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| Interview with Paul McKains 9-12 Candidate for Congress Florida District 2 |
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Host: Mr. McKain, I would like to touch on three main topics today with you before going to a couple of other questions. The first topic will be
energy, second, education and then we’ll finish up with healthcare. But first, let me ask you why as a Republican did you decide to join the
Florida Whig Party, and for those who may not even know what a Whig Party is, can you please explain what the Party actually represents?
Candidate: The Party, the Florida Whig Party really represents the values of basically the Republican Party of, I’m going to say the Reagan
been strayed away from to some respect.
Host: And by the way, when did you make the switch?
Candidate: I made the switch about three months ago. And a little bit more information on that. In reality I had started my own Party in the
state of Florida. It was called First Choice Party and it was actually on the books for two weeks. And just from doing that the Chairman of the
Florida Whig Party saw my Internet site, called me up and asked me to take a look at their philosophy. I did. We had a long meeting and
then I decided to go ahead and run with their Party.
Host: Let’s go to energy. Just recently it was announced that our government decided to lend two billion dollars to Brazil to help them with
offshore drilling yet our government does not support drilling in our own country. What do you think of that and what’s your position on drilling?
Candidate: I just heard about that and I was, I don’t want to say infuriated but we have enough problems in our own country. We have so
much natural reserves here. We need to start pursuing our own. They’re here. We need to…every aspect that we have here, I mean the coal,
the oil, the natural gas, nuclear. We need to be pursuing all our own resources.
Host: So what do think that is going to be doing first of all to our industry here in the United States in terms of the psyche of the people, to
know that it’s okay for other countries to drill and we support that, yet we do not support the drilling in our own backyard?
Candidate: I just confused as everyone else is, I’m sure. Everybody’s talking, in government everybody’s talking green, green, green, but still
we’ll take all this taxpayer money to another country and drill for exactly what they’re saying in essence we shouldn’t be doing. So it seems
like a lot of hypocrisy to me and I don’t understand it probably any more than anybody else.
Host: Now which particular types of energy are you supporting?
Candidate: I’m supporting any type of energy. I don’t see a reason to withhold anything. Now if there’s types of energy that have been proven
to be outdated, fine, or too cost efficient to produce, then sure, we walk away from that. But I don’t think we take anything off the table as long
as it can be used judiciously and everything that I can come up with can be, I see no reason to restrain anything.
Host: Do you have any particular one that you would favor over another?
Candidate: Nuclear power in my opinion is the most cost efficient, and nobody’s ever lost their life in a nuclear accident here in the United
States. To me that is just absolutely the way to go. Coal we have such a boundless, boundless, limitless amounts of coal. We should be
utilizing that and drilling. My gosh, we’ve got reserves all over the place though the government is stopping us from utilizing. I mean, it’s hard
to say which one in particular. They’re all good.
Host: Like I do, you live in a state where the sun shines a lot. In the state of Florida, I happen to be in Arizona. How do you feel about solar
power?
Candidate: I think solar power is a great alternative and maybe for small usage I’m sure it’s probably okay. I’ve heard down the road there
are some great improvements coming in solar power. Again I don’t see a reason to not use it, but I just don’t think it can be used on a large
scale yet.
Host: Okay, let’s tackle education. The U.S. Department of Education issued a press release a few days ago indicating that American
students are losing ground to other countries in academic achievement. For example, in math the American 15-year-old scores are behind
those of 31 different countries. In science, American 8th graders score lower than their peers in eight countries. And in reading, we have the
same types of results for 4th graders who lag Host: behind five countries. Now, this in the long term can put our economic security at risk.
What in your opinion needs to be done to ensure the current student Okay, let’s tackle education. The U.S. Department of Education issued a
press release a few days ago indicating that American students are losing population, to become the next generation of workers, is indeed
ready for the new global competition?
Candidate: I was a teacher for almost four years before I went to the fire department so I do have a little bit of insight here. Really, to solve the
educational problem, I don’t think it just gets solved in schools. I really think it has to start in the home and when you have parents that….
People nowadays let’s face it, they have to work two jobs so their time with their children is very limited. So that is one of the problems. We
have to get parents engaged in their children’s education. And I’ll guarantee you, when our children, my children come home from school,
they spend at least two hours a day. My daughter in high school spends more time than that, and we help her out when she can. But I really
think that is really the crunch to the whole thing now. Also we have all these competency tests and without a doubt, it comes to a point
because of the incentives that come along with the results of those tests that you can’t get around teaching the test. You actually teach the
test. We’re losing a lot of good educational time trying to get children to do better on tests instead of just going back to the basics and really
drill on the basics. I think that’s really going to be the gist of it right there. Parents need to get involved more in their children’s education. And
we really need to hone the basics. If you don’t have a good base, you’ve got nothing to rely on.
