenues in the state as well as makes sure our children are healthy.  This is a result of the vote by our state legislature to increase the eligibililty to those 150% above poverty.  I think it is vital to have a bi-partisan working relationship with the state legislature to take advantage of these state/federal matching funding opportunities where ever possible.

We have wind, and sun and natural gas.  We also have the University of Montana system, especially in Butte, developing new technology.  We should fight for more jobs and grants to do research for all of these industries. ($51 million of the stimulus is dedicated to higher education)

We also have four refineries along with a great rail system that needs to be maintained and enhanced to develop more refining opportunity for existing oil supplies.   Montana has a tremendous opportunity to export energy to the world.  But again, lets harvest it with the technology that makes it support our natural environment and use the dollars we get to invest in R&D for alternative energy. If there is public land that is suitable for exploration, let it be done in a way that is best for all of its inhabitants.

We also have the opportunity to conserve our own energy through local municipal initiatives, by building rural broadband wireless technology ($5 million of the stimulus package is dedicated here), and by taking advantage of locally produced goods requiring less transportation to the customers. The governor is getting $26 million for energy conservation from the stimulus bill.  Individual responsibility must be promoted in partnership with this effort.

In my twenties, I spent over 4 years as Director of Marketing for the National Potato Board.  I traveled to almost every state seeing the most beautiful part of the country….the land.   Potatoes were completely unsubsidized by the government.  We worked very hard to keep the price high by emphasizing price per serving instead of price per pound.   Beef in Montana is facing marketing and fair competition challenges that I am completely experienced to address.

I also understand pasture land for grazing my horses even though I have a very small property for Montana standards.  In this technological age, I believe that food is what will bring the human qualities back to our lives.  Our social time to be around the dinner table with family and friends, enjoying cooking.  We will demand more locally home grown meats, fruits and vegetables in order to be healthy.  The cost of oil will demand less distant transportation. Food is what will bring back our humanity.  We must understand how Montana takes advantage of this opportunity. 

We MUST revisit the issue of mineral rights (split estates) and eminent domain for food producing land owners in Montana.  I believe in individual property rights.  If there is a greater need, fine.  There is also a market value that needs to be paid and estates that need to be valued.  I have been lucky to receive about $300 in oil royalties every month of my life, thanks to my grandparent's investment in mineral rights in Oklahoma.  The idea that land owners do not have an interest in their own land's minerals and how they are harnessed must be considered in future development.