Donald K. Allen for President

Top of the Week

May 12, 2008

Last week I was able to talk to Bill O’Reilly and Andrew Wilkow on their radio shows. I’m not allowed to jump right in and say, “I’m running for President, too!” The producers won’t let you do that. Instead, I said to Bill O’Reilly that, “Everyone on radio and TV is saying that there will be only two people to choose from this election, but that’s not true.” He replied, “You mean Ron Paul,” and I said, “No, not Ron Paul, and not Ralph Nader. Americans have already said ‘No’ to him several times. I mean other independent candidates.” Mr. O’Reilly said he didn’t think independents had a chance, that they aren’t organized, and that they could maybe make a bid in 2012. That was it — click.

Our problem as independents is that nobody in national media has yet taken a good look at us. What we need is for people OTHER THAN us calling in, saying, “I’m voting for Donald K. Allen for president. He’s an independent and I agree with his platform.” That alone will give listeners the impetus to go to the site and check it out. Name recognition is the key to victory this November, since I will be a write-in in many states.

Andrew Wilkow’s producer (who answers the phone first) said that when I raise $11 million they will have me on as a feature. I was only able to discuss The Fair Tax with Wilkow for about a minute. I told him that truly nothing would turn our economy around, and strengthen us all, better than eliminating income tax and replacing it with a national sales tax. That is what will boost the economy, not a tax rebate that will have to be accounted for later to replace those funds in the treasury.

Lifting the tax on gasoline is also false logic. Weren’t we all complaining about the need to repair and replace our infrastructure last year when that bridge collapsed? Looks like that tax money won’t be building any bridges. One measure I propose, as well as opening ANWR and territorial waters to oil exploration, is to require a “well-to-pump” delay in any price changes. That would be the time it takes for the oil purchased today to be moved to the refinery, turned into gasoline, and transported to the corner gas station. Yes, this would take away most of the windfall profits oil companies have been raking in, but it would be a fair way to manage price for consumers.

President Bush has done virtually nothing to help the country with the gasoline price crisis. It would be a token effort to use our Strategic Petroleum Reserves, about 700 million barrels of crude oil, to increase supply here and moderate prices. Instead, the administration is letting OPEC see how much our economy can take. But we sell Saudi Arabia F-16s and other current military technology. Even though this brings billions of dollars into our aircraft industry, I would only sell OPEC countries military equipment we are retiring, not our cutting-edge technology. Don’t help, don’t ask.

So we have two factions that think they have us over a barrel, so to speak. OPEC provides about 26% of our oil needs. We only produce about 40 % of what we use each day in the USA. Right now, we are somewhat at their mercy energy/economy-wise. China is the other problem. They hold a sizeable portion of our foreign-held debt, and have already threatened to harm our economy by dumping the dollar if we hamper trade with them. This, in spite of the fact that the products we are importing from China, particularly food products, lack adequate quality control, contaminant testing, and proper inspection procedures.

My objective is to minimize trade with these two “businesses” as quickly as possible. Each day we conduct commerce with them we grow weaker and they grow stronger. America is bleeding. Time for a New Beginning.