Host: No, you’re right. Now, let’s go to the schools themselves for a second. We’ve got the public schools. We’ve got private schools. We’ve
got charter schools. There’s all kinds of different schools. And there’s also home schooling. Do you favor one over another or do you believe
that all of them should be giving some fair treatment so that the parents have a choice for their children in terms of where they want to send
them to school?
Candidate: Again, to me, this is like the energy question also. It’s the same thing. It really goes back to common sense. Why would you rule
any of those out? My children attend public school and we work with them. A lot of people can’t, so they may prefer sending them to a private
school where they’re going to get probably a little more one on one, or a charter school where they’re going to get a little more one on one
attention. I can’t see any reason for eliminating any of those options. Anything. And home schoolers: I know a lot of people who home school
and those children are very well educated. Again, in my opinion it goes back to parental involvement. That is going to be one of the keys.
Host: Now let’s go to the healthcare bill for a second. HR3200. Where do you stand on that?
Candidate: Well simplistically, I think it should just be scrapped. I don’t see anything coming out of it that is going to be worthwhile. The
healthcare bill as I’ve said a million times before, when you really read it and I have (I’ve got it right here in front of me actually), it is a big
umbrella of a lot of pieces of legislation that the American public has either discarded at one time or another in the past, or has never even
had a chance to look at. I’ve heard people make arguments and say that certain things aren’t in there but they are. It’s an umbrella that when
it is passed, these pieces of legislation will be imposed on the American people. We don’t need that. We have the best health care system
in the world. Does it need help? Yes, but it’s not that hard to fix it. I mean, there’s three good things that I could see that could come into play
here. And I’d like to say just get rid of this healthcare bill. We don’t want to grow the Federal government anymore than it already. That to me,
that’s the biggest problem with this healthcare bill, it’s just a growth of the Federal government.
Host: How would you respond to those who claim that there are 47 million uninsured people here in our country?
Candidate: I’ll take that at their word. There are, but of that percentage, I was just listening to a Representative from New York today and he
said, “80% of those are people who just choose not to have health care.” I haven’t been able to verify that but he was a Democrat that
supported it, supported the healthcare bill. I’m just going with his statistics. But, 80% of that percentage just chooses not to have it. So we’re
going to revamp the entire system for that other 20% of that number. Just makes no sense. And not to mention the fact, those people who
just can’t afford it, they should be on Medicade anyway.
Host: Now let’s move on to another subject. Because of everything that’s been going on in Congress in the last few months and especially
because of the healthcare bill, a lot of people are now really pushing to get our Representatives to start talking about term limits. What is your
position on term limits?
Candidate: I absolutely believe there should be term limits on every job. Now the one that I’m running for, which is the U.S. Representative, I
feel in my opinion, and it’s just my opinion, and this is something if I get in, my people will have a chance to have a say in that, I feel that it
should be three terms. That would be six years equal to that of one term for a Senator. And I can speak for that one office. But in every office
I still believe there should be term limits. It seems like the longer somebody’s there, the more ingrained they get into the system and the
more compromised they become.
Host: Now in your platform, you refer to true citizen participation in government. How do you plan to make that happen?
Candidate: True citizen participation is just having Town Hall meetings every month. On the 15th of every month, we’re going to have a Town
Hall meeting at one of four places across my district. We already know where they’re going to be. It’s going to last for one hour and fifteen
minutes. At the end of that hour and fifteen minutes, you are going to have the ability to vote on major bills that will be on my congressional
website. I’m going to digress a moment here. On my congressional website, there will be the major bills, an abstract of the bill and a
hyperlink to take you to the actual bill. Under that, after you get through the major bills, then you will also have my first piece of legislation or
my next piece of legislation I want to propose. And under that will be ten random questions because I can’t put all the bills up, but in fact,
these ten random questions will give me an idea of how the people would want me to vote in that instance. And now, going back to the
meetings, you’ll have time to vote on that. After the meeting is over, there’ll be a period of time where the people can vote on those bills, and
all I’m asking for people to do: come to one hour and fifteen minutes a meeting and if you can’t then or if you don’t want to come to the
meeting or can’t come to the meeting, they are broadcast. They’ll be broadcast over the Internet, so if you are a voter, you’ll be able to login,
send your questions in, and vote. If you are not a voter, you can still sit in on the meeting, you just can’t participate.
Host: So you’re really going to be giving the citizens of your state all the opportunities to really give their input?
Candidate: Well, that’s what I feel is the most important thing. I mean, that is what we’re missing in this government now. That is going to
bring true clarity to government. That’s going to be what was promised by this administration and not given. And the good thing about it is, if
you are a voter in District 2, my district, you will never have to call my office and see where I stand on an issue, because you know. When you
get up in the morning you know exactly where I sit on that issue. And I really want to open this up once we get it all ironed out, I want to take
out ads at my own expense, my project, I want to take out ads across the state and select places around the United States, and I want to invite
people to sit in on our meeting. If they like it and I know they will, they’re going to want that representation and I’m going to tell them, “Contact
your Representative. Send them to us. We will help them set it up.”
Host: Let’s go on the subject to funding your campaign because we all know a campaign costs money to run, and you have said that you will
not accept any political action committee money. So how do you plan to handle the fundraising of your campaign?
Candidate: Okay, I didn’t say it was going to be easy but what I’m going to do is I have a three point plan that I’m going to start up. My new
website actually is coming up within the next couple of days on I believe it’s the 9th of September I have my first Town Hall meeting out in Bay
County. And there I’m going to kind of open up the campaign drive and what I’m going to do is I’m going to ask the people for three things.
And I’m going straight to the people with this. Three things: I want your vote or else my policies will never go into place. I also want you to fill
out my campaign petition form, it will be on line, you’ll be able to download it. And from that point on, I would like to get as many as you
possibly could get filled out properly. And then the third thing if you can see yourself free to do so, when you’re mailing those back in to me,
put a check, five, ten, maybe twenty dollars if you can do it. And if I can raise that kind of money from those people that send these things
back, I will most definitely be able to stand with this man. And the other thing also is, people from around the country who can’t sign my
petition forms or obviously vote for me, but they are going to benefit from me putting this stuff, plan, into effect. And by the way, you can see
that at Paul’s First Week on my website. I do want to make, get that little plug in there so people can actually go and see what they’re going to
get.
Host: Alright, well since you’re talking about your website, last but not least, how may citizens indeed contact you or your campaign?
Candidate: Thank you. Yes, my website would be the way to contact me right now. All my contacts are on there. It’s www.PaulMcKain.com.
All my contacts are on there and I welcome any contacts.
Host: Mr. McKain, it was a pleasure having you on the show today and I wish you good luck with your campaign.
Candidate: Thank you very much, Danielle.
energy, second, education and then we’ll finish up with healthcare. But first, let me ask you why as a Republican did you decide to join the
Florida Whig Party, and for those who may not even know what a Whig Party is, can you please explain what the Party actually represents?
Candidate: The Party, the Florida Whig Party really represents the values of basically the Republican Party of, I’m going to say the Reagan
been strayed away from to some respect.
Host: And by the way, when did you make the switch?
Candidate: I made the switch about three months ago. And a little bit more information on that. In reality I had started my own Party in the
state of Florida. It was called First Choice Party and it was actually on the books for two weeks. And just from doing that the Chairman of the
Florida Whig Party saw my Internet site, called me up and asked me to take a look at their philosophy. I did. We had a long meeting and
then I decided to go ahead and run with their Party.
Host: Let’s go to energy. Just recently it was announced that our government decided to lend two billion dollars to Brazil to help them with
offshore drilling yet our government does not support drilling in our own country. What do you think of that and what’s your position on drilling?
Candidate: I just heard about that and I was, I don’t want to say infuriated but we have enough problems in our own country. We have so
much natural reserves here. We need to start pursuing our own. They’re here. We need to…every aspect that we have here, I mean the coal,
the oil, the natural gas, nuclear. We need to be pursuing all our own resources.
Host: So what do think that is going to be doing first of all to our industry here in the United States in terms of the psyche of the people, to
know that it’s okay for other countries to drill and we support that, yet we do not support the drilling in our own backyard?
Candidate: I just confused as everyone else is, I’m sure. Everybody’s talking, in government everybody’s talking green, green, green, but still
we’ll take all this taxpayer money to another country and drill for exactly what they’re saying in essence we shouldn’t be doing. So it seems
like a lot of hypocrisy to me and I don’t understand it probably any more than anybody else.
Host: Now which particular types of energy are you supporting?
Candidate: I’m supporting any type of energy. I don’t see a reason to withhold anything. Now if there’s types of energy that have been proven
to be outdated, fine, or too cost efficient to produce, then sure, we walk away from that. But I don’t think we take anything off the table as long
as it can be used judiciously and everything that I can come up with can be, I see no reason to restrain anything.
Host: Do you have any particular one that you would favor over another?
Candidate: Nuclear power in my opinion is the most cost efficient, and nobody’s ever lost their life in a nuclear accident here in the United
States. To me that is just absolutely the way to go. Coal we have such a boundless, boundless, limitless amounts of coal. We should be
utilizing that and drilling. My gosh, we’ve got reserves all over the place though the government is stopping us from utilizing. I mean, it’s hard
to say which one in particular. They’re all good.
Host: Like I do, you live in a state where the sun shines a lot. In the state of Florida, I happen to be in Arizona. How do you feel about solar
power?
Candidate: I think solar power is a great alternative and maybe for small usage I’m sure it’s probably okay. I’ve heard down the road there
are some great improvements coming in solar power. Again I don’t see a reason to not use it, but I just don’t think it can be used on a large
scale yet.
Host: Okay, let’s tackle education. The U.S. Department of Education issued a press release a few days ago indicating that American
students are losing ground to other countries in academic achievement. For example, in math the American 15-year-old scores are behind
those of 31 different countries. In science, American 8th graders score lower than their peers in eight countries. And in reading, we have the
same types of results for 4th graders who lag Host: behind five countries. Now, this in the long term can put our economic security at risk.
What in your opinion needs to be done to ensure the current student Okay, let’s tackle education. The U.S. Department of Education issued a
press release a few days ago indicating that American students are losing population, to become the next generation of workers, is indeed
ready for the new global competition?
Candidate: I was a teacher for almost four years before I went to the fire department so I do have a little bit of insight here. Really, to solve the
educational problem, I don’t think it just gets solved in schools. I really think it has to start in the home and when you have parents that….
People nowadays let’s face it, they have to work two jobs so their time with their children is very limited. So that is one of the problems. We
have to get parents engaged in their children’s education. And I’ll guarantee you, when our children, my children come home from school,
they spend at least two hours a day. My daughter in high school spends more time than that, and we help her out when she can. But I really
think that is really the crunch to the whole thing now. Also we have all these competency tests and without a doubt, it comes to a point
because of the incentives that come along with the results of those tests that you can’t get around teaching the test. You actually teach the
test. We’re losing a lot of good educational time trying to get children to do better on tests instead of just going back to the basics and really
drill on the basics. I think that’s really going to be the gist of it right there. Parents need to get involved more in their children’s education. And
we really need to hone the basics. If you don’t have a good base, you’ve got nothing to rely on.
Host: No, you’re right. Now, let’s go to the schools themselves for a second. We’ve got the public schools. We’ve got private schools. We’ve
got charter schools. There’s all kinds of different schools. And there’s also home schooling. Do you favor one over another or do you believe
that all of them should be giving some fair treatment so that the parents have a choice for their children in terms of where they want to send
them to school?
Candidate: Again, to me, this is like the energy question also. It’s the same thing. It really goes back to common sense. Why would you rule
any of those out? My children attend public school and we work with them. A lot of people can’t, so they may prefer sending them to a private
school where they’re going to get probably a little more one on one, or a charter school where they’re going to get a little more one on one
attention. I can’t see any reason for eliminating any of those options. Anything. And home schoolers: I know a lot of people who home school
and those children are very well educated. Again, in my opinion it goes back to parental involvement. That is going to be one of the keys.
Host: Now let’s go to the healthcare bill for a second. HR3200. Where do you stand on that?
Candidate: Well simplistically, I think it should just be scrapped. I don’t see anything coming out of it that is going to be worthwhile. The
healthcare bill as I’ve said a million times before, when you really read it and I have (I’ve got it right here in front of me actually), it is a big
umbrella of a lot of pieces of legislation that the American public has either discarded at one time or another in the past, or has never even
had a chance to look at. I’ve heard people make arguments and say that certain things aren’t in there but they are. It’s an umbrella that when
it is passed, these pieces of legislation will be imposed on the American people. We don’t need that. We have the best health care system
in the world. Does it need help? Yes, but it’s not that hard to fix it. I mean, there’s three good things that I could see that could come into play
here. And I’d like to say just get rid of this healthcare bill. We don’t want to grow the Federal government anymore than it already. That to me,
that’s the biggest problem with this healthcare bill, it’s just a growth of the Federal government.
Host: How would you respond to those who claim that there are 47 million uninsured people here in our country?
Candidate: I’ll take that at their word. There are, but of that percentage, I was just listening to a Representative from New York today and he
said, “80% of those are people who just choose not to have health care.” I haven’t been able to verify that but he was a Democrat that
supported it, supported the healthcare bill. I’m just going with his statistics. But, 80% of that percentage just chooses not to have it. So we’re
going to revamp the entire system for that other 20% of that number. Just makes no sense. And not to mention the fact, those people who
just can’t afford it, they should be on Medicade anyway.
Host: Now let’s move on to another subject. Because of everything that’s been going on in Congress in the last few months and especially
because of the healthcare bill, a lot of people are now really pushing to get our Representatives to start talking about term limits. What is your
position on term limits?
Candidate: I absolutely believe there should be term limits on every job. Now the one that I’m running for, which is the U.S. Representative, I
feel in my opinion, and it’s just my opinion, and this is something if I get in, my people will have a chance to have a say in that, I feel that it
should be three terms. That would be six years equal to that of one term for a Senator. And I can speak for that one office. But in every office
I still believe there should be term limits. It seems like the longer somebody’s there, the more ingrained they get into the system and the
more compromised they become.
Host: Now in your platform, you refer to true citizen participation in government. How do you plan to make that happen?
Candidate: True citizen participation is just having Town Hall meetings every month. On the 15th of every month, we’re going to have a Town
Hall meeting at one of four places across my district. We already know where they’re going to be. It’s going to last for one hour and fifteen
minutes. At the end of that hour and fifteen minutes, you are going to have the ability to vote on major bills that will be on my congressional
website. I’m going to digress a moment here. On my congressional website, there will be the major bills, an abstract of the bill and a
hyperlink to take you to the actual bill. Under that, after you get through the major bills, then you will also have my first piece of legislation or
my next piece of legislation I want to propose. And under that will be ten random questions because I can’t put all the bills up, but in fact,
these ten random questions will give me an idea of how the people would want me to vote in that instance. And now, going back to the
meetings, you’ll have time to vote on that. After the meeting is over, there’ll be a period of time where the people can vote on those bills, and
all I’m asking for people to do: come to one hour and fifteen minutes a meeting and if you can’t then or if you don’t want to come to the
meeting or can’t come to the meeting, they are broadcast. They’ll be broadcast over the Internet, so if you are a voter, you’ll be able to login,
send your questions in, and vote. If you are not a voter, you can still sit in on the meeting, you just can’t participate.
Host: So you’re really going to be giving the citizens of your state all the opportunities to really give their input?
Candidate: Well, that’s what I feel is the most important thing. I mean, that is what we’re missing in this government now. That is going to
bring true clarity to government. That’s going to be what was promised by this administration and not given. And the good thing about it is, if
you are a voter in District 2, my district, you will never have to call my office and see where I stand on an issue, because you know. When you
get up in the morning you know exactly where I sit on that issue. And I really want to open this up once we get it all ironed out, I want to take
out ads at my own expense, my project, I want to take out ads across the state and select places around the United States, and I want to invite
people to sit in on our meeting. If they like it and I know they will, they’re going to want that representation and I’m going to tell them, “Contact
your Representative. Send them to us. We will help them set it up.”
Host: Let’s go on the subject to funding your campaign because we all know a campaign costs money to run, and you have said that you will
not accept any political action committee money. So how do you plan to handle the fundraising of your campaign?
Candidate: Okay, I didn’t say it was going to be easy but what I’m going to do is I have a three point plan that I’m going to start up. My new
website actually is coming up within the next couple of days on I believe it’s the 9th of September I have my first Town Hall meeting out in Bay
County. And there I’m going to kind of open up the campaign drive and what I’m going to do is I’m going to ask the people for three things.
And I’m going straight to the people with this. Three things: I want your vote or else my policies will never go into place. I also want you to fill
out my campaign petition form, it will be on line, you’ll be able to download it. And from that point on, I would like to get as many as you
possibly could get filled out properly. And then the third thing if you can see yourself free to do so, when you’re mailing those back in to me,
put a check, five, ten, maybe twenty dollars if you can do it. And if I can raise that kind of money from those people that send these things
back, I will most definitely be able to stand with this man. And the other thing also is, people from around the country who can’t sign my
petition forms or obviously vote for me, but they are going to benefit from me putting this stuff, plan, into effect. And by the way, you can see
that at Paul’s First Week on my website. I do want to make, get that little plug in there so people can actually go and see what they’re going to
get.
Host: Alright, well since you’re talking about your website, last but not least, how may citizens indeed contact you or your campaign?
Candidate: Thank you. Yes, my website would be the way to contact me right now. All my contacts are on there. It’s www.PaulMcKain.com.
All my contacts are on there and I welcome any contacts.
Host: Mr. McKain, it was a pleasure having you on the show today and I wish you good luck with your campaign.
Candidate: Thank you very much, Danielle.
Welcome to The 9-12 Show...
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